Hot Off The Press: The Latest TV News and Information - Page 103

The Business of Television
"DirecTV-10" is delayed
From Kazakhstan Today May 31, 2007

BAIKONUR -- DirecTV-10" space craft start planned on June 20 from Baikonur is delayed, the Federal Space Center "Baikonur" reported to the agency.

According to the press-service, American telecommunication satellite "DirecTV-10" start date was rescheduled on July. "Foreign producers of the satellite asked to reschedule the date because of its preparation and transportation to Baikonur", - informed the press-service.

The exact date of satellite start with a help of "Proton-М" rocket carrier will be defined later once the satellite will arrive on cosmodrome and will depend on foreign partners' readiness.

As the press-service explains, Russian partners execute all start preparation works on time. In installation center of the 92А-50 placement the work on "Proton-M" rocket carrier installation and "Briz-М" boost block, which arrived on cosmodrome on May 28, testing are being executed.

"DirecTV-10"space craft belongs to American company "DirecTV" which is the largest operator of satellite television in the US. "DirecTV-10" satellite with weight of more than 3 tones will enlarge satellite group of 9 space crafts working on near-earth orbit. The satellite is figured for 15 years of exploitation and was made for digital television translation with high clearness resolution in HDTV (High Definition Television) format through cable and national network on the US territory including Alaska and Hawaii.

Its analogue "DirecTV-8" satellite was orbited with the help of "Proton-М" rocket carrier from Baikonur on May 22, 2005, and with the help of "Briz-М" boost block was successfully orbited geostationary.

http://eng.gazeta.kz/art.asp?aid=91874

Wednesday's metered market over-night prime-time ratings - and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman's view of what they mean -- have been posted at the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&#post10367387

The Business of Television
Ads on NBC's 'Office' Are Most-Viewed in DVR Playback
By John Consoli MediaWeek May 31, 2007

NBC's The Office has the highest percentage of people watching its commercials when including three days of DVR playback, compared to the live-only program rating, according to commercial rating data released today (May 31) by Nielsen Media Research.

The Office averaged a 3.11 18-49 program rating, but that rises to a 3.36 live plus three-day commercial rating, 8 percent higher.

Other prime-time shows that have a higher viewing of commercials in live plus-three day DVR viewing are: Fox's animated Family Guy and Fox drama Bones (both 5 percent higher viewing of commercials); CW's Smallville, ABC's Grey's Anatomy and Fox's 24 (all four percent higher viewing of commercials); and NBC's My Name is Earl and Medium, and CBS' Numb3rs and Jericho (each three percent higher viewing of comericals).

That Nielsen data is for the week of April 30-May 5.

Nielsen said among households with DVRs, the average prime-time broadcast television program audience increases 40 percent when including same day DVR playback, and 73 percent when including three days of playback. Audiences for commercial minute ratings within the broadcast networks increase 18 percent for live DVR viewing and 32 percent when including three days of playback. So viewing in playback overall is about twice that of the commercial viewing in playback.

Media buyers and the broadcast networks seem to have agreed that in the upcoming upfront, live plus three-day DVR viewing will be the currency that is used in negotiating.

Ten percent of all broadcast television prime-time viewing in the 18-49 demo is now seen via DVR playback, according to Nielsen data. Only three percent of cable programming is seen via DVR playback, and only 2 percent of syndicated shows are watched via DVRs.

Among households with DVRs, 95 percent of all broadcast prime-time programming is watched by viewers within three days of the live telecast, compared to 85 percent of cable and 84 percent of syndication.

The Nielsen Data released today is for the a period dating back to April 30 and includes an Average Commercial Minute electronic data file that will cover live viewing, live plus same day DVR playback and live plus DVR playback for one, two, three and seven days. All broadcast, cable and syndication programming is included in the new average commercial minute electronic data file, which will supplement commercial minute ratings data already available in Nielsen's Npower software and its All Minute Data File.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/rec..._id=1003592214

Wednesday's fast national over night prime-time ratings - and Media Week Analyst Marc Berman's view of what they mean -- have been posted at the top of Ratings News the second post in this thread.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&#post10367387

Overnight Nielsens in the 18-49 Demo
Fox trots: 'Dance' sweeps up the floor
Returning reality show does a 4.0 in 18-49s
By Toni Fitzgerald MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer Thursday, May 31, 2007

Viewers happily welcomed back Fox's returning So You Think You Can Dance in its first Wednesday broadcast, but they weren't nearly as welcoming to a trio of new summer shows.

The third-year Dance dominated the evening last night, averaging a 4.0 among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen overnights, to give Fox an easy win. No. 2 CBS, which aired all repeats, was a distant No. 2 at 2.4.

