OPRAH’S CABLE NETWORK MAKES GAINS IN FIRST QUARTER

Just when some analysts were shaking their heads over the dismal ratings for Oprah Winfrey’s cable network OWN, with some predicting that it could go down and cost Discovery Networks dearly — as much as $145 million — the network on Wednesday released a statement boasting of huge audience increases in the first quarter. In [...]

TALENT-SHOW FACE-OFF; BOTH SIDES LOSE

NBC’s The Voice and ABC’s Dancing with the Stars fought it out between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Monday night, and each of them ended up bloodied by the other. The premiere of DWTS captured 18.47 million viewers, but that was down 18 percent from the 22.66 million viewers who tuned in a year ago. [...]

DVR GAINING POPULARITY

Thanks to the DVR, Americans are spending more time in front of their TV sets than ever before, Nielsen Research observed on Wednesday. In a new study, Nielsen noted that DVR usage has grown from 1.6 percent in 2006 to nearly 8 percent in 2011 — 10 percent in the case of women 18-54. The [...]

IDOL‘S RATINGS: BANGED AGAIN

The first half hour of Fox’s American Idol vied with CBS’s The Big Bang Theory Thursday night, and it appeared that — like last week — ratings results for the two shows among adults 18-49 would come down to a photo finish when final numbers are counted, with actual differences statistically insignificant. According to preliminary [...]

CHINA BLOCKS ALL FOREIGN SHOWS IN PRIMETIME

A new Great Wall is being built around Chinese television shows. China’s State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television on Tuesday banned all foreign-produced television programs during primetime and limited them to no more than 25 percent of a TV station’s lineup at other times. The official China Daily said that the rules were intended [...]

TV REVIEWS: SMASH

Pinning its recovery hopes on a show about a Broadway show, NBC is launching Smash tonight (Monday) with a $7-million pilot that will be followed by a weekly series costing $4 million per episode. (The network has also reportedly spent as much as $25 million to promote the series.) If the public’s reaction is anything [...]

IDOL RATINGS FALL AGAIN

Fox’s American Idol drew 18.19 million viewers Wednesday night. That was more than all of the other broadcast networks drew combined, but it was still way off previous seasons’ numbers. Among adults 18-49 ratings were down 9 percent from last Wednesday and down a whopping 34 percent from the comparable week a year ago, according [...]

REPORT: NETWORKS USING TRICKS TO BOOST RATINGS

Television networks often resort to chicanery and devious manipulation to boost the ratings of some lackluster shows, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing as a flagrant example the decision of ABC to label Good Morning America a “special” and identify it to ratings researcher Nielsen as Good Morning Amer during the final week [...]

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 [...]

SUPER BOWL ADS ATTRACT SUPER BUYERS

After Super Bowl XLV attracted the biggest audience in television history last year, it was probably inevitable that the prices for commercial time on this year’s telecast would rise, and according to MediaPost, they have — by 13-29 percent. Actual prices paid for 30-second spots on Sunday’s game, the trade publication said, range from $3.5-4.0 [...]

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