DISH TO NEW SUBSCRIBERS: HBO OR IPAD?

DISH, the satellite TV provider, which, like its cable competitors, has generally offered new subscribers big discounts for pay-TV channels, will, effective on May 22, begin offering them an alternative choice: a free Apple iPad for use with its Hopper and Sling technology (with a 24-month contract). DISH customers will thus be able to watch […]

WHAT WILL THE SAG AWARDS BE CALLED NOW?

The merger of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists into a single union called SAG-AFTRA left one major question unresolved: What will the SAG Awards show now be called? Well, for next year at least, it will continue to be called the SAG Awards, according to Daily Variety. […]

REPEATS OF POPULAR COMEDIES PUT TBS ATOP RATINGS CHART

Analysts are scratching their heads over the emergence of TBS as the top-rated cable channel among the all-important 18-49 age group despite the fact that not one of its shows is listed among the top 50 on cable TV and that not one is a first-run original. Today’s (Thursday) New York Times summarized the channel’s […]

HARRY POTTER FINALE LIFTS TIME WARNER

Time Warner’s earnings for the third quarter came in ahead of analysts’ predictions today (Wednesday), thanks mainly to the magic of Harry Potter. The company’s Warner Bros. unit reported its best quarter in history with profit up an extraordinary 153 percent, much of it coming from ticket sales for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: […]

SPORTS BOOSTING CABLE RATINGS TO BROADCAST LEVELS

High-profile sports events increasingly make cable-TV networks competitive with broadcast network programming, recent ratings results suggest. For example, if cable network TBS had been a broadcast network, it would have ranked third Thursday night with its coverage of the American League playoff game between the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers. The network attracted […]

TBS PLANS TO BOLSTER CONAN’S SHOW WITH STRONGER PROGRAMS

Despite Conan O’Brien’s plummeting ratings, TBS plans to invest heavily in new programming to air before and after his 11:00 p.m. show, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Thursday). The newspaper reported today (Thursday) that O’Brien’s ratings have tumbled about 60 percent since his premiere last September (to 958,000 viewers from 2.4 million) and that […]

GEORGE LOPEZ LOPPED OFF TBS

TBS’s hope of creating a solid two-hour late-night block of Conan O’Brien followed by George Lopez has gone the way of the primetime Jay Leno/O’Brien-Tonight-show fiasco, with Lopez axed after less than a year in his midnight timeslot (and O’Brien struggling in the ratings). TBS, however, is not allowing Lopez the long goodbye that NBC […]

TBS SHOOTS DOWN RUMORS OF NEW CHARLIE SHEEN SHOW

A spokesman for TBS has denied rumors, first reported by Radar Online, that spread online Monday that Charlie Sheen was close to signing a deal with Lionsgate to star in a new sitcom that would be carried by the Time Warner-owned cable network. The Hollywood Reporter quoted a TBS spokesperson as saying, “TBS is not […]

BASEBALL LIKELY TO BENEFIT FROM NFL, NBA PLAYER DISPUTES

Disputes between players and owners of NFL and NBA franchises that threaten to shut down the fall seasons for professional football and basketball have caused advertisers to redirect some of their spending to Major League Baseball and college football telecasts, Daily Variety reported today (Monday). The first weeks of the baseball season have already shown […]

MARCH MADNESS STRIKES AMERICAN IDOL

Airing on CBS and three cable networks — Time Warner/Turner-owned TBS, TNT, and truTV — the NCAA men’s basketball tournament scored a combined 17 million viewers and drew viewers away from their regular Thursday-night programs. All four major broadcast networks recorded significant drops in ratings. In particular, Fox’s American Idol fell to a season low. […]

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