Hot Off The Press: The Latest TV News and Information - Page 2483

And ticket prices, of course, and concessions, and parking, and increased commercial load during telecasts, and the price of everything advertised during an NFL game. Heck, maybe the NFL Network, which has only 24 hours of compelling programming a year, will double its subscriber fee which will then be passed on to every cable customer, and on and on and on.

This may be great news for the beleaguered NFL owners, the poor dears, but it's just another knife in the back for everyone else. Honestly, I'm a football fan and a season ticket holder and understand that the NFL is, by far, the country's most popular sport but isn't this getting kind of ridiculous?

As been mentioned before almost everyone that called got a big $$ discount or even got it for free by calling directv just like they do ever single year.

Unless they are one of those peeps that dont like paying their bills on time.

I wonder if the price would go down if they shared it with every provider?

Why, it may be better to start supporting local teams, high school teams, etc - at least that makes it more about the game, and less about the TV timeouts!

Then again, not like those games are televised - there is always the CFL!

Technology/Washington Notes
Piracy legislation pits Hollywood against Silicon Valley
Filmmakers, music companies and other copyright holders are backing tough new bills in Congress that would give the Justice Department broad powers to shut down websites that host pirated material.
By Richard Verrier and Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times - December 5th, 2011

Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington. Film director Penelope Spheeris' new comedy, "Balls to the Wall," had barely premiered in Europe when bootleg copies started popping up on the Internet, throwing its U.S. release into jeopardy. A Spheeris assistant sent out as many as 30 cease-and-desist notices a day in a desperate, but failed, attempt to halt the piracy.

"It's like putting out a forest fire with your bare feet," she said.

That helps explain why Spheeris and other filmmakers are backing tough new legislation making its way through Congress that would give the Justice Department broad powers to shut down websites that host pirated material and would open the door for movie studios, music companies and other copyright holders to seek court injunctions against Internet companies they believe are aiding in copyright theft, which amounts to $58 billion a year.

Internet entrepreneur Gabriel Weinberg just as adamantly opposes the proposed law, fearful it will punish legitimate search engines that unwittingly link to pirated content and curtail innovation on the Web. Having just raised $3 million for his fledgling search engine DuckDuckGo, "I wouldn't want to spend it all on legal costs," said Weinberg, the company's president.

Spheeris and Weinberg represent opposite camps in a congressional fight that divides California's two most glamorous and energetic industries: Hollywood and Silicon Valley. On one side are old-media entertainment companies such as Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, which accuse the search companies of acting as fences for private property by collecting advertising revenue from the sites where pirates lurk. On the other are new-media giants such as Google, Yahoo, EBay and Facebook, which say the proposed legislation threatens free speech and will jeopardize the technological stability of the World Wide Web

"This is truly an epic battle between two huge interests that are both very, very important to our national economy," said Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Menlo Park), who represents Silicon Valley.

The pending bills in the House and Senate would give the Justice Department power to seek court orders requiring U.S. search engines and Internet sites to block access to foreign websites hawking pirated material. Private companies such as Paramount Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment would also be able to seek court orders preventing such sites from receiving ads and payments services from the U.S.

The fight is curiously nonpartisan, with conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats teamed on both sides of the issue. Some of the split is based on which industry is more dominant in a lawmaker's region. Many Southern California representatives back Hollywood's position, and most Northern California members side with the Internet companies. But political philosophy also plays a role, leading anti-big-government conservatives to join with liberal civil libertarians in opposition to giving Washington what they fear would be broad censorship power over websites.

In the thick of the fight is the Motion Picture Assn. of America. Hollywood's chief lobbying arm has enlisted support from a broad coalition of industry and labor unions, including the AFL-CIO and the Recording Industry Assn. of America. Because the bills also protect against counterfeit goods and safeguard prescription drug patents, they also have the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the influential pharmaceutical trade group PhRMA.

"Some in the tech community believe that even if their website is being used to house stolen copyrighted content, that's not their problem,'' MPAA Chief Executive Christopher J. Dodd, the former senator from Connecticut, said in a recent speech. "The time has come to take a tough stand against the rogue sites and the parasites who profit from the outright theft of our content."

The bills' opponents have also been rallying support and spending millions on their message. A coalition of top Internet companies published full-page ads in major newspapers this month warning of the risks of the proposed laws and urging lawmakers to take a more targeted approach.

"This legislation really is thermonuclear war against the Internet," said Markham Erickson, executive director of NetCoalition, a trade group that represents Internet and tech firms including Google, Yahoo, Amazon and EBay.

Such rhetoric infuriates top studio executives.

