Daily Marauder

BROADCAST/CABLE

ABC is dropping prices for 30-second ads for Sunday’s Academy Awards broadcast. One problem: the show does not resonate with younger viewers. Also, catching sight of stars on the red carpet isn’t what it used to be, thanks to the glut of celebrity magazines, Web sites and TV shows. (Iwantmedia 2/20, http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE51I6G720090219 2/19)

Bravo tapped Isaac Mizrahi and Kelly Rowland to host its new reality competition series The Fashion Show. Both will head a panel of judges who will review the work of professional fashion designers. Already on board as a judge is Fern Mallis, who helped created New York’s Fashion Week. (Cynopsis 2/20)

Time Warner said Thursday that the financial mechanism it would use to separate from Time Warner Cable would be a spinoff and not a stock-exchange offer or a hybrid of the two. In effect, the decision means that Time Warner investors will get some shares of the soon-to-be-independent cable provider. Bloomberg (2/19) , The Hollywood Reporter (2/19)

If they could keep just a few channels, ESPN would be the top choice among cable networks, according to a study of 1,200 viewers by Solutions Research Group. Other cable nets making the Top 10 list were Discovery Channel, History, Sci Fi, HBO and Food Network. Multichannel News (2/19)