Hot Off The Press: The Latest TV News and Information - Page 2558

THURSDAY'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)
Hit shows slide on a slow Thursday night
'American Idol' and 'The Big Bang Theory' tie for No. 1
By Toni Fitzgerald, Media Life Magazine - Feb. 17, 2012

It's still sweeps, and networks are still putting on new episodes of their top shows in an attempt to lure in viewers, but this week viewers didn't seem very interested in them.

Thursday night saw nearly across the board declines for shows on broadcast as the third week of sweeps began. Similar declines were also seen on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Fox's "American Idol" and CBS's "The Big Bang Theory" tied as the night's top show, both averaging a 5.0 among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen overnights.

But both were down double-digit percentages from last week, when "Idol" averaged a 5.8 and "Bang" averaged a 5.5.

They were hardly the only shows to fall. Only two programs on the Big Five saw ratings gains over last week. ABC's "Private Practice" was up 18 percent, likely because it was part of a sweeps crossover stunt with lead-in "Grey's Anatomy."

The CW's "The Vampire Diaries" also rose a tenth over last week.

Nearly every other show dipped from last week, echoing results from earlier this week. CBS's entire lineup was off, and most of NBC's lineup slid to or tied season lows.

Just why the shows saw such declines is unclear. Last night's "Premio lo Nuestro" special on Univision did well and may have pulled some viewers away from the competition, but its gains do not equal out the big declines.

And though Tuesday night, Valentine's Day, saw a decline in TV usage, the other nights have been on par with the rest of the season, and there hasn't been any major competition on cable that would account for the change in viewing patterns.

Fox led Thursday night among 18-49s with a 5.0 average overnight rating and a 13 share. CBS was second at 3.3/9, ABC third at 2.4/6, Univision fourth at 2.2/6, NBC fifth at 1.4/4, CW sixth at 1.0/3 and Telemundo seventh at 0.4/1.

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-three percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.

At 8 p.m. Fox was first with a 5.0 for "Idol," followed by CBS with a 4.1 for "Bang" (5.0) and "Rob" (3.2). Univision was third with a 2.2 for its first hour of "Premio," NBC fourth with a 1.6 for "30 Rock" (1.4) and "Parks and Recreation" (1.7), ABC fifth with a 1.5 for "Wipeout," CW sixth with a 1.3 for "Diaries" and Telemundo seventh with a 0.5 for "Una Maid en Manhattan."

Fox was first again at 9 p.m. with a 5.0 for more "Idol," while ABC moved to second with a 3.1 for "Grey's." CBS was third with a 2.9 for "Person of Interest," Univision fourth with a 2.3 for "Premio," NBC fifth with a 1.9 for "The Office" (2.2) and "Up All Night" (1.5), CW sixth with a 0.8 for "The Secret Circle" and Telemundo seventh with a 0.4 for "Flor Salvaje."

At 10 p.m. CBS was first with a 2.8 for "The Mentalist," with ABC a close second with a 2.6 for "Practice." Univision was third with a 2.1 for "Premio," NBC fourth with a 0.7 for a repeat of "Grimm" and Telemundo fifth with a 0.4 for "Relaciones Peligrosas."

Fox was also first for the night among households with a 9.7 average overnight rating and a 15 share. CBS was second at 8.1/13, ABC third at 4.4/7, Univision fourth at 2.4/4, NBC fifth at 2.0/3, CW sixth at 1.5/2 and Telemundo seventh at 0.6/1.

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

TV/Business Notes
The Overachievers Of This Pilot Season
By Nellie Andreeva, Deadline.com - Feb. 17, 2012

If the broadcast development season were a reality competition show, we would now be in the final round where some 85 pilots are battling for spots on next season's schedule. And while the winners won't be known until the upfronts in May, here are the overachievers in the pilot stage of the competition.

Greg Berlanti he killed it in his first development season at his new (old) studio home, Warner Bros. Television. Berlanti and his company Berlanti Prods. sold five projects to the broadcast networks. Four of them netted pilot orders: Guilty at Fox written by Marc Guggenheim, an Nicholas Wootton-written drama at CBS, Arrow at the CW, penned by Berlanti, Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg, and a comedy at CBS written by Berlanti and Greg Malins. And if that's not enough, while working on his broadcast development Berlanti found time to write a cable spec, Political Animals, which just received a six-episode straight-to-series order by USA Network and is now casting alongside Berlanti's broadcast pilots.

Aaron Kaplan the one-man selling machine. Since founding his company, Kapital Entertainment, two-and-a-half years ago with his own money, the former WMA agent has landed 12 pilot orders while operating independently without the backing of a studio. Four of them came from the broadcast networks this season, all comedies: The Manzanies and the untitled Dan Fogelman project at ABC and Daddy's Girls and Isabel at NBC. (Technically, there are 5 Aaron Kaplan broadcast pilots this season. The lit manager by the same name is executive producing the Adam Sztykiel ABC comedy pilot, and the matching names have created a lot of confusion and wrongly addressed emails.) Like Berlanti, Kaplan is casting a cable project along with his 4 broadcast pilots, Darren Star's HBO comedy pilot Viagra Diaries starring Goldie Hawn. He also has several other projects in pilot contention, two upcoming series: ABC's GCB and MTV's The Inbetweeners, and a third one awaiting word on Season 2, Fox's Terra Nova.

