Daily Marauder

BROADCAST/CABLE

Some 36.3 million people watched this year’s Academy Awards, up about 4 million from last year’s least-watched Oscars show. Still, there are only two Oscar telecasts with fewer viewers. The largest Oscars audience was in 1998, when 55.2 million watched “Titanic” win best picture. (Iwantmedia 2/23, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090223/ap_en_tv/oscars_ratings 2/23)

Peter Chernin, the long-time president and COO of News Corp, is leaving the company after protracted negotiations over his contract could not be resolved. Chernin’s salary was $28.8 million in the last fiscal year, which was $1.3 million more than even Rupert Murdoch’s take-home pay. Chernin helped Murdoch build and oversee his vast media empire over the past 20 years, and his departure no doubt will raise all sorts of questions about the future of the company. He will be leaving when his current contract expires on June 30. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/23/with-chernin-out-at-news-corp-what-happens-to-fim 2/23)

Rev. Al Sharpton is calling on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to review the waiver extended to News Corp. for cross-media ownership. The move continues the protests over the political cartoon of a monkey published last week in News Corp.’s New York Post. (Iwantmedia 2/23, http://www.wpix.com/landing/?Sharpton-Calls-On-FCC-To-Investigate-New=1&blockID=220606&feedID=1404 2/23)

With expensive content-contract renegotiations to come, ESPN faces pressure in the current economic climate and last month said it would cut nearly 200 unfilled jobs, suspend new hires and freeze executive pay. However, network executive George Bodenheimer remains positive: “We feel we’re well-positioned in terms of our deals and business model.” The Wall Street Journal (2/23)

Over the weekend, the Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors with a vote of 73% to 27%, SAG voted against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers’ “last, best and final offer dated February 19, 2009.” SAG’s Board admitted they entered the negotiations last week with AMPTP by “sending an unmistakably clear message that we were ready to make a deal” and basing negotiations on the terms of the previous contract offer from AMPTP dated June 30, 2008. (Cynopsis 2/23)

NBC is selling individual thirty-second commercials in the finale episode of ER at a reported $425,000 each, cites B&C. The two-hour final episode, slated for April 2 at 9p, reunites several former cast members including George Clooney, Noah Wyle and Anthony Edwards and will be preceded by a 60m retrospective of the 15-year old series. Based on information obtained from TNS Media Intelligence, thirty-second spots in this season’s ER have been priced at $135,000 each. (Cynopsis 2/23)

CBS picked up a new comedy pilot called Ace in the Hole starring actor/comedian Adam Carolla as a husband/father who is also a driving instructor. (Cynopsis 2/23)

Jenna Elfman tries television again as she headlines CBS’ comedy pilot Accidentally on Purpose. Elfman, seen back in 2006 on the short-lived CBS comedy Courting Alex and in recent guest spots on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters and NBC’s My Name Is Earl, will portray a movie critic who gets pregnant following a one-night tryst. (Cynopsis 2/23)

“Project Runway” filmed its sixth-season finale Friday at New York’s Bryant Park during Fashion Week, as the Weinstein Co. and NBC Universal continue to fight in court over rights to the reality-TV hit. The combatants have yet to go to trial, and the outcome will be subject to appeal. (Iwantmedia 2/23, http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090220/FREE/902209973 2/20)

Time Warner Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc. are parting ways as Time Warner elected to spin-off a pro rata dividend of all TWC common stock it held to Time Warner stockholders. The two entities expect the separation will be finalized by the end of this current quarter. (Cynopsis 2/23)

A lot of things have been spelling the doom of television in recent years — DVRs, channel surfing, fragmentation, clutter, digital media — but recent analysis shows TV advertising may be as effective as ever. “We haven’t seen a significant trend in the erosion of effectiveness of TV,” said Douglas Brooks, a Media Marketing Assessment executive. Advertising Age (2/23)

Scripps Networks, which had about 9% growth in ad sales last year compared with about 3% to 4% on average among cable networks, is going into upfront with an emphasis on relevance to people going through hard times. Sales executive Jon Steinlauf told Multichannel News that the Scripps slate was “well-suited to these times because they provide skills for homeowners to help them cook and entertain, do home projects, save money.” Multichannel News (2/23)

More than 100 original movies will air on basic cable networks this year. Multichannel News reports the movies reinforce a network’s brand, are less of a financial commitment than multiyear, multiepisode scripted series, and are meeting a demand by viewers who are staying home for movie night rather than going out because they have less money in the recession. Multichannel News (2/23)