"It is my understanding that the Internet was created to withstand nuclear attack," said Fox Filmed Entertainment co-Chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos. "So I'm curious to understand how an attorney in the Justice Department bringing a proceeding in a federal court can bring it down."

"The idea that this is going to kill the Internet feels like a scare tactic," said Barry Meyer, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment.

The MPAA estimates the nation loses more than 300,000 jobs, $16 billion in earnings and a total of $58 billion in economic output each year because of pirated movies, music, software and video games.

"It's the No. 1 issue for us," said Scott Harbinson, international representative for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which has 113,000 members in the U.S. and Canada. "If people aren't investing in motion picture production because of piracy, our guys don't work."

But critics in the tech industry view the legislation as dangerous overreach.

Google copyright counsel Katherine Oyama warned that the House bill "would undermine the legal, commercial and cultural architecture that has propelled the extraordinary growth of Internet commerce," and says it would impose "harsh and arbitrary sanctions without due process."

Both sides are bringing money to the fight. Although bill-specific figures are not available, the pharmaceutical industry has spent $182 million on Washington lobbying in 2011, more than any other sector, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The TV, movie and music industries combined have spent $91.8 million, with the computer and Internet industries right behind at $91.5 million. Google alone is said to have spent $5.9 million.

No one from either side disputes that online piracy is a real problem. And, because the pending bills enjoy bipartisan support, they have a good chance of passing next year, although probably with revisions that would narrow their scope.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), one of the key lawmakers behind the legislation, said he is willing to revise his bill to reflect the concerns of technology companies but is committed to cracking down on rogue websites.

"There is so much good and so much that's helpful on the Internet. I want to protect that," Leahy said. "But I don't want to protect thieves."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,6250051.story

SATURDAY's fast affiliate overnight prime-time ratings -and what they mean- have been posted on Analyst Marc Berman's Media INsight's Blog.

SUNDAY's fast affiliate overnight prime-time ratings -and what they mean- have been posted on Analyst Marc Berman's Media INsight's Blog.

Nielsen Overnights (18-49)
NBC stays ahead of Fox on Sunday night
Averages a 5.2 rating among adults 18-49s for the night
By Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life Magazine - December 5th, 2011

Football dominated the broadcast landscape on Sunday night, including the end of a highly anticipated game between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants that boosted Fox to a close No. 2 behind NBC in primetime.

Powered by "Sunday Night Football," NBC averaged a 5.2 adults 18-49 rating and 13 share last night, according to Nielsen, with Fox second at 5.1/12.

The end of the Packers-Giants game was actually the No. 1 program on broadcast, averaging a 9.0 rating at 7 p.m. as the Packers scored a last-second field goal that boosted their record to 12-0.

NBC's "SNF" matchup featuring the New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions then dominated the rest of the night, averaging a 6.5 from 8:30 to 11 p.m.

Elsewhere last night, ABC's new hit drama "Once Upon a Time" slid to a new series low, down 10 percent from last week to a 3.1, though it was still easily the night's top drama.

The No. 1 scripted show for the evening was Fox's "The Simpsons," which benefitted from the big football lead-in. It averaged a 4.0 at 8 p.m.

With NBC and Fox well ahead of the competition on the night, ABC came in third at 2.2/5, CBS fourth at 2.1/5, Univision fifth at 0.8/2 and Telemundo sixth at 0.6/1.

As a reminder, all ratings are based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback, which includes shows replayed before 3 a.m. the night before. Seven-day DVR data won't be available for several weeks. Forty-two percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.

Also, ratings for NBC's NFL football coverage are approximate as fast nationals measure timeslot and not actual program data.

At 7 p.m. Fox was first with a 9.0 for NFL overrun and "The OT" postgame show, followed by NBC with a 2.2 for "Football Night in America." CBS was third with a 1.8 for "60 Minutes," ABC fourth with a 1.4 for "America's Funniest Home Videos" and Univision and Telemundo tied for fifth at 0.6, Univision for "Asi Es Gloria Trevi" and Telemundo for the first half of a Mexican league soccer match.

NBC took the lead at 8 p.m. with a 5.9 for NFL pregame and the start of "Sunday Night Football," while Fox slid to second with a 3.2 for "Simpsons" (4.0) and "Allen Gregory" (2.4). ABC was third with a 3.1 for "Time," CBS fourth with a 2.7 for "The Amazing Race," Univision fifth with a 0.9 for "Rosa de Guadalupe" and Telemundo sixth with a 0.7 for soccer.

At 9 p.m. NBC was first with a 3.5 for football, with Fox second again with a 3.0 for "Family Guy" (3.5) and "The Cleveland Show" (2.5). ABC was third with a 2.6 for "Desperate Housewives," CBS fourth with a 1.9 for "The Good Wife," Univision fifth with a 1.0 for more "Guadalupe" and Telemundo sixth with a 0.5 for "Pa'lante con Cristina."

