- Clear Channel will today announce its acquisition of a minority stake in Ryan Seacrest Productions. As the New York Times reports, this cements an already tight bond, as Seacrest, is a host, producer and spokesman for Clear Channel. No word yet as to the sum of Clear Channel’s investment in Seacrest, but he is expected to produce scripted and unscripted TV shows and other content. . Ryan Seacrest Productions currently produces “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” for E! and is producing new reality shows for Bravo and CMT.
- Why did Priceline.com kill off William Shatner and its “Priceline Negotiator” after 14 years? Priceline.com says launched the ad because the company is moving toward fixed-price discounts, whereas Shatner and the Negotiator had become to heavily identified with negotiating a price, reports Yahoo Finance.
- Former New York governor and CNN anchor Eliot Spizer will host “Countdown” this week, covering for an ailing Keith Olbermann, reports TVNewser. Spitzer will co-host “Countdown” with Bill Press for tonight’s Florida primary coverage. This will be Spitzer’s first hosting job since he left CNN in July, 2011. TVNewser speculates that this is a test-drive for a more permanent gig. Interestingly, CurrentTV took out a full-page ad in yesterday’s New York Times promoting its political coverage, with pictures of hosts Cenk Uygur and Jennifer Granholm—sams Olbermann, with whom the network has had fractious relations.
- Simon Cowell has canned “The X Factor” judges Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul as well as host Steve Jones, reports New York Daily News. Cowell produces the performance competition show for The Fox Network, and is purportedly miffed over lower-than-expected ratings. No word yet as to replacements, though Mariah Carey is a likely candidate; Cowell supposedly wanted Carey as a judge in Season One, but declined as she was pregnant at the time.
New Weather Channel Chief Promises More Local Ad Opportunities
The new Weather Channel Companies chairman and CEO comes from advertising, and that will benefit local advertisers. David Kenny told Cable360 that “Nobody has a local infrastructure like we do. Advertisers are looking for scale and ubiquity,” and of course a highly engaged audience. “Most of our users come back every day,” and the company’s digital property attracts 62 million unique monthly users.
Kenny was named CEO only yesterday, and formerly helmed global ad giant Digitas. Kenny told AdAge that his first priority at The Weather Channel is “to move things faster.” Kenny told Cable360 it is too soon to about the advanced advertising formats he has in mind, but promised “Pretty big innovations around the way we sell advertising and the solutions we bring advertising…using all the streams together and using our local footprint in a very different way.” Kenny hinted at the power of digital/mobile access to weather information, so presumably those innovations include cross-platform convergence. And Kenny knows digital as well as he knows advertising: in addition to Digitas’ strong cross-platform experience, Kenny was tapped in November for the CEO spot at Yahoo! He withdrew his name, but continues to serve on the Yahoo! board of directors.
According to Weather Channel demographics, its TV viewers have a respectable median household income of $74,493, and 41.5% are adults 18-49.
“Katie” Cleared for 93% of TV Market
Katie Couric's syndicated talk show, not due to debut until September, has been cleared in 93% of the country, reports Disney-ABC Domestic Television. The company's President Janice Marinelli described that "The sales momentum behind 'Katei' has been truly remarkable...we believe the show has led the charge in the first-run syndication marketplace this year."
ABC enthuses that Katie Couric is "an award-winning journalist, best-selling author and popular TV personality," whi will serve as a co-executive producer. But is Katie as a helmer a good idea? As The Hollywood Reporter described, CBS Evening News with Couric in the anchor chair trailed ABC and NBC for five years straight. "It’s no slam-dunk she’s going to be a success,” said Senior VP of Research for Horizon Media, when the talkshow was announced last June. “Jane Pauley tried a talk show and that really didn’t pan out to her. She certainly was a forerunner to Katie Couric, so there’s no guarantee."
The eponymously-tltled "Katie" will be a one-hour live broadcast. Sales thusfar include 95 of the top 100 markets. In addition to the ABC Owned station group, “Katie” has also been sold to stations from such broadcast groups as Allbritton Communications, Belo Corporation, Cox Media Group, Gannett Broadcasting, Granite, Griffin, Hearst Television, LIN Broadcasting, McGraw-Hill, Media General, Meredith, Raycom, Scripps Howard Broadcasting, Sinclair and Young Broadcasting.
Gingrich Threatens TV Over Pac Ads, Stations Stand Firm
The national counsel for the Newt Gingrich GOP presidential campaign has fired off cease-and-desist letters to Florida and South Carolina TV stations. The stations are running an ad which attacks Gingrich on ethics.
