Daily Marauder

BROADCAST/CABLE

NBC began last week with its season premiere of Heroes averaging 14.1 million viewers and a 6.5/17 A18-49 rating.  Then Nielsen reminded everyone of its new rule, and as a result, the Saturday night airing of Heroes did two things — bulked up the Monday night Heroes average to 17 million viewers and a 7.3/17 A18-49 rating, and threw out the Saturday 8pm hour altogether.  And that helped NBC tie with ABC for the week in the demo, both coming in with a week-long average of a 3.9 rating.  At last word, Nielsen is reviewing the rule.

Heroes Season 2 Episode 1

NBC has a new focus on digital, says chief Jeff Zucker. And that means delivering its shows using more than a dozen methods that don’t necessarily include NBC-affiliated TV stations. Business models are “changing faster than a ‘Saturday Night Live’skit gets posted on YouTube.” (http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6486346.html 10/3)

MTV brings a new scripted drama Kaya to its line-up starting October 22 at 1030p. This original 30m series follows a young rock star teetering on destruction because of her success and fame. The first episode and a music video performed by the fictional Crossing Coldwater rock band will be offered exclusively to Time Warner On Demand subscribers October 15. Viewers will be able to access additional footage and bonus materials through various MTV platforms including Virtual Kaya which begins on premiere night. Created by LeVine, Kaya is a joint production between MTV and Protocol Entertainment and MGM is distributing the series internationally.  

VH1‘s Sunday night finale of Rock of Love with Bret Michaels posted a 4.0 rating with A18-49, making it the second highest-rated telecast in the network’s history. The final show where the rocker chose Jess to be his mate also averaged 4.1 million A18-49 viewers and 5.4 million total viewers.

The Sunday night season #2 premiere of Showtime‘s Dexter drew in just over a million viewers.  That’ll make Dexter happy on a few of fronts — it’s up considerably from its first season debut which pulled in just over 600,000 viewers; it nearly matched season one’s finale of 1.1 million viewers; and it was playing opposite the season premiere of Desperate Housewives and Cold Case on broadcast.

Dexter Season 2 Promo
 

Within the next four to 10 years, says Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer, as much as 25% of the software giant’s revenues are likely to come from advertising. Microsoft can already deliver advertising to new platforms such as in-game promotions and mobile-phone campaigns. (http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/oct2007/gb2007102_115679.htm 10/2) 

Despite not placing a single show in the top 20 programs in the third quarter, USA Network bested all other ad-supported cable networks in the quarter with an average prime-time delivery of 2.65 million viewers. The NBC Universal-owned channel also prevailed in the 18-to-34, 18-to-49 and 25-to-54 demographics, according to Nielsen Media Research. (Mediaweek 10/2)

PBS Kids Sprout will debut in Bakersfield, Calif., via Bright House Networks, which has about 110,000 customers in the area. Sprout, the kid-focused channel that is partially owned by Comcast, signed a corporate carriage agreement earlier in the year that included Time Warner Cable and Bright House. (Multichannel News 10/2)

Verizon has petitioned state regulators in Rhode Island to roll out its FiOS cable TV service to an additional 115,000 homes in 10 communities. The company already offers fiber optic TV to 80,000 households in the state. (The Providence Journal (R.I.) 10/3)