Coda
by Staff -- Multichannel News, 1/20/2008 5:00:00 PM MT
Studio’s an Ish Come True
Michael Hirschorn, who drove VH1 to consistent ratings growth over the past six years by embracing the “celebreality” phenom, is departing the network and forming his own production company, Ish Entertainment, which has inked a first-look deal for three shows with MTV Networks Music and Logo Group.
VH1’s ex-executive vice president of original programming is taking VH1 senior vice president of celebrity talent development Stella Stolper with him to form Ish, which will focus primarily, but not exclusively, on non-scripted programming. Chris Choun, VH1 vice president of production management/executive from 2001-05, will lead Ish’s production.
Back at VH1, the network elevated Jeff Olde and Ben Zurier to help fill the gaps. Olde is now executive vice president, original programming and production, while Zurier is executive vice president strategy for VH1, VH1 Classics and MHD, MTVN’s high-definition music service.
Meanwhile, VH1 has given the green light to three new reality series. A female follow-up to The White Rapper Show and magic competition series Celebracadabra are slated to bow in April. Another, in which contestants aspire to be P. Diddy’s assistant, will likely launch this summer.
Under Hirschorn’s direction, VH1 rang up 22 straight quarters of ratings advances with celebrity-tinged fare like Flavor of Love and spin-offs such as I Love New York.
“The word 'brilliant’ should be reserved for very special examples … like Michael Hirschorn,” MTVN Music Group president of entertainment Brian Graden said in a statement.
Hirschorn, in his own statement, said: “I owe to Brian most of what I understand about TV, so I’m thrilled that I will be able to continue working with and learning from him in this new venture, while gaining the opportunity to deliver shows to a wider range of networks.”
— Mike Reynolds
Spigot Tightens on Pivot
Reston, Va. — Pivot, the wireless service Sprint Nextel provides for four cable operators, will now be promoted in even fewer retail locations: Sprint said last week that it plans to lay off 4,000 employees, or about 7% of its workforce, and close 8% of company-owned retail locations.
The No. 3 wireless carrier said it had net losses of 683,000 post-paid and 202,000 prepaid subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2007. The company ended 2007 with about 54 million customers, compared with 53.1 million at the end of 2006.
In addition to the layoffs, Sprint plans to cut back on outsourced services and contractors, to close 125 of its 1,400 stores and eliminate more than 4,000 third-party distribution points.
Sprint in October ousted CEO Gary Forsee, who had led the formation of the Pivot joint venture with Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and Advance/Newhouse Communications. The following month, the company froze the Pivot rollout, with the service currently available in 33 markets and in about 20% of Sprint’s stores.
Sprint expects the job cuts and store closings to save between $700 million and $800 million per year by the end of 2008.
But in a report, Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett wrote that the moves “will do little to actually right the ship … the time for tuneups has passed; major surgery is required.”
— Todd Spangler
FSN Plays Ball In Kansas City
Kansas City, Mo. — Fox Sports Net is bringing a branded regional sports network to Kansas City.
FSN Kansas City will sport games and other programming that were previously part of FSN Midwest.
The new service, whose principal team is the Kansas City Royals, will formally launch at the beginning of the 2008 Major League Baseball season. However, fans will begin to see the FSN Kansas City logo during this week’s Royals caravan and Royals fanfest. The first program produced by the new RSN will reflect some of those aforementioned activities and debut Jan. 24 at 6:30 p.m.
On the Ups at Lifetime, Fuse
New York — Lifetime Networks has promoted David Hillman, who played a key role in the success of the new reality series How to Look Good Naked to vice president, reality programming.
Meanwhile, Fuse president Eric Sherman hired Theresa Chillianis, a Cablevision Systems executive, to be senior vice president of strategy and business operations, responsible for general management of Fuse’s business operations.
Public Channels to Hang On in Mich.
Municipalities in Michigangot two injunctions, one from federal court and a second in state court on Jan. 14, blocking Comcast from requiring thousands of customers in the state to obtain a digital set-top box in order to view public, educational and governmental channels.
Comcast had announced it would take advantage of a change in state law to migrate the PEG channels from analog to digital channel slots. The move would free up bandwidth to provide more HD programming and video-on-demand services, but analog-only customers would lose PEG access.
Judge Victoria Roberts of the U.S. District Court for Michigan’s Eastern District decided to maintain the status quo in response to objections raised by local leaders in Dearborn and Meridian Township. Later that same day, Judge David Viviano also issued a restraining order in Macomb County Circuit Court at the request of the city of Warren.
— Linda Haugsted and Ted Hearn
People
09/28/2009Hirschorn May Leave VH1
01/17/2008Face2Face
01/11/2008People
02/15/2004
