Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Arts, Bravo, Disney Channel, Home Sweet Hollywood, Million Dollar Listing, Television, Toon Disney, Tori Spelling
Oxygen drew its most viewers ever Tuesday night for the next-to-last episode of the Tori Spelling reality show, “Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood.” The show attracted 1.4 million viewers and was tops in its time slot among women 18 to 49. Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter (8/7) , Multichannel News (8/6)
Bravo’s season finale of Flipping Out Tuesday at 10p attracted 881,000 A18-49 viewers and nearly 1.3 million total viewers. The network’s premiere of real estate drama Million Dollar Listing following at 11p delivered 510,000 A18-49 viewers and 753,000 total viewers for its second season premiere. (Cynopsis 8/7(
Beginning in February, Toon Disney will be relaunched as Disney XD, a cable channel that will target 6- to 14-year-old boys with a steady diet of original series, movies and animation as well as sports-themed content developed with corporate cousin ESPN. The move has been top secret for about a year now, according to this report, as Disney tried to figure a way to attract more boys, who currently prefer Viacom’s Nickelodeon and Time Warner’s Cartoon Network. Los Angeles Times (free registration) (8/7)
In an investor call Wednesday, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes focused on “old media,” confirming the split of the company’s AOL Internet-access and media units next year: “Our goal is to create, package and distribute high-quality, branded content across multiple platforms.” (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10008350-93.html 8/6)
Shareholders of Discovery Holding Co. will vote Sept. 16 whether to make Discovery Communications a publicly traded company, according to SEC filings. Discovery Holdings currently owns two-thirds of Discovery Communications. Advance/Newhouse Programming Partnership owns the remaining one-third. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (8/7)
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Bravo, Harvey Weinstein, Jeff Zucker, Lifetime, NBC Universal, Project Runway, The Weinstein Company, Weinstein Co
NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker and Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of The Weinstein Co., squared off in court Thursday in the first hearing of their case over Bravo‘s “Project Runway.” The two media titans are clashing because Weinstein has made a deal with Lifetime to move the show away from Bravo for its sixth season, scheduled to begin in November. Mediaweek/AdWeek (7/17)
Bravo’s debut of Project Runway on Wednesday at 9p attracted 1.8 million A18-49 viewers and 2.9 million total viewers. (Cynopsis 7/18)
Showtime is expected to announce today a series pickup for a dark comedy starring Edie Falco of “The Sopranos” fame, according to this report. Showtime, which is scheduled to present its latest programming choices at the Television Critics Association press tour today, has had the as-yet-untitled show on the fast track since February. The Hollywood Reporter (7/18)
E! renewed the 30m reality series Keeping Up with the Kardashians for a third season. The series is produced by Ryan Seacrest Productions and Bunim-Murray Productions and the new season will premiere in first quarter 2009. (Cynopsis 7/18)
I will still be continued to be shocked that people watch this show.
A quarter of all TV homes in the U.S. now have digital video recorders, according to the latest data from Nielsen. The study also reports that 30% of DVR users have the device hooked up to more than one set in the house and that 53% have cable service. MediaPost Communications (7/17)
Dish Network managed to successfully launch the EchoStar 11 satellite into orbit this week, giving the service much needed capacity for additional HD channels. (Cynopsis 7/18)
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Bravo, Christian Siriano, Heidi Klum, Lifetime Television, NBC Universal, Project Runway, Tim Gunn, Weinstein Company
Fans of the reality competition series Project Runway will turn to Lifetime Television starting November 2008, as the series moves to the female-targeted network with the opening of season six. Lifetime Networks and The Weinstein Company made a five year agreement for the series, and supermodel/host Heidi Klum and mentor to the contestants, Tim Gunn will remain with the series. One more season will air on Bravo before the series moves to Lifetime and launches there in November 2008. (Cynopsis 4/8, The New York Times 4/8, The Wall Street Journal 4/8)
Christian Siriano, a contestant, with a model in the “Project Runway” final show at Fashion Week in New York in February.
Jennifer Graylock/Associated Press
On the heels of this announcement, NBC Universal, which retains the rights for the show’s fifth season and encore airings, filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court against The Weinstein Company. NBC contains it had the right to meet or beat any offer by a competing network; Weinstein Co lawyers deny NBC had that right, and that NBC had turned down the same deal Weinstein Company ultimately struck with Lifetime. (Cynopsis 4/8, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=akJ62RV9xvjs 4/7)
Season two of NFL Network’s NFL’s Top 10 starts April 15 at 8p with the first of a two-part look at college football. The weekly countdown series focuses on a variety of NFL topics with commentary from network analysts, sports journalists, players, coaches and NFL insiders. (Cynopsis 4/8)
E! is developing a new reality series that will spotlight Pamela Anderson, the former leading lady of TV shows, a Playboy centerfold, three short marriages and an online sex tape. The show, tentatively titled “Pamela,” is set to launch this summer. (MSNBC/Reuters 4/7)
CBS is said to have held talks with Time Warner about a deal to outsource some of its news-gathering operations to CNN. The talks include reducing CBS’s news-gathering capacity while keeping top personalities like anchor Katie Couric. Also: CBS News says it has no plans to outsource to CNN. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/business/media/08cbs.html 4/8, Variety 4/7, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/07/national/main4000535.shtml 4/7)
As soon as April 21, Verizon will begin switching off analog FiOS TV channels in New York in preparation of next year’s digital switchover, reports Multichannel News. FiOS customers can go to Verizon.com/godigital for more info. (Cynopsis 4/8, CED Magazine 4/7)
Although 83% of teenagers like to watch their favorite shows on television, 44% say they also view programs on a desktop computer and 24% tune in with a laptop, according to a new study from the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing. CTAM will host a webcast Thursday to provide “an in-depth look at the next generation of viewers.” (Multichannel News 4/7)