Mark Gordon, Marty Adelstein & Shawn Levy and Jamie Tarses. The Mark Gordon Co., Adelstein & Levy's 21 Laps/Adelstein Prods. and Tarses' Fanfare landed 3 pilot orders each this broadcast pilot season. The ABC Studios-based Mark Gordon Co., which has 4 series on the air, ABC's Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, CBS' Criminal Minds and Lifetime's Army Wives, is behind 3 ABC pilots: dramas Americana and the Roland Emmerich project and comedy White Van Man. Additionally, the company has a cable pilot casting, the Showtime drama Roy Donovan starring Liev Schreiber. In its second year, 20th TV-based 21 Laps/Adelstein, whose first development season produced ABC's solid freshman Last Man Standing, is fielding the untitled Karyn Usher drama pilot at Fox and comedies Little Brother at Fox and the Mandy Moore project at ABC. Sony TV-based Fanfare, which has 3 series on the air, ABC's Happy Endings, TNT's Franklin & Bash and TBS' upcoming Men At Work, is shepherding CBS' Baby Big Shot, NBC's Hilary Winston and Fox's cast-contingent Must Hire. Additionally, 3 Arts' Howard Klein is an executive producer on 3 pilots, Greg Daniels' Friday Night Dinner at NBC, Mindy Kaling's Fox comedy and Melissa Rosenberg's ABC drama Penoza. (In total, 3 Arts managers serve as exec producers on 6 pilots this season.)

Several pods are producing two pilots each. In his first season, the Universal TV-based company of former Brillstein Entertainment TV president Peter Traugott saw green light for dramas Midnight Sun and Do No Harm at NBC. Three Warner Bros. TV heavyweights, J.J. Abrams Bad Robot, John Wells JWP and Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savages Fake Empire have two pilots each: Revolution & Shelter (Bad Robot); NBC's Bad Girls & Fox's Prodigy Bully (John Wells Prods.) and the CW's The Carrie Diaries and Cult (Fake Empire). Two of the top 20th TV pods, Chernin Entertainment and Imagine TV, also have two pilots each: Fox's Ben Fox Is My Manny & CBS' Nick Stoller (Chernin) and NBC's Sarah Silverman and ABC's How To Live With Your Parents (Imagine). Lionsgate TVs push in broadcast development this season also resulted in two pilots, ABC's Nashville and NBC's Next Caller Please.

Berlanti is not the only multitasking showrunner this season. The New Adventures of Old Christine creator Kari Lizer saw both her NBC and ABC comedy scripts go to pilot. She is the only executive producer on the two projects and if they go to series, she plans to run both. The orders extended Lizer's perfect pitch-to-pilot streak, with every project she has sold to date going to pilot. Lizer is one of 3 writer-producers to get multiple green lights this season for projects they have written by themselves. The others are The Nine co-creator KJ Steinberg and Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller. Steinberg wrote ABC's drama pilot Gilded Lilys, executive produced by Shonda Rhimes, and her other ABC pilot script, Mistresses, received a straight-to-series order for summer 2013. Fuller wrote NBC's Munsters reboot Mockingbird Lane and Hannibal. Neither was a standard pitch sale this season: Munsters was redeveloped from last season, while Hannibal came to NBC in November via a script-against-a-series-order deal with Gaumont International TV. Hannibal received a straight-to-series 13-episode order earlier this week, while production on the Mockingbird Lane pilot has been pushed to June because of casting issues. Additionally, Marc Guggenheim wrote the Fox pilot Guilty and co-wrote CW's Arrow, executive producing both. Claudia Lonow and Jennifer Levin & Sherri Cooper also executive produce two pilots, one of which they wrote. Lonow EPs ABC's Hoe To Live With Your Parents For The Rest Of Your Life, which she wrote, and multi-camera comedy Counter Culture, penned by Stephnie Weir. Levin & Cooper are behind the CW's Beauty And The Beast, which they wrote, and CBS' Applebaum, penned by Ayelet Waldman.

It is a strong year for prolific directors helming multiple pilots. Scott Ellis is topping the list with three multicamera comedy pilots: ABC's off-cycle pilot The Manzanis, NBC's Kari Lizer female buddy comedy and NBC's Jimmy Fallon male buddy comedy. Two veteran multicamera directors, who often juggle multiple pilots, James Burrows and Pamela Fryman, are each directing two this year: CBS' Greg Malins/Greg Berlanti project & Max Mutchnick and David Kohan's Partners (Burrows), and CBS' Friend Me & NBC' Daddy's Girls (Fryman).

While directing two multicamera pilots in one season is not that unusual given the format's simpler production, helming two single-camera pilots within the same pilot cycle is very unusual. And to have three directors helming two single-camera pilots each in one season, as is the case this year, is pretty much unprecedented. Jason Winer is directing Fox's Rebounding and NBC's 1600 Penn, Ken Kwapis is directing NBC's Friday Night Dinner and The Sarah Silverman project, and Shawn Levi is directing Fox's Little Brother and ABC's Mandy Moore comedy.

