Nets Mull Postponement of Fall Season, Should SAG Call a Strike
TV networks are considering a postponement of the September launch of the fall season as a last resort, should an actors strike materialize.
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TV networks are considering a postponement of the September launch of the fall season as a last resort, should an actors strike materialize.
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Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel will remain on ABC through at least 2010, as the network has extended his contract for another year.
NBC Sports has entered into a joint venture with the World Championship Sports Network, a newbie cable net and website. WCSN will be rebranded Universal Sports in time for lead-up programming to the Olympics.
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The least fast-forwarded commercial in April prime time was for the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, according to data released by TiVo. Movie trailers as a whole were watched by significant numbers of viewers, as were spots in Apple’s Mac vs. PC campaign.
As the June 30 expiration date of their current contract looms, Hollywood actors and television producers have still not come to an agreement on a new contract. And though an actors strike, coming so soon after last winter’s writers strike, seems unthinkable, a work stoppage looks increasingly possible.
Search leader Google continued its record growth in market share of searches and is up 5 percent year-over-year in May, accounting for 68 percent of searches in the US and 87 percent of searches in the U.K., according to the latest data from Hitwise, MarketingCharts writes.
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Cinema advertising soared in 2007, per the Cinema Advertising Council. Total revenues neared $540 million, up 18.5 percent from 2006.
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Upfront bigwig The cable upfront has slipped into what buyers are calling a bifurcated market - that is, essentially two cable markets, with the big players like Turner, NBCU and MTV Networks in one and everyone else in the other.
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HBO has invested in Will Ferrell’s comedy website, Funny or Die. The site will contribute at least 10 hours of original content to the cable network.
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Warner Bros. has signed distribution agreements with Dailymotion, Joost, Sling Media, TiVo and Veoh Networks to launch branded channels that will include TheWB.com and KidsWB.com, along with other series from the Warner Bros collection.
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Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report have been added to NBCU’s Hulu website, with full episodes as well as clips becoming available.
The five broadcast networks (including the CW) dodged a bullet and managed to pull in $9.23 billion in this year’s upfront, 1.2 percent higher than last year’s $9.12 billion.
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At a special session tomorrow (Friday), the Screen Actors Guild president and national executive director will attempt to persuade dual cardholders to refuse to ratify the prime time TV deal recently agreed upon by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
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If you haven’t heard of the Fuse cable music channel, you’re not alone. The channel pulls ratings too low to be measured by Nielsen, but Fuse’s owner, Cablevision, hopes to change that with a $15 million campaign.
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Advertisers showThe upfront market is healthier than expected, according to media buyers. Advertiser budgets have come in higher than many expected them to be; they have been particularly strong from pharmaceutical companies, movie studios, and even the auto industry.
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Today CBS is expected to announce the addition of Yahoo to CBS Audience Network, according to TechCrunch.
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ESPN is offering an ESPN HD Radio network to HD stations beginning June 7. Subscribing stations will be able to create customized sports content by choosing from a menu of options online.
The European online advertising market was worth €11.2 billion (in ad expenditures) in 2007, up from €7.2 billion in 2006, according to (pdf) final numbers processed and analyzed by PricewaterhouseCoopers and issued by the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe, reports MarketingCharts.
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TiVo has signed a deal with Disney-ABC and CinemaNow to offer Disney movie downloads for 24-hour rental. The service will be available later this year to broadband connected TiVo Series2 and Series3 subscribers.
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Media Rights Capital is partnering with the CW on Sunday nights, and has announced its programs for the evening. The network will air a reality show, a sitcom and two scripted dramas during Sunday prime time.
