• NBC Upfront To Unveil 52-Week Schedule by Wayne Friedman

    Keeping to its word, NBC will hold a brief upfront programming presentation on April 2 in New York City. A toned-down upfront, which includes all NBCU properties, will be held in May. ...Read the whole story

  • Hammer Upped To NBCU Cable Prez by Fern Siegel

    Noting the critical importance of cable, and hoping to keep a key exec happy, NBC Universal named Bonnie Hammer president, cable entertainment and cable studio. Hammer had served as president, USA Network and SCI FI Channel, since May 2004. She will continue to oversee these networks, reporting to Jeff Gaspin, president and COO, Universal Television Group, and Jeff Zucker, president and CEO, NBC Universal. ...Read the whole story

  • Clear Channel Buyout: Not So Clear by Erik Sass

    One of the largest private equity buyouts ever of a major media company appears to be in jeopardy, as Clear Channel Communications' suitors, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners, find it increasingly difficult to raise the money needed for the acquisition. The failure of a $19.5 billion deal, first reported on the Wall Street Journal Web site late Tuesday, would undo 15 months of planning and negotiation. ...Read the whole story

  • Newspaper Networks: What a Tangled Web We Weave by Erik Sass

    People outside the newspaper business (and even insiders) could be forgiven for finding the recent flurry of online network deals confusing. QuadrantOne's expansion last week highlighted the complexity, as competing newspaper networks sometimes overlap, producing strange bedfellows. But in the end, the governing principle is the same--an increasingly desperate "show me the money!" ...Read the whole story

  • Sirius-XM: What Does the FCC Want? by Erik Sass

    Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio got their biggest boost to date on Monday with the Department of Justice's approval of their proposed merger, which removes one of the last remaining regulatory hurdles for the deal. However, the merger still requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission, whose chairman Kevin Martin has blown hot and cold on the subject, and may make a couple demands of his own. ...Read the whole story

  • Britney Clicks On CBS by Wayne Friedman

    If networks have questions about what will work when TV shows come back in full force next month, just talk to CBS. The net scored by putting Britney Spears in prime time. ...Read the whole story

  • Hallmark: Baby Boomers More Engaged Than Millennials by David Goetzl

    The Hallmark Channel has released a study it commissioned indicating the baby-boomer audience it attracts accounts for significant buying power. The network hopes that finding will seed some doubt among media buyers that the 18-to-49 demo may not be as critical to reach as conventional wisdom holds. ...Read the whole story

  • Ad Legend Hal Riney, Dead At 75 - Gave Us Ronald Reagan, David Verklin by Joe Mandese

    Hal Riney, the San Francisco-based ad executive who built and sold his namesake agency to Publicis Groupe in 1998, died Monday. He was 75. ...Read the whole story

  • Media X: Search Malfunction by Jack Feuer

    I saw a group of tweens gleefully kicking one of those ground-based ads that change when you step on them. I asked the kids to ... ...More

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