Broadcasting & Cable back issues from April 2001:
The Doctor is out.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Dr. Laura Schlessinger's daytime TV talk show is history. The Paramount Domestic Television syndicated show wrapped production Friday with sources saying the controversial series will not be back for a second season. Dr. Laura has been at the center of protests from gay and ...
We won the P. Biddy!(Daily Show gets a Peabody Award)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... It was last Thursday morning, and Madeleine Smithberg, executive producer of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, was extraordinarily happy. She had just seen the news that, for whatever reasons, non-convicted rapper Puff Daddy had announced he wanted to now he known as P ....
NOT SO FAST ON FOX.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Aides to the FCC commissioners in the past couple of weeks said a recommendation on the Fox/Chris-Craft merger would be coming from the Mass Media Bureau any day. But opponents of the deal may have put on the brakes. The bureau is said to be drafting a new list of questions for Fox and ...
No ready Ancier.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Ted Turner wasn't there. But Jamie Kellner and Garth Ancier were. The fact that the two new leaders of Turner Networks would be hanging with the CNN crowd at last week's Radio & Television Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington had wags wondering if the two men--both known for ...
Network, affils fight on.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... CBS shuns affiliate advisory board; NAB tries to hold it together Aftershocks from last month's rant to the FCC against the major broadcast networks by the Network Affiliated Stations Alliance were felt last week on two fronts: at CBS and at the National Association of ...
KTTV staffers die in Aspen plane crash.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Two employees of Fox owned and operated station KTTV(TV) Los Angeles were killed in a chartered jet crash just outside of Aspen, Colo., late last week. The crash killed all 18 people aboard the plane as it attempted to land at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport in snowy weather. The ...
Getting to know Kellner.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Turner executives watch warily as their new chairman makes himself home in Atlanta It's a takeover Cliche: A TV company is acquired, the old boss is gone, the new boss comes in, the incumbents get nervous and start wondering which of the new boss' cronies would want their jobs. ...
XFL needs to score.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Fledgling league faces failing ratings, faltering NBC support As its debut season winds down, the XFL is facing fourth and very long, with the prospect of being sacked by its partner and primary broadcaster, NBC. NBC has a $50 million two-year commitment to the league ...
Disney cuts 4,000 jobs.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... All business units affected; down economy blamed For 4,000 of Disney Chairman Michael Eisner's "fellow cast members," the show won't go on. At least not with them. If all goes according to plan, Disney will have reduced its payroll by that number, or about 3% of its work force, ...
FINANCIAL WRAP-UP.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... <Pre> FINANCIAL WRAP-UP Week of March 26-30 WINNERS 3/30 % change Liberty Digital$6.3442.96 Valuevision $13.9419.89 Unitedglobalcom $12.9418.97 Insight Comm. $26.5014.91 ...
Peabodys can take a joke.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Daily Show wins for political coverage; cable, PBS clean up While Congress and campaign finance reformers debated alleged deficiencies in TV political coverage, veteran comic Jon Stewart won one of broadcasting's highest honors for his irreverent look at the 2000 presidential ...
New director.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Horace Newcomp The University of Georgia has announced that Horace Newcomb will take over this summer as director for the Peabody Awards. Currently a professor in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin, he was a ...
OFF-NET DEALS STAY IN THE FAMILY.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Synergy is once again in the air at USA Network and TNN. Off-network episodes of Wolf Films/Studios USA's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit are headed to co-owned USA network. Likewise, CBS freshman drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigators is going to TNN, also owned by Viacom. The CSI deal, ...
'BOOT' FITS IN AT FOX.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Fox's new reality series Boot Camp enlisted nearly 16 million viewers in its first outing and dominated its 9 p.m. ET/PT time period on March 28. The premiere scored a 9.2 rating/14 share in households and a 7.9/19 in adults 18-49, according to fast national results from ...
FCC: Two nets for one.(Federal Communications Commission, Viacom may be able to keep CBS and UPN)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Powell FCC expected to rule that Viacom can keep CBS and UPN Two of the country's largest media conglomerates are in line for big wins from the FCC at its April 19 public meeting. Chairman Michael Powell is pushing his colleagues to let the major networks buy UPN and The WB and ...
Reform takes form.(A provision of campaign reform bill troubling to broadcasters)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Senate poised to pass campaign-finance bill with two troubling provisions The Senate is on the verge of approving a campaign-finance-reform bill with at least two amendments that will be hard for broadcasters to stomach, should the bill survive the House and the conference ...
AP PRODUCER KILLED BY SHRAPNEL.(Associated Press producer Kerem Lawton)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Associated Press Television News producer Kerem Lawton, 30, was killed by shrapnel from a shell that hit his vehicle last Thursday near the ...