“We we do hereby DEMAND that your station immediately REFUSE, and if started, CEASE airing any such advertisements,” read the letter from the campaign national counsel Stefan Passantino. The ad in question is from the political action committee (PAC) Restore Our Future, which supports Mitt Romney. The ad calls the $300,000 Gingrich paid after a House ethics investigation a “fine,” while Gingrich argues that it was compensation to the Ethics Committee for expenses. The PAC has pushed back, calling the letter a "desperate attempt to conceal Gingrich's ethics baggage” before the Florida primary.
In a Wednesday e-mail to NBC News, Passantino claimed to have put the PAC on notice that the “free ride they have enjoyed to misstate Newt's record [is] over. Discussing true facts concerning one's record are fine, using Super PAC funds to mislead voters will no longer be tolerated.” No sign yet that any stations are pulling the ads.
Radio/TV news source RBR-TVBR opined that “It is not the job of broadcasters to police political content,” and that broadcasters general err on the side of running such ads.
Kunis Covers Sell, Bieber Bores
WWD reported on the “Kardashian Krash” that scares magazine buyers rather than attracts them. WWD has reported the results for 2011, quoting Audit Bureau of Circulations and Rapid Report data. Actress Mila Kunis boosted the August GQ to its best-selling cover of the year, boosted sales at W by 15% in March, and 10% at Cosmopolitan in February. Other perennial champs are Sara Jessica Parker, Jennifer Aniston and Heidi Klum, who delivered champ sales at Glamour and Elle. On the flip side, Justin Timberlake graced the covers of the worst-selling Esquire of the year in October. Justin Bieber was coverboy for the third worst-selling issue of Vanity Fair since 1992.
Oprah to Lead OWN as CEO | Netflix, NBCUniversal Reach Multi-Year Renewal
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Oprah Winfrey has announced she will take over as CEO of her struggling cable network OWN in addition to her current role as chairman. She is also expected to serve as chief creative officer and will move into both positions in the fall, according to Forbes. OWN started out on a high at it’s New Year’s Day launch, drawing more than one million viewers in prime time, but soon settled into a months-long hangover. It now averages about 260,000 viewers in prime time, and on an all-day basis, ratings have been just a third of those expected by advertisers.
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Netflix and NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution have announced a multi-year renewal of their licensing agreement expanding the selection of non-exclusive NBCU film and TV library titles available to watch instantly streaming from Netflix. Programming under the deal includes prior-season series across multiple NBCU networks, including NBC hits "The Office," "30 Rock" and "Parenthood." All future seasons of these shows will be available on Netflix on a one season delay basis. Under the deal, Netflix members will also be able to enjoy prior season episodes of "Law and Order: SVU" and "The Event."
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ABC has renewed summer drama Rookie Blue for a third season, writes Broadcasting & Cable. Rookie Blue ranks number one with adults 18-49 in its Thursdays at 10 p.m. time slot. Its sophomore season is up 8% in total viewers and 14% in the 18-49 demo from its averages last summer. The series is one of the few scripted originals on broadcast during the summer months.
- Lifetime's new reality show, "Roseanne's Nuts," featuring Roseanne Barr, the comedienne and former hit TV show star, premieres tonight at 9 p.m. The last time Roseanne Barr attempted to make a comeback she had two shows canceled within days of each other. It was the summer of 2003, reports Media Life Magazine.
ESPN Wins 12 Years of Wimbledon | Scripps Nears $1 Billion in Upfront
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Wimbledon events will move from NBC to ESPN starting next year. The deal includes the men's and women's finals runs for 12 years. The head of the All England Club said money played a role in the decision to go to ESPN, but it was not the only factor, writes Media Daily News. NBC had carried the tournament for 43 years. ESPN (since 2003) and the Tennis Channel have carried matches recently, along with NBC, which has carried the finals with a "Breakfast at Wimbledon" brand.
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Scripps Networks is likely to complete its best upfront ever, with volume for the programmer approaching the billion dollar plateau, reports MultiChannel News. Scripps, whose lifestyle network portfolio comprises Food Network, HGTV, DIY, Travel, Cooking Channel and GAC, is "98% done" with its upfront selling, as some smaller accounts remain outstanding.
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Comedy Central has scheduled its roast of Charlie Sheen to air on September 19, the same evening that Ashton Kutcher is set to premiere as Sheen's replacement on the CBS series Two and a Half Men. "It’s definitely fortuitous timing for us," said a Comedy Central spokesperson. "Everything aligned.” Comedy Central's roasts attract millions to the network. The most recent, featuring Donald Trump on March 5 drew 3.48 million viewers. The previous roast, of David Hasselhoff, delivered 3.51 million viewers on August 15, 2010, reports Ad Week.
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CBS may be bringing 3D versions of its shows to a 24-hour cable network, and it has previewed a 2D-to-3D converted programming privately to several operators, according to industry sources familiar with the project. The broadcast network is considering a strategy to gain distribution for the 3D channel through its retransmission-consent negotiations with cable, satellite and telco TV operators, writes MultiChannel News.