NBC led again at 10 p.m. with a 6.3 for football, followed by CBS with a 2.2 for "CSI: Miami." ABC was third with a 1.6 for "Pan Am," Univision fourth with a 0.7 for "Sal y Pimienta" and Telemundo fifth with a 0.6 for another hour of "Cristina."

Among households, NBC was first for the night with an 8.4 average overnight rating and a 13 share. Fox was second at 7.4/11, CBS third at 6.6/10, ABC fourth at 4.3/7, Univision fifth at 1.1/2 and Telemundo sixth at 0.6/1.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/art...nday-night.asp

TV Notes
Lisa Kudrow's 'Web Therapy' Gets Second Season on Showtime
By Michael O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter's 'Live Feed' Blog - December 3rd, 2011

Showtime decided it needs more therapy.

The network announced Monday that it will air a second season of Lisa Kudrow comedy Web Therapy, set to air in 2012.

Transitioning from the web to the tube in summer of 2011, Web Therapy follows psychotherapist Fiona Wallice as she treats a variety of patients via webcam.

“We are thrilled that Showtime will air more of the half-hour format of Web Therapy, we really love this version of the show,” Kudrow said in a statement. “Of course, we are over the moon that Meryl Streep will be in this coming season. She was effortlessly hilarious, and it's a great story. We have Lily Tomlin back who always fantastically funny. Conan O'Brien is beyond, fantastic, he's a perfect improviser. We're honestly giddy over the people we have for this season.”

Rosie O’Donnell, Molly Shannon, Minnie Driver and Selma Blair are also among the guest actors appearing for the sophomore outing.

Created by Kudrow, Don Roos and Dan Bucatinsky, Web Therapy is produced by Is or Isn’t Entertainment.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...-streep-269604

Otherwise, it had mega-hit written all over it. Drat, Drat your freedom, internet!

It's probably the IMDB 3.1 rating driving all the pirating.

re: NFL
$400 is still much cheaper than two season tickets. Supply and demand is driving this market. It is the highest rated sports programming in the country. Do I like paying more? No. Do I think the league is a fantastic product? Yes. Am I going to whine about it? No. I may look into other alternatives to the Ticket.

TV Notes
History channel launches TV screen commerce initiative
By Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times' 'Company Town' Blog - December 5th, 2011

For years, media executives and marketers have longed for the day when a viewer could be watching an episode of "The Good Wife," say, click a dress worn by star Julianna Margulies and instantly be able to purchase it right from the television screen.

On Monday, that scenario inched a little closer to reality. The cable network History, programming distributor Verizon FiOS and technology company Delivery Agent, which manages online stores for many television networks, unveiled a T-commerce (television commerce) initiative that would enable subscribers to buy items shown the cable network's programs.

Taking part in the T-commerce effort are History shows like "Pawn Stars" and "Ice Road Truckers." During a show, an icon will appear on the screen that the viewer can click on to purchase items.

"The reason the History Shop initiative will work is because it allows viewers to see and buy things at the moment they're most interested, while still being able to watch their show," said Mark Garner, a senior vice president at History parent A&E Television Networks.

For now, service is only available for Verizon FiOS customers, but the plan is to roll it out to other distributors and extend the service to other A&E networks including Lifetime which seems a natural, given its hit fashion show "Project Runway."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ente...itiative-.html

TV Notes
TV networks heat up their winter schedules
By Gary Levin, USA Today - December 5th, 2011

There's a whole lot of change coming to winter TV.

The big broadcast networks put the final touches on their midseason schedules last week, and after a somewhat lackluster fall viewers can look for an upheaval of sorts: Struggling NBC restocks, moving four current shows in the process, ABC makes room for four new series and three returning reality shows, and Fox does its customary winter rotation, eventually adding seven shows, led by American Idol, to its lineup.

"A lot of these shows are actually better than some of the shows they premiered in the fall," analyst Brad Adgate of ad-buying firm Horizon Media says. He notes "a long history" of midseason launches that turned into solid hits, such as ABC's Grey's Anatomy and NBC's The Office.

Only CBS not coincidentally the top-rated network is mostly playing out its winning hand. It will try out a new Rob Schneider comedy next month and use onetime hit Undercover Boss as a bridge between seasons of The Amazing Race, holding a new cop series, NYC 22, for spring. "The real reason we're not doing more for midseason is we don't need a lot," says scheduling chief Kelly Kahl. "If we have a successful show, we want to leave it on."