Dance, last summer's top-rated series among adults 18-49, improved on last week's 3.7 for its Thursday premiere by 8 percent. It also bettered its showing on the same night last year.

But for the summer's new offerings, the news wasn't quite so good. Of the three new shows last night, ABC's The Next Best Thing: Who is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator? had the best showing.

Thing averaged a 2.5 at 8 p.m., placing second behind Dance. It did grow 8 percent from a 2.4 to a 2.6 in its second half hour, and it just barely topped Fox in total viewers and households, at 7.749 million and a 5.0 rating.

In the same hour, the CW's long-delayed teen drama Hidden Palms placed fifth with a 0.7 18-49 rating and just 1.8 million viewers.

And ABC's adventure drama The Traveler, which had a sneak preview behind Grey's Anatomy a few weeks ago, failed to benefit from that exposure. In its timeslot debut, the show placed a distant second at 10 p.m. with a 2.0 18-49 rating, despite being the only original program on the Big Three that hour.

Meanwhile, Fox was first for the night among 18-49s with a 4.0 average rating and a 12 share, with CBS second at 2.4/7, ABC third at 2.0/6, NBC fourth at 1.9/6 and CW fifth at 0.9/3. Univision's overnight ratings weren't available at press time.

At 8 p.m. Fox led with a 3.3 rating for the first of two hours of Dance, followed by ABC with a 2.5 for Thing. CBS was third that hour with a 1.9 for an hour of King of Queens repeats, NBC fourth with a 1.7 for an hour of Most Outrageous Moments and CW fifth with a 0.7 for Hidden Palms.

Fox led again at 9 p.m. with a 4.7 for its second hour of Dance, with CBS and NBC tied for second at 2.5, CBS for a repeat of Criminal Minds and NBC for another hour of Most Outrageous Moments. That pushed ABC down to fourth with a 1.5 for a repeat of the Traveler pilot, while CW was fifth again with a 1.0 for a repeat of One Tree Hill.

CBS took the lead at 10 p.m. with a 2.9 for a repeat of CSI: NY, while ABC finished second with a 2.0 for an original Traveler and NBC third with a 1.5 for a repeat of Medium.

Fox also edged the competition for the night among households, finishing with a 5.7 average rating and a 10 share. That was just ahead of second-place CBS's 5.6/10, with ABC third at 4.2/7, NBC fourth at 3.9/7 and CW fifth at 1.5/3.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/art..._the_floor.asp

The Business of Television
Nielsen Crunches Commerical Numbers
By Marisa Guthrie Broadcasting & Cable, 5/31/2007

More people viewed the commercials during three days of DVR playback of The Office - compared to the show's live broadcast - than any other primetime broadcast program, according to Nielsen Media Research. The findings (based on data collected the week of April 30, 2007) are part of new commercial-minute ratings data that Nielsen began supplying networks this morning.

The data will include six streams for national commercial minutes: live, live-plus-same-day and live-plus-one, two, three and seven-days.

During three days of playback, The Office had the highest percentage of people watching its commercials at 108 percent. Fox's Family Guy, and Bones, The CW's Smallville and ABC's Grey's Anatomy round out the top five in viewing of commercials over three days of DVR playback.

What Nielsen didn't supply was hard data on how many viewers are skipping the commercials during playback.

"I think that some people would say that there is complete commercial avoidance," says Pat McDonough, SVP Policy, Planning & Analysis for Nielsen.

"(The data) is clearly saying there is value to some of the playback. And there is clearly evidence of commercial avoidance and we can measure it and clients are looking at it and placing a value on it. What this allows us to do is fine tune those value judgment that everybody was making all along."

With about 17 percent of households with DVR capability, Nielsen estimates that 10 percent of broadcast primetime viewing is now done via playback. Among households with DVRs, delayed viewing is 42 percent.

DVR viewing is one of the main sticking points in the upfront negotiations with networks asking advertisers to pony up for at least some viewing on DVRs as the number of households with DVR capability continues to grow. Advertisers have balked at paying for delayed viewing. But this year, many in the industry expect a consensus to be reached at live-plus-three.

However, movie studios, which make Thursday night the biggest money maker for networks, as they unspool promos for the weekend's opening fare, will continue to hold out for live-only. At a time when it has never been more important to draw audiences to movies for their opening weekend, movie ads are much less valuable to the studios when viewed on DVRs after that weekend has passed.

The new commercial minute ratings aren't expected to have a major impact on the current upfront negotiations. But the new data gives both sides more information - and consequently more (or less) leverage - in an increasingly shifting and fragmented market.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/ind...leID=CA6447970

I have to admit that it is not on my usual list of sites to check.

