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In Depth

FCC Fines 13 Fox Stations Over ‘Married’ Strippers

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday announced a fine against 13 Fox stations for an episode of “Married by America,” featuring two couples being entertained by male and female strippers, that aired nearly five years ago. The fine is the…

LCDs Dominate Super Bowl Purchases

Liquid crystal display televisions accounted for more than three-quarters of the TVs consumers bought during the week of this year’s Super Bowl, up from less than 25% two years ago, NPD Group said in a statement today. The average LCD…

TVNewswire: ‘Idol’ Director Gowers on Way Out?

Next One Leaving Idol Might Not Be a Contestant (Daily Variety) “American Idol” director Bruce Gowers may leave the show, Daily Variety reports, citing people it didn’t identify. Mr. Gowers, who directed music videos such as Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” before…

StyleList.com Gets Rivers Duo to Recap Oscar Fashions

Joan and Melissa Rivers are taking their Oscar act online. The mother-and-daughter red-carpet team will be dishing and dissing on Academy Award fashions the day after the ceremony on AOL’s StyleList.com. They’d previously been headliners of Oscar arrivals shows on…

Variety, B&C, Multichannel to Be Divested

The parent of Hollywood trade publications Daily Variety, Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News plans to divest the titles, opening the possibility of a sale. Reed Elsevier said it plans to peel off its Reed Business Information unit, which holds…

ABC Challenges FCC’s ‘NYPD Blue’ Fine in Court

ABC is going to court to stop the Federal Communications Commission from fining it and 45 of its stations $1,237,500 for airing scenes that showed a woman’s naked buttocks on a 2003 episode of “NYPD Blue.” The network today paid…

‘Idol’ Rolls On

A two-hour “American Idol,” growing 13% from last week, gave Fox a Wednesday win with an 11.1 in the 18- to 49-year-old demo, according to preliminary Nielsen stats. “Idol” beat up on the competition, giving Fox the nightly win with…

TVNewswire: Thursday, Feb. 21

Fox Sticking to Fall During May Upfront (Daily Variety) News Corp.’s’ Fox Broadcasting, which has been carrying the 52-week programming banner for the past few seasons, said it won’t disclose its programming plans for next January and March at this…

HD DVD Fallout May Start With a Trickle

Discounts, anyone? Despite Toshiba’s announcement this week that it would discontinue its HD DVD next-generation player next month, most large U.S. retailers maintained their prices for the company’s entry-level players, indicating that the switch to Sony’s competing Blu-ray format may…

HD Helps Fuel LCD Sales Growth in U.S., Overseas

The popularity of high-definition television sets helped sales of liquid crystal display TVs leapfrog those of personal computers among U.S. consumer technology products last year. Also last year, LCDs overtook worldwide sales of more traditional cathode ray tube TVs for…