UNIVERSAL HOME VIDEO TO RELEASE BIGGEST BOX SET EVER

Some analysts have suggested that a principal reason for the recent fall-off in DVD sales is that many consumers have already filled their shelves with the product and that they simply have no room left for more. If that is the case, then Universal Home Video may be bucking the odds bigtime with its planned […]

IDOL‘S RATINGS CONTINUE TO SOAR

A two-hour performance edition of Fox’s American Idol Wednesday night utterly dominated the TV schedule as it averaged 23.04 million viewers — more than all of the other major networks combined. The talent contest — clearly unaffected by the departure of Simon Cowell — saw its audience rise to 24.36 million in the second hour. […]

NETWORKS TIE ON LOW-RATED WEDNESDAY

There was a virtual four-way tie among the major broadcast networks on Wednesday during the typically low-rated week before Christmas. Each of the networks averaged between 5 million (CBS) and 5.48 million (ABC) viewers. A repeat episode of CBS’s Criminal Minds at 9:00 p.m. that attracted 6.94 million viewers and a repeat of Law & […]

NBC’S LAW & ORDER FRANCHISE TAKES RATINGS HIT

Now, even NBC’s only two scripted shows that have been producing decent ratings are sinking. Wednesday night’s Law and Order: SVU and Law and Order: Los Angeles fell to season lows, with the latter drawing 8 million viewers and the former, 7.7 million. Earlier, its drama Undercovers, which has perched on the brink of cancellation […]

OWNERSHIP OF BRITAIN’S CHANNEL 5 RETURNS TO BRITAIN

British publisher Richard Desmond has bought Channel 5, the U.K. terrestrial television network, from Bertelsman’s Luxembourg-based RTL Group for $161 million. Desmond, who owns the London Daily Express, OK! magazine, and the Television X adult channel, is expected to encounter little opposition from regulators in completing the sale. Although Channel 5 broadcasts such hit American […]

WHERE DID THE TV AUDIENCE GO?

Ratings trackers were puzzling over figures for this year’s season finales — which not only were well below those for previous years but below several regular season episodes as well. “It seems to be an anticlimactic TV season,” industry publication MediaPost said on its website Thursday, a day after the 2009-2010 season officially closed. Even […]

NBC SENDS “LAW AND ORDER” UP THE RIVER

NBC confirmed today (Friday) that it is canceling Law & Order, its longest-running primetime series ever. The series finale, due to air on May 24, will mark the end of the line for the New York-based show that spawned imitators and spinoffs, including next season’s planned Law & Order: Los Angeles. NBC’s decision to cancel, […]

GOODBYE, “BETTY”

ABC’s Ugly Betty aired its series finale Wednesday night, and the results weren’t pretty. The episode drew 5.4 million viewers, slightly better than its season average but nevertheless putting it in last place in its 10:00 p.m. time period. By contrast, CBS’s CSI: NY came in first with 10.9 million viewers and NBC’s Law & […]