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September is back-to-school time for VH1, as well. An education-centered special, Get Schooled, is set to debut on VH1 and its sister stations on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 8/7c. Check the details below: Want to know what it’s like to work with Kelly Clarkson, LeBron James and President Obama — and what it takes to get there? Then tune in to Get Schooled: You Have The Right on Tuesday, September 8 at 8PM EST. Airing on VH1 and its sister channels (BET, CMT, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV and Spike), this 30-minute special shows how applying oneself during school will greatly...

If you’ve been waiting since the ‘80’s to see an overstuffed talking chair catapult a suit clad man-child into a fantastic like sketch, you’re day has finally come. The Pee-wee Herman Show  is back and this time, Paul Reubens promises to keep it in his gray polyesters. Reubens said, “It’s time…. I've put part of him away for a long time, but part of him has always been here with me. I think it will be like riding a bike - which is not a bad analogy for Pee-wee, by the way." That’s right; the long-awaited return of Pee-wee Herman...

Viacom's second-quarter profit tumbled 32 percent as revenue fell amid a weak advertising market, slower video game sales and fewer movie releases. The media conglomerate controlled by billionaire Sumner Redstone earned $277 million, or 46 cents per share, compared with $407 million, or 65 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Excluding 3 cents per share in severance charges, adjusted earnings were 49 cents in the latest quarter. Revenue slipped 14 percent to $3.3 billion. Analysts projected income of 48 cents per share on sales of $3.5 billion. New York-based Viacom Inc. owns a wide range of media...

MTV Networks is axing around 75 staff Tuesday, executives at the company confirmed. The cuts mainly affect mid-level executives in the program development department, digital division and scheduling at the company's music and logo group which houses channels including MTV, VH1 and Logo. A spokeswoman confirmed the news saying the cuts were a result of the recession. "We have been taking a look at our business and how to position ourselves for future growth. It's pretty much the economy," she said, adding that the cuts accounted for less than 1% of MTV Networks' workforce. The executive couldnt discuss how many...

'New York Times' Spiked Obama Donor Story Congressional Testimony: ‘Game-Changer’ Article Would Have Connected Campaign With ACORN. By Michael P. Tremoglie, The Bulletin Monday, March 30, 2009 A lawyer involved with legal action against Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) told a House Judiciary subcommittee on March 19 The New York Times had killed a story in October that would have shown a close link between ACORN, Project Vote and the Obama campaign because it would have been a "a game changer." Heather Heidelbaugh, who represented the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee in the lawsuit against the group, recounted...

Before he left CNBC's Jim Cramer in the dirt, Jon Stewart had pretty much knocked CNN's "Crossfire" off the air and drawn blood from Chris Matthews and Bill Kristol, among others. But he also played a role in helping to elect Barack Obama. Mainly it was through his show's withering and wicked mockery of President Bush and Vice President Cheney for several years, and much of the same directed at John McCain and Sarah Palin (Stewart suggested that she might be "tagged and released into the wilderness"). Here are just a few of Stewart's highlights for the final year of...

NEW YORK – Jon Stewart hammered Jim Cramer and his network, CNBC, in their anticipated face-off on "The Daily Show," repeatedly chastising the "Mad Money" host for putting entertainment above journalism. "I understand that you want to make finance entertaining, but it's not a ... game," Stewart told Cramer, adding in an expletive during the show's Thursday taping. The episode was scheduled to air at 11 p.m. EDT on Comedy Central. It was perhaps the hardest lashing Stewart has given to a TV commentator since 2004 when he called Tucker Carlson and his then co-host Paul Begala "partisan hacks" on...

<p>The Iron Chef and her wife both have buns in their ovens.</p> <p>Cat Cora, star of Food Network's "Iron Chef America," announced Tuesday that she was 4-1/2 months pregnant with a boy.</p> <p>But this is where it gets interesting.</p> <p>Cora's partner Jennifer, with whom she already has two sons, is also pregnant, and due in April, three months before Cora.</p>

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- There's nothing new about fee disputes between TV networks and cable and satellite operators, but now they've got an added wrinkle: Cable operators contending that TV networks should forfeit big fee increases when they put shows online free on their own sites and third-party distributors such as Hulu, Joost and Veoh. That's one of the central arguments being made by Time Warner Cable executives in their dispute with Viacom, which threatens to remove a group of 18 networks that includes MTV, Comedy Central, Noggin and Nickelodeon from Time Warner's 13.5 million subscribers in big markets such...

