From The Wrap:
Time Runs Out on Jack Bauer and '24'
It's really over: "24" will end its eight-season run on Fox this May.
Following weeks of speculation, the network and showrunner Howard Gordon Friday confirmed that time's really up for Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer -- at least on the small screen. The final two-hour episode will air May 24, Gordon said.
"We entertained creatively what a ninth season would look like, and frankly we came to the conclusion that the story had run its course in the 24-hour, real-time framework," Gordon told TheWrap.
But, as has been reported, Jack may be back -- on the big screen. Gordon confirmed that a feature film -- "a more modest framework," he calls it -- is in development and that Sutherland is on board to star.
Fox's feature arm hasn't made a decision yet on when, or even whether, to proceed, however.
TheWrap and other outlets reported March 9 that "24" had been essentially canceled. There had been some talk about a shift to another network, but that's not happening (at least not now).
Other tidbits from TVMoJoe's chat with Gordon:
-- Bauer won't die in the finale. Probably.
"We really explored the full spectrum (of possible endings), from Jack's demise to a happy ending," he said. "But those seemed reductive. Jack will probably survive."
Probably.
-- Does the finale set up where producers would like to see the movie go? "I don't know that it sets up the movie, but it set up where the movie likely begins," he said.
-- "The movie won't be a prequel," Gordon said.
-- If there is a movie, "I'd hope it would happen sooner rather than later," he said. "And I think that's Keifer's feeling, too." But, he added, "That's so above my pay grade."
-- Producers have been approaching this season as a likely series-ender for months, allowing them the chance to outline story arcs "that are riskier than we've done before. The last quarter of the season goes to places we wouldn't have dared go before."
Like maybe the bathroom? (Sorry, we couldn't resist).
-- The final call to end the show came just days ago, when Sutherland and Gordon, along with Fox Entertainment chiefs Kevin Reilly and Peter Rice met in Sutherland's trailer (along with studio reps) and discussed matters. "Our decision was in synch with what FBC wanted. Everyone has their own agenda, but from our point of view, the story was done," Gordon said.
-- Gordon says his highlight on eight seasons of "24" is happening right now, by shaping the show's finale. "There's always been this incredible, 'I dare you to fail' context to this show, but this is the moment I've been waiting for," he said. "You can't underestimate the sense of completion."
-- Series creators Joel Surnow and Bob Cochran are no long involved in running "24," but Gordon said he has briefed them "on the broad outlines" of how the series will end.
Source URL: http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/times-jack-bauer-and-24-15726
Friday, March 26, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
NBC Says "No" to Conan Idol Appearance
From Broadcasting and Cable:
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/450454-NBC_Nixes_Conan_Give_Back_With_Idol_.php
NBC Nixes Conan ‘Give Back’ With ‘Idol’
Peacock refuses to let O'Brien appear on Idol Gives Back as the former Tonight Show host finalizes deal to join Fox
By Marisa Guthrie -- Broadcasting & Cable, March 22, 2010
Conan O’Brien’s presumed debut on Fox will have to wait until the fall after all, following NBC’s refusal to allow the late-night host to appear on Fox’s Idol Gives Back.
Executives at Idol producer Fremantle Media approached NBC, seeking permission to have O’Brien appear on Idol’s April 21 annual charity broadcast, according to multiple sources. The entreaty was rejected by NBC, which negotiated a $32 million separation agreement with O’Brien that keeps him off television until Sept. 1. NBC would not comment.
And this fall is when O’Brien is expected to join Fox full time, according to sources with knowledge of network and affiliate plans. The network hopes to make the announcement with O’Brien at its May 17 upfront presentation in New York. Fox declined comment.
O’Brien is also prohibited from saying anything that a “reasonable person” would find disparaging of NBC until Sept. 1. But he could appear onstage at the Fox upfront.
On April 12, O’Brien will hit the road for his “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour.” There is no tour date on his schedule on May 17, the day of the Fox upfront presentation. He’s scheduled to be in Kansas City on May 16 and Minneapolis on May 18.
O’Brien’s representatives have also been shopping for studio space and are said to be keen on his old Tonight Show studio on the Universal lot, which cost $50 million to build and is only useful for variety programs with a studio audience. But NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker has not yet decided whether he will rent the space to O’Brien, who reveled in sticking it to NBCU executives during his final weeks on The Tonight Show.
Fox has not cleared an O’Brien program with affi liates, and many of them have been lukewarm to the idea since they have lucrative syndicated fare or local news in place in late night. The Fox affiliate board is scheduled to meet on April 13 in Las Vegas.
Some affiliate group heads say they would keep syndicated sitcoms in place at 11 p.m. and push O’Brien to midnight. (Ironically, it was NBC’s proposal to push The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien to 12:05 a.m. that prompted him to bolt the network.)
Numerous affiliates say they have not been approached by Fox about its plans for O’Brien. “We haven’t heard a thing from the network,” says a general manager at a leading Fox affiliate. “All we know is what we read in the trades.”