There are 4 actors who are doing double duty this year, starring in pilots they wrote or co-wrote: Mindy Kaling, Josh Gad, Mike O'Malley and Ben Falcone. The last 3 were not originally attached as actors but signed on to star upon request from the networks/studios.

On the studio side, 20th TV's comedy team, led by Johnny Davis, and Warner Bros. TV's drama department, overseen by Clancy Collins White and her boss Susan Rovner, excelled, landing 13 and 14 pilots, respectively, more than any other studio departments around town. 20th tally is particularly impressive given the fact that it came from 4 networks and ties the studio's all-time record.

Note: This is a Pilot Season edition to my annual Overachievers Of The Upfronts report, which returns in May.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/02/the-...-pilot-season/

Again my condolences to NBC for an awful week overall, I think they are staying permanent 5th place, I bet they can't wait for the Olympics now and made up from the huge losses in viewers since the Superbowl.

In 18-49 for the season nbc is 3rd with abc 4th.

I guess it comes down to how well the voice does as compared to dancing with the stars for abc to see if abc can catch them.

abc also has the oscars too so that helps.

Business Notes
Time Warner Cable and MSG Resolve Dispute
By Howard Beck and Richard Sandomir, The New York Times - Feb. 17, 2012

The 48-day standoff between the MSG Network and Time Warner Cable ended Friday, according to two people aware of the resolution who were not authorized to speak publicly.

The end of the impasse will be announced Friday afternoon by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and executives of both companies. A settlement had been urged by Eric T. Schneiderman, the state’s attorney general. The governor’s intervention in the past 24 hours with James L. Dolan, executive chairman of Madison Square Garden, and Glenn Britt, chief executive of Time Warner Cable, accelerated the agreement.

The blackout deprived many Knicks fans around the state of seeing much of the rapid rise to stardom of point guard Jeremy Lin — as well as the continued success of the New York Rangers.

The impasse began Jan. 1 with the companies disagreeing angrily over what Time Warner Cable would pay to continue carrying MSG. Time Warner Cable, which serves more than two million customers, insisted that MSG reneged on a proposal for a 6.5 percent increase late last year and then demanded a 54 percent hike. MSG has never discussed figures publicly but said Time Warner’s were not accurate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/sp...e.html?_r=1&hp

Tech/Business Notes
Web TV's New Lineup
Fueled by a wave of investment from Silicon Valley's deepest pockets, Hollywood players are lining up to create original online shows. Tom Hanks vs. piano-playing cats.
By John Jurgensen, Wall Street Journal - Feb. 17, 2012


Taking a Meeting With Dad: Twin skateboarders
Pierce Brunner (left) and Christopher Brunner (right),
with their father, Stephen, discuss a possible
action sports show at the Santa Monica office of
Awesomeness TV. (Photo: Michal Czerwonka for
The Wall Street Journal

Hollywood veteran Brian Robbins has a new production studio under construction and 35 shows in development. There's a sitcom set in a high-school bathroom, a talk show modeled on "The View" but hosted by young Twitter celebrities and a series about an outlandish teen wrestling league.

Mr. Robbins, a producer and director known for Eddie Murphy movies and TV shows including "Smallville," plans to produce 120 hours of teen programming this year, all of it destined exclusively for the Web. "We consider ourselves a network," he says.

Mr. Robbins is part of a teeming new ecosystem, as some of Hollywood's biggest nameswith support from Silicon Valley's deepest pocketsare racing to create new shows, and in some cases, dozens of them, for the Web. A former NBC programming chief is launching three YouTube channels in the coming months. The creator of the CBS juggernaut "CSI" is filming a series of YouTube thrillers. Stars like Tom Hanks and Kevin Spacey are at work on new shows for Yahoo and Netflix.

For veterans of movie studios and TV networks, the Web beckons as a creative playground, unhindered by studio control and the threat of swift cancellation. Show creators often own the content they create for the Web, which means they're free to spin off their concepts later for movies or traditional TV showsand could stand to gain a bigger share of the profits if a project takes off. Perhaps most importantly, no one wants to be left behind in a shift that could represent the future of television.

Google, which owns YouTube, is paying an array of producers, from seasoned pros like Mr. Robbins to self-made Web stars, to create 100 new video "channels." Google is giving each channel up to $5 million in funding, according to people familiar with the deals. The first channels began launching last month, and more will continue rolling out through the summer.

Hulu this week premiered its first scripted series, "Battleground," about staffers backing an uphill Senate campaign in Wisconsin; it will be followed by an off-kilter travel show from "Dazed and Confused" director Richard Linklater. For the spring, Yahoo is developing "Electric City," an animated series about a dystopian society of the future, co-produced by Mr. Hanks, who will also voice a character. Yahoo is already rolling out about 20 original shows each month, mostly short-form reality shows.

Yahoo's programming choices are often driven by data, says Ross Levinsohn, the company's executive vice president of the Americas. After tracking the torrent of clicks that news stories about wedding engagements routinely get, Yahoo commissioned "The Ultimate Proposal." In each episode of the reality show, which Yahoo says has attracted 11 million total views since its premiere last October, a host "helps single people from all across America step up, take a knee and deliver the marriage proposal of a lifetime."