LOS ANGELES – "SpongeBob SquarePants" might get squeezed off Time Warner Cable. Media giant Viacom Inc. said its Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and 16 other channels will go dark for 13 million subscribers at 12:01 a.m. Thursday if a new carriage fee deal with Time Warner Cable Inc. is not agreed upon by then. The impasse would mean "SpongeBob" and other popular shows like Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" and Stephen Colbert's "The Colbert Report" will be cut off on the nation's second-largest cable operator.

Viacom may pull MTV off Time Warner Cable Shows go if new carriage deal not signed by midnight.LOS ANGELES — Media giant Viacom Inc. is threatening to pull MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon and 16 other channels from Time Warner Cable Inc. if a new carriage fee deal is not agreed upon by midnight today, Dec. 31. If realized, the move could shut off popular shows like "The Colbert Report" and "SpongeBob SquarePants" to 13 million subscribers, said spokesman Alex Dudley, a vice president at Time Warner Cable, the nation's second-largest cable operator. "The issue is that they have asked...

Viacom threatens to pull MTV off Time Warner CableAssociated Press - December 30, 2008 10:33 PM ET LOS ANGELES (AP) - Viacom is threatening to pull MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon and 16 other channels from Time Warner Cable if a new carriage fee deal is not agreed upon by midnight Wednesday. A Time Warner spokesman says Viacom is seeking "an exorbitant increase in their carriage fees." Viacom has asked for fee increases of between 22 and 36% per channel, adding up to tens of millions of dollars per year, an amount that Time Warner says would cause an increase...

My son was playing on Nick Jr.'s Free Draw making a Christmas tree and when he went to write 'merry Christmas' The program would not allow him to type the word Christmas on his drawing. The error message was "Word Blocked" (also blocked where the words and phrases: Savior, Pope, Blessed virgin Mary, St. Nick, Hark the herald angels sing, Silent night, Away in the manger, no crib for his head, and even 'Obama is the AntiChrist', but I think it was because of the word Christ, not Obama, because I was able to write his name alone.) I was...

On Wednesday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith interviewed actor James Franco, who stars opposite Sean Penn in a new movie about gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk: "Actor James Franco is here to talk about his role in the much-talked-about new movie, 'Milk.' He is amazing in it." At the end of the show, Smith thanked Franco for being a guest and offer this review of the movie: "James Franco in 'Milk,' amazing performance. Sean Penn, off the charts. It's a must-see for everybody." On November 30, CBS’s Sunday Morning offered a similar glowing description of the film, describing...

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)

NEW YORK (AP) -- MTV is throwing an inaugural ball for President-elect Barack Obama. The network announced Tuesday that it will host the "Be the Change Inaugural Ball" at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington on Jan. 20.

With the large amount of time people--especially young people--spend watching television, if you want to reach the culture, that's where to go. So it is that Virtue Media is headed into one of the central arenas where young people are found to bring the message of life: MTV. In small markets where they've run ads before, they've seen significant reductions in abortion rates. A large ad campaign at MTV is sure to get young people exposed to information they'll likely never hear about from the "mainstream" media. And maybe some lives will be saved because of it. I was pro-abortion...

A Hulu for Cable Networks? Not Any Time Soon How Free Online Video Threatens Pay-TV Model By Andrew Hampp BOSTON (AdAge.com) -- Now that Hulu is an out-of-the-box success story for broadcast TV, when will cable get its one-stop online video site? If two panels at the Cable Telecommunications Association of Marketing Summit in Boston on Tuesday are any indication, not any time soon. he prospect of major cable groups such as Viacom, Discovery and NBC Universal following the likes of NBC, Fox, ABC and CBS to streaming full-length episodes of current shows online has always seemed like a long...

Satirical news program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart aired a segment Monday night poking fun at supporters at political rallies, including the Oct. 14 rally in Scranton for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Correspondent John Oliver is seen interviewing several Republican supporters from the Scranton rally, who express the false belief that Mr. Obama is a Muslim. The segment also features a rally elsewhere for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee. One unidentified woman wearing a "Scranton (loves) Sarah" shirt is shown saying about Mr. Obama: "I think he's going to put a turban on, and he's going...

