Daily Marauder

BROADCAST/CABLE

Sci Fi Channel’s finale of Doctor Who on August 1 delivered a 1.0 HH rating and 1.26 million total viewers, according to Live + Same Day Nielsen data. In key demos, Dr. Who delivered 695,000 A25-54 and 588,000 A18-49.  Overall Season #4 was up over the previous season by 25% in household ratings, and 6% in both key demos. (Cynopsis 8/5)

Coming up next for AMC - a new political thriller, reports THR.  The project from Jason Horwitch is about a secret society who is using the political system as its own puppets, and a think tank analyst who realizes his employers are not what he thought they were. Production is scheduled to begin in October. (Cynopsis 8/5)

In a move that could potentially transform the way advanced video services are rolled out to viewers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York ruled Monday that DVRs that operate via a central storage server rather than a set-top storage device do not violate copyright law. Analyst Craig E. Moffett said the decision “means a huge increase in the number of viewing hours per day potentially subject to ad-skipping.” The use of networked technology paves the way for the delivery of interactive and dynamic advertising via recorded programs. The New York Times (8/5) , The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (8/5)

Cablers with 2,500 subscribers or fewer that are not part of larger systems serving 10% or more of national pay-TV subscribers would be able to receive a three-year exemption from the HDTV must-carry rule, according to a proposal backed by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. The exemption, scheduled for an Aug. 22 vote by the commission, in theory would be available to just about every cable company, except Comcast and Time Warner Cable, according to Multichannel News. Multichannel News (8/4) , Broadcasting & Cable (8/4)

Dish Network reported that its subscriber base dipped 25,000 in the second quarter, marking the first time the satellite provider had lost customers in its 12-year history. The company is facing increased competition from cable and telecom providers. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (8/5) , The New York Times/Reuters (8/4)

Insight Communications added 3,800 basic-cable customers during the second quarter, compared with 2,500 a year earlier, while digital additions totaled 9,200, a 3% uptick. The MSO added RGUs in the four key categories as it attracted more high-speed data and voice subscribers than it did in the same period in 2007. OneTRAK (8/4)