Netflix is trying to lure monthly subscribers and brand itself as a home for boutique programsas HBO once didwith series such as "Lilyhammer." An offbeat drama about an American mobster (Steven Van Zandt) abroad in Norway, it launched earlier this month. Coming next to Netflix: "House of Cards," a drama produced by David Fincher and starring Mr. Spacey as an ambitious politician, and a revival of the cult TV comedy "Arrested Development."

Despite the influx of big-name talent, it's always hard to predict what will catch fire onlinea homemade video of a precocious pet or amateur singer can command the kind of viewer numbers that network executives only dream of. As a result, some of the TV veterans crossing into the Web are forming partnerships with self-made Web stars, hoping to leverage their expertise and fan bases.

Some have already grappled with the reality that Hollywood cachet doesn't always equal online stardom. Kiefer Sutherland, the "24" star, played a guilt-wracked assassin in an online serial called "The Confession" last spring. Its producers, the Digital Broadcasting Group, wouldn't disclose viewership figures but deemed the series a success based on its popularity on Hulu and in foreign countries, where it's been distributed; they say they'll soon break even on the project. But Mr. Sutherland has expressed some ambivalence about the reception it got. "The Internet is kind of when you want it, how you want it, and trying to really corral an audience was what we found to be the most difficult," he said recently.

With his Electus studio, Ben Silverman, the former co-chair of NBC Entertainment, is still partially planted in the television business. An Electus-created reality show called "Fashion Star" premieres next month on NBC, and the Starz network recently bought a period drama about Marco Polo from the studio. But Electus, which is part of Barry Diller's IAC, is also launching three YouTube channels in the coming months. For one devoted to Hispanic entertainment, Mr. Silverman teamed up with Latin World Entertainment, a marketing and talent agency whose client, "Modern Family" star Sofia Vergara, will appear on the channel. To run a food channel, Mr. Silverman recently hired a former top-ranking Food Network and Cooking Channel producer, Bruce Seidel.

Mr. Silverman said deals like Google's Hollywood partnerships are eroding the "mutual distrust" that has long existed between the industries. Previously "there was a sense that the 300 miles that separates Silicon Valley and Los Angeles might as well have been 10,000 miles."

YouTube hopes that official channels offering a steady flow of content and consistent quality will compel advertisers to spend more than they would on typical YouTube fare. In addition to the familiar pre-roll advertising that runs before a video, YouTube's team is pursuing channel sponsorships and deals to create Web shows around products. Channel creators will receive a majority cut of any advertising revenue, but only after Google recoups its investment in the channel.

Google, YouTube, Yahoo, Hulu and other major media companies will present their new shows to advertisers in an April event similar to television's traditional "upfront," The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

At the Los Angeles Center Studios recently, a hulking facility where shows like "Mad Men" are shot, "CSI" creator Anthony Zuiker peered into a video monitor as actor Bill Bellamy cocked a rifle and took aim over a rooftop ledge. Also on the shooting schedule: several fight scenes, part of a 12-minute stand-alone thriller titled "Execution Style," about a showdown between competing hit men. The video's roughly $50,000 budget was minuscule by TV standards, yet extravagant for most Web producers. Mr. Zuiker plans to produce 12 such short films this year. They'll be posted to the YouTube channel BlackBoxTV and interspersed with shorter, lower-budget sci-fi and horror clips.

Mr. Zuiker had huge success with "CSI," but at times he has felt thwarted by the traditional TV system. He developed roughly 10 series concepts after "CSI," he said, but none made it to air. "I'm not mad at TV, because it's been incredibly good to me. But I could be frustrated that [networks] don't take more chances."

YouTube greenlighted his pitch for BlackBoxTV and keeps tabs on his production schedule, but the company doesn't get involved with story lines or other creative matters. Mr. Zuiker appreciates this hands-off approach; he's also hoping for long-term payoffs from the channel as a "testing ground." Because Google doesn't own the videos on BlackBoxTV, Mr. Zuiker's team is free to spin them off as concepts for TV shows, movies or even comic books. (In recent years, TV networks have generally tried to fill their schedules with more shows they own.)

Lexi Alexander, the director of "Execution Style," who said she forfeited part of her fee to hire a specialty camera operator, joined the project to keep pace with an industry changing fast. "I don't want to be one of those dinosaurs who talk about [Web video] like people used to talk about cable TV," said Ms. Alexander, whose credits include an Elijah Wood movie titled "Green Street Hooligans." To prepare for the job, she visited a high school to quiz teens about their online viewing habits, she said. Her main question: What makes them click away from a video in midstream? "One 15-year-old said, 'When they go blah, blah, blah.'"

Seeking an advantage with this audience, Mr. Zuiker teamed up with Tony Valenzuela. A former creative director, Mr. Valenzuela, 39, first created BlackBoxTV in 2010 as an outlet his pulpy homemade videos. Shot for less than $1,000 each, his horror shorts with titles like "Final Exit" got upward of 600,000 views each, earning him a cult following that Mr. Zuiker hopes to leverage. In April, YouTube launches their new version of BlackBoxTV, co-created with the Collective, a production company and management firm that represents Mr. Valenzuela and 30 other Web stars.