We just got word that the studio is in full lock down mode. After all, Jon barely escaped his previous interview with this tax-and-spend terrorist of the center-left alive. http://blog.indecision2008.com/2008/10/28/barack-obama-to-appear-on-the-daily-show-wednesday/

MTV Networks/Viacom today joined the growing number of business leaders signing onto the Equality Business Advisory Council to show their opposition to Proposition 8. Prop 8 would eliminate the fundamental right of same-sex couples to marry in California by amending the state's Constitution. "On November 4th, Californians have the unique opportunity to go to the polls and stand up for what makes this a great country and a free society -- inclusivity, freedom and respect for all. Proposition 8 is antithetical to those principles and a vote for ignorance, hatred and inequality," said Judy McGrath, Chairman and CEO, MTV Networks....

After his own personal mini-meltdown caused him to sell some of his shareholdings in CBS and Viacom, Sumner Redstone said this week that the situation is under control and that he won't be selling any more. Meanwhile, media wags are still handicapping whether one or both of the companies he controls might end up in play. But whatever happens next, Redstone's travails are a clear reminder of how a media mogul's controlling stake in his companies can become bad for business, and for stockholders, particularly when there are two classes of shares involved. [Snip] Just in the past five months,...

Sumner Redstone has filed for divorce from his wife of five years, Paula Fortunato, citing irreconcilable differences. The court papers were submitted Friday, Oct. 17, in Los Angeles Superior Court. The two were married in April 2003. The couple's prenuptial agreement stipulates that the 46-year-old Fortunato will receive at least $5 million, or $1 million for each year that she has been wed to the media mogul, according to people who are familiar with terms of the couple's agreement. Redstone, 85, has been telling friends for weeks that his marriage to Fortunato, 46, was ending. But despite the divorce filing...

I was digging around Nickelodeon's website with my son and stumbled on the kids vote section. I was curious if anyone else noticed the letter "O" in the word vote on this page. Is this curiously close to Obama's "O" or is it just me? Just curious if anyone else thinks Nick might be attempting to brainwash our little ones. P.S. This is the first time I have authored a post so forgive me if I did something wrong.

SUMNER TAKES A FALL By PETER LAURIA October 11, 2008 -- Sumner Redstone had his own Black Friday yesterday. All three of the companies Redstone controls - National Amusements Inc., CBS, and Viacom - took hits as a result of the credit crunch. The most ominous move - and one that raised concerns that Redstone might be experiencing liquidity issues - came from movie theater operator National Amusements, which is being forced to sell $400 million of stock in Viacom and CBS to meet debt-covenant agreements. The sale will reduce Redstone's combined stakes in Viacom and CBS by 20 percent...

Russell Brand seemed a little out of place as the host at the MTV Video Music Awards. Not because he's British or relatively unknown in America, as most of the chatter was about before Sunday night's show from Los Angeles. It was because Brand injected the VMAs with blunt politics, self deprecation, unabashed sexuality, and, yes, plenty of off-color remarks. Didn't he know where he was? The VMAs? In La-La Land? No, this was no place to voice anything like an opinion on world affairs or joke about young Christian pop stars. This is a place to look cool and...

UK stand-up comedian Russell Brand hosted the 2008 MTV VMA's. He attacked the Palin family and George W. Bush, while pleading to audience members to vote Obama.

Reader M.G. writes that the MTV Awards show was the latest venue for vicious Palin family-bashing: “I know a few people at Viacom and I tuned in to see the MTV music awards tonight. I was disgusted and appalled when the British host Russell Brand started begging America to vote for Barack Obama. Like his opinion matters. He’s not even a citizen. What’s worse is that he attacked Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter. He made a snide joke that her baby was not a boy or a girl, but a P.R. stunt.” MTV, of course, is a division of left-wing media...

A U.S. judge's order to Google Inc to turn over YouTube user data to Viacom Inc sparked an outcry on Thursday from privacy advocates in the midst of a legal showdown over video piracy. Viacom, owner of movie studio Paramount and MTV Networks, requested the information as part of its $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against the popular online video service and its deep-pocketed parent, Google. Judge Louis Stanton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered Google on Tuesday to turn over as evidence a database with usernames of YouTube viewers, what videos they...

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in New York has ordered Google to turn over to Viacom a database linking users of YouTube, the Web’s largest video site by far, with every clip they have watched there. The order raised concerns among users and privacy advocates that the online video viewing habits of tens of millions of people could be exposed. But Google and Viacom said they were hoping to come up with a way to protect the anonymity of YouTube viewers. Viacom said that the information would be safeguarded by a protective order restricting access to the data to...

