• Are You Right? Then Here's Your Network
    If there's a TV network named "right," we can only hope there'll be another one named "wrong." A new cable channel called Right Network is, in fact, starting up, featuring content tinged with conservative sensibilities. From a branding point of view, it's an interesting name, one that will probably attract viewer sampling. But it probably won't deliver TV programs about the "right" things people of any political persuasion should do.
  • Conan's TBS Move Boldest Of Network Switches In A While
    Big TV programming moves from one network to another seem to be few and far between. Conan O'Brien's decision -- seemingly a quick and decisive determination -- to go to TBS is one of the boldest in a while. Moves like this seem to fascinate consumers and business insiders. The irony was that Fox was on the wrong end of this move. The fact that Fox didn't go after O'Brien -- or was hesitant -- didn't seem very Rupert Murdoch-like. In the 1990s, Murdoch made perhaps the boldest move ever in getting the NFL.
  • DVD Rentals Take It On The Chin
    TV networks are feeling better about themselves; so are movie studios, coming off a record-breaking theatrical box-office year. Maybe a few premium video Web sites are high five-ing as well. But the DVD business? All roads point south.
  • What Does A Big Unauthorized Biography Offer In The Digital Age?
    After 850 interviews for the new Oprah Winfrey biography, what do we know about her that we didn't already know? Not much. We are told she's a hard-driving businesswoman with little left for her personal life. That may not be news to most people.
  • Conan O'Brien At TBS Instead Of Fox -- Because It's Not 1995 Anymore
    Just in time for the upfront, TV marketers will now consider Conan O'Brien... on TBS. While outsiders all assumed O'Brien's obvious next stop after his ouster at NBC was Fox, few looked at the real business math at work. That's why this nuts-and-bolts, unglamorous tale is ultimately about TBS.
  • Betting On Hollywood? Write A Better Script
    Farmers do it. So do currency and gold traders, and coffee growers. Why shouldn't movie executives? Yet a lot of nay-sayers have turned up in the wake of two companies looking to establish a futures commodity market based on the movie business.
  • Need Help Picking A TV Show? Let The Algorithm Choose
    A couple of years ago, a friend of mine from England came to visit. We took her right over to a New York City-type deli after she arrived -- where she was instantly paralyzed, surveying the hundreds of possible combinations of sandwiches. When asked what she wanted, she said, "Nothing." It seems this kind of paralysis is occurring more frequently among consumers because of the sheer volume of growing digital entertainment options. Companies like Amazon and Netflix -- and now some TV content providers -- have begun dealing with this issue by offering various kinds of suggestions.
  • Puzzling Over Intent Of Nike's Tiger Woods Ad
    Nike has some guts. It never backed down from keeping Tiger Woods, when all other Woods sponsors ran for cover. Now it shows up the day before Woods return to the Masters with a commercial that features a voiceover of his late father, Earl Woods. Does it sell compassion, guilt with sympathy, forgiveness after recklessness... or golf caps?
  • Complicated Rating Picture Still Begs Question: Who's Really On Top?
    Once again, the seemingly simple picture of TV ratings reveals that there is a lot more behind the pixels.
  • TV Executives Look For Guarantees -- In The Worst Way
    You can always interview for a new job while still at your existing job. But it's probably not a good idea to do too much for your prospective new employer.
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