by Wayne Friedman on May 14, 10:45 AM
A veteran TV producer, and possibly the network itself, wants to take a moderately successful network TV show, and do the unthinkable: change its name. Bill Lawrence, executive producer of ABC's "Cougar Town," is worried his show's name has perhaps limited viewer potential -- and that it turns off others. That people might say, according to Lawrence: "I don't want to see some show about a 40-year-old woman nailing younger guys."
by Wayne Friedman on May 13, 10:30 AM
We have a little deeper knowledge about where Comcast is going with its soon-to-be big broadcast/movie studio purchase: NBC Universal should do its own thing -- but with one exception.
by Wayne Friedman on May 12, 3:00 PM
A future TV business headline in the next couple of weeks: "The upfront market returns to quick overnight deals, high price increases, and laughing TV advertising sales executives." OK, maybe just smiling (or contented) advertising sales executives.
by Wayne Friedman on May 11, 5:15 PM
A recent Federal Communications Commission ruling gave movie studios the ability to stop viewers from time-shifting films on video-on-demand services. Studios are now allowed to stop this practice -- via remotely changing consumers' set-top box connections -- to prevent illegal copying of movies. Consumer-advocacy groups say this is a dangerous move, just a short step to allowing all TV content owners this ability -- which has been technically possible for years.
by Wayne Friedman on May 10, 2:17 PM
Comedy Central is developing a show called "JC," an animated show about Jesus Christ finding himself in New York City, looking to get out of the shadow of his father -- a man who seemingly just wants to play video games and not focus on his son. Seems crazy. This network already has issues with throwing around the name of Prophet Muhammad on "South Park." How does one sell this to advertisers?
by Wayne Friedman on May 7, 1:02 PM
There is indeed continuing interest in local TV news -- but you may have a hard time identifying where that local news originates. Some marketing executives still believe broadcast station call letters are the key for future growth, especially in the digital space. Yet other executives believe giving a new name to local digital TV news operations lets consumers gravitate to a "new" product and let go of any preconceived notions about the old TV station.
by Wayne Friedman on May 6, 5:00 PM
Now on the verge of another TV upfront advertising season, with all the projections that it will seem just like a "regular" upfront with some price increases, one question lurks in the background: Are traditional TV executives running scared of digital? Digital video executives will tell you this is absolutely true. Trouble is, we have been hearing these crying-wolf calls for many years now.
by Wayne Friedman on May 5, 2:45 PM
For all those electronic and non-electronic journalism watchers, there comes good news from one media executive, News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch. On Fox Business' "Cavuto" on Tuesday, Murdoch said: "There has never been such demand for journalism as there is today."
by Wayne Friedman on May 4, 1:16 PM
t happens every upfront season: the threat that TV dollars will be moved to other media platforms. For decades, that other media platform was the cable networks. Now, of course, it's much more scattered around new technologies -- which would seem to suggest some marketers would be making good on their threats.
by Wayne Friedman on May 3, 3:15 PM
Ads come in my direction with little sense: Double electric breast pumps one minute, and hot young women the next. An ad for the Alliance double electric breast pump appeared -- apparently just for me -- on the Hollywood Reporter website, thr.com, the entertainment business destination. That hot young women ad? That comes via my Yahoo email area. Can't marketers get it right? I need hot young women AND double electric breast pumps!
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