Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Cable television, Cablevision, Comcast, Disney Channel, NBC Universal, NFL Network, Rainbow Media, Sundance Channel
Yesterday, the NFL Network filed a discrimination complaint to the FCC against the Comcast Corp. NFL Network alleges Comcast violated federal law pertaining to equal treatment requirements. More specifically, the NFL Network says the Comcast-owned sports networks are more widely distributed on Comcast cable systems than the NFL Network. The NFL Network would like to move off the sports programming tier, which reaches about 1 million subscribers, to the broadest cable tier which reaches approximately 24 million households. (Cynopsis 5/7)
Cablevision plans to pay $496 million to acquire the Sundance Channel from NBC Universal. Once the deal is complete, the channel will become fully owned by Cablevision’s Rainbow Media unit. (Reuters 5/7)
Subscriber growth and increased ad revenue paced a strong fiscal second quarter for Walt Disney Co. cable channels. Overall, cable nets such as ESPN and Disney Channel added 9% in revenue and 14% in operating income during the period. (OneTRAK 5/6)
CMT renewed the series Gone Country with John Rich as host for a sophomore season. Gone Country 2 will follow seven new celebrities from various entertainment sectors, giving them each a chance to become a country music star. (Cynopsis 5/7)
Season four of Bravo’s Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List kicks off on June 12 at 9p and a week later on June 19 moves to its regular time period of 10p. Over nine new episodes, Kathy is involved in different antics from performing a wedding in Queens to opening the Kathy Griffin Leadership Academy in Mexico. (Cynopsis 5/7)
It is likely ABC will pick up the David E. Kelley pilot Life on Mars taking it to series, tho rumors abound whether or not Kelley will chose to be a part. Reportedly, financial considerations are making him think twice. ABC Studios and 20th TV may jointly produce and October Road creators Josh Appelbaum, Andrew Nemec and Scott Rosenberg are also in talks about executive producing. However, the deciding factor of where Life on Mars ends up is Kelley’s decision as he created the U.S. version and owns the rights to it. Life on Mars is based on a British series about a 21st century detective working in the 1970s. (Cynopsis 5/7)
Comedy Central will pay $2.7 million to the Weinstein Co. for the cable rights to theatricals “Superhero Movie,” “Fanboys” and “The Promotion.” The Viacom-owned cable network can premiere “Superhero” in September 2010, “Fanboys” in December of that year and “Promotion” the following March. (Variety 5/6)
Dan Rather is firing another round against his former network, charging in an amended lawsuit that CBS labeled the anchor “too hot to handle.” Rather claims that CNN, ABC, NBC and others mulled possible employment but eventually declined because he had “too much baggage.” (Iwantmedia 5/7, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i00cf1beb205423cd0abd1ec0d118e154 5/7)
Ryan Seacrest is in “serious negotiations” to take over CNN’s “Larry King Live” around the end of the year, according to a source at the news network. King has said that Seacrest would be his first choice to take over the show when the time came: “He’s the classic generalist.” (Iwantmedia 5/7, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24487723 5/7)
Um. . .really?
DirecTV reupped its reality series Supreme Court of Comedy for a second season, per Variety. The series looks at real life small claims cases but with comics portraying attorneys. (Cynopsis 5/7)
DirecTV is posting a higher quarterly profit as the U.S. satellite television service provider adds more subscribers than expected. The John Malone-controlled company added 275,000 net subscribers during the quarter; analysts had forecast subscriber additions at 202,000. (Iwantmedia 5/7, http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN0650751020080507 5/7)
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