Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: HBO, Kim Cattrall, Mitchell Burgess, New York City, Real Housewives of New York City, Robin Green, Sex and the City, Time Warner
A trio of Bravo reality shows — “Top Chef: Chicago,” “The Real Housewives of New York City: The Lost Footage” and “Work Out” — have gotten off to a hot summertime start. Culinary cook-off “Top Chef,” for instance, is averaging 2.69 million viewers, a 20% increase over the same time last year. (Multichannel News 5/30)
Top Chef Chicago
HBO has picked up the US adaptation of the BBC Two comedy series Sensitive Skin, with Kim Cattrall in the lead role, reports THR. The series is written and exec produced by Mitchell Burgess and Robin Green. Cattrall will also take an exec producer role. The story revolves around a middle-aged NY wife and mother, who begins to question her choices in life as well as her sexuality. (Cynopsis 6/2)
Time Warner Cable is heading into one of the biggest crossroads of its corporate future. In this Q-and-A interview, CEO Glenn Britt talks about why the split with Time Warner makes sense, the company’s leap of faith with Clearwire and his skepticism about video for portable devices. (
The Wall Street Journal 6/2, The Wall Street Journal 6/2)
Most interesting in this clip is Britt’s thoughts on programming partners putting free content on the web day-and-date with linear television content. Suffice to say, he doesn’t like it.
Analyst views of Time Warner’s growth prospects once the media giant separates from its cable operating business are too low, says CEO Jeff Bewkes. Some analysts have estimated growth in the mid-single digit percentages. “We’re going to do considerably higher than that.” (Iwantmedia 6/2, http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSWEN599120080530 5/30)
Time Warner and General Electric are said to be starting “preliminary efforts to explore a commingling of their entertainment assets,” including GE’s NBC Universal. However, CEO Jeff Bewkes says: “We don’t need to own anything [else],” in a clear reference to NBCU. (Iwantmedia 6/2, http://www.newsweek.com/id/139425 6/1, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ie29ff31c80c6e3df1cd7337014291256 6/1)
Ad-supported cable nets accounted for 60% of all TV viewers in May, with TNT, USA, Disney and ESPN leading the way, according to an analysis of Nielsen data by the Disney-ABC Television Group. The analysis contained more bad news for broadcast networks: They were down 11%, to a household share of 40%. (Multichannel News 6/2)
At the end of 2007, DISH Network had 1.3 million HDTV subscribers. The company does not typically release subscriber counts, but the figure surfaced in documents filed with the New York state Supreme Court in a Voom lawsuit. (OneTRAK 6/1)
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