Daily Marauder

BROADCAST/CABLE

“Jeff Dunham’s Very Special Christmas Special” pulled in 6.6 million viewers this past weekend, the most-watched program in the history of the Viacom-owned cable network. “Dunham” also scored with the all-important 18-to-49 demo, with a record-setting 3.3 rating. TVWeek.com (11/18)

The legal battle over whether Bravo or Lifetime gets to televise “Project Runway” likely will keep new episodes of the hit fashion-competition show off the air for months, according to this article. “Runway” had 4 million viewers per episode in its last season and was set to jump to Lifetime until NBC Universal sued The Weinstein Company for selling the rights for a reported $200 million. The New York Times (11/18)

FX is developing a series titled “AR2,” which will be about a group of college students in Michigan who are fomenting a second American revolution. The potentially controversial subject matter made cable TV the obvious choice for co-creator Thomas Schlamme: “The subject matter could be incendiary, and we were afraid that it may adulterate the message if it went to a broadcast network,” he said. The Hollywood Reporter (11/19)

A U.S. senator is looking to introduce legislation that would require cable and satellite companies to provide basic service at a discounted rate to those who rely on over-the-air-only TV signals. Bernard Sanders, an independent legislator from Vermont, said that the DTV switch was mandated by the federal government and that the approximately 16 million analog-only homeowners shouldn’t have to pay full price for what they used to get for free. According to this report, the NCTA declined comment on the matter. Multichannel News (11/18)

Comcast on Tuesday will begin offering 12 new channels in high definition to subscribers in parts of the San Francisco market. The channels — including Bravo, Cartoon Network, Fox News and the Travel Channel — along with VOD offerings bring Comcast’s HD menu in the Bay Area to more than 1,000. Multichannel News (11/18)