Daily Marauder

BROADCAST/CABLE by Marauder

BROADCAST/CABLE

Lifetime’s “Army Wives” began its second season Sunday night and was watched by 4.5 million people, according to Nielsen Media Research, the biggest audience ever for an original drama on the channel. The series drew well in all key age groups: averaging 805,420 women 18 to 34, 1.96 million women 18 to 49 and 1.97 million women 25 to 54. (Mediaweek 6/9)

Click below for the first episode of season 2.

ESPN is getting ready to blanket the U.S. Open golf tournament, presenting the event on a whopping 15 platforms, including ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN360.com, ESPN Radio and ESPN Mobile TV. The sports channel will offer 14 hours of live coverage in the first two rounds alone. (Mediaweek 6/9)

HBO has ordered up a new scripted series – Bored to Death, from 3 Arts Entertainment, contingent on casting, reports Variety.  The story is about a writer from Brooklyn who after a nasty breakup, begins to daydream he’s a private eye in an old novel, and the idea becomes a reality as he hires himself out as an amateur detective. (Cynopsis 6/10)

In a twist on the typical “dating” series format, MTV ordered 6 episodes of Bromance, a reality show where guys will compete to be a new best pal of The Hills star Brody Jenner. Guys will try to corner Brody to get noticed while one will be eliminated from Brody’s bachelor pad each week, similar in style to MTV’s A Shot at Love or ABC’s The Bachelor. (Cynopsis 6/10)

VH1 approved a new series from Lionsgate called Scream Queens where 10 wannabe actresses compete for a role in a horror flick produced by Lionsgate Films, according to THR. (Cynopsis 6/10)

If Time Warner is considering an acquisition of NBC Universal — as has been speculated since the media conglomerate announced it would spin off Time Warner Cable — it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen anytime soon. Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes said the company did not “need to or have a particular agenda” when it came to NBCU, which includes a number of big cable networks. (Reuters 6/9, Variety 6/9)

Despite lower prime-time ratings and a weak economy, the five major broadcast networks  — ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and CW — should bring in nearly $9.2 billion in prime-time business, about the same as last year. But the networks had to sell more inventory to maintain that level. (Iwantmedia 6/10, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-upfront10-2008jun10,0,5458989.story 6/10)

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman says that the company is unlikely to make a major large-cap acquisition, but will focus on smaller deals in the short term. He adds that the era in which big deals bring “value creation” is “largely over.” The company is likely to focus on smaller “tuck-in” deals. (Iwantmedia 6/10, http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/viacom-says-era-making-big/story.aspx?guid=%7B38B27AEC%2D6D52%2D481B%2DA388%2D9EE7745B4418%7D 6/9)

The FCC launched a proceeding on whether to let video program distributors remotely block consumers from recording recently released movies on their DVRs, reports Ars Technica. The FCC currently restricts the use of the Selectable Output Control (SOC) technology that blocks such access but the MPAA is seeking a waiver on the restriction in the case of HD movies broadcast prior to their release on DVD. (Cynopsis 6/10)

Time Warner Cable Chief Operating Officer Landel Hobbs said the company would nearly double its high-definition offerings in New York — from 55 channels to about 100 — and make its Start Over service available there soon. The moves come as Verizon plans to roll out its FiOS service in the Big Apple in the third quarter. (Multichannel News 6/9)

1 Comment so far
Leave a comment