Archive for July 14th, 2008

The Television Critics Association press tour, currently under way in Los Angeles, is the event of the year for networks to show off upcoming programs to tipsy journalists in the hopes of getting some early hype.

While next week begins the panels for the major networks, this week marks the time for smaller cable companies. A&E announced four new series and two renewals, and Discovery–as well as its suite of sister networks–also revealed a slew of new projects.

A&E is welcoming William Shatner, with Shatner’s Raw Nerve, a celebrity talk show where guests will discuss hot-button topics. Among the famous people lined up to join the Star Trek and Boston Legal star are Jon Voight, Jenna Jameson, Leonard Nimoy, Jimmy Kimmel, and Kelsey Grammer, says Variety.

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NBC is 85 percent sold out of online ad inventory for its Summer Olympics coverage, which kicks off Aug. 8 in Beijing. The company has signed on McDonald’s, Johnson & Johnson, Hilton, Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch, among other brands.

Much of these brands’ spending is earmarked for video, said officials, as NBC plans to deliver an unprecedented 2,200 hours of live footage on NBCOlympics.com—after streaming just a single hockey game during the winter games just two years ago.

NBC executives anticipate heavy Web viewing among office workers, given the 12- to 15-hour time difference between the U.S. and China, which will result in many events unfolding early in the morning on the East coast and late in the workday out West. “We have no doubt that the at-work audience is going to consume voraciously,” said Zach Chapman, director, digital sales, NBC Sports and Olympics.

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By iTVX Staff

NBC/Universal content will be available on Xbox Live Marketplace starting today. Some 10,000-plus movies and TV shows are available on the Marketplace ranging from The Office to The Bourne Supremacy.

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LONDON — The stock price of U.K. terrestrial giant ITV has surged by more than 14% as reports of a possible bid continue to make waves.The price reached 43.7 pence (86.9 cents) in afternoon trading Monday, having closed at 38.3 pence (76.2 cents) on Friday.

Pan-European giant RTL, owner of Blighty’s Five, was being tipped as the favorite to buy BSkyB’s 17.9% stake in ITV as a possible prelude to a full bid for the under pressure broadcaster.

A joint bid with a private equity combo may be in the cards, but others reported to have spoken to ITV include U.S. broadcasters, notably NBC, Italo media giant Mediaset and Israeli-American investor Haim Saban.

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Viewership of full episodes of prime-time shows on ABC.com reached an all-time high in May, according to the network, with users watching 615 million minutes of full-length episodes during the month, a 53 percent increase over the previous month and an increase of 110 percent over May 2007.

Data from Move Networks, ABC.com’s Internet television services provider, showed that viewers watched 37 million full episodes of ABC shows in May, up 27 percent over April. And most of the viewers watched multiple episodes.

ABC programming online can be viewed using ABC.com’s Full Episode Player. The network said it will add several new features to the player this fall. Closed captioning for the hearing impaired will be added, and enhanced navigation and video search capabilities will be added that allow users to search for series graphically, alphabetically, by genre or by popularity.

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We heard the rumblings … Netflix is coming to home consoles. But which platform? Microsoft raised its hand today at its E3 keynote and said “us!” Xbox 360 will be getting Netflix’s on-demand programming later this year. Xbox Live subscribers that already have Netflix memberships can enjoy Netflix on their TV at no additional cost.

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The maker of the King of Beers has agreed to go to work for the Belgian brewer InBev SA. Anheuser-Busch Cos. said early Monday it had agreed to a sweetened $52 billion takeover bid from InBev, creating the world’s largest brewer and heading off what was shaping up as an acrimonious fight for the maker of Budweiser and Bud Light beers. InBev brands include Stella Artois, Beck’s and Bass.
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Speculation is growing around the possibility of a NBC Universal-Scripps Networks Interactive merger, Multichannel News reports. It is predicted that Scripps Networks Interactive could attract a price high above its current market capitalization of $6.5 billion, the newspaper says. The company, which is the home of HGTV, Food Network, DIY, Fine Living and Great American Country, has been the subject of merger speculation ever since it officially split from E.W. Scripps, the newspaper notes.

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The fifth and final season of Project Runway on Bravo begins Wednesday as 16 new fashion designers prepare to showcase their work for supermodel host Heidi Klum and judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia.

“I feel as though we set the bar higher every season,” Ms. Klum said. “We’ve got some truly talented, innovative and deeply creative designers this year, and I think it’s fair to say, the most diverse.”

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From increasing demand for editorial credits and ads disguised as editorial content to even calls for a presence on the cover, advertisers are ratcheting up their pressure on magazines for treatments that blur church-state lines, according to editors, publishers and media buyers.

One of the most obvious indicators of the growing closeness between edit and sales is the growing role of editorial credits. Hall’s Reports, one of the top services keeping tabs of edit credits, counts several hundred thousand credits in the 26 fashion/beauty books it measures.
In 2007, the number of edit credits in those books jumped 33 percent versus ’06; it’s on track to increase by another 36 percent this year, said Hall’s president/CEO Alan Seraita.

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