That's especially important as cable networks now employ a year-round strategy of new-series premieres and compete with bigger networks for fans of scripted dramas. HBO has Luck, a horse-racing drama that marks Dustin Hoffman's first regular TV role; elsewhere, Justified, Shameless, Royal Pains and Southland are back for new seasons.

More replacements will be cycled in come March, including NBC's dreamlike drama Awake and (finally!) AMC period drama Mad Men, which started its last season back in July 2010.

Among time slot changes for current shows, Fox will slide House an hour to 8 ET/PT after Terra Nova completes its run. And NBC is moving several: Low-rated Whitney and Rock Center shift to Wednesdays, Up All Night is promoted to Thursdays, and Harry's Law moves to a less-competitive Sunday slot in March. Tina Fey's 30 Rock opens its sixth season Jan. 12 in Thursday's lead-off spot, a first, as Community takes a breather until spring.

NBC is trying to "create better flow, and craft some blocks of shows that work better together," says entertainment chief Robert Greenblatt, who's pairing competition The Voice with new scripted musical Smash on Mondays. "If one or two nights are shored up and a couple of shows benefit, we'll be in much better shape as we look toward the fall.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/televis...-tv/51660082/1

This can only be the start of something wonderful! Yay for more onscreen icons and QVC pop-ups while watching television!

Not only will you now get a thirty second scene describing how the Toyota Prius saves energy while driving to a horribly violent crime scene and how a Apple Macbook has zippy performance for rendering murders and zooming in on blurry camera footage, now you'll get a pop-up pointing you to your nearest Toyota dealer and be able to buy a new laptop before you get there!

Speaking of car commercials....

what would happen if you walked into a car dealership & said that you werent interested in any of the cars but really just wanted to buy that big red bow that in all those commercials they always put on top of the car that the wife is getting for a christmas present....wonder if thats possible ?

& that always seems wierd to me.
Isnt a car like a family purchase ?
What if she doesnt like that type of car or the color or even its gps ?
Shouldnt those types of investments be talked about together beforehand ?

idk always seems wierd to me.

For a football fan, $20-$25 per week for all those games is probably a great deal and any discount is a plus. My problem with the NFL remains to be ESPN and that we all pay, watch or not. And, it's not the $4.10 fee, it's what that means to the fees for all the other programming that are artificially high as a result. And, if it (sports and stuff) were truly based on supply/demand, Disney wouldn't have to ram it down our throats as a take it or leave it bundle with ABC/ABC Family/Disney.

And, no, I'm not going to whine about it either, but that doesn't mean I won't also state my belief whenever the subject comes up. I still have cable and pay the bill because it's still the best value for me, but that doesn't mean it's a good value or that I'm not still looking for an alternative.

$30 at Amazon. Dealer price will be much higher.

Assuming one has DirecTv. The fact is you're still getting fewer games. The 8 games on NFL Network now WOULD have been on Sunday Ticket. Now they are going to 16 games so another 8 games taken away.

That's just an ingorant statement.


Season tickets have no bearing since Sunday Ticket is more for fans of teams that are out of area. I'm 800 miles from Tampa so buying Bucs season tickets would be out of the question anyways.


Since the provider would set the price I would assume so.

TV Review
Campy Warehouse 13' Christmas episode brings holiday charm to Syfy series
By David Hinckley, New York Daily News - December 5th, 2011

Christmas is the season of indulgence, among other things, so Syfy's cool and campy Warehouse 13 can be excused if its Christmas episode Tuesday gets even a little campier than usual.

This adventure, not for the first time in television Christmas episode history, plays off the classic movie It's a Wonderful Life.

Specifically, warehouse agent Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) slips into the Jimmy Stewart role, sort of.

An incident with one of the artifacts, which is what so often triggers the action in Warehouse 13, erases Pete's existence. Next thing we know, he finds himself witnessing the world that would have developed had there been no Pete at all.

It turns out the absence of Pete would have radically altered the lives of his agent partner Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly), his boss Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek), their all-purpose fix-it girl Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti), local B&B owner and resident mystic Leena (Genelle Williams) and even stiffly removed top boss Mrs. Frederic (CCH Pounder).

Where this diverges a bit from Wonderful Life is that Pete doesn't see these changes in a virtual world of alternative reality conjured by his guardian angel.

Peter is still interacting with all these people in a real world. They just don't have any idea who he is, because they've never seen him .

There's some urgency to this process because Pete knows that one-time warehouse guardian and now arch-villain James MacPherson (Roger Rees) has returned from seeming death to try to take over the place and use the artifacts for his personal enrichment.

So Pete has to do one of those no time to explain, you're just going to have to trust me riffs, convincing the others that the fate of the world they all know depends on quick action.

Of course, since Pete never lived as far as the others are concerned, they don't know what world he's talking about.

