In good news for the syndication business, two of the platform’s highest-rated shows are going to be around for at least a few more years. CBS Television Distribution’s game-show duo of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! has been renewed on the seven ABC-owned and operated stations who carry the programs through 2014. The news broke a week ago on TheWrap.com. […]
Disney/ABC’s weekly action-adventure hour Legend of the Seeker is going to have an adventure of its own – trying to find new outlets after a major station group carrying the show declined to renew it. In a memo obtained by TV By The Numbers, Tribune Broadcasting said it would not renew the sci-fi/fantasy action hour after two seasons. Tribune is […]
(This was supposed to been up Tuesday night, but somehow it didn’t get up here. – T.H.) UPDATED: See below. It’s a special Jay Leno Show edition of T Dog’s Four Pack – here are the highlights and lowlights from night one of the show, plus other relevant information ( I was flipping back and forth between Leno and Star […]
Weigel Broadcasting, owner of independent WCIU-TV in Chicago and classic TV stations Me-TV (WCIU-DT, 26.2) and Me-Too (WMEU-TV and WCIU-DT 26.3) has released its fall schedules for the 2009-10 season. Click the links to view each schedule, all in PDF form: WCIU 2009 Fall Schedule Me-TV Fall Schedule Me-Too Fall Schedule Similar to what Turner has done to TBS and […]
CBS Television Distribution and Tribune have agreed on a settlement to reduce the license fees the bankrupt television group has to pay to the syndicator. CBS agreed to an $1.2 million payment from Tribune – down from $2.4 million it owed, according to bankruptcy filing papers. The deal covers all CBS Television Distribution properties on the 26-station Tribune group, from […]
Yes, a two-for-one offer. Say goodbye to the eyes and hello to the blocks. WGN America announced another overhaul, with a new logo and announced new programming, including several reality shows. According to Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrahms (yes, it’s an actual title), the moves are being made to better reflect the diversity of America, particularly the middle part of […]
A ton of news on the animation beat this week: – Cartoon Network held its upfront in New York on Wednesday, and revealed a bunch of new programming. Renewals include Star Wars: Clone Wars, Ben 10, and Total Drama Island. New additions include some live-action programming (including original movies) and yet another Scooby-Doo television series, titled Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. plus […]
Star Trek: The Next Generation is returning home to where it all began. Its mission: to boost ratings in a landscape of tawdry talk shows, crummy courtroom shows, and According to Jim-like off-network sitcoms. Reruns of the sequel to Star Trek, which practically put one-hour scripted action dramas on the map in syndication in the 1980s and 1990s, has been […]
– NATPE Time: It’s that time of year again – the annual programming conference is taking place next month in Las Vegas, though scaled down in size from recent years because of the economy. Here’s a list of projected programs (courtesy of TV Week) due out in syndication for 2009 and beyond. Among the list of shows offered for next […]
More rating upswing news: The new syndicated action hour from Disney-ABC titled Legend of the Seeker improved time periods by 15 percent from October 2008, including an 80 percent jump in the ratings at WGN-TV here in Chicago, which aired the premiere Saturday at 4 p.m. Among demos, Seeker sook and got big rating increases among men 25-54, women 18-49, […]
Check this out: A cool 1970’s-like promo for ABC’s upcoming crime drama Life On Mars, about a guy who wakes up one morning, and thinks it’s 1973. To see the clip, click here. The clip features ABC graphics and the “meatball” logo from the era, and even uses an Ernie Anderson-like voice to promote the show (Anderson, who did voiceover […]
For the first time in many years, a major syndicator is offering a first-run scripted, original action hour in syndication. Disney-ABC Domestic Television announced at NATPE today it will launch a new offering in first-run syndication from producer Sam Raimi called Wizard’s First Rule. The program has cleared the Tribune station group, covering 35 percent of the country. The deal […]
– The game between the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins that aired on WPWR-TV last Thursday night from the NFL Network averaged a 16.6 rating – the highest number on that station since at least 1994, when WPWR aired the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. But it’s not so good for the Bears: The 16.6 rating and […]
An article written in the Sun-Times today (how come Feder didn’t get a chance to write this?), mentions four call letters you’d better get reacquainted with – WPWR. Of course, Fox-owned WPWR-TV (Channel 50), a former UPN affiliate now-turned My Network TV affiliate has the Bears-Redskins game Thursday night, which is carried on NFL Network, which of course, you can’t […]
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