This Just In
Staff -- Multichannel News, 12/9/2001 7:00:00 PM
CNN Cuts 30 Jobs
Atlanta— Cable News Network has cancelled four programs, resulting in the departure of 20 production personnel and 10 on-air staffers, spokesman Matt Furman said Friday.
Travel Now, Burden of Proof, NewsSite and Showbiz This Weekend — programs that haven't run since Sept. 11 — have been pulled permanently, Furman said.
Roger Cossack, Joie Chen and Bill Tush are among the talent leaving the network as a result of the cuts. The network is also talking to former Showbiz anchor Lauren Sydney about her role at CNN, Furman said.
In Demand, BBC Reach VOD Deal
New York— In Demand LLC will distribute programming from BBC Worldwide Americas on a video-on-demand basis as part of an agreement reached last week between the parties.
Terms of the deal with the wholly owned subsidiary of BBC Worldwide were not disclosed. In Demand will have access to such award-winning British Broadcasting Corp. fare as French & Saunders, Eyewitness and a number of documentaries, including Alien Empire, Land of The Eagle and Realms of the Russian Bear, according to In Demand.
ESPN Bids for NBA
New York— ESPN executives last week confirmed that the network is in negotiations for rights to the National Basketball Association's cable package.
"We are in conversations with the NBA and we think the NBA is an attractive property that we would be interested in acquiring under the right terms," ESPN spokesman Chris LaPlaca said. The network would not comment on reports that its bid, in conjunction with sister broadcast network ABC, is less than the current $2.6 billion paid by Turner Sports and NBC.
Judge Delays Hearing on Excite@Home Contracts
San Francisco —Cable operators who signed pricey contracts to extend their Excite@Home service through February will have to wait until Tuesday to see if a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge will approve them.
Judge Thomas Carlson on Friday postponed a hearing to review the $355 million in contracts until Tuesday to give Excite@Home creditors and bondholders time to review deals. MSOs, including Cox Communications, Comcast Cable Communications, Mediacom LLC, MidContinent Communications and Canada's Rogers Cable Inc., have signed the contracts, which would extend Excite@Home service through Feb. 28 as the MSOs work to transition customers to their own services. After that, Redwood City, Calif.-based Excite@Home now plans to shut down.
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