http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/television/ en-us Fri, 1 Jan 2010 05:11:24 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418815/posts Negotiations between Fox and Time Warner Cable continued beyond a midnight deadline. The two television giants were negotiating over fees in Los Angeles. They had agreed to a three-hour extension beyond the deadline, Fox-owned WOFL-Channel 35 announced shortly before midnight.Time Warner represents programming partner Bright House Networks, which serves 850,000 subscribers in Central Florida.The three-hour extension means the Fox signal will stay on Bright House at least until 3 a.m. With no deal, Fox could go dark on Bright House as the new year begins. Fox later today will present the Sugar Bowl between Cincinnati and the University of Florida.... Orlando Sentinel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418815/posts#comment Fri, 1 Jan 2010 05:11:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417076/posts Joy Behar expressed confusion about the success of Sarah Palin's book because, according to the CNN Headline News/ABC talk show host, a lot of the former governor's "base doesn't even read." Behar slammed Palin, as well as Glenn Beck, Carrie Prejean and other conservatives during her "look back at 2009" edition of the "Joy Behar Show" that re-aired over Christmas weekend. An "esteemed" panel consisting of comedians Sandra Bernhard, Mo Rocca and Dave Attell joined Behar in mocking this year's prominent voices on the right. Newsbusters.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417076/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:35:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417083/posts Television   Spooked by IslamistsNICK COHEN January/February 2010  Matt Damon as Jason Bourne: Killing machine who became a target A year after the 9/11 atrocities, I made a documentary for Channel 4 which involved trying to discover what had happened to terrorist suspects the prison service was holding without charge. The director filmed me putting questions to a low-level functionary at the Home Office press office. We hoped he would stonewall and thus unwittingly illustrate a sequence about Whitehall secrecy. Fortunately for us, he obfuscated like a true PR. Channel 4 wanted a witty line in the commentary to emphasise how hard it was... StandpointMag http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417083/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:42:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416309/posts The nation's top 100 media companies eked out 0.8% revenue growth in 2008, but reported revenue for top media firms in the first half of 2009 fell 4.3% from a year ago, according to Ad Age's analysis. For the nation's 100 Leading Media Companies, revenue growth in 2008 was the lowest since 1991, and 2009 is set to show the first decline since Ad Age began ranking media firms in 1981. Remarkably, 11 of 2008's Media 100 firms filed for bankruptcy over the past year, crushed in most cases by shrinking revenue and debt loads taken on during the blind... Advertising Age http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416309/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:17:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2416300/posts NCIS: Nutty Christian Insult Series? I borrowed the title of this from We The People . org and the article linked above. Why? In a recent episodes of NCIS called Faith and it's spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles called Brimstone , political correctness comes full circle...almost. In both episodes the shows portray Christians acting suspiciously like Muslim extremists...read more... Examiner.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2416300/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:07:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413630/posts Does Keith Olbermann have some special appeal to bad mothers? The question arises in light of a TV ad for something called FloTV that aired this morning. A mother is giving dinner to her kids when she glances at the clock, notices it's shortly before 6 PM, and proceeds to dump the kids plates and toys, pour a bag of flour on the table and . . . throw a glass of milk in her son's face [see still shot after jump]. Cut to shocked coming-home-from-work hubby at the door. Mom informs him "I just need an hour." Cut to... NewsBusters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413630/posts#comment Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:58:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412330/posts The advertising hits just keep on coming for TV stations, networks and programmers -- and not in a good way. Overall, broadcast television ad revenues were down 22.6% to $8.8 billion in the third quarter, versus the same time period a year ago, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising. Local TV stations slipped 28.1% to $3.1 billion, with network TV off 21.5% to $4.7 billion. The best news came with syndicated TV, which dropped a modest 7.2% to $1.0 billion. The period was particularly rough compared to the broader nine-month period in 2009 to date, per TVB. Over this... Media Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412330/posts#comment Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:39:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410573/posts A U.K. man has been jailed for three years for killing his wife by throwing a television remote control at her head... Paul Harvey, 46, killed Gloria Laguna by a fluke chance after the remote struck her on a weak artery near her neck. The couple had been arguing when Harvey lost his temper at his wife, a former American diplomat in India. An argument started about maintenance which Harvey was paying to a stepdaughter from a previous marriage. Sky News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410573/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:27:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410271/posts Battle Royale: When Movie Robots Fight TV Robots BY Sam Ashurst Jun 1st 2009 11:11AM To celebrate Terminator Salvation rolling into cinemas, we've decided to bring