It's the kind of thing that could give you a serious headache if this were deep, ominous sci-fi.

Fortunately, it's not. It's Warehouse 13, which uses the sci-fi stuff as an amusing avenue to create breezy, entertaining television character drama.

Even though people get killed sometimes, and some of the protected artifacts in the warehouse could wipe out humanity, Warehouse 13 is never too far from a mischievous reminder that the main reason we're all here is to enjoy the ride.

The Christmas episode keeps that tone and that tacit promise, only more so. Because of the Wonderful Life connection, it also lets Pete make a few revealing remarks about his relationship with Myka, which the show wisely has kept in a state of romantic tension.

The final scene, in fact, lets everyone loosen up for a moment, even Mrs. Frederic, without breaking character. What's said and done at a Christmas party inside Warehouse 13, like Edgar Allen Poe's pen, will stay there.

'WAREHOUSE 13'
Tuesday at 9 p.m., Syfy
Rating: ★★★ (out of five)

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...ticle-1.987012

TV Notes
The X Factor' Connects With Its Audience
By Brian Stelter, The New York Times - December 5th, 2011

Shelby Worthington and Kelly Le are both 18 and are both Fox viewers. But they have very different feelings about the network's two biggest reality shows, the nearly 10-year-old hit American Idol and the brand-new hit The X Factor.

Ms. Worthington, of Bowling Green, Ky., disdains the newcomer's emphasis on elaborate stage shows and arguments between the judges. It takes away from the contestant's voice, Ms. Worthington said. While she said she would always watch American Idol,' she is done with The X Factor, which had its debut in September and wraps up its first season on Dec. 22.

Ms. Le, of New York, tunes in to X Factor for the same reasons Ms. Worthington tunes out. American Idol, Ms. Le said, is just old and tired. She doubts she will watch the next season, which will begin on Jan. 18.

The ratings for The X Factor, the most-promoted new show of the fall television season, support the attitudes of Ms. Worthington and Ms. Le.

While many Idol viewers have sampled The X Factor, it is appealing to a distinct audience. And a smaller one: The X Factor is averaging 11 million to 12 million viewers this season, half as many as Idol averaged earlier this year and half as many as Simon Cowell, the Idol judge turned X Factor creator-producer-judge, had hoped. Idol is by far the biggest reality show in the United States.

Mr. Cowell has not been able to live down his assessment before the premiere that anything short of 20 million viewers would be a disappointment. He laughs now when he is asked about that target and says, I wish it had started with a one rather than a two.

And yet by almost any other standard, his show is a clear success. It is enormously lucrative. It has lifted Fox's ratings on Wednesday and Thursday nights, making the network competitive in the fall for the first time in years.

In fact, Fox is tied with CBS for first place among adults 18 to 49 this fall, something that would have been unfathomable without the singing competition.

Perhaps the lesson is that in the ever-more-fragmented world of television, the marathon is more important than the high jump.

The X Factor was given the unfortunate task of being compared to the biggest show on television, instead of being compared to all the other television shows, said Mike Darnell, the president of alternative entertainment for Fox, who called the show a very big success for us.

Calling Mr. Cowell a showman who talked up the show the way a fighter would, Mr. Darnell added, If he hadn't hyped it as much as he did, maybe it wouldn't be as big as it is.

Still, the fact that The X Factor has not defied ratings gravity has pleased some of Fox's competitors.

When the show came on in September, the trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable quoted rival network executives as saying things like, Thank God it's not another Death Star and It's good to see it's mortal. And because of the show's lower-than-promised performance, Fox has given advertisers some extra ads to compensate for the high rates they paid for air time ahead of the premiere. (Fox says such ads, called make goods, are typical throughout the season.)

Fox, a unit of News Corporation, has been sensitive about the preshow hype. When a reporter inquired last week, a Fox spokeswoman implored him to separate expectations from the actual ratings.

Mr. Darnell, who told The Wall Street Journal in October that his competitors would give one eye and two legs to have The X Factor on their schedules, stepped it up a notch in an interview last week, saying without being prompted, All the networks would literally give all their arms, legs and one eye for a show like this.

Fox has already ordered a second season of The X Factor, as well as a second season of a sitcom that has outperformed it in some weeks among 18- to 49-year-olds, New Girl.

In an late-night interview after Thursday's episode, Mr. Cowell pointed to the interview itself as evidence of his satisfaction with his show's performance. If I wasn't proud of it, he said, I'd be ducking for cover.

Apparently an eternal optimist despite his caustic judgments of X Factor contestants, Mr. Cowell said after the premiere in September that he thought the show would still reach 20 million someday. Then he said in October that he thought the ratings would improve after the taped audition episodes ended and the live episodes started. (Instead, the ratings dipped in November, to below 10 million for a couple of weeks, although they rebounded somewhat after Thanksgiving.)