While O’Brien to Fox was considered inevitable by many, that didn’t stop multiple suitors from making proposals, including syndicators CBS and Debmar-Mercury.
Fox has tried numerous times to mount a late-night franchise, where even moderate success can yield many millions in ad dollars, despite the daypart showing some vulnerability in recent years.
CBS’ Late Show With David Letterman brought in $271 million in ad revenue for 2009, according to data compiled by Advertising Age. The Tonight Show reaped $175.6 million, and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live took in $138.1 million.
For Fox, a successful, long-running late-night franchise would be the final piece in its programming oeuvre, and could raise the top-rated network’s leverage during upcoming retransmission consent negotiations.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/450454-NBC_Nixes_Conan_Give_Back_With_Idol_.php
NBC Nixes Conan ‘Give Back’ With ‘Idol’
Peacock refuses to let O'Brien appear on Idol Gives Back as the former Tonight Show host finalizes deal to join Fox
By Marisa Guthrie -- Broadcasting & Cable, March 22, 2010
Conan O’Brien’s presumed debut on Fox will have to wait until the fall after all, following NBC’s refusal to allow the late-night host to appear on Fox’s Idol Gives Back.
Executives at Idol producer Fremantle Media approached NBC, seeking permission to have O’Brien appear on Idol’s April 21 annual charity broadcast, according to multiple sources. The entreaty was rejected by NBC, which negotiated a $32 million separation agreement with O’Brien that keeps him off television until Sept. 1. NBC would not comment.
And this fall is when O’Brien is expected to join Fox full time, according to sources with knowledge of network and affiliate plans. The network hopes to make the announcement with O’Brien at its May 17 upfront presentation in New York. Fox declined comment.
O’Brien is also prohibited from saying anything that a “reasonable person” would find disparaging of NBC until Sept. 1. But he could appear onstage at the Fox upfront.
On April 12, O’Brien will hit the road for his “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour.” There is no tour date on his schedule on May 17, the day of the Fox upfront presentation. He’s scheduled to be in Kansas City on May 16 and Minneapolis on May 18.
O’Brien’s representatives have also been shopping for studio space and are said to be keen on his old Tonight Show studio on the Universal lot, which cost $50 million to build and is only useful for variety programs with a studio audience. But NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker has not yet decided whether he will rent the space to O’Brien, who reveled in sticking it to NBCU executives during his final weeks on The Tonight Show.
Fox has not cleared an O’Brien program with affi liates, and many of them have been lukewarm to the idea since they have lucrative syndicated fare or local news in place in late night. The Fox affiliate board is scheduled to meet on April 13 in Las Vegas.
Some affiliate group heads say they would keep syndicated sitcoms in place at 11 p.m. and push O’Brien to midnight. (Ironically, it was NBC’s proposal to push The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien to 12:05 a.m. that prompted him to bolt the network.)
Numerous affiliates say they have not been approached by Fox about its plans for O’Brien. “We haven’t heard a thing from the network,” says a general manager at a leading Fox affiliate. “All we know is what we read in the trades.”
While O’Brien to Fox was considered inevitable by many, that didn’t stop multiple suitors from making proposals, including syndicators CBS and Debmar-Mercury.
Fox has tried numerous times to mount a late-night franchise, where even moderate success can yield many millions in ad dollars, despite the daypart showing some vulnerability in recent years.
CBS’ Late Show With David Letterman brought in $271 million in ad revenue for 2009, according to data compiled by Advertising Age. The Tonight Show reaped $175.6 million, and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live took in $138.1 million.
For Fox, a successful, long-running late-night franchise would be the final piece in its programming oeuvre, and could raise the top-rated network’s leverage during upcoming retransmission consent negotiations.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
R.I.P. Peter Graves (from NYT)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/arts/television/15graves.html
March 15, 2010
Peter Graves, Spymaster and Host, Is Dead at 83
By MICHAEL POLLAK
Peter Graves, the cool spymaster of television’s “Mission Impossible” and the dignified host of the “Biography” series, who successfully spoofed his own gravitas in the “Airplane” movie farces, died Sunday. He was 83.
He died of a heart attack at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., said Fred Barman, his business manager.
It was a testament to Mr. Graves’s earnest, unhammy ability to make fun of himself that after decades of playing square he-men and straitlaced authority figures, he was perhaps best known to younger audiences for a deadpan line in “Airplane!” (“Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?”) and one from a memorable Geico car insurance commercial (“I was one lucky woman”).
Born Peter Aurness in Minneapolis, the blond, 6-foot-2 Mr. Graves served in the Army Air Force in 1944-45, studied drama at the University of Minnesota under the G.I. Bill and played the clarinet in local bands before following his older brother, James Arness, to Hollywood.
His first film appearance was in “Rogue River” (1950), with Rory Calhoun. Mr. Graves’s getting a Hollywood contract for the picture persuaded his fiancée’s family to let her marry him. He changed his name for that movie to Graves, his maternal grandfather’s name, to avoid confusion with his older brother.
