IS SIMON COWELL THE REAL X FACTOR IN X FACTOR?

Simon Cowell is reportedly preparing to return to the British version of The X Factor following the show’s plummeting ratings. Its weekend finale on ITV drew the fewest number of viewers for a finale in seven years — down 1.3 million viewers from a year ago. While it was once the most-watched show on British […]

RNC CAN’T CRACK TOP 20 IN RATINGS

So far as the individual broadcast networks were concerned, their expensive coverage of the Republican National Convention was pretty much a bust. No network managed to place a single night of convention coverage in the top 20. That list was dominated primarily by reruns, reality shows, and ABC’s Saturday Night Football. Once again, NBC’s America’s […]

FOOTBALL DOMINATES RATINGS AGAIN

Its ratings fell far short of overwhelming — just 4.9 million viewers tuned in — but Fox’s preseason NFL telecast on Friday was tops among 18-49-year-old viewers and gave the struggling network a rare win for the night. The telecast started off strongly, but by the time the evening was over, with the Detroit Lions […]

ALL-STAR GAME A DECISIVE HIT FOR FOX

Last week’s Major League Baseball All Star Game helped lift Fox to No. 1 in the ratings among the key 18-49 age group and to second place among adults overall. CBS remained the most-watched network of the week, thanks to its summer reality series, Big Brother, and to solid rerun performances by its Thursday-night sitcom […]

MLB MAY SCORE $1 BILLION IN DEAL WITH NETWORK

With its current deals with ESPN, Fox and Turner set to expire at the end of the season next year, Major League Baseball is being wooed by CBS and NBC, each of which is offering what today’s (Tuesday) New York Post described as “a mountain of cash” to take over exclusive rights to the telecasts. […]

BRAVE RIGHT ON TARGET WITH $66.7 MILLION

Disney’s Pixar kept its 13-film winning streak alive over the weekend by posting an estimated $66.7 million in ticket sales for Brave, topping the high end of expectations. The victory follows on the heels of Disney’s triumph with The Avengers, from its other acquired studio, Marvel, which has piled up nearly $600 million domestically and […]

NETWORKS IN LEGAL BATTLES ON TWO FRONTS

Efforts by the major broadcasters to protect their business models against technological innovations hit legal roadblocks in two New York courtrooms on Wednesday. In one, a federal judge granted the DISH satellite service a temporary restraining order that in effect blocks Fox from pursuing a copyright infringement lawsuit against it over its ad-skipping Hopper DVR […]

THREE NETWORKS SUE DISH OVER HOPPER

As expected, DISH Network was hit with lawsuits by NBC, Fox and CBS on Thursday over its Hopper DVR that allows users to skip and erase commercials automatically. (ABC said that it is monitoring the situation.) In its statement, CBS said, “This service takes existing network content and modifies it in a manner that is […]

CBS: THE MOST-WATCHED NETWORK OF 2011-12

With ratings for television’s big talent contests down markedly from previous years, CBS — the only network that does not air such contests — boasted that it is winding up the season with the largest margin of victory by any network in 23 years. At least, so far as total viewers are concerned. Among the […]

NCIS BACK ON TOP OF RATINGS HEAP

NCIS returned to the top of the Nielsen list as the most-watched show last week, eclipsing the top talent contests such as American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, and The Voice, even as they neared the end of the season. The drama, which drew 17.6 million viewers, helped CBS win the week among total adult […]

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