Programming Briefs
By Staff -- Multichannel News, 3/20/2005 7:00:00 PM
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Items:
'Shield’ Gets Edge From Close’s Debut INHD Signs Elektra Exec To Lift Music Offerings NCAA, ESPNU Ink Championships Deal Comcast Serves Tennis Up a 'Hunting License’ |
'Shield’ Gets Edge From Close’s Debut
Los Angeles — The fourth-season premiere of FX’s The Shield, featuring the cast addition of Emmy and Golden Globe award-winner Glenn Close, came out blazing in the ratings, notching a 3.3 household mark and some 3.92 million viewers Tuesday night.
The March 15 performance, from 10 p.m. to 11:06 p.m., surpassed the 2.8 million who tuned in the gritty cop show’s third-season premiere (March 9, 2004) by 37%, as well as its third-season average of 2.51 million by 56%, according to Nielsen Media Research data.
Tuesday night’s delivery of 2.3 million adults 18-49 made The Shield, starring Michael Chiklis, the top season premiere among all basic- or pay-cable scripted series against that demo during the current TV season (Sept. 20, 2004-March 15), according to FX.
The fourth-season premiere, though, came up short of the series (March 12, 2002) and second-season (Jan. 7, 2003) debuts, which notched 4.1 and 3.6 household ratings, respectively.
INHD Signs Elektra Exec To Lift Music Offerings
New York — INHD has hired Joel Amsterdam as a consultant to assist it in acquiring new music programming. Prior to becoming a full-time consultant, Amsterdam was vice president, press and artist development at Elektra Records.
At In Demand Networks’ suite of HD networks, he will be responsible for leveraging his numerous relationships with record labels and artist management to secure broadcast deals with leading recording artists for HD music specials and series.
NCAA, ESPNU Ink Championships Deal
Bristol, Conn. — As expected, ESPN Inc. and the National Collegiate Athletic Association last week added to their extant contract, reaching a new agreement that will place an array of college championships on fledgling service ESPNU through 2012-13.
Action has already commenced with various coverage of Division I and II women’s basketball, and will continue this month with Division I men’s wrestling and ice hockey championships. All of ESPNU’s NCAA championships coverage will supplement existing action from each event on ESPN and ESPN2, according to ESPNU vice president and general manager Burke Magnus.
Under the deal, ESPNU, in addition to the aforementioned events, will present extra rounds and/or live coverage from at least 10 NCAA championships, including men’s and women’s volleyball, softball, baseball and Division 1-AA football.
Comcast Serves Tennis Up a 'Hunting License’
Los Angeles — The Tennis Channel has signed a multiyear affiliation agreement with No. 1 U.S. MSO Comcast Corp. According to Tennis officials, the “hunting license” arrangement will enable the service to pursue opportunities for traditional, linear network carriage, as well as video-on-demand content.
Citing Scarborough Research data, network executives said that many of Comcast leading markets have strong affinity for the sport. Of the nation’s leading tennis markets, Comcast serves customers in eight of them: Washington, D.C. (second); Miami (fourth); Richmond, Va. (fifth); Baltimore (sixth); Sarasota, Fla. (11th); San Francisco (12th); Philadelphia (14th); and Los Angeles (15th).
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