"The Office" sold to TBS and Fox

My Name Is Earl also goes to TBS NBC Universal sold its (somewhat) popular sitcom The Office to TBS and to several Fox-owned television outlets today. Fox stations will clear the show in ten markets, including WFLD/WPWR in Chicago. TBS will air repurposed episodes this fall and will strip the program in 2009. TBS adds the show to its stable […]

Fox to sell nine stations

News Corp. has announced it will sell nine of its Fox owned-and-operated stations in these markets: Cleveland (WJW), Denver (KDVR), St. Louis (KTVI), Kansas City (WDAF), Milwaukee (WITI), Salt Lake City (KSTU), Birmingham (WBRC), Memphis (WHBQ), and Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point (WGHP). This is part of a trend in which major networks are selling their O&Os in smaller markets. CBS and NBC […]

Idol helping late news on Fox affiliates

While Fox has become very competitive with American Idol, Fox affiliates’ prime-time newscasts – which usually trail the big three network stations in any given market – now often beats them on nights when Idol is on, particularly in adults 18-49. WBFF is an example of this – the Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate in Baltimore beats market leaders NBC affiliate WBAL-TV […]

The Ten’s ratings problem exposing problems at another station

WFLD-TV’s new 10 p.m. newscast called The Ten is clearly struggling in the ratings – but the program is skewing younger, and is exposing problems at crosstown rival WBBM-TV with their 10 p.m. newscast. According to an article in the Sun-Times today, The Fox-owned station’s newscast has surprisingly beat the CBS-owned station’s late newscast in the household ratings on some […]

‘The Ten’ tanks

The Ten, WFLD-TV’s new 10 p.m. newscast, which targets the 18-49 audience, didn’t attract much of that demo it in its premiere Monday night, according to Nielsen and Trib columnist Phil Rosenthal. The Ten didn’t even come close to to achieving that number ratings-wise, scoring a 0.8 rating and 2 share, finishing sixth in its time slot behind the more […]

The Ten is coming

It’s not a sequel to ABC’s failed drama “The Nine”, but “The Ten” is the catchy name of Fox-owned WFLD-TV’s new 10 p.m. newscast that premieres on Monday. The new show will feature a more faster-paced newscast than its 9 p.m. newscast, and will have a weather report every night at 10:10 p.m. The station is also trying new features […]

UFC Series cleared on Fox-owned MyNetworkTV stations – except in Chicago

The newly formed Trifecta Entertainment has sold its new syndicated martial-arts series, UFC Wired (based on the popular Ultimate Fighting Championship franchise) to all Fox-owned MyNetworkTV stations with one notable exception – WPWR-TV here in Chicago. The deal coincides with the upstart network landing the rights to air International Fight League’s Total Impact ultimate fighting series, which airs in primetime […]

Yes, it’s still around

Phil Rosenthal has a short story today in the Tribune about the continuing sagging fortunes of MyNetworkTV and Fox’s station operations president Dennis Swanson insistence that the brand will be big – someday. In the article, Mr. Swanson points out that his stations need prime-time network programming (Translation: our stations aren’t paying anything for prime-time-unlike the CW and independent stations, […]

Fox affiliates can O.J. special

Fox stations owned by LIN, Pappas, and Prime Cities broadcasting decided not to show the controversial two-part interview featuring O.J. Simpson next Monday and Wednesday nights. The announcement of the special last week caught practically everyone off-guard, as it is being headed up by Mike Darnell, head of “alternative programming” at Fox. This, of course is a major November sweeps […]