He soon found himself in classics like Billy Wilder’s “Stalag 17” (1953), where he played a security officer with a secret; Charles Laughton’s “Night of the Hunter” (1955); Otto Preminger’s “Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell” (1955); and John Ford’s “Long Gray Line” (1955).
Mr. Graves became known for taking all his roles seriously, injecting a certain believability into even the campiest plot. He appeared in westerns like “The Yellow Tomahawk” (1954) and “Wichita” (1955); a Civil War adventure, “The Raid” (1954); and gangster movies (“Black Tuesday,” 1954, and “The Naked Street,” 1955). He played earnest scientists in science fiction/horror films: “Killers From Space” (1954), “It Conquered the World” (1956) and “Beginning of the End” (1957), the latter movie about giant grasshoppers in Chicago. There was also Cold War science fiction anti-Communism: “Red Planet Mars” (1952).
Other movies included “East of Sumatra” (1953), “Beneath the 12-Mile Reef” (1953), “A Rage to Live” (1965), “Texas Across the River” (1966), “Sergeant Ryker” (1968), “The Ballad of Josie” (1968), “The Five-Man Army” (1969), “The Mysterious Monsters” (1976), “The Clonus Horror” (1979), “The Guns and the Fury” (1981), “Savannah Smiles” (1982), “Number One With a Bullet”(1986), “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” (1988), “Addams Family Values” (1993), “The House on Haunted Hill” (1999) and “Men in Black II” (2002).
In 1955 Mr. Graves began his career as a television series regular as the star of “Fury,” a Western family adventure series about a rancher named Jim Newton, his orphaned ward and the boy’s black stallion. It ran until 1959 on NBC, helped pioneer television adventure series and solidified Mr. Graves’s TV credentials.
Some of his hundreds of television credits include “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Whiplash” (1961), “The Dean Martin Show” (1970), the Herman Wouk miniseries “The Winds of War” (1983) and “War and Remembrance” (1988), “Fantasy Island” (1978-83) and “7th Heaven” (1999-2005). He served as the host or narrator for numerous television specials and performed in television movies of the week like “The President’s Plane Is Missing” (1973), “Where Have All the People Gone” (1974) and “Death Car on the Freeway” (1979).
Mr. Graves played his most famous television character from 1967 to 1973 in “Mission Impossible,” reprising it in 1988-1990. He was Jim Phelps, the leader of the Impossible Missions Force, a super-secret government organization that conducted dangerous undercover assignments (which he always chose to accept). After the tape summarizing the objective self-destructed, the team would use, not violence, but elaborate con games to trap the villains. In his role, Mr. Graves was a model of cool, deadpan efficiency.
But he was appalled when his agent sent him the script for the role of a pedophile pilot in “Airplane” (1980). “I tore my hair and ranted and raved and said, ‘This is insane,’ he recalled on “Biography” in 1997. Some of the role’s lines (“Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?”) looked at first as if they could get him thrown in jail, never mind ruining his career. He told his agent to tell David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, the director-producers, to find themselves a comedian. He relented when the Zucker brothers explained that the secret of their spoof would be the deadpan behavior of the cast; they didn’t want a comedian, they wanted the Peter Graves of “Fury” and “Mission Impossible.”
Mr. Graves used his familiar earnest, all-American demeanor in service of some of the comic movie’s most outrageous moments. He reprised the role of Captain Oveur in “Airplane II” in 1982.
Starting in the mid-1980’s Mr. Graves was the host of a number of television science specials on “Discover.” In 1987, he became the host of the Arts and Entertainment Network’s long-running “Biography” series, narrating the lives of such figures as Prince Andrew, Muhammad Ali, pioneers of the space program, Churchill, Ernie Kovacs, Edward G. Robinson, Sophia Loren, Jackie Robinson, Howard Hughes, Steven Spielberg and Jonathan Winters.
In 1997, Mr. Graves was the subject of his own “Biography” presentation, “Peter Graves: Mission Accomplished.” In 2002, Mr. Graves was interviewed for a special about the documentary series, “Biography: 15 Years and Counting.”
Mr. Graves won a Golden Globe Award in 1971 for his performance in “Mission Impossible,” and in 1997, he and “Biography” won an Emmy Award for outstanding informational series.
In 1998, he joined his wife, Joan, in an effort to get Los Angeles to ban gasoline-powered leaf blowers from residential areas, testifying before the City Council, ”We’re all victims of these machines.”
Besides his brother, he is survived by his wife, Joan Graves, and three daughters, Amanda Lee Graves, Claudia King Graves and Kelly Jean Graves.
March 15, 2010
Peter Graves, Spymaster and Host, Is Dead at 83
By MICHAEL POLLAK
Peter Graves, the cool spymaster of television’s “Mission Impossible” and the dignified host of the “Biography” series, who successfully spoofed his own gravitas in the “Airplane” movie farces, died Sunday. He was 83.
He died of a heart attack at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., said Fred Barman, his business manager.