Now, he says, I think we're getting there. Notably, even Idol needed time to grow in its first season.

Mr. Cowell said he was thankful to have a real strong core group of fans, some of whom he thinks have never watched Idol' or any of these other shows. The show is especially strong among African-American and Hispanic viewers, most likely because of the diversity of the show's singers. Mr. Darnell said he had been surprised by how well rap and hip-hop artists were faring on the show, given that none of the other singing shows, including Idol,' really do this form.

Additionally, while the audience for Idol has been getting older as the years go by, the X Factor audience is relatively young by broadcast standards, a perk for advertisers and affiliates.

The X Factor' is not for everybody, while Idol is, concluded Richard Rushfield, a longtime Idol analyst, in an essay for The Daily Beast last week. He called X Factor a vital organism that could actually, as Idol' once did, lead the culture in new directions.

What remains unknown is whether Fox is effectively fragmenting the audience for singing competitions by having two flavors of shows on the air. Maybe just maybe Fox can persuade Ms. Worthington and Ms. Le to watch both.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/bu..._r=1&ref=media

TV Notes
Tuesday's Highlights
By Los Angeles Times' 'Show Tracker' Blog - December 5th, 2011

[ALL TIMES LISTED ARE PACIFIC TIME]

SERIES

A Night at the Movies: The new episode Merry Christmas! looks at the holiday-themed films including old favorites Miracle on 34th Street (which airs at 9 p.m.), It's a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story (6 p.m.) (5 and 8 p.m. TCM).

90210: Naomi's (AnnaLynne McCord) boss (Michelle Hurd) asks her to oversee a birthday celebration for Holly (Megalyn Echikunwoke) in this new episode (8 p.m. KTLA).

American Chopper: The winner of the ultimate three-way bike build-off is announced (9 p.m. Discovery).

Sons of Anarchy: Jax attempts to finalize a gun deal in the season finale (10 p.m. FX).

Covert Affairs: While on vacation in Stockholm with Danielle (Anne Dudek), Annie (Piper Perabo) is asked to deliver a package in the season finale (10 p.m. USA).

Fashion Hunters: Alexa Ray Joel yes, Billy's daughter appears in this new episode (10:30 p.m. Bravo). The season finale follows at 11.

SPECIALS

A Michael Bublé Christmas: The three-time Grammy winner in his first network television variety special (8 p.m. NBC).

MOVIES

Hide: Based on a novel by Lisa Gardner, this mystery stars Carla Gugino as a Boston detective investigating the deaths of six young women. Bridget Regan and Mark-Paul Gosselaar also star (9 p.m. TNT).

SPORTS

Hockey: Kings visit Ducks (7 p.m. FSN; 7 p.m. FS Prime).

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/show...ighlights.html

TV Notes
On The Air Tonight
TUESDAY Network Primetime/Late Night Options
(All shows are in HD unless noted; start times are EDT. Network late night shows are preceded by late local news)

ABC:
8PM - Last Man Standing
8:30PM - Man Up!
9PM - The Middle (R - Oct. 12)
9:30PM - Suburgatory (R - Sep. 28)
10PM - Body of Proof
* * * *
11:30PM - Nightline (LIVE)
Midnight - Jimmy Kimmel Live! (Armie Hammer; Jeri Ryan; T-Pain performs)

CBS:
8PM - NCIS (R - Feb. 1)
9PM - NCIS: Los Angeles (R - Feb. 22)
10PM - Unforgettable (R - Oct. 4)
* * * *
11:35PM - Late Show with David Letterman (Matt Damon; Shelby Lynne performs)
12:37AM - Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (Valerie Bertinelli; Black Dub performs)

NBC:
8PM - A Michael Bublé Christmas (Special)
9PM - The Biggest Loser (120 min.)
* * * *
11:35PM - The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Katherine Heigl; J.B. Smoove; Taio Cruz performs)
12:37AM - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (Sarah Jessica Parker; comic Patton Oswalt; singer Willow Smith; The Roots perform)
1:36AM - Last Call with Carson Daly (Rapper Wale; set decorator Ellen Brill; Portugal. The Man performs) SD

FOX:
8PM - Glee
9PM - New Girl
9:30PM - Raising Hope

PBS: (check your local listing for starting time/programming)
8PM - Through a Dog's Eye (R - Apr. 21, 2010)
9PM - Frontline: The Madoff Affair (R - May. 12, 2009)
10PM - Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 (2007)

UNIVISION:
8PM - Una Maid en Manhattan (Series Premiere)
9PM - La Fuerza del Destino
10PM - AquÃ* y Ahora

THE CW:
8PM - 90210
9PM - Ringer (R - Nov. 8)

TELEMUNDO:
8PM - Mi Corazón Insiste
9PM - Flor Salvaje
10PM - La Casa de Al Lado

COMEDY CENTRAL:
11PM - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Jonah Hill)
11:31PM - The Colbert Report (Music Group The Black Keys)

TBS:
11PM - Conan (SofÃ*a Vergara; Paul F. Tompkins; comic Tig Notaro)

E!:
11PM - Chelsea Lately (Gary Oldman; comic Heather McDonald; comic John Caparulo; TV personality Ross Mathews).

