The head of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association told Congress yesterday that several of the industry's most dominant players, including Comcast and Time Warner, will offer customers a family-friendly program tier early in 2006. The announcement came against the backdrop of pressure from lawmakers, religious groups, and others who believe cable channels expose children to too much rough and sexually suggestive programming. Kyle McSlarrow, head of the cable association, said the initiative by industry-leading operators would reach half the country's cable viewers. Earlier this year the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed legislation that would increase fines for broadcast …

USA Today is moving its 75 online editorial staffers to its main Virginia newsroom, creating a single center for its 500 edit employees. "The goal... is to create a... 24-hour news organization that will inform and engage readers on multiple platforms," said USA Today Editor Tony Paulson in a statement. "Starting [Dec. 12] our goal is to begin conceiving and planning our coverage as one unit, thinking strategically about the deployment of our newsgathering resources in a world in which news has become an on-demand commodity." Other newspapers, including The New York Times, have already combined print and online …

NBC's "My Name Is Earl," in its freshman season, is the TV program that generates the most buzz in blogs, Internet chat rooms, and on message boards. In second place: Fox TV's "Prison Break." This is according to a report by Brandimensions, a company that tracks online buzz. The shows that attracted the most negative buzz, according to Brandimensions, were NBC's "Inconceivable" and Fox's "Head Cases." Both have already been canceled. Overall, however, the CBS TV network did best--what Brandimensions labeled "best in class"--for its slate of new programs. ABC "generated "below average sentiment for its new shows," although …

TVWeek has posted an extensive transcript of its recent, wide-ranging Syndication Roundtable. It reveals, among other things, that the syndi market has much in common with cable, and that, as always, commercial success is largely predicated on talent, timing, and cost of production. Michael Gelman, producer of "Life With Regis and Kelly": "We always keep focused on producing a hit show, and I think that is what you need to do. We always have our eyes open for new talent that's out there, but again, just because someone's a fantastic guest does not always guarantee that they'd be a …

Without citing any reasons, Comcast has scaled back plans for AZN Television, its English-language channel aimed at Asian-Americans.  Thirty jobs have been quietly eliminated in the AZN unit.  Among those to go: AZN's managing director, Steve Smith. In addition to cutting staff, Comcast has decided to kill plans for original programming on the channel, according to a report in The Hollywood Reporter. Unnamed sources at Comcast said the company is cutting back on AZN's budget because a number of corporate back-office functions are being combined.    

While everyone is focusing on NBC's ongoing inability to attract viewers to its prime-time shows, a recent study indicates that the network is doing well in every other critical daypart. Magna Global's analysis of Nielsen Media data shows that NBC holds the lead in several key demos, according to a report by Ad Age. The network is No. 1 in adults 25-54 for early-morning news and evening news, adults 18-49 in late night, and women 18-49 in daytime. Three of NBC's top franchises--“Today,” “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”--are clear leaders with …

In a Q&A with Broadcasting & Cable, NBC Universal Television Group president Jeff Zucker addressed a wide range of issues that seem to be on everyone's mind. On Katie Couric:  "’Today’... is more than the sum of its parts.  Nobody stays forever....  At some point, Katie will move on....  I certainly hope that she doesn't [leave the show next year]."  On making TV programming available via iTunes: "Every week there are 436,000 downloads of ‘Battlestar Galactica’....  It's pretty clear that people want to watch that stuff.  Now, given that we are selling ‘Battlestar Galactica’ for $1.99, there is finally …

Joseph Nocera, writing in The New York Times, makes an impassioned, if not entirely reasoned, case against the widespread introduction of a la carte programming on cable. In a column in which he expresses doubts about some of the new technologies, such as VOD, saying "decades of ingrained viewing habits" are not about to go away, Nocera argues that American consumers, even teens, are happy to have scores of niche channels packed into their cable packages. That even includes channels they don't love, because, well, that's the way it's long been. And because modern life is rife with complexity, …

In a move that shocked Hollywood and, it is fair to say, NBC Universal, Viacom's Paramount Pictures unit late last week swept in and made a fast deal for the purchase of DreamWorks SKG. The $1.6 billion purchase marked not only the end of lengthy discussions between DreamWorks and NBC Universal, but the end of moviemaker Steven Spielberg's career-long relationship with Universal Studios, on whose lot his Amblin Entertainment is based. The industry had widely believed that if any studio would pay what DreamWorks' owners wanted, it would be Universal. But Brad Gray, the former superstar agent who joined Paramount …

This might not be a fun time to be Tom Rogers. The CEO of TiVo is faced by an onslaught to challengers, many of which are better financed and seemingly better positioned to survive the rapidly shifting terrain in the DVR industry. Bob Keefe, West Coast bureau chief of the Austin American-Statesmen, says that "the company that gave viewers the power to pause live TV shows, time-shift their viewing... and instantly zap through commercials now finds itself struggling to remain a relevant part of the business it created." How so? The "revolutionary technology it pioneered is quickly becoming a …