It was a testament to Mr. Graves’s earnest, unhammy ability to make fun of himself that after decades of playing square he-men and straitlaced authority figures, he was perhaps best known to younger audiences for a deadpan line in “Airplane!” (“Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?”) and one from a memorable Geico car insurance commercial (“I was one lucky woman”).
Born Peter Aurness in Minneapolis, the blond, 6-foot-2 Mr. Graves served in the Army Air Force in 1944-45, studied drama at the University of Minnesota under the G.I. Bill and played the clarinet in local bands before following his older brother, James Arness, to Hollywood.
His first film appearance was in “Rogue River” (1950), with Rory Calhoun. Mr. Graves’s getting a Hollywood contract for the picture persuaded his fiancée’s family to let her marry him. He changed his name for that movie to Graves, his maternal grandfather’s name, to avoid confusion with his older brother.
He soon found himself in classics like Billy Wilder’s “Stalag 17” (1953), where he played a security officer with a secret; Charles Laughton’s “Night of the Hunter” (1955); Otto Preminger’s “Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell” (1955); and John Ford’s “Long Gray Line” (1955).
Mr. Graves became known for taking all his roles seriously, injecting a certain believability into even the campiest plot. He appeared in westerns like “The Yellow Tomahawk” (1954) and “Wichita” (1955); a Civil War adventure, “The Raid” (1954); and gangster movies (“Black Tuesday,” 1954, and “The Naked Street,” 1955). He played earnest scientists in science fiction/horror films: “Killers From Space” (1954), “It Conquered the World” (1956) and “Beginning of the End” (1957), the latter movie about giant grasshoppers in Chicago. There was also Cold War science fiction anti-Communism: “Red Planet Mars” (1952).
Other movies included “East of Sumatra” (1953), “Beneath the 12-Mile Reef” (1953), “A Rage to Live” (1965), “Texas Across the River” (1966), “Sergeant Ryker” (1968), “The Ballad of Josie” (1968), “The Five-Man Army” (1969), “The Mysterious Monsters” (1976), “The Clonus Horror” (1979), “The Guns and the Fury” (1981), “Savannah Smiles” (1982), “Number One With a Bullet”(1986), “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” (1988), “Addams Family Values” (1993), “The House on Haunted Hill” (1999) and “Men in Black II” (2002).
In 1955 Mr. Graves began his career as a television series regular as the star of “Fury,” a Western family adventure series about a rancher named Jim Newton, his orphaned ward and the boy’s black stallion. It ran until 1959 on NBC, helped pioneer television adventure series and solidified Mr. Graves’s TV credentials.
Some of his hundreds of television credits include “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Whiplash” (1961), “The Dean Martin Show” (1970), the Herman Wouk miniseries “The Winds of War” (1983) and “War and Remembrance” (1988), “Fantasy Island” (1978-83) and “7th Heaven” (1999-2005). He served as the host or narrator for numerous television specials and performed in television movies of the week like “The President’s Plane Is Missing” (1973), “Where Have All the People Gone” (1974) and “Death Car on the Freeway” (1979).
Mr. Graves played his most famous television character from 1967 to 1973 in “Mission Impossible,” reprising it in 1988-1990. He was Jim Phelps, the leader of the Impossible Missions Force, a super-secret government organization that conducted dangerous undercover assignments (which he always chose to accept). After the tape summarizing the objective self-destructed, the team would use, not violence, but elaborate con games to trap the villains. In his role, Mr. Graves was a model of cool, deadpan efficiency.
But he was appalled when his agent sent him the script for the role of a pedophile pilot in “Airplane” (1980). “I tore my hair and ranted and raved and said, ‘This is insane,’ he recalled on “Biography” in 1997. Some of the role’s lines (“Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?”) looked at first as if they could get him thrown in jail, never mind ruining his career. He told his agent to tell David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, the director-producers, to find themselves a comedian. He relented when the Zucker brothers explained that the secret of their spoof would be the deadpan behavior of the cast; they didn’t want a comedian, they wanted the Peter Graves of “Fury” and “Mission Impossible.”
Mr. Graves used his familiar earnest, all-American demeanor in service of some of the comic movie’s most outrageous moments. He reprised the role of Captain Oveur in “Airplane II” in 1982.
Starting in the mid-1980’s Mr. Graves was the host of a number of television science specials on “Discover.” In 1987, he became the host of the Arts and Entertainment Network’s long-running “Biography” series, narrating the lives of such figures as Prince Andrew, Muhammad Ali, pioneers of the space program, Churchill, Ernie Kovacs, Edward G. Robinson, Sophia Loren, Jackie Robinson, Howard Hughes, Steven Spielberg and Jonathan Winters.
In 1997, Mr. Graves was the subject of his own “Biography” presentation, “Peter Graves: Mission Accomplished.” In 2002, Mr. Graves was interviewed for a special about the documentary series, “Biography: 15 Years and Counting.”
Mr. Graves won a Golden Globe Award in 1971 for his performance in “Mission Impossible,” and in 1997, he and “Biography” won an Emmy Award for outstanding informational series.
