VIACOM’S PROFITS NOSEDIVE

Viacom, whose media companies include Nickelodeon and the MTV and Turner cable channels as well as Paramount Pictures, said today (Thursday) that its profit plunged 65 percent in the last quarter, attributing the fall to a one-time $379-million charge to cover an arbitration award to shareholders of “Rock Band” videogame maker Harmonix. Excluding the Harmonix [...]

NICKELODEON GIVING FREE ADS TO SPONSORS

With Nielsen ratings indicating that Nickelodeon’s kids audience has fallen 15-20 percent in recent months, the Viacom-owned channel has wasted no time giving advertisers “make goods” for its failure to deliver guaranteed audience levels, MediaPost said on its website today (Monday). Moreover, the channel is providing advertisers on-air inventory in the third quarter, the most [...]

NICKELODEON FORCED TO GIVE ADVERTISERS MAKE-GOODS

Unable to find what it said was an apparent glitch in Nielsen’s ratings methodology that could have been responsible for an “inexplicable” plunge in the ratings of its Nickelodeon kids channel, Viacom has begun offering its advertisers “make-goods” — essentially free time — that are contractually required when audience levels fall below a guaranteed threshold, [...]

NICKELODEON: WHERE DID ALL THE KIDS GO?

When Viacom released its third-quarter results earlier this month, CEO Philippe Dauman described the steady loss of viewers at its Nickelodeon kids channel as “inexplicable.” Now new data from Nielsen Research showing a 1.7 percent overall rise in preteen TV viewers make the Nickelodeon losses appear even more inexplicable. Today’s (Tuesday) Wall Street Journal observes [...]

REDSTONE’S BIRTHDAY PRESENT: $84 MILLION

Sumner Redstone on Thursday received a fine birthday present, two days before he turns 88. Viacom, home of Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, Spike TV, MTV, BET, TV Land, VH1 and Comedy Central, increased its quarterly dividend to 25 cents a share, up from 15 cents a share — a whopping 67 percent boost — which increases [...]

MTV CHIEF RESIGNS — WAS SHE FORCED OUT?

In what several reports suggested was the end of an era, Judy McGrath resigned Thursday as CEO of Viacom’s MTV Networks, which include MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. It was not clear whether she was pushed or jumped. McGrath’s history at MTV goes back to its origins as a video jukebox 30 years ago, [...]

CABLE NETWORKS PUT VIACOM BACK IN THE BLACK

With ad revenue at its cable networks up 12 percent in its second quarter, Viacom on Thursday reported higher-than-expected profits of $39 million. A year ago, it reported an $83-million loss for the same quarter. Each of the media company’s principal networks, including MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon and BET, reported strong earnings. The company in particular [...]

FCC TO PROBE NEW NICKELODEON KID SHOW

The FCC has agreed to look into complaints by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood that the upcoming Nickelodeon cartoon series Zevo-3 violates the 1990 Children’s Television Act which limits the amount of commercial time in children’s programming to 10.5 minutes per hour. The show, sponsored by Skechers, the shoe company, uses characters from Skechers [...]

DANCING TRIPS NEW SHOWS

An array of new shows entered the ratings competition Monday night, officially the first night of the new season. But it was the two-hour season premiere of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars that danced away with honors as it averaged 21.01 million viewers from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Despite strong competition, the show outperformed [...]

MOVIE REVIEWS: ALPHA AND OMEGA

Alpha and Omega, the critics suggest, is barely a step above the familiar fare found most hours of the day on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel or on just about any broadcast network channel on Saturday morning. Except that it’s in 3D. And people in the industry will be waiting to see the results, which should [...]

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