Google must divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched any video on YouTube, a US court has ruled.The ruling comes as part of Google's legal battle with Viacom over allegations of copyright infringement. Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called the ruling a "set-back to privacy rights". The viewing log, which will be handed to Viacom, contains the log-in ID of users, the computer IP address (online identifier) and video clip details. While the legal battle between the two firms is being contested in the US, it is thought the ruling will apply to...

NEW YORK - A $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit over YouTube's ability to keep copyrighted material off its popular video-sharing site threatens how hundreds of millions of people exchange all kinds of information on the Internet, owner Google Inc. said. The company's lawyers made the claim in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan as Google responded to Viacom Inc.'s latest lawsuit alleging that the Internet has led to "an explosion of copyright infringement" by YouTube and others. The back-and-forth between the companies has intensified since Viacom brought its lawsuit last year, saying it was owed damages for the...

The youth vote is rockin' if not rollin'. Young voters who blog -- and there are lots of them -- boast they're the voting bloc that's hot. "Young voters are the new pink," a Rock the Vote blogger shouts. "Or the new orange? The new indigo?" They're like that little black dress, always poised to save the moment. The Obama campaign boasts that it registered thousands of new young voters. Hillary had her "Hillblazers," cheered on by daughter Chelsea, and John McCain says he'll contest every youth vote in November. Why else would he stay up late to joke and...

A planned fourth pay-TV channel could leave CBS' Showtime without movies. Viacom, Lions Gate Entertainment and MGM announced that they will no longer sell their movies to Showtime and instead will launch a new, fourth pay-TV channel. The announcement leaves Showtime, the current owner of rights to films from Viacom, Lions Gate and MGM, without the rights to output from any of the major movie studios. This move would affect many companies in the entertainment industry, including the owners of the current pay-TV services, Time Warner (HBO and Cinemax) and Liberty Entertainment (Starz and Encore). Time Warner would also be...

Top 20 Countdown host Lance Smith joins the cast of Stop-Loss, on top of the famous Riot Hyatt hotel overlooking Sunset Boulevard for a special edition of Top 20. The movie features Iraq war hero Sgt. Brandon King, who is played by Ryan Phillippe, as he makes his long awaited return home only to find out the Army has ordered him back to duty in Iraq, which devastates not only him but his family and friends.

Billboard owner bars ad targeting McCain Arizona Republic, The (Phoenix, AZ) April 21, 2005 BILLBOARD OWNER BARS AD TARGETING MCCAIN Author: Jon Kamman, The Arizona Republic Edition: Final Chaser; Section: Front; Page: A13; Index Terms: ARIZONA; Estimated printed pages: 3 Article Text: A national organization that campaigns against illegal immigration wants to post a billboard in Phoenix to object to Sen. John McCain's stance, but the owner of the board has rejected the message as "bashing" the Arizona Republican. The ad, sponsored by ProjectUSA, would say: "Sen. John McCain supports amnesty for illegal aliens." Whether those words are factual depends...

A book publisher that bought an ad on Don Imus's radio show is suing the shock jock and his former bosses at CBS Radio for more than $4 million, saying Imus insulted the book he was paid to promote. It was the latest controversy to follow the radio personality, who was fired by CBS Radio in April 2007 for insulting a women's basketball team with a racial slur. He has since returned to the air with another network. Flatsigned Press said in a New York state court lawsuit filed late on Wednesday that Imus' show had agreed to a script...

BRITNEY Spears' pregnant sister Jamie Lynn has been hit by news that her TV show has been cancelled, due to network bosses' concerns that airing it could "send out the wrong message".

The bosses of children's TV network Nickelodeon are considering staging an educational special on sex and love after learning one of their biggest stars, Jamie-Lynn Spears, is pregnant at 16.

November 23, 2007 — Adbusters, the Canadian culture jamming magazine largely responsible for propagating Buy Nothing Day, has once again been rejected in its attempt to buy advertising on MTV in promotion of the anti-consumerist holiday. MTV's Advertising Standards representative, Elisa J. Billis, didn't deny that the rejection was based soley on the message of the ad, simply saying that "the spot goes further than we are willing to accept on our channels." The ad features a burping animated pig and seeks to illustrate the divide in the amount of waste produced by the richest and poorest countries in the...

