Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Nixon Interview
The Chicago Tribune has a great interview with All My Children creator Agnes Nixon. In it, she reveals that AMC will end in a few weeks with a big cliffhanger to set up the apparent web series that will follow, that she will be a creative consultant on that series, and she asks of the show replacing AMC, "What are they chewing?" (Love. her.)
DMA Rankings
Nielsen has released its DMA rankings for 2011-2012, specifying the number of TV homes in each city-market. RBR.Com gets some reactions from an investment banker.
Bloomberg's Argument
Bloomberg laid out to the FCC its case for why Comcast should group it among news channels on the cable lineup.
Comcast Suit Advances
Comcast is being sued by six plaintiffs for overcharging for service, and an appeals court just affirmed the viability of the case.
Real Exploitation
Stephen Galloway argues that the Real Housewives suicide exposes how exploitative reality TV is.
Campaign Youth
Jeremy W. Peters notes that news organizations are turning to rookie journalists to cover the election campaign grind in order to save money.
Comcast's Low-Cost Internet
Bob Fernandez describes Comcast's cheap internet service for low-income families, an outgrowth of a pledge made to allow the Comcast-NBCU merger to go through.
Spanish-Language Revenue
Spanish-language TV ad revenue grew at twice the rate of that for network TV last year.
Good TVeets
sports fans mock cosplay - then paint their bodies in team colors and put plastic cheese on their heads in hopes of being on television.
Watching Anderson Cooper. Formula seems to be: people being very upset about something for 8 minutes then on to next upsetting thing.
I bet Flo, the gal in the Progressive ads, is a serial killer who uses life insurance policies to assuage her guilt.
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Adapting to Reality
The Wrap has advice for writers shifting from scripted drama and sitcom to reality TV.
CNN Adds iPad App
CNN has acquired an iPad newsreader app. Mashable interviews a few CNN execs to hear why.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sports Night's Women
Alyx Vesey offers an analysis of the female relationships in the comedy Sports Night.
UK Factual Ratings
Peter Hamilton's Documentary Television website has an intriguing list of the Top 40 rated Factual and Documentary programs in the UK thus far this year.
Inbetweeners Romps
Speaking of British sitcoms, the movie version of the sitcom The Inbetweeners set a UK record for the best opening week by a live-action comedy ever.
British Sitcom Appeal
The Independent highlights some upcoming British sitcoms and looks back upon the recent divergence between innovative and often dark single-cams that tend to have niche audiences and the handful of multi-cams that are viewed by many but scorned by critics. Jaime Weinman adds thoughts.
Social Media Giants
The New York Giants' media team is taking advantage of social media in multiple ways, including displaying tweets in the stadium.
Louie's Style
While most who have praised Louie focus on its narrative elements, Jaime Weinman finds the visual style as striking.
Yahoo Originals
Yahoo is planning to launch a set of original web-based programs, which Megan Angelo says could save the web series form.
Summer TV Elegy
Jeffrey Sconce says goodbye to summer TV in a way that only Jeffrey Sconce can: "Summer programming, as we have come to know it over the past few years, is like television’s feral cousin—recognizable as TV and yet unexpectedly “wild” in a way that the prestigious gloss of the autumn schedule would never abide. It’s like the dog you once rescued from traffic at the side of the Interstate: he’s cute enough that you grow a little attached to him as he lives in your basement for a few days while you put up posters; and yet he is deranged enough that you come to understand how he got left on the side of the freeway in the first place. You’re a little sad when the Humane Society finally comes to take him away, but not inconsolably so, much like the feeling you have when MTV breaks out the cattle prods to herd Ronnie and Sammi back into their enclosures until next season."
TV Prices Falling
TV sets are getting cheaper, yet not many people are planning to buy new ones in the next year.
Copyright Law in Question
Joe Flint highlights a copyright law that many of us (including me) never knew about that allows cable and satellite providers to pay a flat copyright fee to rights holders (like stations, studios, and sports leagues). He further notes that the Copyright Office would like to dump the rule, which would thus require pay TV providers to negotiate all those rights deals individually.
Cross-Ownership Ban
A former head of the FCC expects media companies to continue battling against the cross-ownership ban, which prevents them from owning a newspaper and a television station in the same market.
BBC1 Comedy Criticism
A producer of a popular panel show complains that BBC1's comedies have become bland and no longer take content risks.
Fox-UFC Upside
Anthony Crupi thinks advertisers will flood to the Fox-UFC package because of the favorable demographics of the target audience.