In 1998, he joined his wife, Joan, in an effort to get Los Angeles to ban gasoline-powered leaf blowers from residential areas, testifying before the City Council, ”We’re all victims of these machines.”
Besides his brother, he is survived by his wife, Joan Graves, and three daughters, Amanda Lee Graves, Claudia King Graves and Kelly Jean Graves.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
AP: WABC-TV is back on Cablevision
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jjHS8S3jIndU2oI6WHB_KqB-pvwAD9EA5IK02
US APNewsAlert
(AP) – 15 minutes ago
NEW YORK — Cablevision says WABC-TV has been restored to its 3.1 million customers as the Oscars begin.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
US APNewsAlert
(AP) – 15 minutes ago
NEW YORK — Cablevision says WABC-TV has been restored to its 3.1 million customers as the Oscars begin.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
WABC-TV Pulls Signal From Cablevision In Retrans Dispute
http://www.multichannel.com/article/print/449770-WABC_TV_Pulls_Signal_From_Cablevision_In_Retrans_Dispute.php
WABC-TV Pulls Signal From Cablevision In Retrans Dispute
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, March 7, 2010
It looks like Cablevision video customers are going to have a find a different way to watch the Oscars Sunday night.
WABC-TV, which on March 1 threatened to pull its signal from Cablevision in a retransmission-consent dispute, did send the station to black at 12:01 a.m. on March 7, as the parties apparently could not come to terms. The 82nd annual Academy Awards telecast is scheduled to run on the ABC network at 8:30 p.m.
"It is now painfully clear to millions of New York area households that Disney CEO Bob Iger will hold his own ABC viewers hostage in order to extract $40 million in new fees from Cablevision," said Cablevision executive vice president Charles Schueler in a statment. "We call on Bob Iger to immediately return ABC to Cablevision customers while we continue to work to reach a fair agreement."
For her part, Rebecca Campbell, president and general manager, WABC-TV, issued the following statement, after midnight on Sunday morning.
"Cablevision has once again betrayed its subscribers by losing ABC7, the most popular station in the tri-state area. This follows two years of negotiations, during which we worked diligently, up to the final moments, to reach an agreement," Campbell said. "Cablevision pocketed almost $8 billion last year, and now customers aren't getting what they pay for...again. It's time for Jim Dolan and the Dolan Family Dynasty to finally step up, be fair, and do what's right for our viewers."
WABC-TV said Cablevision customers can call 1-877-990-ABC7 or visit www.saveABC7.com for information on how to switch service providers or receive ABC7's signal free, over-the-air
At the same time, Cablevision said its customers should urge ABC Disney to put the WABC programming back on Cablevision by calling 1-877-NO-TV-TAX, visiting http://www.cablevision.com/abc or joining its Facebook group "Cablevision Viewers Say: No New Fees, ABC!"
Cablevision, the predominant cable operator in metro New York with some 3.1 million video subscribers, claims that WABC-TV has been seeking some $40 million annually for its signal, a monthly license fee of about $1 per subscriber. The cable operator said it already pays WABC-TV parent The Walt Disney Co. some $200 million annually for carriage of such cable networks as ESPN and Disney Channel, and forking over fees for an over-the-air station would constitute a TV tax.
Disney has not disclosed its asking price, but some sources peg in the 50 cents to 60cents range. Whatever the amount, the parties could not bridge their differences and the station is now off Cablevision's air.
WABC-TV said it had been negotiating for retransmission-consent compensation for two years, continually granting contract extensions, with the talks heating up of late.
Cablevision CEO James Dolan, speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom conference in San Francisco on March 2, said Disney had resorted to a "bullying" move and Disney only started negotiating in earnest over the past few weeks, not the longer span the programmer mentioned.
Dolan noted that he and Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge traveled to Los Angeles last week to meet with Disney executives.
The decision follows a week's worth of finger-pointing in print and TV ads, as well as sniping by Cablevision and Disney, littered by comments about greed and ultimately attacks against the leadership of both companies.
Politicians also weighed in on the fracas, with Joe Barton (R-Tex.), the ranking member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, advising the Federal Communications Commission to let the marketplace negotiations were best left to the marketplace.
Conversely, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) advised the FCC that the government needs to step in to protect consumers and fix what he has long characterized as a broken promise.
This is the second high-profile carriage dispute Cablevision has been involved in this year. In January, Scripps Networks Interactive pulled its HGTV and Food Network cable channels from Cablevision for about three weeks.
WABC-TV Pulls Signal From Cablevision In Retrans Dispute
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, March 7, 2010
It looks like Cablevision video customers are going to have a find a different way to watch the Oscars Sunday night.
WABC-TV, which on March 1 threatened to pull its signal from Cablevision in a retransmission-consent dispute, did send the station to black at 12:01 a.m. on March 7, as the parties apparently could not come to terms. The 82nd annual Academy Awards telecast is scheduled to run on the ABC network at 8:30 p.m.