The channel creators coming from broadcast and cable television relish the fact that their YouTube work won't live or die on traditional Nielsen ratings. On television "everything has to be a home run," said Mr. Robbins, whose YouTube channel, launching in April, is called Awesomeness TV. "We don't have to be in the home-run business, we just have to give our little piece of the pie what they want."

The Web channels will be measured by a more direct set of data, including the view counter displayed under every video on YouTube. Each channel also displays a "subscribers" figure, the number of viewers who click a button to be notified by email when new videos go up. (The Wall Street Journal launched a dedicated YouTube channel this month.)

YouTube is gathering metrics on the channels' prospects before they even launch, said Robert Kyncl, Google's global head of content. YouTube managers score each channel on factors such as long-term marketing plans and cross-promotion planned with other channels. These status reports are color-coded on a sort of spreadsheet. Looking at green, yellow and red flags on this "heat map," Mr. Kyncl can track signs of troubleliteral red flagsacross all 100 channels. If a channel fails to attract viewers, those color grades could eventually indicate when it's time for YouTube to pull its support. "Once it's all green and it's still not working, then sometimes it's just that the idea was not good. There will be cases like that," Mr. Kyncl said.

Most of the new channels are still ramping up, and there's an atmosphere of freshman year about the effort, including workshops organized by YouTube where the channel partners hatch marketing strategies together. "There's a very cool, cooperative vibe. That's something you never felt in the cable business," said Brian Bedol, whose resume includes the launch of the Classic Sports Network, a cable property he later sold to ESPN, and College Sports Television, sold to CBS.

Mr. Bedol's new company, Bedrocket, is creating separate YouTube channels based around comedy, food and soccer. Huffington Post co-founder Kenneth Lerer is a Bedrocket investor, as is Nancy Tellem, former CBS network president.

One Bedrocket channel devoted to action sports, NetworkA, went live last month. For some content, the channel hires production crews to shoot skateboarders, surfers and other athletes on location, but many of the athletes shoot video on their own. Some athletes receive a share of potential advertising revenue, while others might get money upfront to cover travel to a shooting destinationor compensation might come in the form of a camera upgrade.

Mr. Bedol noted that savvy young athletes don't need any help from NetworkA to make videos for YouTube. "They aren't looking to a company like ours to say, 'Hey, can you skate off that railing one more time and then let's do another take with the sun in the background.'" Instead, they want Mr. Bedol's company to expand their audience by handling the behind-the-scenes work of marketing the videos.

Looming over each new channel is the question of how to attract the YouTube audience in its countless iterations. Mr. Kyncl said his team selected the 100 channels from more than 500 pitches. Some of their picks were intended to target underserved audiences (moms, for example), while others were based on what YouTube knows is already working, including clips about pets, cars and comedy.

Mr. Robbins, the Awesomeness TV executive, has helped launch a parade of young talent on shows like Nickelodeon's "All That," and is a close observer of the media habits of his two teen sons. (Their obsession with pro wrestlingthe only TV shows they watch live, he sayssparked the idea for a teen wrestling league.)

During a recent development meeting, Mr. Robbins dispatched a video crew to London to follow an up-and-coming band, Mindless Behavior, and discussed how to corral stars for interviews at the coming NBA all-star game in Orlando, Fla. He encouraged negotiations with the father of twin 14-year-old skateboarders who could potentially anchor their own show.

Discussion turned to the casting of hosts for the teen roundtable modeled on "The View." Talk-show experience was not a prerequisite. Of one 16-year-old candidate, Mr. Robbins asked, "Is she a YouTube girl or a Twitter girl?"

"Both90,000 subscribers on YouTube, 43,000 followers on Twitter," said his assistant, Alex Davis.

"Let's set up a Skype call with her," Mr. Robbins said.

* * * *

When the Mouse Is Your Remote: Five Web Shows to Watch Now

'Battleground,' Hulu

Shot in the same faux documentary style as "The Office," this low-key comedy follows the young campaign staff of a Senate candidate in Wisconsin. Originated as a TV script, the weekly 13-episode series nods to its adapted medium when a character introduces the camera crew shooting footage "for some Internet thing." (www.hulu.com/battleground)

'Lilyhammer,' Netflix

"Sopranos" alumnus Steven Van Zandt dons thick sweaters and puffy boots for this series about a mobster in witness protection in Norway. Much of the dialogue is subtitled and the show has been a hit on television in Norway, where it was developed. Netflix, which acquired the rights, recently released all eight 45-minute episodes at once for subscribers. (www.netflix.com, subscription required)

'Failure Club,' Yahoo

This series, from documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, is about real people pursuing long-shot ambitions. It's part of Yahoo's courtship of high-profile producers, including Tom Hanks. But Mr. Spurlock's series gets a fraction of the views garnered by other Yahoo originals about celebrity gossip. (screen.yahoo.com/lifestyle/failure-club)

Hibrow.tv

The performing arts were slower to join the online video boom, but that's changing with ventures like Hibrow, launched last month. Staged readings of short plays commissioned by Dominic Hill, artistic director of Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, were shot with multiple cameras. Writer David Eldridge's "All is Vanity" turns on a get-together between two tense (and foul-mouthed) married couples.

