Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Edward James Olmos, Events, NBC Universal, NBCU, Olympic, Sports, Summer Games, Summer Olympic Games
Sci Fi is working on a two-hour “Battlestar Galactica” movie that will begin shooting at the end of the summer in Vancouver, Canada, and will be directed by star Edward James Olmos. On the series side, the 10-episode final season will debut early next year. (Yahoo!/E! Online 8/7)
The Olympic flame is still burning … at least on Madison Avenue, which has committed more than $1 billion in ad spending to NBC Universal‘s coverage of the Summer Games in Beijing. Besides the NBC broadcast network, advertisers have snapped up Olympic-related inventory on NBCU cable nets such as USA, MSNBC, CNBC, Oxygen and Universal HD. (Variety 8/7)
One rumor making the rounds within various News Corp. outposts is that president and COO Peter Chernin might leave if private equity money were to buy a big media concern and he is offered a piece of the action to run it. Chernin is declining to comment. (Iwantmedia 8/8, http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/08/news/newsmakers/siklos_chernin.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008080809 8/8)
RCN Corp. President and CEO Peter Aquino said the company had increased revenue-generating units in its TV, telephony and broadband divisions during the second quarter, which helped the cable provider boost total revenue 16%, to $184 million, against the comparable period a year earlier. “Our growth strategy of winning customers from both cable and telecom incumbents across multiple products and customer segments is paying off, as we continue to leverage our unique metro and regional fiber platform,” he said. (CED Magazine 8/2008, OneTRAK 8/7)
Top Cablevision executives including CEO James Dolan, Chief Operating Officer Tom Rutledge and Chief Financial Officer Michael Huseby will meet next week with some of the company’s largest shareholders to discuss ways to improve its stock price, according to this article. Strategic moves considered to be up for discussion include the sale of Rainbow Media, the parent of cable nets such as AMC and IFC, or Madison Square Garden, the home of the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers, or both. (The Wall Street Journal 8/8)
It’s still subject to the approval of the mayor and City Council, but Verizon has received preliminary approval to bring its FiOS service to Washington. If it happens, FiOS will compete with Comcast, the prospects of which don’t seem overly worrisome for the country’s top cable provider: “Competition is not new to Comcast,” said spokeswoman Jaye P. Linnen. “The phone company is simply trying to catch up to where we have been for years.” (The Washington Post 8/8)
Perhaps picking up some of the 25,000 customers Dish Network lost, DirecTV posted higher than expected revenue growth as net profit rose to $455 million during Q2. The satellite provider reduced churn, added 129,000 net new subscribers and enjoyed healthy growth in Latin America. Average revenue per user also rose by 7%, thanks to HD and DVR signees. (Cynopsis 8/8)
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