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Warner Bros. TV insiders confirm that the much-discussed “Gossip” spinoff will revolve around the character of Lily van der Woodsen. But instead of focusing on the grown-up Lily, the show will flash back to the 1980s, when Lily, then known as Lily Rhodes, was a wild child living life as a Valley Girl. (http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/01/gossip_girl_goes_retro_with_80.php 1/14)

Showtime, which added about 1 million subscribers in 2008 for a current total of 16.5 million households, will continue to focus on original programming in the year ahead, according to Bob Greenblatt, president of entertainment for the channel, which will debut “United States of Tara” next week. “We’re living through an evolution where original programming is the thing,” Greenblatt said. Broadcasting & Cable (1/14) , Variety (1/14)

Fox International Channels (FIC) announced the first-ever global debut of the drama series The Listener during the first week of March. FIC will open the 13-episode series produced by Shaftesbury Films on all Fox entertainment channels in 180 countries worldwide including the U.K., Italy, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Poland, Brazil and Turkey. FIC’s premiere of The Listener precedes that of NBC in the U.S. and on CTV, Canada later this year. (Cynopsis 1/15)

Rainbow Media’s Sundance Channel has picked up 26 independent films that will debut on the network in the coming year. Filmmaker David Lynch plays a starring role in the haul, which includes his 2006 film “Inland Empire,” a restored version of his cult classic “Eraserhead,” and “Lynch,” a documentary about the man himself. Variety (1/14)

The Screen Actors Guild decided to push ahead with plans to authorize a strike vote after a moderate faction failed to push through a proposal during a marathon meeting on Monday and Tuesday that would have ousted National Executive Director Doug Allen and taken a strike off the table. No mailing date has been set for the previously approved TV/Theatrical strike authorization referendum. (Cynopsis 1/15)

New York State Supreme Court Judge Richard Lowe threw a pass to both the Dish Network and the NFL Network, per Multichannel News. Judge Lowe did not order Dish Network to place NFL Network back on a more widely distributed channel tier. On the other hand, Judge Lowe also stated the action sparking Dish to move NFL Network’s simulcast of the New England Patriot/New York Giants game in December 2007 also “did not trigger the specific contract provisions allowing EchoStar to drop the NFL to a lower level of service last February.” NFL Network President Steve Bornstein said, “This is an important ruling for us.” Judge Lowe’s decision will likely be unsealed Thursday and a trial on the case has been scheduled for June. NFL Network filed a suit against Dish Network about a year ago after the satellite company moved NFL Network to the America’s Top 200 tier leading to the network losing approximately 4 million subscribers. (Cynopsis 1/15)

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