Daily Marauder

BROADCAST/CABLE

After much speculation and “no comments” from the network, NBC officially broke the news yesterday announcing David Gregory as the new permanent host/moderator of Sunday morning’s Meet the Press. Tom Brokaw, as interim host since June following the sudden death of Tim Russert, announced Gregory is taking over during the final few minutes of Sunday’s broadcast. (Cynopsis 12/8)

The CW is moving forward in development on a spinoff of Gossip Girl, and will possibly use an episode from the series yet this year to introduce the new series. The target for the new series would likely not be Gossip Girl’s main character Jenny Humphrey played by Taylor Momsen or the recent book spinoff called The It Girl, but perhaps center on one of the nine regular characters or a new character who will yet debut. (Cynopsis 12/8)

Fox News Channel posted a 2.1 average prime-time rating from Oct. 27 to Nov. 30, a 75% increase from the comparable period in 2007, according to the latest data from Nielsen. FNC finished the period tied for second place with USA, both of whom were 0.3 rating points behind ESPN. Multichannel News (12/7)

Showtime is developing a character-driven sci-fi-themed drama with “Jericho” consulting producer John McNamara and “Supernatural” supervising producer/writer Sera Gamble.  “Syns” (formerly “Dolls’ Hospital”) centers on a world in which humanlike synthetic organisms, known as Syns, are used for various purposes. Showtime has bought U.S. rights to the project, which originally was developed at the BBC. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3idc160e735d514c2d3a00ef69477ec4c1 12/8)

Media executives participating in the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, which opens today, are not expected to paint a rosy picture of the coming year. Even Discovery Communications, which CEO David Zaslav describes as “foundationally pretty strong,” could have a tough 2009: “The recession is going to affect everybody in media,” he added. Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter (12/7)

USA Network is expected to give a series order to “Royal Pains,” an hour-long show about a doctor serving the rich and famous in the Hamptons. The show, which stars Mark Feuerstein, was one of three pilots that were greenlighted for USA during the summer. The Hollywood Reporter (12/8)

Some of the largest cable providers in the country will join forces Jan. 20 to create a political channel that will be available to subscribers on their respective video-on-demand channels. The group includes Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cablevision, Bright House Networks, Insight Communications and Charter. Broadcasting & Cable (12/8)

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wants to change the rules pertaining to access to the country’s cable systems for independent programmers, and he hopes to bring the matter up for a vote at the commission’s Dec. 18 meeting, according to this report. “The [proposed FCC] order is another example of the chairman’s doublespeak on the subject of cable prices, because the order will effectively obligate cable operators to carry every programming service that demands carriage, which will result in large programming packages that are more expensive,” NCTA spokesman Brian Dietz said. Multichannel News (12/6)