TIM ALLEN RETURNS TO TV, IMPROVES ABC’S RATINGS

Last Man Standing, Tim Allen’s new sitcom for ABC, landed on its feet Tuesday — yet another new comedy that appears to have caught on with viewers. Two half-hour episodes airing back-to-back at 8:00 p.m. averaged 13 million viewers, even though it aired opposite CBS’s hit NCIS, which averaged 18.7 million viewers. Third place in […]

TV VIEWING CONTINUES TO RISE

Despite competition from the Internet, a myriad of videogame platforms, cheap DVD rentals via Netflix, RedBox, and video-on-demand, broadcast and cable viewing actually increased slightly in 2010, according to Nielsen Research. As reported in Sunday’s New York Times, the average American watched 34 hours of television programming a week, up about 1 percent from 2009. […]

USA NETWORK REMAINS TOP CABLE NETWORK

While NBC remained the last-place broadcast network on average in 2010, USA Network, which is also owned by NBC Universal, will be taking the title as the No. 1 cable network for the fifth consecutive year, it boasted on Thursday. In a press release, USA said that it placed first in total viewers, adults 18-49 […]

NEW JERSEY ABANDONING MOVIE TAX CREDIS

New Jersey, a state that has used its tax-credit program to entice producers of The Wrestler, Julie and Julia, and such TV shows as Law & Order: SVU and Mercy, is likely to become the first state in the nation to abandon such a program for budgetary reasons, the Associated Press observed on Wednesday. It […]

TV ADS COST LESS IN FIRST HALF OF 2010

The average 30-second spot on network television cost $104,051 during the first six months of this year, down about 10 percent from the same period a year ago, according to MediaWeek magazine, which cited figures from TargetCast. Fox commanded the highest unit price, $200,008 per spot, while those for ABC and CBS went for an […]