• It's The Last Two Minutes Again In America
    So here's my theory: Clint is actually pro-Obama. There's no other explanation for his nutty prime-time performance last night. He's just too good an actor -- and too good a writer and director -- to have done something so seemingly erratic, disjointed, and, quite frankly, weird, that it wasn't somehow all part of a well-crafted and delivered script intended to shift America's attention and the political discourse away from Mitt's big moment.
  • Unavailable Football Game To Impact Texas Saturday
    Unless something unexpected happens, millions of Texas residents won't be able to watch the football opener for the University of Texas on Saturday night. The game will air only on the Longhorn Network (LHN), the ESPN-owned cable channel that's in an estimated 400,000 homes in the Lone Star State.
  • Gaining Momentum
    The hottest stories circulating in the TV industry this week are about an entrenched incumbent hoping to regain some former glory and an extremely disruptive challenger -- and no, I don't mean Barack and Mitt. I'm talking about Katie and Hurricane Isaac, of course.
  • Democracy, Satire And Stephen Colbert
    "Colbert's America" salutes a faux pundit who uses a late-night comedy show to hold our leaders accountable. It claims Stephen Colbert's satire doubles as public service: He makes us think.
  • MTV Political Game A Winner
    You may be a dyed-in-the-wool Massachusetts Democrat appalled that somehow the state has a Republican senator. But if you're playing to win with MTV, you want no part of Elizabeth Warren.
  • 6300% More Of Certain Kind Of Scandalous TV Content
    We here at TV Watch take a lot of pride in our tagline: "full-frontal televison." Who doesn't want to expose and tell all? Yes, "expose" is the key word for this column. A report from one pressure group says one major trend has been going on in television that most people may not be aware of: full-frontal nudity.
  • If Music Videos Get Monetized In Concert Tours, Might TV Programs Be Headed For Mall Productions?
    The Carly Rae Jepsen music video "Call Me Maybe" gets seen 212 million times on the Internet. What is that worth in TV terms? When 100 million viewers watch a three-hour event called the Super Bowl, it can bring a network $210 million to $225 million in national advertising dollars.
  • Apple's Media-Skipping Patent Targets Content -- Perhaps Ads? -- Deemed 'Not Of Interest To A User'
    In the wake of Dish's AutoHop technology comes an Apple patent that could mean "ad skipping" to some. But read closely. Seems the new technology would allow users of digital entertainment to automatically switch to another digital device or file when a bit of advertising appears.
  • Dish's Hopper Offers 'Choice' To Viewers, But Not To Advertisers
    "The commercials are not erased or deleted." Comforting thoughts to TV advertising and selling executives? This phrase was used a number of times by Dish Network in its recently revised legal filing against the networks. This came in light of Dish's big and controversial AutoHop feature in its new "Hopper" DVR, which can record three hours of prime-time programming from the four networks without commercials. But -- no surprise -- the commercials are actually still there if viewers want to see them. Actually, Dish says viewers always had the choice.
  • As Big Media Gets Bigger, What's Left To Buy?
    What's left for big media to buy? Comcast could be looking for more. CBS? Perhaps it could use a few more few more cable channels -- especially widely distributed basic ones. Fox has broad assets, including TV stations and cable channels. Maybe it wants a pay TV group like Starz? Maybe Disney-ABC wants Starz as well?
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