NBA Lockout
Earlier this year we saw tons of articles about how the NFL lockout could affect TV; get ready for a slew of them about how the NBA lockout could affect TV.
AMC Talk
AMC might launch a talk show that airs following their scripted dramas and discusses the episodes.
Good TVeets
The Internet is made of cats and anger. #truestorylookintoit
"I don't always drink beer, but when I do I prefer to take aspirin first so I don't get a headache." - 2nd Most Interesting Man In The World
If I get a cat, I'm naming it Wallace so I can say "Where's Wallace" every day.
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Monday, August 29, 2011
VMA's Big
The Video Music Awards turned out to MTV's most watched broadcast ever, and Anthony Bruno describes how it was spread across multiple screens.
Arts Losses
Bravo's channel in Canada is dropping two magazine-style shows that focus on the arts, and Jaime Weinman laments the loss of arts programming on cable.
Google & TV
Dan Sabbagh warns that Google might not be British TV's friend. Ryan Lawler says Google wants to change how we watch TV. Matt Rosoff describes Google's message to TV as adapt or die. And Google's chairman says he's committed to improving Google TV.
Fall Females
I almost refused to link to this article because it starts with the following annoying sentence: "Viewers, it's time to make way for girl power!" But I'm here to link, not judge. So make what you will of this article about the prominence of woman on fall shows.
Local After Oprah
The Chicago Tribune profiles local station general manager Emily Barr, who had to figure how to fill the scheduling hole left behind by Oprah's departure. Barr says, "I looked at it immediately as a tremendous opportunity for us to go back to doing live local television." Meanwhile, Mary McNamara offers advice to Oprah for fixing OWN.
AT&T Who Vignette
If you watched BBC America's broadcast of Doctor Who on Saturday, you saw a 60-second "motion comic sequence" extra that was sponsored by AT&T.
Hispanic Media Gains
The Pew Research Center finds that Spanish-language media continues to expand in the US, with Univision and Telemundo in particular competing ably with English-language networks.
Hulu's Performance
Will Richmond looks at Hulu's viewership and monetization over the past year: "It seems that Hulu has a loyal base of viewers who don't seem to mind more ads. However, it also seems like a key challenge for Hulu is expanding the number of viewers, with a related challenge of increasing their intensity of usage beyond the current range."
DA's Emmy Success
Jace Lacob digs into Downton Abbey's success at garnering Emmy nominations and broad popularity.
Weather Coverage
Brian Stelter stood strong through Irene on Nag's Head in order to analyze Weather Channel coverage, which drew strong ratings. Also, local NY1 garnered praise for its level-headed coverage. Most hurricane coverage went with limited ad breaks. The FCC and NAB have praised broadcasting for its coverage.
Aca-Fan Debate
More aca-fandom discussion at Henry Jenkins' blog, this time including Jonathan Gray, Matt Hills, and Alisa Perren.
SutterInk Challenge
Sons of Anarchy's Kurt Sutter has posted an intriguing challenge/prize for the premiere of season 4.
Telenovela Product Placement
Tanzina Vega reports that product placement is on the rise in telenovelas.
TV's Future Strong
In the wake of the Edinburgh International Television Festival, BBC News correspondent Torin Douglas insists that TV's future is strong.
Sony's Ambitions
Brooks Barnes outlines Sony's push into network TV, with Pan Am and Charlie's Angels as examples.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Creative Arts Emmys
Tim Appelo explains why the Creative Arts Emmys, which you can watch on ReelzChannel the day before the Sept. 18 primary ceremony, are important
Hurricane Hype
Howard Kurtz criticizes the media for going overboard on Hurricane Irene hype. Jaime Weinman defends them. Matt Zoller Seitz says the hype is TV news' lifeblood. James Poniewozik adds thoughts.
BBC Cuts
The Guardian covers where the BBC is in terms of planning cuts to be declared in final proposals due in a few weeks.
Casting Reality
Craig Tomashoff discusses how difficult it was become to cast reality TV shows with ordinary people rather than people looking become reality TV celebrities.
Good TVeets
That Hurricane streaker made today the 1st time in TV history the Weather Channel showed more dicks than C-Span.
Yelling over the wind is making every hurricane reporter sound like Larry David
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Saturday, August 27, 2011
ITV & BBC3 Win
At the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television festival today, ITV won best terrestrial channel, while BBC3 picked up best digital channel. Sherlock, The Inbetweeners and Misfits were show winners.
UK Product Placement Starts Slow
Deals are slow in coming for product placement on UK TV, legal only since February.