"It is now painfully clear to millions of New York area households that Disney CEO Bob Iger will hold his own ABC viewers hostage in order to extract $40 million in new fees from Cablevision," said Cablevision executive vice president Charles Schueler in a statment. "We call on Bob Iger to immediately return ABC to Cablevision customers while we continue to work to reach a fair agreement."
For her part, Rebecca Campbell, president and general manager, WABC-TV, issued the following statement, after midnight on Sunday morning.
"Cablevision has once again betrayed its subscribers by losing ABC7, the most popular station in the tri-state area. This follows two years of negotiations, during which we worked diligently, up to the final moments, to reach an agreement," Campbell said. "Cablevision pocketed almost $8 billion last year, and now customers aren't getting what they pay for...again. It's time for Jim Dolan and the Dolan Family Dynasty to finally step up, be fair, and do what's right for our viewers."
WABC-TV said Cablevision customers can call 1-877-990-ABC7 or visit www.saveABC7.com for information on how to switch service providers or receive ABC7's signal free, over-the-air
At the same time, Cablevision said its customers should urge ABC Disney to put the WABC programming back on Cablevision by calling 1-877-NO-TV-TAX, visiting http://www.cablevision.com/abc or joining its Facebook group "Cablevision Viewers Say: No New Fees, ABC!"
Cablevision, the predominant cable operator in metro New York with some 3.1 million video subscribers, claims that WABC-TV has been seeking some $40 million annually for its signal, a monthly license fee of about $1 per subscriber. The cable operator said it already pays WABC-TV parent The Walt Disney Co. some $200 million annually for carriage of such cable networks as ESPN and Disney Channel, and forking over fees for an over-the-air station would constitute a TV tax.
Disney has not disclosed its asking price, but some sources peg in the 50 cents to 60cents range. Whatever the amount, the parties could not bridge their differences and the station is now off Cablevision's air.
WABC-TV said it had been negotiating for retransmission-consent compensation for two years, continually granting contract extensions, with the talks heating up of late.
Cablevision CEO James Dolan, speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom conference in San Francisco on March 2, said Disney had resorted to a "bullying" move and Disney only started negotiating in earnest over the past few weeks, not the longer span the programmer mentioned.
Dolan noted that he and Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge traveled to Los Angeles last week to meet with Disney executives.
The decision follows a week's worth of finger-pointing in print and TV ads, as well as sniping by Cablevision and Disney, littered by comments about greed and ultimately attacks against the leadership of both companies.
Politicians also weighed in on the fracas, with Joe Barton (R-Tex.), the ranking member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, advising the Federal Communications Commission to let the marketplace negotiations were best left to the marketplace.
Conversely, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) advised the FCC that the government needs to step in to protect consumers and fix what he has long characterized as a broken promise.
This is the second high-profile carriage dispute Cablevision has been involved in this year. In January, Scripps Networks Interactive pulled its HGTV and Food Network cable channels from Cablevision for about three weeks.
Friday, March 5, 2010
MTV's Van Toffler Talks Strategy
http://www.einsiders.com/articles/mtv-president-van-toffler-talks-strategy.html
From The Hollywood Reporter by way of Einsiders:
NEW YORK -- Music videos are still valuable content for MTV, even though viewers' evolving tastes have required an expansion into reality and other shows, Van Toffler, president of Viacom's MTV Networks Music and Logo Group, said here Thursday.
Asked about how good a business his firm's "Beatles: Rock Band" video game is, he said: "I believe it will sell forever, and it will be a good deal." The game has so far sold about a couple of million units, he said.
Toffler made his comments during a keynote interview at the Billboard Music & Money Symposium here Thursday.
Asked whether MTV is still a music network or a general youth channel, Toffler said: "It's really both." In the network's early days, "music videos were the soundtrack of pop culture," but then the audience demanded "more genre shows," and MTV moved into animation, reality TV and social campaigns.
MTV and its sibling networks still play more than 600 music video hours a week, but they increasingly play on platforms outside of the MTV TV network, he said.
Still, MTV integrates music in different ways via big events and by using music within shows, Toffler said.
Plus, MTV invests more than $100 million in music each year in the form of promotions and the like, he added.
"We reinvent ourselves every couple of years" on the TV and film screen, he later said. "That's what we do" to always speak to the young audience of the day.
Toffler was recently cited as saying the channel was pushing out members of Generation X. Asked jokingly by his Billboard interviewer why he hates that audience, Toffler quipped: "Because you're cynical."
On a serious note, he said the 12-29-year-old demographic is in focus for him and his colleagues. Those Millennials, born between 1980 and 2000, are "much more traditional," Toffler explained. For example, many of them watch "Jersey Shore" with their parents, he said. That's why Taylor Swift got such strong support when Kanye West interrupted her on stage at the Video Music Awards last year, he added.
Asked about his movie strategy, Toffler said it is also constantly evolving -- from "Election" to "Jackass" and beyond. "Music has always been integral to our movies," he said. "We always expose new music in our movies."
He added that the upcoming "Jackass 3D" will have music "all over it." He also quipped that the movie will be what "Avatar" director James Cameron envisioned.
