TV industry

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The Simpsons Cable Rights Fetch Up to $1B

...Though the money's essentially moving from one part of Fox to another

(Newser) - Homer and company are officially rolling in d'oh. After 24 seasons, the animated comedy is finally coming to cable, in what Deadline is calling the "priciest off-network pact ever." FXX will pay at least $750 million, and possibly as much as $1 billion, to acquire exclusive rights...

Netflix to Become DreamWorks' TV Network

Deal will bring host of Dreamworks shows to streaming service

(Newser) - Netflix made another big splash in its original content push today, announcing a deal with DreamWorks that will see the animation studio create 300 hours worth of original TV shows for the streaming service. The shows will be "inspired" by DreamWorks' existing properties, so get ready for shows based...

Fox Brings Back Jack Bauer, 24
 Fox Brings Back Jack Bauer, 24 

Fox Brings Back Jack Bauer, 24

It'll return as a 12-episode limited series next summer

(Newser) - Jack Bauer is about to get a fresh batch of time to run out of. Kiefer Sutherland will reprise his role as the ass-kicking, torture-happy counterterrorism agent on a new 12-episode limited series re-launch of 24 next May, Fox announced today, ahead of its "upfront" presentation to advertisers, according...

McCain's New Crusade: 'A La Carte' Cable TV

Arizona Republican wants consumers to be able to pick their channels

(Newser) - John McCain is taking on a new foe: the cable TV industry. The Arizona senator is pushing a bill that would pressure cable and satellite providers to offer channels "a la carte," allowing customers to pick which channels they get and pay for instead of buying by the...

Verizon Only Wants to Pay the Channels You Watch

Cable provider envisions radical shakeup

(Newser) - Verizon wants to radically change the way the cable business works, with a new system in which it would only pay channels if viewers actually watch them, the company tells the Wall Street Journal . Right now, cable companies pay networks a fee for every subscriber who has access to the...

Netflix's Arrested a 'Breakthrough'
 Netflix's Arrested 
 a 'Breakthrough' 
OPINION

Netflix's Arrested a 'Breakthrough'

Alyssa Rosenberg is excited about the storytelling potential Netflix offers

(Newser) - Netflix's new season of Arrested Development, which will hit in May, could be a massive breakthrough for the service—and not (just) because we're all eager to see the Bluths again. At the Television Critics Association press tour, creator Mitch Hurwitz revealed that this batch of episodes, each...

Starting Today, TV Ads Can't Blare Anymore

FCC implements rule toning down volume of commercials

(Newser) - TV viewing could soon sound a little calmer. The CALM Act, which limits the volume of TV commercials, goes into effect today. CALM stands for Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation. The act is designed to prevent TV commercials from blaring at louder volumes than the program content they accompany, and it...

HBO Renews Newsroom
 HBO Renews Newsroom 

HBO Renews Newsroom

Critical reception not bad enough to sink Aaron Sorkin's latest

(Newser) - It seems HBO isn't sweating the mostly terrible reviews The Newsroom has garnered so far. The network has already renewed Aaron Sorkin's polarizing media drama for another season, the Huffington Post reports. Newsroom had decent ratings for its premiere, drawing 2.1 million viewers, though that figure dropped...

AMC, Dish Battle Gets Nasty



 AMC, Dish Battle Gets Nasty 

AMC, Dish Battle Gets Nasty

Dish retaliates after AMC goes public with disagreement

(Newser) - If you actually watched the commercials during Sunday night's Mad Men (instead of skipping them with your DVR like the rest of us), you saw the behind-the-scenes battle between AMC and Dish Network go nuclear. AMC aired a 16-second spot warning viewers that unless they intervened, Dish would drop...

How HBO Became Uncool

 How HBO Became Uncool 
Michael Wolff

How HBO Became Uncool

We don't care about platforms, Michael Wolff argues, we care about shows

(Newser) - Sunday should have been a banner night for HBO, with Game of Thrones and the premiere of its latest "zeitgeist-courting" show Girls. But Michael Wolff didn't tune in—though not for lack of trying. Wolff and his companion "don't have HBO. And, it turns out, after...

