Daily Marauder

BROADCAST/CABLE

Recent concern over a possible U.S. recession snowballed into fear of a full-fledged global downturn Monday as stock markets across Europe and Asia tumbled — some as low as seen after 9/11. Time Warner, Disney and News Corp. are all trading near 52-week lows. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ie223c6999f82414229f326b803d18cf7  1/22, http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117979411.html?categoryid=18&cs=1  1/21) 

Shares in Oprah Winfrey’s new cable television partner, Discovery, are outperforming all other media stocks — including News Corp., Disney and even the mighty Google. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is looking to Winfrey to boost subscriber fees and the cable channel company’s profile. (http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/21/news/companies/discovery_siklos.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008012112  1/21)

News Corp.’s Fox appears best positioned to weather the Hollywood writers strike, while Disney’s ABC may be hurt by it the most. ABC, which has the biggest scripted hits, also has a heavily female audience, which may be most susceptible to being stolen away by Fox’s “American Idol.” (http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/why-the-strike-may-hurt-abc-the-most  1/21)

The timing of the Hollywood writers strike is dealing a serious blow to the traditional programming development season. CBS is trimming its development slate, letting go of about 20 projects, most of them dramas. “Our development needs have changed,” the network says. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ie2ce917e12a453ac3dff90be1498ed5a  1/21) 

Big U.S. advertisers are the “WMDs” that striking writers will use to pressure the Academy Awards, according to a backroom consensus in Hollywood. If major marketers lose access to the Oscar audience, “they will force producers to cut a deal” with the writers’ union. (http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/bwiddicombe/index.html  1/22)

Showtime is sticking with “Brotherhood,” the critically acclaimed but ratings-challenged political drama. The channel has ordered up eight new episodes of the show, which runs after the critically acclaimed and ratings-attracting “Dexter.” (The Hollywood Reporter 1/22)

NBC Universal is paying $150 million for an initial 26% stake in India’s NDTV Networks, the holding company for the entertainment networks operated by broadcaster New Delhi Television. The Indian TV market is expected to grow at 16% annually, notes NBC boss Jeff Zucker. (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117979432.html?categoryid=19&cs=1  1/22)

Comcast on Tuesday will begin marketing TiVo’s interface as a premium software upgrade for DVR customers in the Boston area. TiVo wants the partnership with the U.S. cable giant to be a model for other cable deals that offer access to millions of new customers. (http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2008-01-21-comcast-tivo_N.htm  1/21)

Cable and telecom companies are reaping the benefits of a California law that allows them to change local franchise terms with state oversight. Among the companies that received state authorization for their systems in the local market are AT&T, Verizon, Wave Broadband, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox and Charter Communications. (Multichannel News 1/21)

Verizon has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against Cox, alleging infringement on eight patents linked to phone-service delivery through data-communications networks. Verizon is asking for an unspecified amount for damages and for Cox to be barred from using the patents. Verizon last year won a similar lawsuit against Vonage. (Multichannel News 1/22)