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BROADCAST/CABLE

NBC’s broadcast of the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII was seen in 42.1 percent of U.S. television homes, below the 43.1 rating in the 2008 game. Last year’s teams, the New York Giants and New England Patriots, have larger fan bases. (Iwantmedia 2/2, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aSF8HlY3jTo0 2/2)

NBC revealed its sold-out advertising inventory within Super Bowl XLIII broke all previous Super Bowl records totaling $206 million, though the total for the entire Super Sunday ticked up to $261 million. Spots within the Big Game went for $3 million apiece, while spots in the pregame went for $44,500 per spot during the first hour (noon-1p) and up to $1.6 million for those placed in the 15-minute window prior to kick-off. NBC tallied a total of 32 advertisers and their commercials can be viewed online via NBC.com, Hulu.com and Superbowl.com. (Cynopsis 2/2)

Last Thursday’s episode of USA Network‘s “Burn Notice” attracted 5.38 million viewers and, in what is believed to be a first, beat out corporate cousin NBC during the 10 p.m. hour, which aired a rerun of “ER.” “Burn Notice” also put up a 2.0 rating among adults 18 to 49 — its best showing yet in that demo. TVWeek.com (1/30)

MTV is bringing back a fourth installment of Making The Band, picking up the story of Danity Kane, Day 26 and Donnie Klang where the last season ended. Making The Band 4 premieres February 12 at 9p and this Thursday at 9p, fans of the series can watch a third season re-cap special titled Damaged: A Making The Band Special. Bad Boy Entertainment produces the franchise. (Cynopsis 2/2)

Universal Cable, the production company for NBC Universal cable nets USA and Sci Fi, has put together its first deals: a two-year overall agreement with “Psych” creator/executive producer Steve Franks and a one-year, first-look pact with director Jace Alexander. According to this article, the moves reflect a growing trend toward so-called “showverall deals” as more studios move away from development deals toward bargains with creators, showrunners and directors of in-family hits. The Hollywood Reporter (2/2)

The Obama administration said late last week that it expected lawmakers to pass legislation that would delay the transition to all-digital TV signals from Feb. 17 to June 12. A DTV delay measure has twice been passed in the Senate and this week is expected to come up for another vote in the House. Reuters (2/1) , Broadcasting & Cable (1/30)

ABC okayed two comedy pilots: The New Twenty from writer/executive producer Tad Quill (Scrubs) and ABC Studios about two forty-ish friends who are at different junctures in life; and Let It Go starring Lauren Graham (The Gilmore Girls) as a talk show host who is dumped by her boyfriend and having a hard time “letting it go”. (Cynopsis 2/2)

On Friday, ABC picked up three additional drama pilots: Limelight, inspired somewhat by musician/hip-hop producer Pharrell Williams’ youth spent at a performing arts school, is about kids and faculty set at a similar performing arts school in New York. The second drama pilot is an untitled Jerry Bruckheimer 60m crime project from Warner Bros. Television about amateur crime solvers, though internally it is called “The Unknown.” (Cynopsis 2/2)

CBS consented to three drama pilots all produced by CBS Paramount Network Television: the first is titled Back about a man who disappeared during the 9/11 terrorist attacks and remarkably shows up eight years later and tries to reconnect with his family. CBS next approved the hour-long pilot Washington Field set inside the FBI’s Washington field office about a team of agents handling top-priority cases. The third project is an untitled legal drama from Frank Military (The Unit) about a group of federal prosecutors based in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan. (Cynopsis 2/2)

The Comcast Programming Group, the Comcast division that includes networks such as E!, Style, G4 and the Golf Channel, isn’t likely to acquire any new channels in 2009, according to President Jeff Shell. “Brian [Roberts, the Comcast chairman] and Steve [Burke, Comcast's chief operating officer] will tell me if they ever want to make [the group] bigger,” Shell said. “My job right now is to run with what we’ve got.” Multichannel News (2/2)

ABC Family issued 10-episode pickup orders to three new female-focused series — “Ruby and the Rockits,” “10 Things I Hate About You” and “Perfect 10.” The network also announced renewals for a third season of “Greek” and a fourth season of “Lincoln Heights,” but said it would cancel “Kyle XY.” The Hollywood Reporter (2/1)

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