Breaking…
By Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/10/2003
Gemstar Slapped With $5.6M Fine
Washington— Gemstar will pay a record $5.6 million fine for working too closely with TV Guide International before completing its takeover of the company three years ago. The fine is the largest ever collected for "gun-jumping" in a merger. The DoJ said Gemstar and TV Guide fixed prices, divvied up interactive-TV customers and violated waiting periods. Gemstar bought TV Guide largely to combine their electronic cable program guides. Gemstar faces a separate SEC investigation of its accounting practices.
8 Stations Get DTV Reprieve
Washington— Eight network O&Os and affiliates plagued by zoning and technical problems were given another six-month extension to launch DTV service. The FCC extended KMGH-TV, KCNC-TV and KUSA-TV, all Denver. Also extended: WBBM-TV Chicago; WVIT(TV) New Britain, Conn.; WTIC-TV Hartford, Conn.; and WFSB-TV and WTVJ(TV) Miami. All were originally due to be DTVed by November 1999.
Cleaned-Up Sex and the City Offered?
Los Angeles— HBO wasn't commenting on published reports that it is shopping a cleaned-up version of Sex and The City for broadcast networks and syndication after it ends its sixth season this year.
E! Returning Anna
Los Angeles— Anna Nicole Smith gets a second season on E! Entertainment Television, starting with a live episode March 2.
CBS News Vet LeSueur Dead
Washington— Larry LeSueur, 93, one of the famous "Murrow Boys" European news correspondents for CBS during World War II, died Feb. 5. He had suffered from Parkinson's disease.
Wells Re-Ups With Warner Bros.
Los Angeles— John Wells Productions, producer of TV shows The West Wing, ER and Third Watch, has extended his production/development deal with Warner Bros. Television through June 2007. The deal is worth $70 million, according to reports.