But Swann paraphrased the news item from KT in his daily update and I decided to go straight to the source.

The English is a bit weird, but it is fun, nonetheless.

Thanks for the votes, Chuck and rcodey. And welcome to the thread!

Please post when you feel the urge.

I will have to check -- could well be I made another of my errors.

Thanks DAMAC, it is NOT on Sci Fi.

The 4400 premieres June 17 on USA at 9 PM ET.

As always, I greatly appreciate the help.

Just 15 years?

Passings
George Greeley, 89
Composer wrote theme for 'My Favorite Martian'
By Dennis McLellan Los Angeles Times Staff Writer May 31, 2007

George Greeley, a pianist, conductor, composer and arranger who composed the theme music for television's "My Favorite Martian," has died. He was 89.

Greeley, who had emphysema, died Saturday at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center, said Teri York, Greeley's longtime companion.

As staff pianist at Columbia Pictures in the 1950s, Greeley performed on hundreds of motion pictures. He also worked as a composer and orchestrator at the studio.

"He was an extraordinary pianist," said Jon Burlingame, who teaches a class on the history of film scoring at USC. While at Columbia, Burlingame said, Greeley played the piano for the Leonard Bernstein score for the classic 1954 drama "On the Waterfront."

"He also was very proud of his work on 'The Eddie Duchin Story' because he coached Tyrone Power on the proper way to play the piano," Burlingame said.

As a recording artist for Warner Bros. Records, Greeley produced and performed on 15 albums for piano and full orchestra, including "George Greeley Plays George Gershwin."

Moving into television in the 1960s, Greeley wrote the musical themes and underscores for "My Favorite Martian," starring Ray Walston and Bill Bixby, and "My Living Doll," starring Robert Cummings and Julie Newmar. He also wrote background music for "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" and "Nanny and the Professor."

For "My Favorite Martian," the 1960s sitcom in which Bixby's newspaper reporter character befriends the stranded Martian played by Walston, Greeley used an instrument called an electro-theremin to make the weird science-fiction-like sound every time the Martian's antennae went up or he used his powers of levitation.

"It was one of the first times electronic music was used on television," said Burlingame, who interviewed Greeley for his 1996 book "TV's Biggest Hits," a history of television scoring.

The catchy "My Favorite Martian" theme left a lasting impression on many of the show's young fans.

Greeley's sister Louise Wheeler said she was with her brother in a doctor's office when he mentioned that he had written the musical theme for "My Favorite Martian."

"At that moment, the doctor went right into the first four or six bars of it," Wheeler recalled Wednesday. "It always pleased my brother when something like that happened. It brought back happy childhood memories for an awful lot of baby boomers."

Born July 23, 1917, in Westerly, R.I., Greeley was taught by his musician-father to read music at an early age and was playing piano at age 5. He studied piano and music composition on a scholarship to the Juilliard School in New York, where he graduated in 1939.

He arranged music for several popular bands, including the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, before spending World War II conducting an Army Air Forces band at the Santa Ana Army Air Base. After the war, he wrote arrangements for a number of radio shows before joining Columbia Pictures.

At Capitol Records, he was a music director and arranger for Gordon MacRae, Jane Powell and Jane Froman, among others.

He performed as a piano soloist and guest conductor in Australia, Canada, Korea and Brazil. He also performed with the Boston Pops, the Atlanta Symphony and the Chicago Symphony.

In addition to his sister, Greeley is survived by his two sons, Anthony and Edward; and a brother, Herbert.

A memorial service for Greeley will be held at 3 p.m. Friday at the Faith Chapel, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituari...ck=2&cset=true

TV Notebook
CW adds to midseason schedule
'Eight Days a Week' gets 13 episodes
By Josef Adalian Variety May 31, 2007

The CW is adding to its midseason roster, picking up the Sean Hayes-produced laffer "Eight Days a Week."

Pop singer Christina Milian and Mario Lopez star in the comedy, which revolves around four Gothamites in their 20s who work for some of the city's most powerful people. They've given up much of their personal lives in order to get ahead, and are forced to rely on each other for support.

CW has ordered 13 episodes of "Eight Days a Week."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?lay...&categoryid=14

One of the really good guys is leaving the TV beat.
Critic's Notebook
Dusty Saunders:
Seeing stars was part of the job for 53 years
By Dusty Saunders (Denver) Rocky Mountain News May 31, 2007

In my 53 years as a reporter and columnist, I've written numerous stories about records being set.

Some records were important, others forgettable.

I realized a couple of months ago that I've set a record - no one in the history of the Rocky Mountain News has pounded out more words on an old-fashioned typewriter or a modern-day computer than I have.

