Saturday, July 31, 2010



TV News from STUDIO BRIEFING

ELLEN OUSTS HERSELF FROM IDOL

Delivering an appraisal of her performance on American Idol that was harsher than any she has delivered to a contestant, Ellen DeGeneres announced Thursday that she is quitting America’s most-watched TV series. “A couple of months ago, I let Fox and the American Idol producers know that this didn’t feel like the right fit for me,”... Read more of this article

ESPN MAKES ANOTHER CONTROVERSIAL LEBRON DECISION

ESPN was under fire Thursday after it pulled an article from its website by its Arash Markazi titled “A Kid in King James’ Court,” which described in less-than-flattering terms, a night out in Las Vegas by basketball superstar LeBron James. Rob King, head of digital media for ESPN, later issued a statement saying that the sports network... Read more of this article

SHERROD SAYS SHE’LL SUE BREITBART

Shirley Sherrod, the former Department of Agriculture official who was forced to resign after conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart posted a misleadingly edited video of her on his website in which she appeared to make racist comments, said Thursday that she intends to sue Breitbart. Following her resignation, an examination of the entire video... Read more of this article

GROUP BLASTS THAI GOVERNMENT OVER REPORTERS’ DEATHS

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has demanded that the Thai government reveal the results of official autopsies into the shooting deaths of Reuters cameraman Hiro Muramoto and Italian photographer Fabio Polenghi that occurred during its suppression of protest demonstrations in Bangkok last April and May. In a lengthy statement that... Read more of this article

UNIVISION HAS ITS BEST QUARTER EVER

Univision’s coverage of the World Cup lifted its second-quarter profits to record heights, it said Tuesday. The Spanish-language broadcast network reported net profit of $35.3 million versus a loss of $27.7 million during the comparable quarter a year ago. In fact, the soccer telecasts made Univision the No. 1 network among all broadcast networks... Read more of this article

ICAHN LOSES LATEST BATTLE WITH LIONS GATE

Activist investor Carl Icahn’s latest legal strike at the management of Lions Gate Entertainment misfired Wednesday when the British Columbia Securities Commission rejected his request to overturn the debt-for-equity swap with his former lieutenant, Mark Rachesky, that boosted Rachesky’s stake in the company while diluting his own. Icahn... Read more of this article

CBS PRESIDENT VOWS TO ADD MORE GAY CHARACTERS

CBS President Nina Tassler conceded Wednesday that she is “very disappointed” with her network’s progress in incorporating gay characters into its scripted shows. Asked about the failing grade that CBS received from the gay activist group GLAAD, Tassler told television critics meeting at their annual “tour” in Beverly Hills,... Read more of this article

ASK A SILLY QUESTION — GET A SILLY COLUMN

Washington Post TV columnist Lisa deMoraes made fun of one of her fellow critics attending the TV critics summer “tour” in Beverly Hills, CA, where TV program execs discuss their plans for the fall. At a news conference for CBS’s Nina Tassler, one reporter, referring presumably to the decision by ABC’s Steve McPherson to quit,... Read more of this article

REPORT: DEPARTING EXEC MCPHERSON ACCUSED OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Multiple sexual harassment complaints against Steve McPherson were being investigated by ABC when he resigned as ABC Entertainment president on Tuesday, the Hollywood Reporter reported today (Thursday), citing an informed source. According to the trade publication, the network had been conducting an investigation into McPherson’s behavior for... Read more of this article

COMCAST: MORE REVENUE, LESS PROFIT — NBC DEAL TO BLAME

If it weren’t trying to buy NBC, Comcast would have had an excellent second quarter, its latest SEC filing indicated. The cable company posted record revenue, much of it the result of customers switching to cable from DSL for higher speeds. Nevertheless, net income fell 8.6 percent to $884 million largely as a result of excessive legal and banking... Read more of this article

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