Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: HBO, Kim Cattrall, Mitchell Burgess, New York City, Real Housewives of New York City, Robin Green, Sex and the City, Time Warner
A trio of Bravo reality shows — “Top Chef: Chicago,” “The Real Housewives of New York City: The Lost Footage” and “Work Out” — have gotten off to a hot summertime start. Culinary cook-off “Top Chef,” for instance, is averaging 2.69 million viewers, a 20% increase over the same time last year. (Multichannel News 5/30)
Top Chef Chicago
HBO has picked up the US adaptation of the BBC Two comedy series Sensitive Skin, with Kim Cattrall in the lead role, reports THR. The series is written and exec produced by Mitchell Burgess and Robin Green. Cattrall will also take an exec producer role. The story revolves around a middle-aged NY wife and mother, who begins to question her choices in life as well as her sexuality. (Cynopsis 6/2)
Time Warner Cable is heading into one of the biggest crossroads of its corporate future. In this Q-and-A interview, CEO Glenn Britt talks about why the split with Time Warner makes sense, the company’s leap of faith with Clearwire and his skepticism about video for portable devices. (
The Wall Street Journal 6/2, The Wall Street Journal 6/2)
Most interesting in this clip is Britt’s thoughts on programming partners putting free content on the web day-and-date with linear television content. Suffice to say, he doesn’t like it.
Analyst views of Time Warner’s growth prospects once the media giant separates from its cable operating business are too low, says CEO Jeff Bewkes. Some analysts have estimated growth in the mid-single digit percentages. “We’re going to do considerably higher than that.” (Iwantmedia 6/2, http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSWEN599120080530 5/30)
Time Warner and General Electric are said to be starting “preliminary efforts to explore a commingling of their entertainment assets,” including GE’s NBC Universal. However, CEO Jeff Bewkes says: “We don’t need to own anything [else],” in a clear reference to NBCU. (Iwantmedia 6/2, http://www.newsweek.com/id/139425 6/1, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ie29ff31c80c6e3df1cd7337014291256 6/1)
Ad-supported cable nets accounted for 60% of all TV viewers in May, with TNT, USA, Disney and ESPN leading the way, according to an analysis of Nielsen data by the Disney-ABC Television Group. The analysis contained more bad news for broadcast networks: They were down 11%, to a household share of 40%. (Multichannel News 6/2)
At the end of 2007, DISH Network had 1.3 million HDTV subscribers. The company does not typically release subscriber counts, but the figure surfaced in documents filed with the New York state Supreme Court in a Voom lawsuit. (OneTRAK 6/1)
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Bear Stearns, Financial services, General Electric, NBC Universal, Real Housewives of New York City, United States, us
The season premiere Tuesday of “Deadliest Catch,” Discovery’s salty series about professional fish haulers, was the network’s best ever. Back-to-back episodes at 9 and 10 p.m. pulled in 3.39 million and 3.53 million viewers, respectively, according to the company. (Multichannel News 4/16)
On Bravo Tuesday night, the network aired the first season finale of The Real Housewives of New York City (10p) which attracted 1.06 million A18-49 and 1.43 million total viewers. The network just announced the series was picked up for a second season. Also this night, the third season debut of Work Out (11p) tallied 593,000 A18-49 and 764,000 total viewers. (Cynopsis 4/17)
With General Electric’s stock plunging to its lowest level in four years, once-isolated calls for at least a partial breakup of the conglomerate have become a chorus, with NBC Universal emerging as a prime candidate for a sale or spinoff. A breakup of GE “is looking more viable.” (Iwantmedia 4/17, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/business/17electric.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 4/17)
HBO was the big winner Wednesday at the National Association for Ethnicity in Communications’ Vision Awards event, bringing home two prizes for its “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” movie and a third for the “D.L. Hughley: Unapologetic” special. CNN and Disney each won two Vision awards at the Beverly Hills ceremony. (Multichannel News 4/16)
HBO’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Marissa Jaret Winokur has been signed by Sony TV for a daytime TV syndication deal, possibly for Fall 2009, per Variety. Also coming for fall 2009 – daytime talker with Marie Osmond from Program Partners. (Cynopsis 4/17)
ABC Studios made a two-year pact with author Jennifer Weiner to create and executive produce series projects for the studio. Jennifer’s novel In Her Shoes was developed into a 2005 feature film starring Cameron Diaz. She currently has a novel Little Earthquakes in development at Universal and a short story The Guy Not Taken in development at DreamWorks. (Cynopsis 4/17)
Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network are now available in high definition. The company said its research showed that nearly half of women 18 to 54 would add one or both of the channels to their HD package if it were available. (Broadcasting & Cable 4/16)
Midwestern cable provider Insight added 45,700 basic customers in 2007 along with 143,400 broadband subscribers and 134,500 phone customers, the last of which was a big achievement considering that Insight added just 33,500 phone customers in 2006. Overall, the company’s 2007 revenue rose 14%, to $1.4 billion, and operating income was up 17%, to $572 million. (CED Magazine 4/16)
Dish has announced that it has added three HD markets: Baltimore; Columbia, S.C.; and Green Bay, Wis. The company now offers HD in 46 markets, it said. (OneTRAK 4/16)
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