Scan Forward

May 20, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

NEW ORLEANS - "Fragmentation is a fact of life," in the words of Peter Chernin. More pointedly, "it's going to increase exponentially" over the next three, five and ten years, the president and CEO of News Corporation said at the opening session of the 2008 Cable Show on Sunday.

Is this news?

Not so much. Not in this industry.

The last quarter-century has been almost all about creating that fact of life. In 1984, there were three widely distributed broadcast networks. And six upstart widely distributed cable networks: TBS, CNN, Nashville Network, USA Network, ESPN and The Weather Channel, as Sean Cunningham, president and CEO of the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau, noted in his introductory remarks at the Multichannel News breakfast panel on “Multicultural Television” on Tuesday morning.

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May 19, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

NEW ORLEANS – On stage Sunday at the 2008 Cable Show here,  Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said he was having “good conversations” with cable operators about carrying the as-yet unnamed premium entertainment channel and online service being put together by Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate Entertainment and MGM. On Monday morning, the venture named former Showtime executive Mark Greenberg to lead it into competition with HBO, Showtime and Starz.

About the same time, Starz LLC chairman Robert Clasen was making an interesting comment over at the Royal Sonesta Hotel, where he is staying at the show. Starz (and presumably parent Liberty Media) would be interested in owning a basic cable channe...Read More

May 18, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

On July 10, the “Reality Binge” will debut on the three-year-old Fox Reality Channel.

This one-hour show will highlight and comment on the best (and worst) of reality shows from every network televised across the United States.  The focus will be on outrageous characters and moments and the intent is to be humorous.

That contrasts with the dose of reality that attendees of the 2008 Cable Show got Sunday morning, here in New Orleans.

Two busloads of convention-goers got to see first-hand the state of the Crescent City, as it nears the third anniversary of its own outrageous moment: the inundation that followed the arrival of Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 29, 2005 and the slow, inept response by local, state and fede...Read More

May 17, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

This is the year of high-definition television.

The Weather Channel has constructed a spanking new HD studio, so you can see any calamity as if it were in your face. DirecTV is going all-out to create a competitive advantage over Dish Network, cable system operators and telephone companies in offering the most HD channels, anywhere. Broadcasters are launching HD services. ABC is even streaming HD-quality video online. Cablevision is offering HD service at no charge; and Comcast is tryin to make sure its on-demand offerings give it a leg up with the most choices of HD programming, in its markets.

Picture quality is what competition now centers on.

And it’s the subject of fierce debate, ranging from claims from all sides in commercials about who has the best, to Multichannel News technology editor Todd Spangler’s analysis going into thi...Read More

May 14, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

So now comes Cablevision as the latest outfit trying to save a major metropolitan newspaper from the furnace of Internet competition.

Hope Tom Rutledge has his fire-proof skivvies on.

The handwriting is on the advertising checks: a 24x7 interactive text medium is drumming the once-a-day, one-way text medium. Classified ads are fleeing. Real estate ads shrinking. Department stores disappearing.

Heck, Sam Zell, a real estate tycoon his ownself, thought he could turn around his hometown newspaper operation, the Tribune Co.  But there, classified revenues in the first quarter were off a punishing 27%.

To help save his investment in the Chicago Tribune, he is tossing off Newsday, on Long Island. He picks up ...Read More