GOOD START FOR WAYANS SITCOM.(Damon Wayans in 'My Wife and Kids')(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Apr 02, 2001 ... ABC's debut of midseason comedy My Wife and Kids had a strong start. The Damon Wayans comedy, which had a double-episode debut March 28, won its 8-9 p.m. time in total viewers (13.7 million), adults 18-49 (5.7/15) and adults 18-34 ...
CHARTER LIBERATES ITV.(Charter Communications, interactive television)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Charter Communications will deploy Liberate Technologies' Liberate TV Platform software in its rollout of interactive cable-TV services to its digital set-top boxes. The company has tested the software in a closed trial among more than 1 million customers ...
LOCAL SPIRIT.(cable television awards)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... The National Cable Television Association gave Community Spirit awards Last week to cable systems and regional networks with the best local programming. Cox Communications Louisiana, New Orleans, won in the category of large cable operators; Comcast, Southfield, Mich., medium-size cable ...
CORRECTIONS.(Correction Notice)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Television producer/writer Dick Wolf described remarks by DreamWorks' partner Jeffrey Katzenberg that Writers Guild of America demands, if granted, would bankrupt the industry as "ludicrous, incendiary, counterproductive and an insult to the intelligence of working writers." An editing ...
Odyssey to Hallmark.(cable channel changes name on August 6, 2001)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Crown Media renames channel and trims religious programming To no ones surprise, Crown Media confirmed that it will change the name of the long-slumbering Odyssey Channel to the Hallmark Channel. Crown, which is controlled by Hallmark Cards, already operates the Hallmark Channel ...
NO HEART MONITORING FOR NASCAR WIVES.(planned by TNT network)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... After briefly floating the idea, TNT killed a plan to hook up the wives of NASCAR drivers to heart monitors to gauge reactions as their husbands zoom around the track. TNT General Manager Steve Koonin Last week told reporters the network was pursuing the idea to enhance its ...
VH1 TAPS KRIM.(Rick Krim to VP position)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... VH1 turned to a music-publishing company for its new head of talent and music programming. Rick Krim was named executive vice president of the music network, responsible for all relations with music artists and label executives. That will include booking talent and helping bring artists ...
UPN Loves its Chains.(United Paramount Network to introduce 'Chains of Love' reality program)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Reality show that NBC changed its mind on debuts April 17 UPN may have the last laugh on reality project Chains of Love. The "social experiment," also known as the controversial reality project that NBC backed out of, is ready to go at the weblet. The series from the ...
TEXAS JUSTICE SCORES.(new court television show begins with strong ratings)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Twentieth Television's limited-release court show Texas Justice premiered with some strong ratings last week. The syndicated series, being regionally launched on six co-owned Fox TV stations, was first in its time period in four markets on Monday, March 26. Texas ...
FOX FAMILY GROWING.(Fox Family Channel plans for new series and movies)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... On Wednesday, Fox Family Channel announced 12 new series in its 2001-02 development slate, as well as nine movies and a reality event. It's the network's first development initiative under Tom Halleen, the new head of prime time programming. Included are shows from ...
SAG'S SAGGING FORTUNES.(Screen Actors Guild reports decline in membership earnings)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Apr 02, 2001 ... The Screen Actors Guild reported an $84 million decline in earnings by its membership in 2000. SAG says its actors nationwide earned $1.59 billion under union contracts in 2000, down ...
Oscar dips, but ABC still rules.(Academy Awards show has lower ratings but still helps ABC with viewship ratings)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Apr 02, 2001; ... The 73rd Annual Academy Awards will go down in history as the lowest-rated telecast to date. It also logged the fewest total viewers of any Oscarcast in the past four years. Even so, it gave ABC a boost in the weekly ratings race. The show averaged a 262 rating/40 share in ...
TOP 25 SHOWS.(television show ratings)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Apr 02, 2001 ... <Pre>TOP 25 SHOWS HH HH Rank Program AA GAA 1 Wheel of Fortune10.2 10.2 2 Jeopardy 8.3 8.3 3 Judge Judy 6.1 8.6 4 Entertainment Tonight5.9 6.0 ...
Seinfeld sails into second cycle.(popular television program enters second round of syndication)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... The most expensive and, at the same time, most profitable cycle of off-network television begins this week in syndication with the rollout of Seinfeld's second rerun effort. The former NBC sitcom's second cycle starts nationally with a handful of new homes and new time periods, ...
BOZO FOLDS HIS TENT.(Bozo the Clown)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Competition from kids networks like Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel has led to the end of the 40-year run of WGN-TV Chicago's Bozo the Clown, the last of more-than-200 Bozos that have hosted local daily TV kids shows since 1949. The final Bozo Super Sunday Show, now a weekly, will air ...
