MCCAIN CALLS FOR “UNBUNDLING” CABLE CHANNELS

Arizona Senator John McCain on Thursday introduced a bill, the Television Consumer Freedom Act, aimed at allowing consumers to buy cable and broadcast channels on an a la carte basis. In a statement, McCain said that American Cable Association President and CEO Matthew M. Polka told him, “My next-door neighbor is 74, a widow. She […]

CABLE OPERATORS MAY PUT A LID ON SOARING SPORTS COSTS

While cable and satellite operators have long complained about the cost of so-called retransmission consent fees — the fees demanded by broadcast stations to allow their signals to be carried by the operators — those fees actually pale in comparison with what the operators must pay to carry sports programming. And there are hints that […]

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION TO LAUNCH ITS OWN CABLE NETWORK

The Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and the Cartoon Network may soon have a new rival — a channel run by DreamWorks Animation. In a conference call on Thursday, DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg said that the company is in “active discussions” about launching its own cable network. In the meantime, DWA is busy selling TV shows […]

MOONVES URGES CABLERS TO DROP NETWORKS NO ONE WATCHES

CBS chief Les Moonves has urged cable operators to change their business model if they wish to cut costs — stop making package deals with giant media corporations to carry dozens of channels that no one watches. “The truth is that he who has the most eyeballs wins,” Moonves said in an interview with the […]

CAMPAIGNS POURING AD DOLLARS INTO CABLE

Following last week’s presidential debate, both the Obama and Romney campaigns have stepped up their cable-TV ad spending, the New York Post reported today (Friday) — the Romney campaign presumably to solidify reported gains among undecided voters made by their candidate and the Obama campaign to offset perceived losses among the undecideds. The newspaper observed […]

DIRECTV’S STRATEGY IN VIACOM DISPUTE SLAMMED

DirecTV may have blundered when it began telling subscribers on which websites they could find content from Viacom’s channels, after the channels went black on the satellite provider this week. BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield noted on Wednesday that DirecTV had only succeeded in calling attention to the fact that, unlike its cable competitors, it cannot […]

STUDY: SETTOP BOXES TO BE REPLACED BY SMARTPHONES, TABLETS, ETC.

Those settop boxes used to access movies and other content on TV sets from pay TV channels and the Internet may be going the way of the audio cassette recorder and the VCR, according to a new study by media researchers IHS Screen Digest. Use of those devices will likely drop more than 31 percent […]

SHEEN’S ANGER MANAGEMENT NABS CABLE RATINGS RECORD

Charlie Sheen made a spectacular TV comeback last Thursday when he new FX sitcom, Anger Management set a record as the most-watched scripted comedy in cable-TV history, according to Nielsen Research. The series’ debut episode attracted 5.47 million viewers — 2.65 million in the key 18-49 age group. The second episode, which aired immediately following […]

CABLE SUBSCRIBERS OPTING OUT — BY THE MILLIONS

In what analysts regarded as mostly a reflection of the overall dormant economy and consumers’ desire to cut costs rather than an exodus to online content, a survey by research firm GfK Media on Monday revealed that the number of homes that only receive TV reception over the air increased from 15 percent in 2011 […]

NEW YORK POST: CNN’S JIM WALTON LIKELY TO BE OUSTED

CNN may finally be preparing to take direct action to deal with its hemorrhaging ratings, although it is unlikely to make any significant moves before the Nov. 6 elections, the New York Post reported today (Friday), citing several unnamed sources. The newspaper said that senior management is drawing up a short list of potential candidates […]

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