'Backwash,' Crackle.com

Since the launch of Sony's Crackle in 2007, the site for free TV shows and movies has experimented with originals. Aimed squarely at young men, episodes of this comedy about two absurd schemers are introduced by stars like Jon Hamm. In one video he intones, "Conflict, character, emotional drive. This really had none of that, but I did like the part with the slapping."
(www.crackle.com/c/Backwash)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...LEFTTopStories

-------------------------------------------------------------


I don't understand, will this mean the end of OTA TV broadcasts ? ? ?

How much of the "airwaves now used for television" are going to be auctioned.

There's a lot about this proposed bill that has not been explained enough ! !

Here are some earlier articles that give a better pic of what's probably going to take place. Auction 1-2 years away.

CTIA/CEA White Paper with good details of what they've probably paid for. BEST SOURCE FOR DETAILS ON CHANNEL ALLOCATION?

Article w/ good links at bottom.

Another article with some similar details.

Why are you using size 4 fonts? Very obnoxious.

CBS:
8PM - Undercover Boss
9PM - A Gifted Man

NOTE: On CBS, "CSI: NY" is going on hiatus for 6 weeks. "A Gifted Man" takes over that time slot and "Undercover Boss" takes over the previous timeslot of "A Gifted Man".

Washington Notes
Congress Approves Spectrum Incentive Auctions
Broadcasters will be asked to give up spectrum for wireless broadband

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/17/2012 12:18:15 PM

Congress moved swiftly Friday to pass compromise payroll tax break/unemployment benefit legislation that gives the FCC the ability to reclaim and auction broadcast spectrum. The legislation will also create a second DTV transition as the FCC moves and repacks the TV stations to prepare the spectrum for auction.

The bill passed the House 293 to 132; it passed in the Senate 60-36.

Passage in the House came after numerous shout-outs for the incentive auction package from its House Energy & Commerce Committee backers. The Senate moved to a vote almost immediately after the House vote, and without debate.

Some Democrats in the House voted against the bill because of the requirement that future federal civilian employees help pay for unemployment benefit extension with a boost to pension contributions. The spectrum auction proceeds -- projected at $15 billion -- are the other "payfor" for those unemployment benefits. Former Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) said he voted against it because there had not been enough time to vet it, which violated the Republican pledge not to pass bills that had been introduced with insufficient time for study.

House Communications Chairman Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), whose House version of auction legislation provided the basis of the bill, said the legislation would free up hundreds of thousands of jobs and allow for the build out of advanced wireless and an emergency broadband communications network.

He emphasized that the auction was voluntary and would protect broadcasters and their viewers -- bill language requires the FCC to make best efforts to protect the coverage areas and interference protections of the broadcasters who don't give up spectrum.

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), ranking member of the Communications Subcommittee, said the incentive auction legislation would usher in more competition and innovation and insure world-leading wireless infrastructure and use of TV band spectrum for unlicensed wireless.

While the FCC is expected to move quickly to come up with auction rules, it will still likely be several years before any spectrum is reclaimed or repacked. The bill sets a 10-year deadline for the auctions--one, a reverse auction, to compensate the broadcasters who give up spectrum, the other to auction that spectrum on the open market. But Blair Levin, architect of the FCC National Broadband Plan that proposed the auctions, said it could happen as swiftly as four or five years.

Levin is concerned that bill provides too much direction, and too little flexibility for the FCC to use its auction expertise. He would have preferred simply giving the FCC the authority to compensate broadcasters, which it currently lacks, and let the commission fill in the rest, particularly given the difficulty in predicting changes in technology that could affect a spectrum auction.

Broadcasters have said that they are OK with the auctions so long as they are voluntary and leave a viable service for those who choose to stay in the business.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/art...e_Auctions.php

Gesundheit.

The auction cash will be gone with the snap of a finger, and the spectrum will be gone forever.

I'm fine with the Govt. auctioning off part of the TV spectrum just as long as I get free sell phone service out of the deal.


----Wait! What?!?! The public's spectrum is sold and I still get screwed by my cell company?

You need to do some home work before making comments like this. This subject has been discussed at AVS for over two years: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1216722

And yes, the font size and bold function are unnecessary.

Thank you.

TV Notes
Saturday’s Highlights: 'Win Win' on Cinemax
By Los Angeles Times' 'Show Tracker' Blog - Feb. 17, 2012

[ALL TIMES LISTED ARE PACIFIC TIME]

PAUL GIAMATTI and Alexi Shaffer star in the wrestling-themed 2011 indie drama, “Win Win,” at 10 p.m. on Cinemax.

SERIES

The Fades: This dark fantasy-drama presents its season finale (6 p.m. BBC America).

Ultimate Factories: The docu-series visits an Italian motorcycle factory (8 p.m. National Geographic).

Saturday Night Live: Former cast member Maya Rudolph hosts, with musical guest Sleigh Bells (11:29 p.m. NBC).

Ultraviolet: Code 044: The future looks bleak in this new animated action series inspired by a 2006 film starring Milla Jovovich (midnight G4).

SPECIALS

Nick Cannon: Mr. Showbiz: The “America’s Got Talent” host and husband of singer Mariah Carey performs stand-up in this encore special (11 p.m. Comedy Central).

