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Choosing & Installing an Antenna for HDTV TV antennas may seem like relics from the last century, but a growing number of viewers are finding them to be indispensable in getting the best picture from their HDTVs. In this article, we'll discuss the advantages of over-the-air (OTA) reception and explain how to find digital TV signals in your local TV market and in nearby cities. We'll introduce the different types of TV antennas and tell you which ones perform best under various reception conditions. And we'll offer tips on how to install larger attic- and roof-mount antennas. To learn about...

Viacom, Inc. will weather the economic downturn by focusing on “organic growth” instead of any “significant acquisitions,” according to president and CEO Philippe Dauman. Speaking at the annual UBS Media and Communications Conference in New York, Dauman downplayed the company’s announcement least week that it would cut 850 jobs, or 7% of its workforce, and instead focused on the company’s positioning as a content provider with multiple revenue sources across each of its television, movie and digital divisions. Dauman was bullish on Nickelodeon, VH1, MTV and BET, which recently underwent a shift in programming leadership. He conceded that MTV has...

NBC's sweeping shake-up of its entertainment division last week highlights the deep problems it and other networks face in continuing to produce high-quality shows as advertisers slash spending and viewers find alternate ways to watch TV. The General Electric Co.-owned network, which has seen its ratings plunge 14% this season, plans to announce this week that it will merge its two programming groups -- one at the NBC network and the other at its television production studio -- into one unit. The restructuring, which could save the company millions of dollars a year in overhead, comes as the TV industry...

Call it the big shrink. Citing the effects of a recession that's prompting marketers to trim budgets and the number of media outlets they work with, media companies are shedding jobs at a furious rate. But the deep cuts they're making are as much about these conglomerates shedding their old media models as they are about the economy. Viacom and NBC Universal swung the ax last week, eliminating 850 and 500 jobs, or 7% and 3% of their work forces, respectively. Add that to 600 job cuts at Time Inc., 1,500 at Yahoo, 1,800 at Gannett, hundreds at CBS's radio...

Amid an ongoing debt crisis at controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone's movie theater company, Viacom Inc. plans to slash about 850 jobs -- 7 percent of its work force -- and freeze some senior-level salaries. Viacom, which owns MTV Networks, BET Networks and Paramount Pictures, said the cuts are a response to the global economic downturn. The company said, without specifying, that it also plans to write down the value of some programming and other assets. But it maintained it has a "strong balance sheet and substantial cash flow." The job cuts, write-offs and suspension of some raises in 2009 are...

UPDATE: I hear the layoff announcements could come as soon as Thursday... Another hour, another source telling me about layoffs and cutbacks. I've already told you about Viacom's and CBS Inc's. And at Disney/ABC, don't dare include alcohol in your expense account meal. Now hundreds of layoffs are planned at NBC Universal. In the meantime, NBC has issued new draconian network and studio budget parameters, a second wave of cost-cutting following up on Jeff Zucker's promise a month ago to tighten belts across the board. Staff inside the company are outraged at these new measures, after already being told two...

This can't be good: I am told that CNN has eliminated its science unit, affecting seven staffers. It's not good for many reasons but the network's science unit is one of the best in television and probably has a few dozen Emmys to prove it. Here's a statement from CNN: " We want to integrate environmental, science and technology reporting into the general editorial structure rather than have a stand alone unit. Now that the bulk of our environmental coverage is being offered through the 'Planet in Peril' franchise which is produced by the 'AC360' program, there is no need...

They're just around the corner, with 100 personnel at Paramount and 300 staffers at MTV to be fired. (See my previous, MTV Networks Hiding News Of Layoffs)

SAG Strike Could Spell Disaster for TV (Cable Networks DeathWatch™) Nov 25, 2008 -By Nellie Andreeva, THR.com LOS ANGELES Already engaged in deep soul searching following a dismal fall TV season and flatlining ad market, broadcast networks are facing another blow: a potential Screen Actors Guild strike early next year. SAG's decision during the weekend to seek a strike authorization from its membership following the breakdown of its negotiations with the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers has shifted the once-remote possibility of a SAG walkout much closer to reality. While its effect would not be as far-reaching as...

Someone really has it in for Sumner Redstone, the 85-year-old media tycoon who is restructuring his debt-plagued empire. An extraordinary piece appears on TheFirstPost.co.uk and is picked up elsewhere. “His demons have come home to roost. He lives alone in his mansion, famously miserly, shaving naked in the hot tub and obsessively feeding his tropical fish, his only constant companions since the collapse this year of his five-year marriage . . .” All very Citizen Kane. And yet . Redstone is not universally loved, and is, indeed, known for his interest in tropical fish and credited with starting a fashion...