KCBS-TV INFORMANT SENTENCED TO JAIL.(Robert Mullally )(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... A legal consultant who admitted to leaking confidential Los Angeles police information to a KCBS-TV reporter was sentenced to 60 days in prison for contempt of court. An appeal is likely. The files Robert Mullally says he leaked to reporter Harvey Levin, now a producer with The ...
O'BRIEN TO EXIT KTVU.(Kevin O'Brien head manager of Oakland, CA, television station to retire)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Kevin O'Brien, who has run Cox's KTVU(TV) Oakland, Calif., since 1986, says he will retire when his contract with the company ends in December. O'Brien says he might take some time off but plans to continue working, probably in television, and would consider coming back in a station-group ...
SIGN-ON TO SIGN-ON.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Nelson Sears, WGAL-TV Lancaster, Pa.'s first employee, signed onto the station back in 1949 as a 22-year-old just out of the army. Last week, when the station inaugurated its digital channel (58), it was Sears again, now 74, signing on. "We were sitting ...
THE MARKET.(Savannah, GA, television market)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... <Pre> THE MARKET DMA rank100 Population 680,000 TV homes260,000 Income per capita $12,922 TV revenue rank 101 TV revenue$39.3 million COMMERCIAL TV ...
Moving forward by looking back.(Savannah, GA, television stations see some market softness despite strength in local econmy)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... People in Savannah, Ga., don't doubt the power of the printed word, not since the publication in 1994 of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The book, which resided on the Publishers Weekly hardcover bestseller list for 171 weeks, launched a tourism boom in this historic Southeastern ...
CABLE'S TOP 20.(top 20 cable television shows for the week ranked by viewership rating)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Apr 02, 2001 ... <Pre> CABLE'S TOP 20 Ranked by rating. Cable rating is coverage area rating within each basic cable network's universe; U.S. rating is of 100.8 million TV households. ...
BroadcastWatch.(major television network viewship ratings for the week March 19-25)(Statistical Data Included)
Apr 02, 2001 ... <Pre> BroadcastWatchMARCH 19-25 Broadcast network prime timeratings according to Nielsen Media Research Week abc ...
Baseball gets the bucks.(broadcasting rights)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Broadcast rights jump 14.7% from 2000, and games continue migration to cable Regional cable networks and local TV and radio broadcasters are still paying big bucks for the local rights to carry games. They spent roughly $469 million this year, 14.7% more than last year, ...
LOCAL TV AND RADIO LINEUP.(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
Apr 02, 2001 ... <Pre> LOCAL TV AND RADIO LINEUP BROADCAST TV % of reg. # of Team Flagshipseason stations ...
TV Sports: A numbers game.
Apr 02, 2001; ... Picking the winner is easier on the field than off Figuring out which is the best deal in TV sports is a lot like deciding on the best athlete ever. It's a tangle of competing claims and intangible values. And when the competition is to find the best deal, the answer is even ...
For love of the game.
Apr 02, 2001; ... Baseball's most visible fan discusses the relationship between sports on the field and on the air When it comes to TV sports, no one is more familiar with the ins and outs of the business than Bob Costas. The longtime NBC Sports anchor and play-by-play man is never one to hold ...
Reynolds' rough road.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... New head of CBS TV Stations faces turnaround task Job one for Fred Reynolds, the newly appointed president of CBS Television Stations: Fix the stations in the top three markets--WCBS-TV New York, KCBS-TV Los Angles and WBBM-TV Chicago. That's according to Reynolds' boss, CBS ...
Tracking Rainbows.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Cablevision network unit spins off, looks to expand After years of pondering, planning, false starts and an aborted auction of its core networks, Rainbow Medlia is finally getting some legs of its own--and walking right into the teeth of a recession. Cablevision ...
Changing Hands.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Combos KBGG(AM), KGGO(FM), KHKI(FM) and KJJY(FM) Des Moines and KRKQ(FM) Boone/Des Moines, Iowa Price: $30 million Buyer: Wilks Broadcasting LLC, Newton Mass.(Jeffrey Wilks, CEO); owns/is buying five other FMs and two other AMs, all Mich. or Mo. ...
Media goes a-courtin'.
Apr 02, 2001; ... After D. C. court doffs cable caps, others want the same The cable industry struck gold with the D.C. federal appeals court decision last month striking down the 30% cap on a cable company's audience. Such news travels fast on the information highway, and it didn't take long for ...
WOOD WON'T BE GOING TO THE FCC OR THE NTIA.
Apr 02, 2001 ... Pat Wood has been nominated to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, so he won't be joining the FCC or heading the ...
