Thursday, May 17, 2012



TV News from STUDIO BRIEFING

TALENT SHOWS NOT GOING OUT WITH A BANG

Last week ought to have been the week when the big talent-contest shows, American Idol and Dancing with the Stars, were trouncing everything in sight. To be sure, they still represented potent factors on the Nielsen ratings list, but they were no longer the force that they once had been. Indeed, the most-watched show of the week remained CBS’s... Read more of this article

STERN DEBUTS ON AGT; RATINGS FALL

The debut of Howard Stern on America’s Got Talent failed to boost ratings for the flagging talent show. In fact, the season premiere saw ratings plunge 30 percent from a year ago — to 10.3 million viewers, according to overnight Nielsens — versus the series’ season premiere a year ago. However, the Los Angeles Times noted that... Read more of this article

EX-NEWS INTERNATIONAL CHIEF DEFIANT AFTER BEING CRIMINALLY CHARGED

Rebekah BrooksThe former head of News International, the umbrella group for News Corp’s British newspapers, lashed out at authorities on Tuesday after she was formally charged with perverting the course of justice by allegedly attempting to conceal information about telephone hacking and bribing police and other public officials by reporters and... Read more of this article

CBS CHIEF WARNS HE’LL YANK NETWORK FROM DISH

Until now, DISH network’s plan to provide DVRs to subscribers that will allow them to skip commercials automatically has received a muted response from network executives. But CBS chief Les Moonves warned today (Wednesday) that his network plans to battle DISH over the DVRs. “They can’t just take our signal and change it and put on... Read more of this article

EX-NEWS CORP EXEC CRIMINALLY CHARGED IN SCANDAL

Brooks and MurdochRebekah Brooks, who was once one of Rupert Murdoch’s closest associates — sometimes called his protégée — is among the first persons criminally charged in the scandal that has hit Murdoch’s newspaper business in Britain The Crown Prosecution Service — comparable to the U.S. Attorney General’s... Read more of this article

NBC CHAIRMAN HOPPING MAD OVER HOPPER

Ted HarbertBesides unveiling its comedy-rich schedule of new programming for next season, NBC Broadcasting Chairman Ted Harbert on Tuesday called for some fundamental changes in the way other companies approach the business. In particular, he took a swipe at Echostar and its corporate cousin DISH network for its introduction of a new DVR called The... Read more of this article

CNN TO MAKE MOVIES

CNN is getting into the movie business. The website TVNewser.com reported on Monday that the cable news network is planning to develop “tentpole” documentaries under the banner CNN Films to be distributed theatrically and air on television — presumably over its own channel. They are expected to cover a variety of subjects. The first... Read more of this article

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES GOES OUT A WINNER

The two-hour series finale of ABC’s Desperate Housewives Sunday night averaged 11.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen overnight ratings. And while that wound up as the highest-rated show of the night, the ratings for it paled in comparison with those for early episodes of the season that regular drew 20 million or more viewers and once drew... Read more of this article

WILL YOUTUBE GRAB AD DOLLARS AWAY FROM TV?

Google-owned YouTube could see revenue from advertising increase by 40 percent or more from a year ago, according to Capstone analyst Rory Maher. In an interview with AllThingsD.com columnist Peter Kafka, Maher observed that while YouTube has been attempting to persuade advertisers to move money budgeted for television to its site, which is increasingly... Read more of this article

PIZZA HUT TURNS ASIDE PROTEST AGAINST HOWARD STERN

A campaign spearheaded by the conservative Parents Television Council calling for advertisers to boycott America’s Got Talent unless it removes shock jock Howard Stern as one of its new judges has apparently fallen on deaf ears. Most advertisers have simply ignored the organization, which in the past, has successfully mounted similar protests... Read more of this article

More Posts From TV News from STUDIO BRIEFING