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• BarryDriller.com Carriage Angers Broadcast Networks by Wayne Friedman

  NBC, ABC and CBS have joined Fox in a copyright infringement claim against the entrepreneur behind FilmOn, who started up an Aereo-like site called BarryDriller.com. The name BarryDriller is a play on media executive Barry Diller, a major investor in Aereo. The networks have not specified what specific damages they are seeking. ...Read the whole story

• Gannett Tips Its Cap To NBC by David Goetzl

  Gannett, with its slew of NBC stations benefiting from Olympic ad sales, took out a full-page ad in its own "USA Today" newspaper Monday congratulating NBC on its strong ratings and other accolades during the London Games. "Extraordinary storytelling ... Innovative viewer engagement ... Record-setting broadcasts," the ad read, saying "from your friends at Gannett." ...Read the whole story

• Cable Operators Losing Video Subscribers by Wayne Friedman

  In the second quarter of 2012, the top nine cable companies lost 540,000 video consumers, a bit lower than the 600,000 video subscriber loss in the second quarter of 2011, according to Leichtman Research Group. ...Read the whole story

• Brush Up: Ad Council Campaign Highlights Dental Health by Erik Sass

  The Ad Council has joined forces with dental health organizations, ad agencies and children's media for a new public service campaign highlighting the importance of dental health. ...Read the whole story

• Turner Books Major 'Closer,' 'Crime' Ratings by Wayne Friedman

  TNT got some welcomed good news with the finale of "The Closer" on Monday, as well as the start of spinoff "Major Crimes." Completing seven seasons, "The Closer," which put TNT on the map years ago in the original drama arena, earned, for its series finale, a big 9.1 million viewers. ...Read the whole story

• Olympics Earns More Social Buzz Than Biggest TV Events by Wayne Friedman

  NBC says the London Olympics telecasts were more social than the 2012 Super Bowl, 2012 Grammys, 2012 Oscars, 2012 Golden Globes, and all seven games of the 2011 World Series combined. It pulled in 36 million people versus 32.7 million. ...Read the whole story

• retail Sears Auto Campaign Invokes Big Bad Wolf by Sarah Mahoney

  A new campaign for Sears Auto Center relies on sketchy mechanics, deserted mom-and-pop auto-repair shops, and a badass junkyard dog to drive home its familiarity, stressing its seven-day-a-week availability and certified technicians. ...Read the whole story

Wait, What Type Of Show Am I On Again? by Wayne Friedman

Programmers look to keep the reality-show mystique going at all costs, if not for viewers, then perhaps for participants -- who may not be on the show they think they are on. Viacom cable-network Spike, which has a decidedly young-male target, is bringing back a fake reality show. Get that? (Neither do I.) "The Joe Schmo Show: The Full Bounty" is about a real guy who believes he is on a reality show looking for America's next bounty hunter, but is actually surrounded entirely by actors. What, actors on a reality show? No! ...More

• You Say Documentary? I Say Reality! (Let's Call The Whole Thing Off) by Wayne Friedman

  Documentary shows and reality shows: Know the differences between them? The New York Post says CNN will add "reality TV" shows to its late-night lineup. That seems to have been wrong -- or wrongly identified CNN says it is not getting into the reality TV business, though it is considering adding weekend programs similar to a "documentary-style" travel show hosted by Anthony Bourdain that it will premiere next year. ...More