ANALYST: TIME WARNER WILL WIN BATTLE WITH CBS

The CBS eye will go blind over Time Warner cable systems today (Monday) barring a last-minute breakthrough in negotiations between the television network and the cable system. While broadcasters have traditionally had the upper hand in dealing with cable providers over retransmission consent agreements, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said in a note to clients on […]

CBS WINS 18-49 DEMO CROWN: FIRST TIME IN 21 YEARS

For the first time since the 1991-92 season, CBS has wrapped up the current (2012-13) season with the lead in the key 18-49 age group. It also led among total viewers as well, as it had in 10 of the previous 11 years, its average boosted this year by its coverage of the Super Bowl […]

FOX’S AMERICAN IDOL FINALE COLLAPSES IN RATINGS

How the mighty has fallen — Fox’s American Idol, that is. For most of its history, the season finale of the talent contest has drawn more viewers than any regular weekly TV show, averaging around 30 million viewers. In 2003, the season finale peaked with 38.1 million. By last year it was down to 21.5 […]

BIG BANG SHOOTS DOWN AMERICAN IDOL

CBS’s Thursday-night lineup returned with original episodes and easily polished off all the competition, including Fox’s American Idol. Although its ratings were clearly affected by the battle with Idol, The Big Bang Theory nevertheless drew 17.51 million viewers to Idol‘s 13.73 million. NBC’s 30 Rock finale wound up with 4.80 million viewers. At 8:30 p.m. […]

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW BLASTS CBS, CUTS TIES WITH CNET

In a direct slap at CBS, the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) added DISH Network’s Hopper DVR as co-winner of its Best of Show award. The Razer Edge gaming tablet had initially been announced as the winner after CNET, which usually determines the award, was ordered by CBS to exclude the Hopper from competition. The […]

DISH HITS BACK AT CBS OVER AWARD INTERCESSION

Following reports that CBS, which owns the technology website CNET, blocked the site from giving DISH Network’s Hopper DVR its “Best of CES” award, DISH itself is taking out newspaper ads proclaiming that the Hopper was “Named Best in Show” followed by an asterisk. “What’s an asterisk doing in our award?” the ad asks, then […]

FOR NBC, THE STRUGGLE RETURNS

NFL football again scored first place in the ratings last week — but NBC didn’t carry it. The Green Bay Packers/San Francisco 49ers NFC playoff was broadcast by Fox, and it attracted 30.89 million viewers. NBC also didn’t have The Voice to prop up its ratings, either. In fact, aside from its coverage of the […]

BIG BANG THEORY — BIGGEST RATINGS BANG SINCE FRIENDS

Unless it falters substantially in the ratings between now and the end of the season in May, CBS’s The Big Bang Theory could turn out to be the most-watched sitcom since Friends went off the air in 2004, according to the website Zap2it.com. The website noted that first-run shows of the comedy are averaging 20.3 […]

STEPHEN KING SERIES TO BOW ON CBS NEXT SUMMER

A Stephen King series that was originally set to air on the Showtime pay-TV channel will instead air on CBS’s free broadcast network. Moreover, the 13-episode series, Under the Dome, will skip the pilot stage and go directly into production, the network said on Thursday. Even more curiously, CBS announced plans to air it next […]

CBS EYES HULU

CBS is not going to become a fourth owner of Hulu, joining the corporate parents of rival networks ABC, NBC, and Fox in the online video venture, but it has reached a non-exclusive agreement to license its library of old shows to Hulu’s subscription service, Hulu Plus, beginning in January. Included in the deal are […]

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