• MTV Looks For Another Hit: What About An Uplifting Reality Show?
    MTV is looking for a kinder side of the TV world. Those biting reality shows? Maybe all that's history -- MTV wants to start another trend, taking off from "Real World," which ushered in the current genre of reality TV in the early 1990s.
  • Resetting The TV Ad Market: Is This What A Troubled Economy Will Bring?
    Reset prices for the upfront? That's supposedly what Procter & Gamble and other marketers want to do. But the odds are not in their favor -- any more than my IRA mutual funds will be reset to the levels back to what they were in March.
  • Tough Economic Times Yield Strange TV Advertising Decisions -- And Lawsuits
    Growing TV stations and networks will do the unusual to lift advertising sales. WADL, in the Detroit DMA, allegedly wrote a check for $1.5 million last April to Petry Media's Blair Television sales rep division, with a promise that WADL would get more than that from big national spot sales revenues. Since October 2007, when the agreement was signed, WADL says only $253,000 has been booked by Blair -- well below its supposed guarantee. WADL admits it is atypical for a TV station to write a check to a rep firm -- let alone to pay an upfront fee of …
  • CBS Does Well -- In A Marketplace That Isn't
    In the face of an almost certain bad TV economy continuing well into 2009, the CBS network has had one strong season -- relatively speaking, considering the writers' strike of a year ago and the network' series of misfires from a year ago like "Viva Laughlin" -- and considering where traditional live TV viewing has been headed overall.
  • Big TV News: 'Idol' Goes On Hiatus -- But Not In This Country.
    The TV economy must really be in a bad way. I hear they just put "Idol" on hiatus. Make that "Canadian Idol." The north-of-the-border version of the big U.S. hit is taking a break -- "resting," according to its Canadian TV network and rights holder, CTV -- because of a poor TV advertising econom.
  • TV Marketing Looks To Hot-Foot Program Success
    It's not about slow-moving show business -- it's about the actual footwear. A quickly produced MSNBC cable network promo yielded this: "What will Bush's legacy be in Iraq? Has the other shoe dropped?" Is this making light of that very serious war on the other side of the world -- or just an honest TV marketing attempt to bring in viewers? The answer has yet to be determined.
  • TV Ratings Game: Finding The Break-Even Number
    Take the emotion and quality out of the equation. Breaking even on network television has never been about stuff you can't research, measure, or amortize.
  • Testing, Testing: Broadcast, Cable, Syndication, All Differ In Approach
    Television is a big testing ground for marketers. But what is the test for a new TV program? According to Mort Marcus, co-president of Debmar-Mercury, stations and programmers can save a lot of money and time by testing in perhaps limited station deals.
  • Marketing Jay At 10 P.M.: Tell Viewers To Save DVR Playback For Weekend
    Jay Leno's move to 10 p.m. has opened up many questions -- about advertisers, scripted TV writers, and programming scheduling. But what about NBC's marketing to the viewer?
  • Is The Poor Economy Tackling Football Before It Gets To The Goal Line?
    What's going on with football this season? NFL says it is cutting back staff, media executives report inventory is available for many big national NFL games, and, yes, the Arena Football League -- the developmental league of the NFL -- has reportedly cancelled its 2009 season.
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