Toffler also said Thursday that MTV plans to roll out a cross-platform initiative dubbed PUSH, or "Play Until Someone Hears." Its goal is to build careers for new artists. "We have to invest in future stars, especially online," he said.
On its U.K. Web site, MTV already has a section for PUSH, including information and music along with access to ringtones for up-and-comers. "If you're unsure who should be your new favorite band, MTV can help!" the site says. "Each month PUSH will be telling you about the hottest new acts in the world and, of course, explaining why they're so special."
The Hollywood Reporter
Read full article
From The Hollywood Reporter by way of Einsiders:
NEW YORK -- Music videos are still valuable content for MTV, even though viewers' evolving tastes have required an expansion into reality and other shows, Van Toffler, president of Viacom's MTV Networks Music and Logo Group, said here Thursday.
Asked about how good a business his firm's "Beatles: Rock Band" video game is, he said: "I believe it will sell forever, and it will be a good deal." The game has so far sold about a couple of million units, he said.
Toffler made his comments during a keynote interview at the Billboard Music & Money Symposium here Thursday.
Asked whether MTV is still a music network or a general youth channel, Toffler said: "It's really both." In the network's early days, "music videos were the soundtrack of pop culture," but then the audience demanded "more genre shows," and MTV moved into animation, reality TV and social campaigns.
MTV and its sibling networks still play more than 600 music video hours a week, but they increasingly play on platforms outside of the MTV TV network, he said.
Still, MTV integrates music in different ways via big events and by using music within shows, Toffler said.
Plus, MTV invests more than $100 million in music each year in the form of promotions and the like, he added.
"We reinvent ourselves every couple of years" on the TV and film screen, he later said. "That's what we do" to always speak to the young audience of the day.
Toffler was recently cited as saying the channel was pushing out members of Generation X. Asked jokingly by his Billboard interviewer why he hates that audience, Toffler quipped: "Because you're cynical."
On a serious note, he said the 12-29-year-old demographic is in focus for him and his colleagues. Those Millennials, born between 1980 and 2000, are "much more traditional," Toffler explained. For example, many of them watch "Jersey Shore" with their parents, he said. That's why Taylor Swift got such strong support when Kanye West interrupted her on stage at the Video Music Awards last year, he added.
Asked about his movie strategy, Toffler said it is also constantly evolving -- from "Election" to "Jackass" and beyond. "Music has always been integral to our movies," he said. "We always expose new music in our movies."
He added that the upcoming "Jackass 3D" will have music "all over it." He also quipped that the movie will be what "Avatar" director James Cameron envisioned.
Toffler also said Thursday that MTV plans to roll out a cross-platform initiative dubbed PUSH, or "Play Until Someone Hears." Its goal is to build careers for new artists. "We have to invest in future stars, especially online," he said.
On its U.K. Web site, MTV already has a section for PUSH, including information and music along with access to ringtones for up-and-comers. "If you're unsure who should be your new favorite band, MTV can help!" the site says. "Each month PUSH will be telling you about the hottest new acts in the world and, of course, explaining why they're so special."
The Hollywood Reporter
Read full article
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
"Hurt Locker" Producer Banned from Academy Awards
http://www.deadline.com/2010/03/academy-bans-nicolas-chartier-from-attending-oscarcast-for-violating-campaigning-standards/
DHD (link above) is reporting that Hurt Locker producer Nicolas Chartier has been banned from the Academy Awards presentation on Sunday. That means that should Hurt Locker win the Best Picture award, only three of the four producers will be allowed on stage.
Now, Mr. Chartier has not done anything that hasn't been done before by Academy Award campaigners. It's just that he was so blatantly open and shameless about it. Not good. He discredits a great movie by his actions. The worst part is that his Nixonian moves were not needed. Avatar is going to take every technical award and then some. However, the Best Picture is usually reserved for mainstream fare like Hurt Locker. His actions were over the top and unnecessary. The party will go on without Mr. Chartier celebrating his victory on the stage.
DHD (link above) is reporting that Hurt Locker producer Nicolas Chartier has been banned from the Academy Awards presentation on Sunday. That means that should Hurt Locker win the Best Picture award, only three of the four producers will be allowed on stage.
Now, Mr. Chartier has not done anything that hasn't been done before by Academy Award campaigners. It's just that he was so blatantly open and shameless about it. Not good. He discredits a great movie by his actions. The worst part is that his Nixonian moves were not needed. Avatar is going to take every technical award and then some. However, the Best Picture is usually reserved for mainstream fare like Hurt Locker. His actions were over the top and unnecessary. The party will go on without Mr. Chartier celebrating his victory on the stage.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Here is something weird. Has the “Vampire Genre” reached rock bottom?
http://scifiwire.com/2010/03/watch-the-awesome-trailer.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
http://scifiwire.com/2010/03/watch-the-awesome-trailer.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Cablevision Retransmission Impasse with WABC-TV May Mean No Oscars for Half of NYC!
http://www.deadline.com/2010/03/no-oscars-cablevision-subscribers-may-lose-wabc-tv-at-1201-am-sunday-due-to-retrans-impasse/
Read the nuts and bolts of this at the DHD link above. My take? The same thing happened between WABC-TV and Time Warner Cable a few years back. And, yes, TWC customers lost WABC for a couple of days before that deal was ironed-out. However, this impasse comes at a very crucial time on Oscar Sunday. This is a night for big ratings. Losing half of the NYC audience would be a big blow to ABC and their sponsors. I predict this deal will get done in time for the broadcast on Sunday night. ABC can't afford to lose half of their viewers on their NYC flagship station for the Oscars.