SyFy has two other holiday specials on Tuesday night:

'EUREKA'
Tuesday at 8 p.m., Syfy


'HAVEN'
Tuesday at 10 p.m., Syfy

Business Notes
ESPN Fee Hikes Irk Cable TV Honchos
By the Deadline.com Team - December 5th, 2011

The per-household subscription fees ESPN charges cable systems amounts to a tax on every American household, Liberty Media Corp. CEO Greg Maffei said Monday at an investor conference sponsored by UBS AG in New York City. ESPN charges are the highest of any cable channel, according to SNL Kagan, which estimates those per-subscriber fees have jumped 42% since 2006 to $4.69. By comparison average cable channel fees were up 24% for that period to 26 cents a month.

The problem isn't just ESPN, Maffei said later, because regional networks such as Fox Sports also contribute to the overall escalation of fees networks pay to carry events. NFL, for example, is negotiating contracts that could raise broadcast networks' fees by 60% to about $3.2 billion a year, the Wall Street Journal noted. Some executives think it might be better to position expensive sports channels such as ESPN on a separate tier that would allow uninterested subscribers to opt out and lower their bills. Otherwise, rising sports rights fees could lead many consumers to drop services.

MTV Networks and Nickelodeon owner Viacom Inc.'s CEO Philippe Dauman also singled out ESPN as a significant factor in higher costs because it is double the cost of all our networks combined. Even though they still resist the idea of a la carte packaging, media exec are beginning to see the merits of selling smaller, cheaper programming bundles as a way to lure or retain cost-wary consumers.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/12/espn...le-tv-honchos/

Isn't it too early for these "Christmas" special episodes of regular series to be airing? Shouldn't they air like, you know, Christmas week?

Technology Notes
Xbox Live Challenges Cable Box
By Nick Wingfield and Brian Stelter, The New York Times - December 5th, 2011

The old-fashioned cable television set-top box long the hub of living-room entertainment for most people is about to become less relevant.

Beginning on Tuesday and continuing through the month, Microsoft will give a face-lift to its Xbox Live online entertainment service that will allow subscribers to watch a wide array of mainstream television programming from the Xbox 360 console.

In addition, rather than fumbling with traditional remote controls and the primitive program guides of cable boxes, Xbox Live users will be able to search for shows using voice commands and hand gestures, if they also have the popular Kinect peripheral for the Xbox.

Later this month, Microsoft will begin adding dozens of other sources of programming to the service, including Verizon FiOS, Comcast's Xfinity and HBO. On Tuesday, the few online video services that have been on Xbox Live for some time, including Netflix and Hulu Plus, will be able to be retrieved using voice searching and other methods.

Microsoft's deal with cable and content providers stops short of making it possible for people to ditch their traditional pay-television packages; people will still need to pay the cable providers to get channels through the Xbox. They will also have to pay the roughly $60 a year Microsoft typically charges for a premier membership to Xbox Live.

And the Xbox won't be a true substitute for everything viewers can get through their cable boxes because content rights will have to be negotiated for some shows before they can be watched through the console.

But the agreement is nonetheless significant because there are more than 35 million worldwide subscribers to Xbox Live, making the Xbox one of the most common Internet-connected boxes in living rooms. And it is part of a growing effort by media companies to bring some 21st-century pizazz to the experience of navigating and watching television, a medium that is largely watched using traditional remote controls and set-top boxes that have changed little in the past 10 years.

Most cable boxes require viewers to navigate through primitive on-screen program guides, pressing buttons on their remotes to scroll through the vast lists of shows. The process is especially jarring for a generation of people who are accustomed to the slick graphics and responsiveness of more modern devices, like the Xbox and the iPad.

The user experience through traditional cable set-top boxes hasn't kept pace with the kind of user experience people get from all these other devices they use throughout the day, Tom Rogers, chief executive of TiVo, said.

With the update coming this week to the Xbox, all of the video available to users over the Xbox Live service from all of Microsoft's media partners will be indexed, so people can search for programs using their voices and the company's Bing search engine, instead of awkwardly tapping out search terms through remote controls pointed at cable set-top boxes.

