• Riley Named ABC Family President
    Television and radio executive Michael Riley has been named president, ABC Family. He reports to Anne Sweeney, co-chair, Disney Media Networks, and president, Disney/ABC Television Group. Riley will have oversight of ABC Family's original programming and acquisitions; franchise management, marketing, sales and operations; and be responsible for the overall strategic and creative direction for the channel. Previously, Riley was senior vice president and general manager of Radio Disney, where he oversaw the strategic management of the Radio Disney network and its portfolio of 36 owned radio stations. He joined The Walt Disney Co. in April 2008. Before that, he …
  • Will Emmys Split Into 2 Shows Next Year?
    Broadcast executives, in off-the-record conversations with The Hollywood Reporter, have expressed their frustration with airing the Emmys -- a huge promotional postcard for HBO and cable. Having separate shows could solve that problem. That's just one of the ideas circulating after the 62nd Primetime Emmys Awards show drew an on-par 13 million viewers for NBC. The major TV networks have broached the idea with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Splitting would address a major concern of broadcasters, which have all but abdicated the movie of the week, long-form and miniseries to cable and pay TV. The most …
  • Newsstands Will Carry 'Gourmet' On Occasion
    Condé Nast will produce three "special edition" magazines built around recipes that were published in Gourmet before its demise last year. The first, called Gourmet Quick Kitchen, is made up of 81 fast recipes, freshened up with new photography, kitchen hints and menus that suggest wine pairings. Edited by one mag veteran, Kempe Minifie, along with Catherine Kelley, the 128-page magazine goes on sale at some newsstands and at the Condé Nast store on Sept. 7 for $10.99. "We think Gourmet readers will be thrilled once they see this on the newsstand," said Frederika Brookfield, a spokesperson for the …
  • Clearwire Debuts Pay-As-You-Go Broadband Plan
    Clearwire, whose backers include Comcast and Time Warner Cable, rolled out a pay-as-you-go mobile broadband service called Rover that starts at $5 per day.Clearwire's strategic investors include Sprint, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Intel, Google, and Bright House Networks. The prepaid service is priced at $5 per day, $20 per week (seven consecutive days), or $50 per month (30 consecutive days) for unlimited 4G internet usage. Clearwire's postpaid Clear service is $30 per month for home users and $40 per month for mobile users. Rover is available in all of Clearwire's 49 4G markets across the U.S., online at rover.com, …
  • 'Mad Men' Stars Shill For Brands
    While "Mad Men" has slyly slipped plenty of product placement deals into its show, this is the first time a "Mad Men" actor, Christina Hendricks, has appeared in an ad for a product previously hyped on the show. In fact, London Fog was actually first approached by "Mad Men" last season to work the brand into the show, says Dari Marder, Chief Marketing Officer of the Iconix Brand Group. Now a "Mad Men" star is in London Fog ads.  Indeed, London Fog was aiming for a Mad Men-inspired look for its campaign, so the ads seem perfectly timed. to …
  • Comcast Gets Static on Net TV
    The Justice Department is focusing in on how Comcast Corp.'s bid to purchase control of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal television and movie unit could affect the emerging Internet video market. Competitors have complained that the combined powerhouse could stunt the Internet video industry's growth. During its eight-month review of the roughly $13.75 billion deal, the agency's antitrust division has become interested in finding out whether Comcast and other cable and satellite giants are trying to lock up distribution rights to television programming on the Internet, which would block potential competition, according to people familiar with the matter. Will …
  • Head of Radio and TV Martí Resigns
    Radio/TV Martí director Pedro Roig resigned Friday after more than seven years at the head of the often controversial U.S. government stations that broadcast to Cuba. "We have, most certainly, achieved the goals of bringing the news and information denied by the communist regime to the Cuban people," Roig, a 69-year-old lawyer, wrote in his resignation letter. The twin stations have spent an estimated $500 million over the years broadcasting news and entertainment to Cuba, but they have been dogged by complaints of meager audiences, biased politics and journalism and cronyism.An April-May survey of Cubans interviewed within six months …
  • 'Time' Survives By Shrinking Circ, Pricing Web Access
    Time, company sources say, is on track to earn a profit of more than $50 million this year. Rick Stengel, Time managing editor, has trimmed the roughly 200-person staff by a quarter over four years, relying more on freelancers, and has assembled a team of high-profile writers. These include Michael Grunwald, David Von Drehle and Pulitzer Prize winner Barton Gellman. Stengel also brought in Mark Halperin from ABC, Michael Crowley from the New Republic and, most recently, Fareed Zakaria from Newsweek. After being locked for decades in a Coke-Pepsi race, Time and Newsweek both decided to downsize. Time has …
  • New Tribune Diginet Promotes Classic TV
    Tribune Broadcasting is launching a new multicast network featuring classic TV shows and movies on its own stations and looking for affiliates in other markets. Antenna TV will begin airing on Tribune's stations on Jan. 3, 2011. Among the TV shows already on the schedule: "Three's Company," "All in the Family," "Sanford and Son," "Benny Hill", "Maude," "The Nanny" and "The Three Stooges." "Earlier this year Tribune expanded its relationship with MGM to launch This TV, a digital channel of classic movies, in additional markets. The addition of Antenna TV offers a strong compliment to This TV and to …
  • Networks Say TV Marketplace OK For Now
    Despite a rash of troubling macroeconomic indicators that suggest the recovery may have lost its forward momentum, media buyers and network executives are confident that the TV advertising marketplace will remain robust through the end of the year writes Mediaweek. After that, it's anyone's guess. Buyers and sellers have begun the process of converting holds to orders, and while there's still some time on the clock, early indications support the notion that there won't be an inordinate amount of breakage. On the broadcast side of the ledger, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW are all facing another arduous …
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