Read the nuts and bolts of this at the DHD link above. My take? The same thing happened between WABC-TV and Time Warner Cable a few years back. And, yes, TWC customers lost WABC for a couple of days before that deal was ironed-out. However, this impasse comes at a very crucial time on Oscar Sunday. This is a night for big ratings. Losing half of the NYC audience would be a big blow to ABC and their sponsors. I predict this deal will get done in time for the broadcast on Sunday night. ABC can't afford to lose half of their viewers on their NYC flagship station for the Oscars.
Monday, March 1, 2010
From Variety: Kardashians Set Record for E!
'Kardashians' set record for E!
Season finale nabs 4.8 million viewers
By STUART LEVINE
E! continues to relish the drama of the Kardashian clan.
The cabler drew 4.8 million viewers for Sunday night's season-four finale of "Keeping up With the Kardashians," making it the most-watched telecast in the history of the network.
Previous record of 4.3 million was also set by the "Kardashians" for an episode that aired Jan. 3.
The finale, in which Kourtney Kardashian had her baby, set ratings records in several demos. Nielsen will issue final numbers today, but "Kardashians" was expected to top original dramas "Brothers and Sisters" on ABC and "Cold Case" on CBS among adults 18-49.
Second season of spinoff series "Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami" will launch in June.
One-time special "The Spindustry" -- about a PR firm that specializes in Hollywood parties -- followed "Kardashians" at 10:30 p.m. Sunday and received some traction, drawing 2.5 million viewers. Network may consider turning "Spindustry" into a series.
The second season of "Kendra" and new series "Pretty Wild" debut March 14.
Elsewhere Sunday, CBS reality rookie "Undercover Boss" (prelim 4.8/11 in 18-49, 13.6 million viewers overall) remained strong in its third outing, easily topping ABC's original "Desperate Housewives" (prelim 3.7/8, 10.9 million) in their first encounter.
At the Olympics, NBC averaged a preliminary 22.4 million viewers in primetime to dominate the night, but it was down quite a bit from the previous Sunday. The mothership net was certainly impacted by competing Olympics coverage on MSNBC, as the U.S.-Canada hockey game drew roughly 8.2 million viewers on the cabler, matching the election-night coverage in November 2008 as its most-watched telecast ever.
Also, Lifetime Movie Network scored well with original pic "Sins of the Mother," which was the second highest rated and second most watched original telepic with women in the net's history (2.65 million viewers).
(Rick Kissell contributed to this report.)
Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118015585.html
Season finale nabs 4.8 million viewers
By STUART LEVINE
E! continues to relish the drama of the Kardashian clan.
The cabler drew 4.8 million viewers for Sunday night's season-four finale of "Keeping up With the Kardashians," making it the most-watched telecast in the history of the network.
Previous record of 4.3 million was also set by the "Kardashians" for an episode that aired Jan. 3.
The finale, in which Kourtney Kardashian had her baby, set ratings records in several demos. Nielsen will issue final numbers today, but "Kardashians" was expected to top original dramas "Brothers and Sisters" on ABC and "Cold Case" on CBS among adults 18-49.
Second season of spinoff series "Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami" will launch in June.
One-time special "The Spindustry" -- about a PR firm that specializes in Hollywood parties -- followed "Kardashians" at 10:30 p.m. Sunday and received some traction, drawing 2.5 million viewers. Network may consider turning "Spindustry" into a series.
The second season of "Kendra" and new series "Pretty Wild" debut March 14.
Elsewhere Sunday, CBS reality rookie "Undercover Boss" (prelim 4.8/11 in 18-49, 13.6 million viewers overall) remained strong in its third outing, easily topping ABC's original "Desperate Housewives" (prelim 3.7/8, 10.9 million) in their first encounter.
At the Olympics, NBC averaged a preliminary 22.4 million viewers in primetime to dominate the night, but it was down quite a bit from the previous Sunday. The mothership net was certainly impacted by competing Olympics coverage on MSNBC, as the U.S.-Canada hockey game drew roughly 8.2 million viewers on the cabler, matching the election-night coverage in November 2008 as its most-watched telecast ever.
Also, Lifetime Movie Network scored well with original pic "Sins of the Mother," which was the second highest rated and second most watched original telepic with women in the net's history (2.65 million viewers).
(Rick Kissell contributed to this report.)
Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118015585.html
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