In a demonstration of the technology last week at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Wash., Michael Suraci, director of marketing for Xbox Live, told an Xbox to Bing Sandra Bullock, which promptly found The Blind Side, Crash and several other movies starring the actress that were available through various sources of video on Xbox Live.

Mr. Suraci also used a sequence of voice commands to switch to an app for Verizon's FiOS TV, within which he could flip among live channels by using more voice commands or a swiping motion with his hands.

I think it's a much, much better experience to use voice than typing, said Marc Whitten, corporate vice president of Xbox Live.

Mark Greenberg, chief executive of Epix, a company that streams films from Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM, raved about the voice search and hand-gesture capabilities of the Xbox. Epix will stream a library of about 3,000 films through the Xbox.

Maybe it's the beginning part of the process toward eliminating the set-top box, Mr. Greenberg said, while adding that he did not expect the traditional box to go away completely.

Cable executives have conflicting attitudes about the set-top boxes. Many acknowledge that they seem outdated compared with other forms of consumer electronics, and realize that consumers have trouble using them, especially as more video becomes available. It can be frustrating to consumers to be entitled to content and have difficulty finding it, said Samuel M. Schwartz, an executive vice president of Comcast who oversees emerging Internet businesses.

The Xbox, Mr. Greenberg said, is an opportunity for the cable industry to experiment.

Executives would also love to get rid of the cost of buying and deploying the devices, even though their customers typically pay an extra monthly fee to lease the boxes. Among the most vocal about getting out of the set-top-box business is Glenn Britt, the chief executive of Time Warner Cable, the country's second-biggest cable company.

We'd rather not be in the set-top box business, believe me, Mr. Britt said in an interview this year, calling the boxes cumbersome. A world without them is a much better consumer experience.

And yet the devices are an important link in the relationship between cable companies and their customers. That link could begin to weaken though, if the Xbox overshadows FiOS and Comcast as a source of videos. Microsoft, Apple and other online distributors of video could try to start to sell bundles of channels over the Internet, disrupting the traditional cable company model

This fall, channel owners like NBC Universal and Discovery Communications have held talks with would-be Internet distributors like Dish Network and Sony about so-called over-the-top bundles that could allow people to buy packages of shows over high-speed Internet connections. It is unclear how far the talks have progressed, and none of the companies have acknowledged the talks on the record.

For now, the TV apps on the Xbox are not functional enough to fully replace set-top boxes. In the upgrade, which was announced in October, Comcast will offer only on-demand videos, not live channels. The FiOS TV app on the Xbox will have only 26 channels at the outset, a fraction of the hundreds that are available through a set-top box.

That is because content rights are explicit, said Joseph Ambeault, a director of product management at Verizon. If an existing contract with channels doesn't say you can put the content on an Xbox, you have to go and secure those additional rights.

The Xbox is just one of many devices, including iPads and smartphones, on which cable operators and channels are making their content accessible. TiVo, for one, has announced a string of partnerships with cable operators to make its digital video recorder available to their customers. Unlike the Xbox, TiVo users get full access to all of the offerings of TiVo's cable partners, Mr. Rogers, TiVo's chief executive, said.

He added that consumers were hungry for an easier way to find programs.

The television is the biggest screen in the house, the most-watched screen, he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/te...ref=technology

I've been saying for a long time that ESPN will be the death of cable.

It is ridiculous that single channel costs more than all of these put together:

MTV
MTV2
MTV Jams
MTV Hits
mtvU
Tr3́s
VH1
VH1 Classic
VH1 Soul
CMT
CMT Pure Country
Logo
Palladia
Nickelodeon
Nick Jr.
TeenNick
Nicktoons
Comedy Central
TV Land
Spike
Epix
Epix 2
Blink!

Time for the cable providers to man up and boot ESPN and the other sports networks out if they don't want to continue hemorrhaging subscribers. Nothing is going to bring customers back until prices go down and nothing is going to drive prices down like telling Disney to **** off and take their ESPN out of the basic packages.

There are too many of them just to air Christmas week, besides that is the week(s) for repeats. It is getting hard to keep track of what is new and what is a repeat, luckily I have a DVR that does. The problem that I have is with cable shows that I record late at night because they conlict with broadcast shows that I record in prime time.

Sounds like they need to call the Whaaaambulance because their own system is biting them in the ass. Funny that they blame ESPN, when its the network that actually brings in lots of viewers. Nevermind the hundreds of channels that hardly register with viewership. The cable companies are perfectly within their rights to drop ESPN. Wait, they don't want to because they will lose a ton of customers. Sounds like the market is setting the price then.