The Worldwide Leader frozen out of the Big Ten after carrying games from the conference for 40 years After 40 years, ESPN is apparently out of the Big Ten business. The network on Tuesday withdrew from negotiations on trying to keep a Big Ten package in some form after the conference is expected to strike mega-deals with Fox, CBS, and […]
Cops slides on Saturdays; American Dad on two stations in Chicago at the same time? Here’s a brief synopsis on last Friday’s and Saturday’s night ratings in prime-time during premiere week: – CBS’ premiere of new drama A Gifted Man on Friday night wasn’t so gifted with a 1.4 adult demo (18-49) rating and a 5 share and 9.45 million […]
Bagging a renewal: Sheldon and the gang are around for three more years. The Grab Bag is actually living up to its name today by grabbing some baggage and some renewals: – WCIU here in Chicago and nine stations owned by Sinclair Broadcasting quietly began testing an off-cable dating game show this week called Baggage, with a format that combines […]
The new cast of “American Idol” for 2011, minus Simon Cowell. Fox unveiled its new mid-season lineup late Friday and by doing so, caused a huge stir throughout the industry. The biggest move of course, is American Idol, which now will air Wednesday night and Thursday night. The move means Idol will no longer air on Tuesday – avoiding a […]
Stan wasn’t the only one up in arms about Comedy Central taking a hatchet job to a recent episode of “South Park.” For the last few weeks, cable was on a hot streak: SyFy acquired Friday Night Smackdown, stealing it away from My Network TV, while Turner Broadcasting snared both Conan O’Brien and part of the NCAA Tournament. But on […]
CBS and Turner Broadcasting announced a mega-deal that will keep at least some of the NCAA Tournament on the Tiffany network – but much of it is moving to cable. In an eye-popping 14-year, $10.8 billion deal struck on Wednesday, CBS and Turner’s family of networks – TNT, TBS, and TruTV (formerly CourtTV) will carry both the preliminary and second […]
The drawing in the Conan O’Brien lottery took place Monday, and it was Turner Broadcasting who turned up the lucky winner. So what does TBS actually win? Young demos. A proven name. An increased profile. And a new car – advertiser or two. But it seems a lot of players in this saga appear to winners – TBS, Conan O’Brien, […]
When it comes to December and January, ESPN should rename themselves BPN: The Bowl Programming Network. ESPN announced Thursday it has acquired yet another Bowl game – this time the Gator Bowl, a longtime ABC staple which recently had stops at ESPN, NBC, and most recently, CBS. The game is played at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, which was one known as […]
Here are some notable ratings items: – Lewis Lazare’s Sun-Times column noted ABC-owned WLS-TV’s continued ratings dominance in the month of December. According to the ratings “book”, WLS finished first at 10 p.m. in households, followed by CBS-owned WBBM-TV and NBC-owned WMAQ-TV, which continues to suffer from having Jay Leno as a news lead-in (though that may not be the […]
Monday night’s NCAA College Basketball Championship between Michigan State and North Carolina turned out to be the lowest-rated of all time (how often have you heard that phrase?) But what we are mad for now is baseball. The game, in which North Carolina blew out Michigan State drew only a 10.8 household rating and an 18 share, according to Nielsen, […]
What’s worked the last two weeks – and what didn’t – in the world of media with a basketball theme: Four slam dunks – March Madness. Ratings for the annual NCAA tourney have been pretty good, outperforming the rest of the competition on the boards with year-to-year increases. And tonight’s title game should do well with Michigan St. and North […]
Chalk up another victory for The Worldwide Leader in B.S. And the coup involves an organization that put the B.S. in BCS. After Fox Sports rejected to match an offer, the Bowl Championship Series – or BCS – is headed for ESPN beginning in 2011 in a four-year, $500 million deal. The deal means the Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar […]
Hi, my name is Bobby Petrino. I just abandoned my owner, players, and fans in Atlanta – just to be with you guys. Because you’re special. And I am too. And one day, I may do to you what I did to the people in Atlanta. Now, lets call those hogs! Woooooooooooo Pig slop!Kind of a slow week for evil […]
Yes, it’s true – Eric Cartman introduced the Colorado Buffaloes during a college football game airing on ABC this weekend (pretty funny stuff.) Next thing you know, Bart Simpson will introduce the Chicago Bears on next week’s Fox telecast against the New York Giants (I would have said Homer, but he would just mess up the names… D’Oh!)
CBS Sports, YouTube, and the NCAA have created a channel on the video site, presented by Pontiac. (We build excitement!) This starts with the opening tip of the popular NCAA tournament today. The channel presents game highlights, press conferences, CSTV material, and more. To see the channel, click here. (Don’t forget, CBS is streaming their games online as well. Go […]