together the baddest and saddest 'bots in movie and telly history for a big metal scrap. These bad-ass bags of bolts can't wait to brawl - so we're going to step out of the way and toss the terrible twosomes into the ring, and see which metallic maniac makes it out operational. TotalFilm.Com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2410271/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:24:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409446/posts CNN will finish 2009 behind MSNBC in prime-time ratings, the first time CNN has ever trailed a competitor other than the Fox News Channel over a full calendar year. That finish had been expected. In recent months, CNN, which continues to stand behind its policy of steering clear of the opinion-based shows that draw large prime-time audiences for its competitors, has also trailed its own sister network, HLN (formerly Headline News). CNN has frequently finished fourth in the news channel category. CNN will finish the fourth quarter of 2009 in fourth place — another first — and with two weeks... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409446/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:10:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408311/posts General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt said Tuesday that NBC Universal will lose an estimated $200 million on the February Olympics. GE is "counting on a tough economy around the Olympics," Immelt said. "It's just a tough time for an event like that," he said, referring to the Olympics as a "no-margin" business. NBCU would post an operating profit increase in 2010, Immelt said, but the Winter Olympics will instead bring a decrease. Speaking on other matters at an annual investor conference, Immelt declined to predict when the government may approve the proposed NBCU joint venture with Comcast. But he expressed... Media Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408311/posts#comment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:55:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2406689/posts Despite the biased media's attempt to paint a negative picture of Sarah Palin, her recent public appearances, including Oprah's, have served to convince Americans that she really is a pretty down-to-earth, very intelligent lady. She is, despite the constant attacks, becoming more and more popular with the American public. Her popularity, however, doesn't revolve solely around her political views. People are beginning to see that she is "real". She is not the "air-head" that the media has tried to portray. Left-wing idealogues will never embrace her, even if it benefits them, - even so-called "feminists" who turned their backs even... The Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2406689/posts#comment Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:55:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402980/posts CBS is canceling the soap opera "As the World Turns" after more than a half-century on the air. CBS says the final episode will air next September, in its 54th year. Daytime dramas have been in a long-term ratings decline, and CBS ended the daytime soap "Guiding Light" earlier this year. [Snip] The cancellation will leave CBS with only two daytime dramas: "The Young and the Restless" and "Bold and Beautiful." ABC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402980/posts#comment Tue, 8 Dec 2009 18:01:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402816/posts Falling home video revenue is decreasing jobs, film prod'n A regional economic group estimates that dollar DVD rentals from Redbox and others has cost the entertainment industry $1 billion and that the "ripple effect" will cost hundreds of millions more. The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. study said the nationwide declines in home video revenue will cause an additional $500 million in losses as more than 9,000 related job cuts wipe out almost $400 million in wages, primarily in Southern California. The dramatic assessment comes amid growing popularity among recession-wracked consumers of ultracheap disc rentals offered by Redbox and... The Hollywood Reporter http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402816/posts#comment Tue, 8 Dec 2009 14:32:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401958/posts From Studio 6B at 30 Rockefeller Center, NBC brought Milton Berle, Jack Parr and Johnny Carson into the nation’s living rooms, then broadcast local news to New York City for decades. Last Thursday, it was a stage for a cable takeover as Comcast announced a plan to acquire NBC Universal. There, in Studio 6B, a town hall meeting for NBC employees opened with Jeff Zucker, the NBC Universal chief executive, introducing “our new friends from Philadelphia,” and closed with a formal welcome to the Comcast family by Ralph Roberts, the cable operator’s 89-year-old patriarch. Mr. Roberts received a standing ovation.... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401958/posts#comment Mon, 7 Dec 2009 13:27:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400015/posts As she prepared her daughter for college, Anne Sweeney insisted that a television be among the dorm room accessories. “Mom, you don’t understand. I don’t need it,” her 19-year-old responded, saying she could watch whatever she wanted on her computer, at no charge. That flustered Ms. Sweeney, who happens to be the president of the Disney-ABC Television Group. “You’re going to have a television if I have to nail it to your wall,” she told her daughter, according to comments she made at a Reuters event this week. “You have to have one.” But she does not, actually. For 60... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2400015/posts#comment Fri, 4 Dec 2009 09:26:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398460/posts Here's what I expect for 2010. 