Get Ready for $200 Cable Bills
 Get Ready for $200 Cable Bills 

Get Ready for $200 Cable Bills

Industry to hit that mark by 2020, and that doesn't count Internet, phone service

(Newser) - Unless something changes, cable TV prices are headed for the stratosphere, according to an industry forecast released yesterday. At the rate cable prices have been increasing—about 6% per year—analysts see them hitting $200 a month by 2020, which, the New York Post quips, might be enough to displace...

Fox Considers Sports Network to Rival ESPN

One report says News Corp could launch it later this year

(Newser) - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is looking at launching a national sports channel to rival ESPN, reports Bloomberg . It quotes one insider as saying the owner of Fox News could pull the trigger late this year. The Wall Street Journal , which is owned by Murdoch, quotes an anonymous source (maybe...

In 3 Months, We Streamed 2B Hours of Netflix Videos
In 3 Months, We Streamed
2B Hours of Netflix Videos
yes, billion

In 3 Months, We Streamed 2B Hours of Netflix Videos

Company says that's a 'high mark'

(Newser) - Despite the uproar and subscriber exodus over its pricing change, people are still making use of Netflix’s streaming service. And how. The company has announced that it streamed more than 2 billion hours of content to members during the fourth quarter, and while it wouldn’t give specific figures...

Simpsons, Fox Strike Partial Deal

Some producers agree to pay cuts; no word yet from actors

(Newser) - Don't say sayonara to the Simpsons just yet: Sources say several top-level producers will take pay cuts in order to keep the show on the air. Not all of the producers are on board, and cast members have not yet agreed to any terms. Variety notes that any money...

Contract Brawl With Fox May Kill Simpsons

Network wants voice actors to take 45% pay cut

(Newser) - Has Moe polished his last glass? Has Homer slammed his last Duff’s? Has Krusty made his last small child cry? It’s all possible. Fox is threatening to pull the plug on history’s longest-running sitcom after the current season—its 23rd—if its core voice actors won’t...

Trump Run Could Kill Apprentice

NBC won't renew if he decides to run

(Newser) - If Donald Trump decides to run for president, NBC plans to tell him he’s fired. The network hasn’t renewed The Apprentice yet, or done any serious planning about the next season, because it’s holding its breath to see if Trump will formally jump into the 2012 fray,...

CBS Honcho Wants Sheen Back Now


 CBS Honcho 
 Wants Sheen 
 Back Now 

says insider

CBS Honcho Wants Sheen Back Now

Les Moonves pushing for star's return, says Radar

(Newser) - In spite of all his tiger blood-fueled antics and misdemeanors, rumor has it that CBS wants Charlie Sheen back on Two and a Half Men. CBS head honcho Les Moonves has expressed said desire to Warner Bros. Television, the company that produces the show, a "well-placed insider" tells Radar...

Lou Dobbs Lands at Fox
 Lou Dobbs Lands at Fox 

Lou Dobbs Lands at Fox

He'll have a show on Fox Business early next year

(Newser) - Fox Business has struck a deal to hire everyone’s favorite immigrant-bashing anchor, Lou Dobbs. The ex-CNN host will have a daily show starting sometime in the first quarter of 2011, the New York Times reports. “Lou Dobbs will serve to strengthen the best lineup in business news,”...

RIP, Daytime Talk Shows
 RIP, Daytime 
 Talk Shows 

RIP, Daytime Talk Shows

Tyra Banks' exit marks end of an era

(Newser) - Why did Tyra Banks pull the plug on The Tyra Banks Show even though its ratings were still steady? Probably because she sensed that daytime talk shows in the confessional Oprah-inspired mold are dead, writes Jessica Grose of Slate . Fifteen years ago, daytime TV was full of these shows, from...

What Do We Tweet About? TV, Mostly
 What Do We Tweet 
 About? TV, Mostly 
opinion

What Do We Tweet About? TV, Mostly

New social media still fixated on the original

(Newser) - Everybody's eager to talk about the social media "revolution." But you know what the social media conversation mostly focuses on? Old media, particularly TV. Just ask Simon Dumenco, who analyzes Twitter data every week for Advertising Age . “Old media still rules our lives,” he writes. “...

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