Some industry observers have been saying for months that if NBC did not get its prime-time programming in order--that is, if it continued to disappoint in the ratings--Television Group President Jeff Zucker would pay with his job. They were wrong. Zucker, the onetime wunderkind of network TV, was given a vote of confidence yesterday, despite a weak programming lineup, when parent GE tucked several additional responsibilities beneath his umbrella. The newly organized TV group will now include divisions that had previously been run in separate units: television stations, operations, ad sales, and distribution. Zucker said the reorganization was aimed …

HBO yesterday found itself in the unfamiliar position of following what other television networks had done before it--agreeing to deliver content to mobile handsets. But the recent spate of similar deals throughout the industry made it seem inevitable that the Time Warner-owned pay-cabler would eventually agree to provide content to a mobile-phone company. The only real question was, which company? HBO answered that yesterday when it announced that beginning next year it would furnish clips from some of its series and sports programs to Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest wireless provider. Additionally, HBO will produce exclusive content for Cingular. Parents …

The future of "The Tony Danza Show," now in its second season, is in serious doubt. Ratings have been dropping fast, and the talker has now fallen behind freshman fare from Tyra Banks and Martha Stewart. A big blow was struck last week when King World's Rachael Ray cooking show, set to begin its run in 2006, took Danza's favorable morning time slots in New York and Philadelphia. Danza's program, from Buena Vista, is averaging a 1.1 rating 11 weeks into the current season. "It does not look very good at this stage," said Jordan Breslow, director of broadcast research …

Here's a new and troubling development in television news. WIBA-FM, a radio station in Madison, Wisconsin, has awarded naming rights to its newsroom to a local bank. Beginning January 1, the station's newsroom will be known--and referred to on-air--as the Amcore Bank News Center. A spokesperson for Clear Channel, which owns the station, said the new name would not influence news coverage of the bank and its activities. "This simply means that they get a 'name branding' with the description of the news center on the air," said Jeff Taylor, a Clear Channel vice president. The Society of Professional Journalists …

Media analyst Diane Mermigas takes a long, hard look at the reconstituted Viacom and concludes it is well positioned to capitalize on its recent investments in Paramount Pictures and the Internet, with MTV Networks' expanding brand equity also helping to fuel growth deep into the future. After an extensive interview with Tom Freston, president-CEO of the slimmed-down company (the CBS unit of the "old" Viacom goes its own separate way January 1), Mermigas sees little to stall Viacom's plans for a resurgent movie studio, a more aggressive MTV, and its content initiatives in high-growth areas, such as South Asia, China, …

Ford Motor Company, which less than two weeks ago announced it would abandon advertising in gay publications, yesterday reversed itself. The decision followed widespread outrage in the gay community and harmful press elsewhere. There was no immediate reaction from Donald Wildmon or his American Family Association, the conservative Christian group that had claimed victory when Ford withdrew its ads earlier in the month; the AFA had threatened Ford with a boycott over what it perceived as inappropriate advertising. The automotive giant now seeks to emerge from the public-relations humiliation it suffered when it bowed to AFA's pressure. In doing so, …

Maer Roshan's high-profile Radar magazine has folded, attributing its widely predicted demise to a weak advertising environment.  The magazine had produced just three issues --the first of which was regarded essentially as a test of the concept--but it failed to gain traction in the ad community, conceded co-publishers Mort Zuckerman and Jeffrey Epstein.  Roshan, the magazine's founder and editor, who earlier had worked at New York and Talk magazines, said that the title had produced a number of "groundbreaking stories" during its brief life.  Until Zuckerman and Epstein came along, Roshan had waged a long public campaign to secure …

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., the chairman of the New York Times Company, is not an easy subject, but Ken Auletta, The New Yorker's prolific media writer, takes him on in the Dec. 19 issue, saying of Sulzberger that "he will be judged on his overall stewardship of [the company], and perhaps, inevitably, he has now become a target, in much the way that Howell Raines was."  Auletta devotes much of his piece to the Times' handling of the Judith Miller matter, which did not redound to the paper's credit nor to its standing within certain political circles.  Sulzberger is …

Fox TV's Emmy Award-winning "Arrested Development," which recently was canceled, may be picked up by Showtime, according to rumors circulating throughout the industry.  If true, it would be an expensive proposition for the pay-cable channel: the "Arrested Development" cast, which includes Jeffrey Tambor, Jason Bateman, and Portia de Rossi, among others, would command a very significant combined salary.  According to a story in the Hollywood Reporter, Showtime is in discussions with "Arrested" producers 20th Century Fox and Imagine TV about picking up the quirky comedy from creator/exec producer Mitch Hurwitz.  Last month, in saying "Arrested" would not be picked …

TNT will finish the year as the top ad-supported cable network, according to Nielsen Media Research. It averaged 2.58 million viewers in prime time for the week ended Dec. 11. Second place for 2005, according to Nielsen, looks to be locked up by USA, with an average of 2.31 million prime-time viewers, followed by Nick at Nite (1.89 million), ESPN (1.79 million), and Fox News Channel (1.78 million). Disney Channel, which is not ad-supported, would have landed in third place for viewership had it been counted in the ad-supported category. TNT and USA also performed especially well last week among …