1. Control over distribution will shift to consumers. Expect an increasing amount of control over how, when, and where you consume content. A decade after TiVo debuted its commercial-skipping abilities, more and more technological innovations are shifting control from the hands of companies over to consumers. You can watch, listen to or read pretty much anything you want, whenever you want, thanks to Hulu, iTunes, satellite radio, Video on demand and thousands of free web sites. The variety and flexibility of access is only going to become more diverse. In 2010, premium cable content... CNBC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398460/posts#comment Wed, 2 Dec 2009 15:45:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397762/posts *Well, it's all over for "Oprah." Oprah Winfrey's production company says she'll announce Friday that her show will end in 2011. If you recall, earlier this month, we reported that there was speculation that she would end her daily syndicated show on broadcast TV and move to her cable network called OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). Then on Nov. 9 her camp released a statement saying that she would make an announcement by the end of the year: Eurweb http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397762/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 18:36:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394887/posts General Electric Co. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt was here Wednesday working to accelerate negotiations to acquire Vivendi SA's minority stake in NBC Universal, according to people familiar with the matter. GE, which owns 80% of NBC Universal, is progressing in talks with the Paris-based media and telecommunications conglomerate, the people said, though it remains unclear whether Vivendi will sell its 20% stake. In recent weeks, GE has ironed out a deal to give U.S. cable company Comcast Corp. control over NBC Universal. The deal hinges on Vivendi's selling its stake to GE. View Full Image VIVENDI Bloomberg News Jeffrey... The Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394887/posts#comment Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:56:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393431/posts - Debbie Schlussel - http://www.debbieschlussel.com - Buh-Bye, Oprah & DLtDHYotWO*Posted By Debbie On November 20, 2009 @ 4:07 pm In Blog Posts, Columns, Movies & Entertainment / Celebrities | 46 Comments By Debbie SchlusselYesterday, word leaked that Oprah Winfrey was to announce, today, that her daytime TV talk show would end in September 2011.(Oprah artwork by Six Meat Buffet/Preston Taylor Holmes)Many readers have asked me about this, since I own the domain name/URL OprahSucks.com, and since I regularly monitor and lambaste the propaganda spews forth on her show and in her magazine with my regular “HOprah Watch” updates.  My criticism... DebbieSchlussel.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393431/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:10:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392777/posts Remember how big the November sweeps used to be? For viewers, the memory is becoming more distant. On the last Thursday of the still-big November TV period, virtually every network show took it on the chin. Similar ratings trends also took place earlier in the week. Big shows -- such as ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," CBS' "CSI," NBC's "The Office" and Fox' "Fringe" -- all sank lower versus their respective results of a week before. Some of this could be due to a NFL Network Thursday night game between the Miami Dolphins-Carolina Panthers. That network's Thursday games have been pulling in... Media Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392777/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:08:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2392457/posts Adam Lambert aimed for the kind of controversy Britney Spears and Madonna are known for generating, completely stunning the audience at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre and the millions watching the American Music Awards live on ABC. Glambert definitely delivered on his promise of a “sexy” performance as he closed the live show with simulated oral sex from a male backup dancer, a brief make-out session with his male keyboardist and a giant mirrored prop so the audience could see the looks on their own shocked faces. Rolling Stone has learned that producers weren’t informed about the guy-on-guy kiss in advance,... Rolling Stone http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2392457/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:10:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2392421/posts MOBILE, Ala. -- Action movie star Steven Seagal is best known in these parts for having played the cook who thwarted a terrorist plot in the 1992 thriller "Under Siege," which was filmed here aboard the battleship USS Alabama. But these days he has another assignment. For almost 20 years, Seagal has been working as a fully commissioned reserve deputy with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana. His law enforcement work is chronicled in a "Steven Seagal Lawman," an upcoming A&E reality TV show that will premiere on the cable channel at 9 p.m. CST Dec. 2. A&E is... The Mobile Press-Register http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2392421/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:54:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2391417/posts Oprah Winfrey is fleeing broadcast TV for cable. NBC, once arguably the biggest cultural tastemaker in the United States, is being shopped to Comcast, the country’s largest cable company. Have we reached a tipping point that suggests a remarkable decline in the fortunes of broadcast television in America? snip Analysts and executives agree that the economic model of broadcast — which relies more heavily on advertising than cable — is fractured. What they are wondering now is if it is irreparably broken. snip The business model of the big three networks — which became four when Fox began prime-time programming... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2391417/posts#comment Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:02:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2390651/posts I can't believe the Cartwrights sang sooo badly in this!! NBC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2390651/posts#comment Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:45:08 GMT