Louie's Magic
Matt Zoller Seitz heaps yet more (deserved) praise onto FX's Louie. As does Alyssa Rosenberg in response to "Duckling." And Louis CK talks with Deadline about his unique production situation.
Too Much Weather
Erik Wemple weighs the possibility that The Weather Channel is overhyping Irene. Meanwhile, Time Warner Cable is gearing up to help its East Coast customers.
Good TVeets
AM Report: Most injuries from #irene so far are seizures from watching CNN's flashing transition scare graphics.
Also try: The Whole Internet. MT @nytimes: As public service,@nytimes will allow free access to storm coverage on nytimes.com & mobile apps.
good thing they didn't book Kurt Sutter. “@Gawker: MSNBC Contributor: Hurricane Irene is a 'Total Bitch' gaw.kr/rqRE5d”
Am I the only one wishing for *more* hurricane coverage right now? I wish I had a meteorologist sitting on my lap, shouting in my face.
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Friday, August 26, 2011
MLB Innovations
Josh Catone checks out the innovative things Major League Baseball is doing with digital media, such as MLB.tv.
RIP iTunes TV Rentals
You can no longer rent TV shows on iTunes; Brian Stelter also reports. There's also news that iTunes might have a subscription service planned for the future, which would challenge cable, but Greg Sandoval says we shouldn't believe the rumors.
Gender & Ethnicity on Jersey Shore
Amanda Ann Klein shares a conference paper titled Performing Gender and Ethnicity on Jersey Shore.
Summer Viewing Up
Preliminary Nielsen figures show that summer TV viewing has been up over last year, though the Big Four networks combined were down. More from Wayne Friedman and Media Life. And USA has dominated cable this summer.
TV Ad Problems
Dave Morgan argues that television advertising is suffering from reach and frequency problems: "Twenty years ago, cable networks captured less than 10% of TV audiences. Today cable nets capture two-thirds of viewer time. For advertisers seeking big reach, buying broadcast network prime-time is still essential, but it's no longer enough; not even close."
Hurricane Effect
The Weather Channel is rather excited about Hurricane Irene, for both revenue and education, while the storm's path up the East Coast will significantly impact media departments.
Good TVeets
It's so obvious The @WeatherChannel is pro hurricane. Fair and balanced my ass.
Do not go outside during a hurricane, unless you're a reporter whose job is to show what happens to morons who go outside during hurricanes.
Hurricane Irene has an amazing publicist.
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Thursday, August 25, 2011
Future Personalization
John Clancy insists that the future of TV is in personalization, especially via mobile video.
Weinsteins Protest
The Weinstein Co. is complaining that ABC is refusing to run an ad for Our Idiot Brother due to objectionable content, which actually sounds like giving the Weinsteins exactly what they want, a marketable controversy. Update: The NY Post has details from the memo ABC sent to the film's producer detailing what they didn't like in the ad (drugs and urination).
Hulu Ads Doubly Effective
Hulu's VP of Sales claims that Hulu ads are twice as effective as TV ads, which is a pretty good sales pitch, so nice work, VP of Sales.
Retrans Dispute
Seems like it's been awhile since we had a good retrans dispute around here, so thanks to Mediacom and LIN Media for filling the gap.
Hulu Extended
In case you were still looking into your checking account balance, you now have til the end of the week to bid on Hulu. And Wayne Friedman says whether Hulu stays as is or is sold, its business partners will have something to be annoyed about.
Casting & Courting the Olds
Jaime Weinman notes that networks are increasingly casting older actors, as they realize that older viewers exist and can hep ratings.
Locke & Key Trailer
The trailer for Locke and Key, a pilot that many loved but Fox declined to pick up, has surfaced.
Caption Requirements
The FCC says within nine months, broadcast and cable operators will have to implement captioning on any online videos that are closed-captioned for TV.
College Cash
The WSJ dig into the TV money filling college football coffers. Wayne Friedman adds his thoughts.
Bravo's Social Media Efforts
Bravo is taking advantage of social media marketing for shows like Top Chef Just Desserts.
Cable CPMs
Media Life charts out the growing CPMs for cable over the past five years. (If you don't know the term, CPM refers to the cost to reach 1000 viewers, which determines ad rates.)
No Stars for Reality
The Hollywood Walk of Fame says it won't give stars to reality TV performers. (Yet David Spade is worthy?)
Web Contracts
A group of writer-producers who work in LA for CBS in television and radio news and promotions designed for the web signed a WGA-blessed contract.
British Timeshifting
A Delloite study on British viewing found timeshifting on the rise, and these stats especially intrigued me: "Compared with the average of 10% of overall BBC viewing timeshifted, BBC drama saw 26% timeshifting in May 2011."