MOVIES

Your Highness: Danny McBride, James Franco and Natalie Portman star in this uneven 2011 mix of stoner humor and sword-and-sorcery fantasy (8 p.m. HBO).

The Ride: This 2011 documentary follows “Amazing Race” host Phil Keoghan on a cross-country bike trek (8 p.m. Showtime).

Wild Hogs: John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy star in this 2007 road-trip comedy (9 p.m. ABC).

Bad Teacher: Cameron Diaz is bad as all that in this 2011 campus comedy; Justin Timberlake and Jason Segel also star (9 p.m. Starz).

SPORTS

College basketball: The UCLA Bruins take on St. John’s (10 a.m. CBS).

Golf: Play continues at the Northern Trust Open in Pacific Palisades (noon CBS).

Basketball: The Clippers host the San Antonio Spurs (12:30 p.m. FS Prime), and the New Jersey Nets battle the Chicago Bulls (1 p.m. WGN America).

NASCAR: The Sprint Cup’s Budweiser Shootout takes place at Daytona International Speedway in Florida (5 p.m. Fox).

Hockey: The Kings face the Calgary Flames (7 p.m. FSN).

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/show...n-cinemax.html

TV Notes
Charlie Sheen: Ashton Kutcher Sucks
By Tim Molloy, TheWrap.com - Feb. 17, 2012

Two days after he was hit with a cease-and-desist letter by his former "Two and a Half Men" bosses, Charlie Sheen has decided to cease-and-desist saying nice things about the show.

"I'm tired of lying. I'm tired of pretending like the show doesn't suck. I'm tired of pretending like Ashton [Kutcher] doesn't suck," he told TMZ in a phone interview.

"I'm tired of pretending like they're not competely adrift," he added. "Because when you take away the anchor from your show, which they stupidly did, you go adrift. And these guys are approaching like salvage vessel."

Sheen was fired from "Men" after a media barrage in which he discussed past drug use and repeatedly insulted show co-creator Chuck Lorre, saying his jokes were tin cans that Sheen had managed to spin into gold.

He told TMZ he sympathizes with Kutcher, his replacement, who he said is "saddled with such bad writing."

Sheen spoke out days after Warner Bros. TV, which produces "Men," hit him with a cease-and-desist letter demanding that he stop using Warner Bros.-owned pictures of himself to promote his upcoming FX series, "Anger Management."

Sheen has expressed often-changing public sentiments about Kutcher and "Men." Soon after Kutcher's hiring, Sheen predicted the show and its new lead would earn a mediocre 2.0 rating each week in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49 demographic. (In fact, it averages well over twice that.)

Later, as Sheen approached a $25 million settlement with Warner Bros. over his firing, he wished the cast and crew "nothing but the best" in brief remarks at the Emmys. He also tweeted a backstage picture of himself with Kutcher.

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/ch...er-sucks-35501

Business Notes
FCC can auction spectrum, but will broadcasters sell?
By Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times' 'Company Town' Blog - Feb. 17, 2012

When it comes to parting with their spectrum, many broadcasters have the same attitude Charlton Heston had when it came to his rifle: The government can pry it from their cold dead hands.

On Friday, Congress cleared the way for the Federal Communications Commission to auction off some of the airwaves that broadcasters use to transmit their programming to wireless companies.

The proceeds would go toward building a new national network for law enforcement and public safety workers and toward paying for an extension of payroll tax and unemployment benefits.

Now comes the hard part: actually getting the spectrum, which has been valued at $25 billion, back from broadcasters to sell.

Even though the potential cut for broadcasters from the sale is $1.75 billion, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of excitement about the idea.

We have no intention of giving up spectrum, said Alan Frank, president and chief executive of Post-Newsweek Stations, a broadcasting group that owns stations in several big cities, including Detroit, Houston and Miami.

David Smith, CEO of Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., which operates 74 stations around the country, said he hasn't heard of any broadcaster who has said they have anything for sale.

The big networks seem to share that view. Although none would comment publicly, executives at Fox and NBC indicated they had no desire to sell any of their airwaves. CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves has previously said his company wants to keep all its spectrum.

It would hurt our business, Moonves said when asked last year at the National Assn. of Broadcasters convention if he would consider parting with some of CBS' airwaves.

Some broadcasters of independent and small-market stations could be game. Bert Ellis, president of Titan Broadcasting, which owns KDOC-TV Channel 56 in Los Angeles, told the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology last June that his company might be willing to sell some of its spectrum.

In Los Angeles, there are several small independent stations that cater to ethnic groups including Asians and Latinos. The National Assn. of Broadcasters worries that if they sell, local communities would suffer.

The stations likely to sell if any are the ones that offer truly niche programming serving a melting pot of immigrant populations, said Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the broadcasters group. The notion that an ABC or CBS affiliate would voluntarily choose to go out of business to help solve an alleged spectrum crunch is ludicrous.

Not everyone paints such a grim picture. The Wireless Assn. and the Consumer Electronics Assn. said this week that only a very small percentage of the nation's broadcast stations need participate in the auction in order to address the nation's broadband spectrum shortage.

Philip Weiser, dean of the University of Colorado Law School and a former telecommunications advisor for the Obama administration, said he expects smaller broadcasters to try to have their cake and eat it too by sharing spectrum.