Skype Updates Android App | Facebook Credits Adds 32 Currencies | Geo-targeted Ads to Gain Share
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Skype has released an updated version of its Skype for Android video calling app – Skype for Android 2.0. With the new version, users will be able to make and receive 1-to-1 video calls over Skype between their Android phone and other Skype contacts on the iPhone, Mac, Windows PCs and TVs.
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Facebook will announce it is adding support for 32 additional currencies to Facebook Credits, including the Brazilian real, the Korean won, the Malaysian ringgit and the Russian ruble. That brings Facebook to 47 currencies supported. Games that don’t make the transition to the new Credits system will soon be warned that they’re violating the newly updated terms of service and face standard enforcement procedures, Rose said. Meanwhile, Facebook has also released incentives and case studies showing that usage of Credits encourages more in-game spending, writes All Things Digital.
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Mark Zuckerberg told reporters in a visit to Facebook's Seattle office on Wednesday that the company planned to "launch something awesome" next week. He said the project had been developed at the 40-person Seattle office, Facebook's only major engineering center outside of its Palo Alto, California headquarters, Reuters reports, speculating that it is possibly something new for the mobile or tablet arena.
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Local news forum platform, Topix released findings of a recent survey about the market for geo-targeted online advertising, with 90% of advertising professionals surveyed stating their clients are buying more geographically-targeted online ads in 201. Of those seeing growth, roughly 33% say the growth is in the double-digits with another 13 percent seeing their spend on local online advertising more than double as compared to last year.
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Barnes & Noble is kickstarting the digital book collection of any customers who bring in an old ereader and upgrade to a new NOOK reading device. The company is giving away 30 digital titles valued (estimated value $300).
Glenn Beck Wraps Up at Fox News | Musicians Protest Changes to Grammy Awards
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Glenn Beck’s final Fox News broadcast was a trip down memory lane while also defending his voluntary decision to leave the network to the mainstream media that has suggested otherwise. Beck’s opening monologue, which clocked in at 21 minutes, featured video comments from young people praising Beck’s show, a run-down of a chalkboard list titled “Things We’ve Learned.” Beck also brought his two writers out on stage, writes Broadcasting & Cable.
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A coalition of musicians that has protested the Recording Academy's decision to drop 31 categories from the Grammy Awards is stepping up the pressure, calling for a boycott of the Grammys' telecast partner, CBS, and hiring a lawyer to explore legal action. The group has claimed the reductions unfairly target ethnic music and called the Academy's decision racist, according to AP reports.
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Starz said today that due to significant production challenges, the network has decided not to exercise the option for subsequent seasons of its freshman original series Camelot. Camelot wrapped its first season earlier this month by drawing 1.5 million total viewers, the second-highest viewership for the series behind its two-hour premiere, which set a network record for a series bow. It had been on a ratings upswing for its final few episodes, reports Deadline Hollywood.
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Fox News Channel will launch a weekday ensemble opinion program on July 11 at 5 p.m. to replace Glenn Beck through the summer. Titled The Five, the new show will feature a roundtable of five rotating Fox News personalities "who will discuss, debate and at times debunk the hot news stories, controversies and issues of the day," reports Broadcasting & Cable.
Dish Network to Buy TerreStar | NBC’s Voice Finale Tops Ratings | Randy Falco Steps up at Univision
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Dish Network submitted a winning bid of $1.375 billion for bankrupt satellite telecommunications provider TerreStar Networks. A hearing to approve the sale is scheduled for July. TerreStar, in its court filing said it had not received any other qualified bids by the deadline, reports MultiChannel News.
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NBC led the ratings on Wednesday evening with an overall 3.2 rating/10 share in the 18-49 demo, according to Nielsen overnight numbers. The Voice ended its first season with a 3.5 rating, up 6% from last week, and averaged 10.8 million total viewers. America's Got Talent rose two tenths to a 4.0, and Love in the Wild, whose premiere was delayed, used the strong lead-ins for a 2.2, easily winning the 10 p.m. slot, reports Broadcasting & Cable.
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Three months after Univision president and CEO Joe Uva stepped down from his post, the nation’s largest Spanish-language media company announced that Randy Falco will fill the vacancy. He also has been named to Univision’s board of directors. A 31-year NBC veteran, Falco joined Univision in January as executive vice president and chief operating officer, writes Ad Week.
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Timemagazine editor-at-large Mark Halperin has been suspended as MSNBC's senior political analyst after he called President Barack Obama a "dick" on Morning Joe Thursday morning. Joe Scarborough said the show wasn't able to bleep the comment because the new executive producer didn't know how the tape delay works, said the Hollywood Reporter.