• Martin Forced To Dump His Dual Carriage Plan
• Turner Eyes Hallmark Deal
• FCC Extends Program Access Rules
• Spike Sets UFC Record
• The Closer Finale Sets Record
• WICT Accolade Winners Named
• Dish Expands HD Sports Lineup

• DirecTV Targets MDUs With Triple Play
• Nielsen Shuffles Executive Deck
• Wes Anderson Shoots AT&T Ads
• Cable Ad Spending Rises
• Weather Buys ‘Mashup’ Provider
• iCarly Draws Kids to TV, Web
• VMAs Swing 23% Gain

• Brown Joins Outdoor Channel
• ReelzChannel Hires Creative Execs
• Fire Knocks Out HDTV Networks
• BBCA Scores Big With Torchwood
• Good and Bad News for FiOS

Martin Forced To Dump His Dual Carriage Plan
Washington -- The cable industry scored a decisive political victory Tuesday night when Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin had to dump a draconian digital TV plan that cable vowed to contest in court, perhaps rupturing the harmony needed by the industry-government effort to shift the nation to all-digital broadcast TV in early 2009 without a massive consumer rebellion. After an 11-hour delay to the start of its monthly meeting, the FCC voted 5-0 at about 10 p.m. to require cable systems to distribute local TV stations that demand carriage in both analog and digital formats for a three-year period starting Feb. 18, 2009. That’s the day after all 1,756 full-power TV stations must turn off their analog signals and rely exclusively on their digital feeds. Cable systems that are all-digital are exempt from the FCC’s dual carriage mandate. Martin’s plan called for dual must carry without the 2012 sunset, which the FCC did reserve the right to extend. Lobbying pressure from the National Cable & Telecommunications Association forced Martin to yield not only on perpetual dual carriage but also on a second priority: Requiring cable systems to transmit “all content bits” in a digital TV signal, thereby eliminating the use of signal compression and statistical multiplexing that husband bandwidth. click to read more...
Back to top

Turner Eyes Hallmark Deal
Turner Broadcasting System may have interest in adding top 10-rated network Hallmark Channel to its suite of services. Spokeswomen for both Turner and Hallmark confirm that Turner chairman and CEO Phil Kent and Turner Entertainment Group president Mark Lazarus met with Henry Schleiff, CEO of Crown Media Holdings, parent of Hallmark Channel, at the network’s New York offices on Sept. 6. While it was unclear what directions the discussions took, or whether they centered on a sale, an investment in Hallmark, or some strategic relationship between the parties, there is some interest from Turner’s camp. “We met with Henry,” said Shirley Powell, senior vice president, corporate communications at Turner. “To comment specifically would be premature, but we meet with any network that is for sale.” Powell added that Turner is “always willing to review assets that are aligned with our portfolio.” Hallmark Channel in a statement said: “It’s our fiduciary responsibility to explore any and all potential partnerships that would benefit our shareholders.” click to read more...
Back to top

FCC Extends Program Access Rules
Washington – Cable operators that own satellite-delivered cable networks will be forced to sell them to pay-TV distribution rivals for five more years, under terms of a unanimous Federal Communications Commission’s ruling Tuesday night that gave continued life to program access rules created by the 1992 Cable Act. The FCC ruling means that Time Warner will need to sell CNN and Comcast the Golf Channel to their pay-TV rivals, such as DirecTV and EchoStar, and to other cable operators that may or may not be direct competitors click to read more...
Back to top

Spike Sets UFC Record
Spike TV’s Sept. 8 telecast of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s UFC 75 fight card pinned down the biggest television audience ever for a mixed martial arts event. The event, which featured UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, drew 4.7 million viewers -- the most watched UFC event ever in North America, according to Spike. The fight card drew more Men 18-34 (1,622,000) and Men 18-49 (2,503,000) than any other broadcast or cable show that day which included several afternoon and prime-time college football games. The event was also Spike’s most watched, non-World Wrestling Entertainment show in Spike’s history. click to read more...
Back to top

The Closer Finale Sets Record
Turner Network Television’s The Closer finished its third season on a high note, drawing a record 9.2 million viewers to its Sept. 10 finale. Monday’s one-hour episode bested The Closer’s own cable ad-supported network series episode record of 8.8 million viewers set this past June with the third season premiere of series. click to read more...
Back to top