For example, one TV station could sell its spectrum and then partner with another station and share airwaves. Although that would not appeal to a big broadcaster, smaller mom-and-pop TV stations might be more willing to embrace such an option.

It is a huge opportunity for them, said Weiser, adding that such a practice would allow for a more efficient use of spectrum and would give broadcasters who choose to sell a hefty profit.

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

Translation: the FCC is fixing to molest your HD channel quality so a bunch of children can play co-op Angry Birds on their latest Apple toy and AT&T can guzzle down more suckers' money in the process.

Well first let's hope the FCC sees the lunacy of trying to get channels 31-51. Since channel 37 can't be used anyways leaving 31-36 alone will alievate a lot of the worry about not having enough spectrum for OTA and white space services in many areas. If 84 MHz is not enough for at&t and verizon too bad.

I think the FCC will go after the low hanging fruit first. There is a Sept 2015 deadline for analog LPs to switch to digital. Those that don't lose their license, free spectrum for the FCC for those stations dumb enough to wait that long. I suspect many if not most will simply take the money and run. Let's face it if they could afford to go to digital they would have already. Even those LPs that are already digital I suspect may will also take the money and run. Perhaps in most areas this will free up enough spectrum.

I suspect that in those areas where it's not that some stations will be moved to hi-VHF. There isn't any rule saying the FCC can't do that. Also many PBS stations have funding issues and with some people talking about cutting back federal funding to PBS many of those could go off the air and free up more spectrum. There's quite a bit of an overlap of PBS stations anyways. 351 PBS stations the next highest is ABC with 237.

Like your friendly local broadcasters aren't already doing a super job of that on their own.

Broadcast HDTV died over a decade ago. Frankly broadcasters brought this "crisis" upon themselves. If they hadn't have insisted on prioritizing "multicast" over HDTV, then dragging their feet on converting to digital, they might not have found themselves in this situation. This is 2012, not 1947 ... move fast or die slow.

The auction cash is only a drop in the bucket for what they need. Selling spectrum is like the indians selling New York for beads and trinkets in the old days. But the good news is that most broadcasters say they have nothing to sell.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has said, he feels that Congress has tied the FCC's hands on how to do the auctions. Translated, "We wanted to do this our way so I can help my buddies in the wireless world, and now I can't. This sucks."

That is why you DON'T go to Congress wanting them to do things for you. You get screwed in the process too.

Commit this day to memory and you'll be able to tell your grandkids that you remember the day that Congress killed OTA broadcasting.

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

If they kill OTA, doesn't that mean they kill local affiliates? But, I'm forced by federal mandate to watch my local affiliates if I want to view network programming. They won't even let me pay to have a different source.

I'll make them a deal - if the party I never vote for makes it so I can actually choose my source for network programming, I'll vote for them for 10 years.

Nielsen Overnights
Strong Friday Start For Boss', ABC Has First Nightly Win Over CBS
By Nellie Andreeva, Deadline.com - Feb. 18, 2012

Last night's ratings provided more ammunition for the theory that scripted programming may be doomed on Friday. The two highest-rated programs on the night in adults 18-49 by a mile were a a reality series, CBS' Undercover Boss (2.4/8), and a newsmagazine, ABC's 20/20 (2.0/6). The former made a very strong entry on Friday, drawing not only the highest 18-49 rating of the night but also the largest audience (10.7 million), edging the usual Friday winner in total viewers, CBS drama Blue Bloods (10.3 million, 1.6/5 in 18-49). Seeing an unscripted show almost double the delivery of a high-end drama (A Gifted Man) in the 8 PM hour has got to give CBS, the staunchest supporter of maintaining an all-scripted Friday lineup, a pause. Especially since Undercover Boss not only outperformed A Gifted Man but posted CBS' largest audience and 18-49 rating in the hour in three years since the March 6 and May 1 episodes of Ghost Whisperer, the last CBS scripted series to worked in the Friday 8 PM slot. A Gifted Man (9.5 million, 1.5/4) didn't do much with the better 9 PM time period and big lead-in from Boss, only matching its best 18-49 delivery to date.

Despite the strong numbers for Undercover Boss, CBS (1.8/6, 10.3 million) lost the No. 1 spot for the night in 18-49 to ABC (1.9/6, 7.1 million) for the first time this season after the networks finished tied twice before. ABC was paced by a big two-hour 20/20 (2.0/6, 7.1 million) devoted to Whitney Houston. ABC posted its largest audience of the night in two years and best 18-49 delivery in over a year. That despite a depressed Shark Tank at 8 PM. The new reality entry in the hour, Undercover Boss, pushed both Shark Tank (1.5/5, down 17%) and Fox's Kitchen Nightmares (1.3/4, down 13%) lower. Fringe has been nothing but consistent, staying frozen at a series-low 1.1/3. NBC's broadcast of the NAACP Image Awards (0.8/2) was up 33% from last year, possibly boosted by a Whitney Houston tribute. Dateline (1.1/3) was overpowered by 20/20, down 27%. The CW's Nikita (0.6/2) was up a tenth, Supernatural (0.7/2) was down a tenth.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/02/rati...-win-over-cbs/