Important? Forgettable? Probably somewhere in between. I've won a few awards. I've never been sued or attacked in a parking lot, although I've received my share of nasty phone calls, letters and e-mails.

But as Brandon Tartikoff, the late former entertainment president of NBC, said in his autobiography: "It's been a great ride."

As you may have heard, I'm leaving the Rocky under a voluntary separation agreement. However, I'll remain an occasional contributor in Spotlight.

Ironically, my first year here had nothing to do with words. My "journalistic" world consisted of picking up coffee, sharpening pencils and hauling newspapers from the presses to the editorial room. I was a copy boy, a profession that has gone the way of the whooping crane and newspaper typesetters.

My first chore on that initial day was getting coffee from the Rocky snack bar for the late Leonard Cahn, a sportswriter I'd revered while attending the University of Colorado.

In fact, my admiration produced something I remain proficient at - spilling liquids. As he mopped up his coffee with a napkin, he growled, "That's OK, Red," acknowledging my abundant freckles and bright red hair.

I went on to cover the police beat and city government and to write entertainment features before becoming feature-entertainment editor.

In May 1963, I was introduced to broadcasting. Editor Jack Foster had received a somewhat patronizing letter from NBC, saying that while the Rocky was a growing daily publication, it had one major drawback: little, if any, television coverage.

In those days newspapers, noting that TV was a growing rival in news coverage and advertising revenue, operated under a weird theory: Just ignore TV, it may go away.

The letter invited Foster or someone he designated to fly to New York for four days (at NBC's expense; yes, a freeload) to meet the network's stars and executives. Foster sent me with the caveat that I not file a story while at the event.

The first person I met at a cocktail party was a relatively shy Johnny Carson, who, six months earlier, had taken over as host of The Tonight Show. I borrowed pen and paper from a bartender and interviewed Carson in the corner of the noisy room.

Upon returning to Denver, I convinced Foster I should write something about the trip. While my printed interview with Carson was anything but an award-winner, I had found my professional niche. The "no television" edict was gradually erased, and by the early '70s I was writing about TV and radio on a full-time basis.

One of my proudest contributions was being a founding member of the Television Critics Association, which, down through the years, has increased the profile of TV columnists and made us all more professional. The organization was founded in 1980, and I was honored to be its third president.

Any departure column should contain a "state-of-the-art" assessment, but it would be foolhardy in this space to attempt to pinpoint all the changes, pluses and minuses of the broadcasting industry.

It is worth noting, however, that network television, because of competition from various sources, is far less creative today in storytelling than it was 25 years ago. Obviously, the miracles of electronics have been an on-the-screen plus. Meanwhile, original cable production continues to grow, often showing more creativity than the broadcast networks.

Local news, following a national trend, continues to drift toward more fluff-oriented material. Still, our local news is higher in quality than what is aired in most of the top 25 markets, thanks in part to the early standards set by the late Hugh B. Terry and Al Flanagan and, more recently, Roger Ogden.

Talk radio? While becoming a legitimate media force, it's moved from conversation to confrontation. Too often hosts, with entrenched points of view, dare callers to disagree so they can shout them down.

Because television is such a personal medium, I'm regularly asked: "Have you met . . . ?" or "Do you know . . . ?" I've interviewed hundreds of actors, writers, newsmen and TV executives. Some I know personally as well as professionally. Certainly, the passings of Peter Jennings and Ed Bradley were somewhat personal losses.

Several years ago the late Jerry Orbach, during a Hollywood press conference about Law & Order, was being bombarded with questions about his character, Detective Lennie Brisco. I was aware Orbach, a former Broadway musical star, was an original cast member in The Fantastiks, the off-Broadway hit that set a longevity record.

So I asked Orbach to reflect on those days, which he did in delightful, newsworthy style. Later at an NBC party, Orbach sought me out to thank me for bringing up The Fantastiks, which reminded the press that his career consisted of much more than being a TV cop. Thus, I also felt a personal loss when Orbach died in 2004.

That's part of my sentimental personality, also exemplified by the late Gene Amole, who claimed he cried at Kmart ribbon-cuttings.

So be it.

I once played Bill Cosby, an exceptional athlete in his younger years, in a Denver charity tennis match. He beat me 6-1. (Actually, he let me win one game.)

As we were sitting courtside after the match, sipping champagne, I told Cosby I was a better writer than a tennis player. Cosby winked, laughed and said: "I don't know, Dusty, I've read some of your stuff."

For readers who have followed me through the years, thank you for reading "some of my stuff."

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...562844,00.html

I have just cleaned out my PM mail box -- we have now passed the 600 vote mark -- keep those ballots coming.

Except, of course, for WilliamR -- the poll watchers are keeping a sharp eye out for him!