Daily Marauder

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HBO’s sixth season of Entourage will add Gary Cole as a regular cast member, per THR. Cole will portray a Hollywood agent named Andrew Klein who is an old friend of Ari’s played by Jeremy Piven. Fans of the comedy will meet Cole’s character this season in three episodes airing next month. Entourage is currently at the mid-point of its fifth season and will begin production for the new season early in 2009. (Cynopsis 10/27)

Game 3 of Fox’s World Series took a dip in the ratings, most likely as a result of the lengthy rain delay which pushed the full out start of the game to after 10p, and ending close to 2am.    9.8 million tuned in to watch the game, according to preliminary numbers – down from the average of 13+ million viewers for games #1 and #2. (Cynopsis 10/27)

NBC Universal has begun touting the power of its two female-focused cable networks, Bravo and Oxygen. Ratings among 18- to 49-year-old women have increased for both nets since NBCU acquired Oxygen about a year ago, and recent data from Nielsen N Power show that the networks’ core audience is more likely than not to have earned a college degree and have a household income of $100,000 or more. Mediaweek (10/27)

Starz has approved 13 one-hour episodes of “Spartacus,” an original take on the well-known story of the slave-turned-gladiator-turned-revolt leader. The series, expected to debut next summer, will be Starz’s second original series, following “Crash,” and the production debut for Starz Media, the network’s in-house development team. The Hollywood Reporter (10/27)

This week is tipoff time for a new NBA season and, with it, the start of a new business relationship for the league with Turner Broadcasting. Under a partnership agreement inked earlier this year, Turner will oversee the day-to-day programming and marketing activities of the league-owned network. Variety (10/24) , TVWeek.com (10/26)

Multitasking women who must hold down jobs and take care of their families increasingly are turning to video on demand as a way to fit entertainment into their busy lives, according to Lori Conkling, executive vice president of distribution for Lifetime. “[Our research shows that] the top reason why women say they watch VOD is because they need to watch TV when it is convenient and fits into their schedule.” Multichannel News (10/25)