But it was another type of slime that hit the Nickelodeon screen during a segment of Nick News, hosted by Linda Ellerbee. Presented as a news program for kids, the recent episode “Rebels with a Cause”, featured, among others, two anti-war teens.

A CBS producer was arrested Saturday after deputies say he attempted to arrange sex with 11-year-old girl by communicating with undercover investigators posing as the fictitious girl's father, authorities said. Daniel J. Barron, 56, a 15-year producer with CBS News who lives in New Jersey, allegedly told an undercover St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office detective to bring his 11-year-old daughter to the Fort Lauderdale hotel where he was staying while in town to cover Sunday's Miami Dolphins game, according to an arrest report. Barron allegedly told the undercover detective, whom he met Saturday afternoon in an America Online chat room...

YouTube, Viacom bow to light-sabre-wielding defender of online justice Jedi Knight saves the world The Register's favorite light-sabre-wielding school board candidate has stared down an army of YouTube-hating Viacom lawyers, defending the rights of internet users everywhere. Late last month, as reported by The Reg, Viacom put the screws to Star Wars-loving North Carolinian Christopher Knight for posting his own TV ad to the world's most popular video-sharing web site. Yes, he also posted a sliver of Viacom-owned content, but most of the video was his - and he wasn't doing anything Viacom hadn't already done to him. Nonetheless, Viacom...

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- At a time when cable television networks are gaining in power on the entertainment landscape, with both first-run and rerun programming, not everyone is joining the party. Viacom's MTV, which transformed itself from being the pioneering purveyor of music videos to a full-service entertainment channel, has seen its ratings dwindle slowly but steadily in recent quarters. Nickelodeon, a destination for kids, has had relatively flat ratings. In the second quarter, according to Nielsen Media Research, MTV generated an average rating of 0.6, or about 688,000 viewers, down from the same quarter a year earlier, when it got...

Viacom's copyright battle with YouTube took an interesting turn this week, as the company has found itself in the embarrassing position of having highlighted the possibly that it committed a little "for-profit" copyright infringement of its own (some would call it "piracy"). Viacom effectively pointed the finger at itself when the company tried to get a Web Junk 2.0 clip removed from YouTube, only to end up exposing the fact that Viacom's VH1 unit had not obtained permission to use the source video that is featured in the clip. Dizzy yet? Let's backtrack for a second. North Carolina political candidate...

Local campaign commercial draws debate again By Gerald Witt Staff Writer Thursday, Aug. 30, 2007 4:15 pm REIDSVILLE — In his run for the Rockingham County School Board, Christopher Knight made a campaign commercial of himself with a light saber — a’la Star Wars — defending the county’s schools against pressures of federal regulations for schools. That spot made news locally and nationally during the election season.

At Mountain Retreat, Media CEOs Share Small Talk and Big Ideas About the Digital FutureThe sun always seems to shine in Sun Valley, a pristine mountain resort in Idaho, when the top brass from media and technology companies convene every July for a deep-think retreat hosted by the investment banker Herbert Allen.But it's the darkest of thoughts that are racing through the minds of the media power elite as they go between high-level meetings, golf and family activities: How can they survive the rapid-fire technological changes that are transforming their industries and changing the way people get news and entertainment?Conveniently,...

In another blow to HD DVD, the giant Blockbuster video rental chain has thrown its weight behind Blu-ray in the fight to see which format is the high definition successor to the humble DVD. After renting Blu-ray and HD DVD titles in 250 stores since late last year, Blockbuster has decide to stock only Blu-ray in its other 1250 US stores. Customers were choosing Blu-ray titles more than 70 percent of the time, reports Associated Press via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The release of Sony's Blu-ray-enabled PlayStation 3 games console was also a factor in the decision, said Blockbuster senior...

<p>CBSNEWS did not inform its viewers last night that its parent company owns and has a direct financial stake in the success of the book by former White House terror staffer turned Bush critic, Dick Clarke, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.</p>

March 16, 2007 Last summer we went to Vietnam to shoot several "War Stories" episodes for FOX News Channel. As one might expect in a communist country where they take red tape very seriously, my producers spent weeks before our trip filling out forms, questionnaires and documents required by numerous government bureaucracies. In the process it became evident that not all the folks in Hanoi were on the same sheet of music -- but after several weeks of negotiation we were able to accomplish all that we set out to do and more, thanks to their cooperation. As it turns...