MOODY'S POSITS DEREG DOWNSIDE.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... A new buying binge could send the credit ratings of media companies into a tailspin if the FCC relaxes broadcast ownership restrictions, Moody's debt analysts argue. Moody's predicts the FCC will remove the ban on same-market TV-station/newspaper ownership and also will raise the cap on ...
REGAN HEADS NEWS CORP. D.C. OFFICE.(Michael Regan, News Corporation Ltd., Washington D.C.)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Michael Regan starts as the new head of News Corp.'s Washington office April 9. He comes to News Corp. from wireless ...
FDA REVIEWS DRUG ADS.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Facing concerns that patient demand for prescription drugs is needlessly raising the cast of health care, the Food and Drug Administration will begin a long-planned review of the impact of drug ads on TV, the agency announced ...
REG FEES RISE.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Radio stations, some TV stations and winners of permits to build new broadcast facilities would pay higher regulatory fees to the FCC this year under proposed charges unveiled by the FCC last week. Charges to VHF TV stations in top-10 markets would rise ...
EXPERIMENT AWAY.(broadcasters and experimental licenses)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Broadcasters may hold more than one experimental license, the FCC said last week. The National Association of Broadcasters had ...
Powell takes the Hill.(Michael Powell, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Says FCC is poised to tackle dereg issues; gets rave reviews The FCC set a May date to start considering again whether companies can own TV stations and newspapers in the same market, FCC Chairman Michael Powell said last week. Those comments came at his first congressional ...
'Click me out to the ballgame'.(audio Webcasts)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Major League Baseball offers a new way for fans to catch the action: audio Webcasts America's oldest pastime is a believer in new media. That's the upshot of Major League Baseball's Advanced Media's (MLBAM) decision to offer live audio Webcasts of all MLB games, as well as a ...
Wireless weather.(My-Cast radar readings)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... My-Cast tests personal forecasts for cell phones, PDAs Weather forecasting is, for the most part, a visual endeavor. If it weren't, you wouldn't have spent a fair chunk of change on the interactive weather map your on-camera meteorologists use to display tomorrow's expected ...
Switcher for the rest of us.(Zodiak digital switcher)
Apr 02, 2001; ... GVG looks to regain workhorse status with affordable, digital Zodiak In an effort to replicate its analog market share in live digital production, Grass Valley Group is introducing the Zodiak digital switcher, which offers many of the high-end features of the company's flagship ...
Watch DTV on a PC.(digital television on a personal computer)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... AccessDTV plug-in costs less than $500 Price is often cited as one reason consumers have been slow to embrace digital television. Only high-tech enthusiasts with deep pockets have been willing to pay the premium for a new over-the-air digital receiver, necessary to enjoy DTV at ...
AVID/DS HD SHIPS.(Avid Technology Inc.)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Avid Technology is now shipping its Avid/DS HD nonlinear production system for conforming and finishing projects at multiple uncompressed HDTV and SDTV resolutions. Avid/DS HD ...
ADC LAUNCHES BROADBAND PLATFORM.(Broadband Services Platform)(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... ADC has launched its Broadband Services Platform (BSP) for deployment in the wireless, wireline and ISP markets. Based on ADC's existing architecture, the BSP enables service providers to integrate multiple media sources and disparate voice-mail ...
VOD ON DSL.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... ZoomTown.com, a Cincinnati-based subsidiary of next Broadwing Inc., and Intertainer have announced that ZoomTown will be the nation's first broadband provider to deploy video-on-demand throughout its system. ZoomTown has more than 40,000 broadband ...
LSI Logic buys C-Cube.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Acquisition pairs digital video with decoder technology LSI Logic Corp., Milpitas, Calif., has agreed to acquire chip maker C-Cube Microsystems Inc., in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at approximately $878 million. LSI Logic said it expects to complete the transaction in ...
People FATES & FORTUNES.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001 ... Broadcasting Lisa Lindstrom, acting general counsel, WETA Washington, named general counsel. Phil Clark, audience development manager, KNTV(TV) Omaha, Neb., named on-air promotions manager, KPTM(TV)/KXVO(TV) Omaha. Cable Harriet Novet, VP, ...
Obituary.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
Apr 02, 2001; ... Joseph Peter Ulasewicz, NBC'S VP of operations and technical services from 1979 to 1991, died of a heart attack on March 9. He was 74. In the early 1950s, after obtaining his masters degree in engineering, Ulasewicz rose through RCA ranks, reaching the level of VP/GM for the ...
A sitcom supernova.(Brief Article)
Apr 02, 2001; ... She's the 'girl who kept bringing in those odd and unique pilots' When Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner made Caryn Mandabach a full partner this year, renaming their studio Carsey-Werner-Mandabach, they recognized the achievements of one of Hollywood's top TV producers, one of the ...