LA Mayor Pledge
Los Angeles's Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants to help keep more film and TV production in the city.
Brands Impacting Women
A group called Women at NBCU is studying brands that have had a major impact on women in order help advertisers better target women. (Would be nice if they'd instead study how to get women more jobs in TV.)
Good TVeets
I propose an analogy: Ausiello is to TV critics/journalists what Robert Thompson is to TV scholars.
China and India may lead us in manufacturing and tech, but our celebrity sex tapes are the envy of the world. #USA
The "Big Brother" Zingbot is even funnier if you know it's Les Moonves in the suit. #FalseFacts
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Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Murdoch's Ways
Joe Flint delves into Rupert Murdoch's methods of operation: "Though Murdoch considers himself a political conservative, when it comes to his business dealings he is a pragmatist. He's willing to befriend a liberal democrat who can help his business agenda and he's not afraid to use his media properties as weapons to further his vast – and politically connected – empire."
News Corp Documents
Documents pertaining to News Corp.'s attempted BSkyB takeover bid have been released and reveal highly aggressive government lobbying.
Fox Defending Wall
In response to reports that Fox's authentication demands are driving viewers toward piracy, Fox is defending its policy. Mike Masnick says Fox isn't addressing the central issue with its response, though.
Breaking In Back
Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reports that Fox is resurrecting the previously-cancelled Breaking In, and Jaime Weinman explores Deadline's own efforts in helping Sony blitz Fox and the media to save the show. Update: It's official.
Cable Customer Service
Samantha Bookman looks at how cable companies are trying to improve customer service. (And also thanks to this article I learned that something called the Golden Poo award exists.)
Regulatory Fees
The FCC is reminding cable and TV station operators that regulatory fees are due soon.
TWC Uses Slingbox
Time Warner Cable says it will subsidize the cost of a Slingbox for subscribers who want TV Everywhere outside of their homes, which is a shot at cable programmers who want to restrict such options. Casey Johnston says this will definitely rankle networks, and Ryan Lawler notes TWC's aggressiveness here.
NFL Uncertainty Bonus
The uncertainty over the NFL lockout helped outlets sell most of their college football ad time.
Good TVeets
Y'all don't realize it yet, but Ryan Gosling just saved us from something much MUCH worse. #earthquake
Tonight our thoughts are with the brave NBC reporters who stepped out of 30-Rock to confirm that, yes, the ground shook a little bit.
#Earthquake rated at 5.9, but we'll need to wait for Live+7DVR numbers to come in before we truly know the impact.
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Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Twist Endings Problem
Willa Paskin criticizes the twist ending of the movie One Day and likens it to The Killing's season ender in pinpointing what's problematic about twists provided just to provoke audiences, as if that makes them less cheap than predictable endings.
Local News Success
An NBC affiliate in Indianapolis has committed itself to strong local investigative journalism and is reaping ratings rewards for it.
Tennis Trouble
The channel tier dispute between Cablevision and Tennis Channel continues as the US Open approaches.
Cult TV Movies
Cory Barker tells cult TV shows like Veronica Mars and Arrested Development that he doesn't want their stupid movies.
Shorter Seasons
Maureen Ryna highlights on oncoming trend: shorter episode orders for seasons: "Like it or not, 10 hours may be the new normal, and rather than give us half seasons of 9 or 10 episodes, we're getting 10 episodes total for a season, whether or not the the tale being told is too big or too slight to fit the available space. To reiterate, I don't necessarily think being flexible about the number of hours in a season is a bad thing. But isn't it true that the most memorable shows tend to have seasons that are longer than 10 hours?"
Ch 51 Frozen
If you were planning to start up a new network and put it on Channel 51, you'll have to delay your plans; the FCC has frozen that channel to consider issues of wireless interference, as it's at the upper limit of the broadcast spectrum band. Update: Deborah D. McAdams sees this move as a threat to the future of broadcasting, driven by the wireless industry.
NBCU Not Diverse
Continuing on the theme of diversity, NBCU is being criticized for its lack of ethnic diversity on-screen and off.
Fewer Women in TV
While there may be more women in Libya reporting, there are fewer writing and directing for TV, and even fewer female characters compared to the previous year. More from John Doyle.
Good TVeets
Nothing is better than preseason football, but nothing isn't on right now.
Anti-Qaddafi rebels have stormed into Hollywood and found a really great project for Matthew Perry that's bound to be successful.
Y'know, internet, you don't HAVE to watch "Torchwood: Miracle Day." I only say that as it seems to make a lot of you mad.
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