In an effort to stave off the dismantling of his media empire, Sumner M. Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Viacom and CBS, recently proposed to sell his family’s 1,500-screen theater chain in an effort to restructure his large debt load. The proposal was made in a plan submitted to his bankers, according to two people briefed on the negotiations who spoke on condition they not be identified. But the proposed sale may not be enough to placate bankers, not least because no one can seem to agree on what the movie theaters are worth. Here is what just about everyone,...

It's D-Day for the broadcast networks. They've been living on borrowed time for the better part of two decades, thanks to advertisers willing to toss in more cash each year even as ratings slowly trended ever lower. But with the economy in a tailspin -- and the Big Three auto manufacturers, some of TV's best advertisers, near ruin -- the biz may finally have to pull the emergency cord. "This day was going to come," says one conglom bigwig. "I don't think the business can be sustained without real change at this juncture. ... We have a gun to all...

It looks like the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is heading for a strike. Talks have broken down, attempts at mediation are being rejected, and the mogul's group, the AMPTP has been crowing about how their last offer was their last, best offer, and that nothing will get SAG a better deal. SAG doesn't think it has much choice, even if they wanted to accept the AMPTP's last offer, they just have to look at the Writers Guild of America and how the AMPTP has failed to live up to the contract that ended the Writer's Strike. Now this can end...

MATTHEW BOWERS, of Chicago, has been paying to have HBO piped into his home every month for nearly two decades. He tunes in for the occasional episode of “Entourage” and every couple of months orders a movie on demand. Recently, the whole family watched “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” But when his company laid him off in September, he started to think about the value he was getting out of the premium cable channel. “It’s ridiculous to pay for this service I rarely use when I can get the same stuff online and save a lot of...

The Screen Actors Guild said Saturday it will ask its members to authorize a strike after its first contract talks in four months with Hollywood studios failed despite the help of a federal mediator. snip

Conventional wisdom holds that Hollywood’s fortunes go up when the economy goes down. People still crave entertainment, particularly of the escapist variety, and movies remain within the budgets of most people. That may prove true this time around, too — ticket sales have been particularly robust in recent weeks — but studio prosperity stopped depending on box-office results a long time ago. DVDs propel profits these days, and there is a creeping dread in the movie capital that buyer interest is plummeting as the global economic crisis worsens. “Every studio is claiming, ‘We’re O.K. so far, but we’ve looked at...

By all accounts, except maybe his own, General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt has been a failure. I mean, the stock is down at 16, down from 40 just two years ago. But things might be looking up for the I-man, thanks to Uncle Sam. As first reported in The Wall Street Journal, as as noted here at TCG two weeks ago--and now all over--GE is now lining up to receive the benefit of a $139 billion federal loan guarantee for its subsidiary, GE Capital--which is to say, GE is getting a subsidy. And of course, if GE gets a subsidy,...

If the people running it think this is a good idea, then no wonder GE Capital is in such a mess that it has to tap into the $700 billion government bailout of financials: NEW YORK (20 November 2008) -- The Peacock Equity Fund, the joint venture between GE Capital’s Media, Communications & Entertainment finance business and NBC Universal, today announced that Ben Silverman has joined the fund’s Board of Directors. Silverman, the Co-Chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio, brings his experience in media, production, and advertising to help identify media investment opportunities for the $250 million...

Paul Rodriguez :: November 17th, 2008 For some time, I’ve been noting on my Twitter account the rising tide of people who have decided to cut the cord that ties them to servicing their television needs through cable, satellite or other wired means, instead turning to the Internet to be informed and entertained. The topic is blowing up now, with Washington Post tech columnist Mike Musgrove now examining the issue in his column this past weekend (”TV Breaks Out of the Box“). And I don’t even really need to respond, because Adam Thierer has given it the one-two punch at...

Online video chips away at TV (Cable Networks DeathWatch™) IBM: New media may be affecting 'couch-potato behavior' Nov 17, 2008, 03:01 AM ET More evidence that online video is cannibalizing television consumption is due Monday, courtesy of an IBM study. Plus, online viewers don't mind the commercials too much. After polling 2,800 people in six countries, IBM says 76% have viewed video online and 45% do so regularly. Of those who have watched online video, 15% say that as a result they watch "slightly less" TV, while 36% said they watch "significantly less" TV. "Place-shifting alternatives may be changing consumer...