WICT Accolade Winners Named
Chantilly, Va. – Time Warner Cable’s Lynn Yaeger and Weather Channels Networks’ Wonya Lucas will receive the Women in Cable Telecommunications Foundation’s highest individual awards in November. Yaeger, Time Warner Cable’s executive VP of corporate affairs, was named Woman of the Year and Lucas, the EVP and general manager of the Weather Channel Networks, was named Woman to Watch. The 2007 Accolades will be presented at the 23rd Annual WICT Foundation Benefit Gala, on Nov. 15 at the Grand Hyatt Washington in Washington, D.C. click to read more...
Back to top

Dish Expands HD Sports Lineup
EchoStar and Altitude Sports & Entertainment will televise 40 Colorado Avalanche and 40 Denver Nuggets regular-season games in HDTV, officials said Tuesday. click to read more...
Back to top

DirecTV Targets MDUs With Triple Play
DirecTV and Thomson are launching the first satellite-TV distribution system for multi-dwelling units to use Internet-protocol technology, officials said Tuesday. The introduction of the DirecTV MFH3, or Multi-Family Housing version 3, distribution system, jointly developed with Thomson, is timed to support the satellite provider’s expansion of HD services this fall. click to read more...
Back to top

Nielsen Shuffles Executive Deck
Nielsen Co. shifted three of the most senior executives in the company’s television ratings service to new roles within the company, effective Oct. 1. Catherine Herkovic will become senior vice president and managing director of National Television Client Services. Kevin Svenningsen will become senior vice president and managing director of Local Television Client Services. Tom Ziangas will become senior vice president of Nielsen Sports. click to read more...
Back to top

Wes Anderson Shoots AT&T Ads
AT&T is going Hollywood its corporate advertising, turning to director Wes Anderson to create six new TV spots for the telephone company to help convey the message that the telco is “mobility-centric.” Anderson, director of such critically acclaimed but quirky films as Rushmore and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, will create ad spots featuring college kids, reporters, moms, architects, actors and businessmen. click to read more...
Back to top

Cable Ad Spending Rises
Total advertising expenditures are down .3% for the first half of the year across all media, but in the cable TV sector, the industry is experiencing a 2.8% increase in ads bought on cable compared with the same period last year. Ad expenditures through the first half total $72.59 billion, according to TNS Media Intelligence. The biggest gainer for the half is Internet display advertising, which is registering a 17.7% increase in ad buys compared with January-June 2006. click to read more...
Back to top

Weather Buys ‘Mashup’ Provider
The Weather Channel acquired of the assets of Weather Bonk, a “mashup” Web site that incorporates user-generated and partner content overlaid on Google Maps, links to other weather sites, and current weather conditions and forecasts. click to read more...
Back to top

iCarly Draws Kids to TV, Web
New York--The Sept. 8 debut of Nickelodeon’s new tween-targeted series iCarly turned into a multi-platform draw for the kids network. The 8 p.m. premiere episode of the series, starring Miranda Cosgrove (Jake and Josh) as the host of her own online show, averaged 3.5 million viewers for its premiere episode. A second iCarly episode airing 30 minutes later drew 3.7 million viewers, according to the network. click to read more...
Back to top

VMAs Swing 23% Gain
Britney Spears may have looked pretty vacant, but MTV’s 2007 Video Music Awards danced before more viewers than the 2006 show. The Sept. 9 event from Las Vegas averaged a 4.7 household rating from 9-11:12 p.m., translating into 7.08 million total viewers, up 23% from the 5.76 million who tuned in the three-hour kudofest from New York’s Radio City on Aug. 31, 2006. However, the performance still lagged the 10 million viewers the VMAs averaged between 2001-04, according to Nielsen Media Research data. click to read more...
Back to top

Brown Joins Outdoor Channel
Outdoor Channel has added industry veteran Randy Brown to its affiliate roster. The Temecula, Calif.-headquartered network, which counts around 30 million subscribers, named Brown senior vice president, affiliate sales and marketing. click to read more...
Back to top

ReelzChannel Hires Creative Execs
ReelzChannel hired two creative executives, with Jordan Beck as vice president of on-air promotion, and Doug Chalfant as director of creative marketing solutions. click to read more...
Back to top