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 […]

FOOTBALL TO DOMINATE WEEKENDS FROM NOW ‘TIL SUPER BOWL

Each of the major networks, with the exception of ABC, will have a piece of the NFL playoff action in the run-up to CBS’s coverage of the Super Bowl on Feb. 3. On Sunday, the NFL released its calendar of playoffs beginning with next week’s Wild Card weekend that, starting on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. […]

RATINGS DOWN FOR ALL TV NETWORKS

It’s still not clear to what extent continued electrical outages on the East Coast may be affecting television ratings. But the overnight numbers for the broadcast networks on Monday night were down across the board. That is particularly unfortunate for the networks given the fact that this is a sweeps month. Once again ABC’s Dancing […]

NO BOX OFFICE REPORTS FOR DARK KNIGHT RISES THIS WEEKEND

Warner Bros. announced late today that they will not be releasing box office figures for The Dark Knight Rises until Monday “out of respect for the victims and their families.” The Hollywood Reporter quoted a studio spokesman as saying that it would be “insensitive” to be talking about the numbers in light of the midnight […]

DILLER BEATS THE NETWORKS — FOR NOW

Barry Diller won a major battle against the major broadcast networks on Wednesday when a federal judge declined to issue an injunction that would block his Aereo system from operating. “Now we can really begin telling television consumers they have an alternative,” the media veteran said in a statement. In its initial roll-out in New […]

STUDY: AD-SKIPPING RECORDERS COULD PLAGUE NETWORKS

Unless the broadcast and cable networks prevail in court, DISH Network’s new Hopper DVR, which automatically skips commercials on recorded shows, could increase 22 percent within four years to 11.7 million units, according to a study by IHS Screen Digest. That kind of proliferation could cause the networks to reexamine their advertiser-supported business model and […]

DISH NETWORK’S ERGEN DEFENDS AD-SKIPPING DVR

DISH Network Chairman Charlie Ergen has indicated that his company introduced its Hopper ad-skipping DVR in an effort to level the playing field between traditional TV and Internet TV. In an interview with today’s (Friday) Wall Street Journal, Ergen said said that the advent of cheap or free Internet video threatens the pay-TV ecosystem and […]

REPORT: GM DEMANDS NETWORKS CUT AD RATES

General Motors is getting tough with the major television networks. After deciding not to buy ads in next year’s Super Bowl telecast, the automaker is now demanding that each of the networks cut their advertising rates for the so-called upfront period when ad buyers make the bulk of their purchases, Advertising Age reported today (Monday). […]

NETWORKS IN LEGAL BATTLES ON TWO FRONTS

Efforts by the major broadcasters to protect their business models against technological innovations hit legal roadblocks in two New York courtrooms on Wednesday. In one, a federal judge granted the DISH satellite service a temporary restraining order that in effect blocks Fox from pursuing a copyright infringement lawsuit against it over its ad-skipping Hopper DVR […]

DILLER WINS ROUND ONE AGAINST NETWORKS

Barry Diller has won an unexpected early-round legal victory against the major broadcast networks, as a federal judge on Monday threw out an unfair-competition complaint that they had filed against Diller’s Aereo service. The service allows subscribers to use what Aereo calls their own dedicated antenna to retransmit favorite over-the-air TV shows via the Internet […]

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