Flash!

A late-breaking schedule change at this year's National Association of Broadcasters convention: Nightline senior director George Murphy will not be presenting a case study Tuesday morning on using Sony's Vegas nonlinear editing system in the broadcast environment. According to a source at ABC, the network yanked Murphy from the Las Vegas convention gig last week following B&C's inquiries about whether Murphy's public enthusiasm for Sony had turned into a financial conflict of interest.

Attempting to avoid even a suggestion of a product endorsement, television networks are notoriously averse to discussing the technology they use. But it turns out that in addition to being slated as a Sony cheerleader at NAB2005 (“With industry veterans like George Murphy and his team using Sony Vegas 5 for international broadcasting, there is clearly a change in the winds of the editing world,” gushes the program description), Murphy runs a business that sells Sony products. His bio on the NAB site says the director's affection for the Sony product line led him to open an online “software superstore” where he “sells this wonderful product at a discount.”

Murphy did not return our calls seeking comment. On Friday, the NAB confirmed that Ray Schlogel, the owner of video-production company Underground Planet in Austin, Texas, would be replacing Murphy at the Tuesday session.

ABC's nixing of Murphy's NAB appearance may not end the story. “It's an unfortunate situation,” says an ABC insider, “that is being reviewed as we speak.”

Even though the search has barely begun—and likely won't conclude until this fall at the earliest—three candidates are already generating considerable buzz as potential replacements for Eddie Fritts, the retiring (but never shy) president of the National Association of Broadcasters. Expect plenty of wagering on the subject this week at NAB2005 in Las Vegas.

Given that spats with affiliates prompted the major networks to drop out of the organization in recent years, which has in turn hurt the NAB's lobbying power on Capitol Hill (goes one theory), two prime contenders should be CBS Executive VP Marty Franks and Disney/ABC lobbyist Mitch Rose. Either one might help build a rapprochement between the networks and affiliates, and both have extensive Washington connections: Franks is a former Democratic House and Senate staffer whose current job includes running CBS' digital-TV operations; Rose is former chief of staff to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens.

But it's not clear that network affiliates are ready to seek peace with the Big Four. That could be good news for David Kennedy, CEO of radio group Susquehanna Media. Kennedy is immediate past chairman of the NAB's joint TV/radio board and is co-chairman of the committee searching for Fritts' replacement. Funny how these search committees sometimes work: Eddie Fritts led a certain search committee before he was chosen to head the NAB 23 years ago.

Last November, in a settlement with the FCC, Viacom forked over $3.5 million to settle every pending indecency complaint against the multimedia company's radio and TV stations—all but the proposed $550,000 fine for the Janet Jackson Super Bowl flash dance, anyway, which Viacom vowed to fight.

The settlement covered well-known incidents like the sex-at-St. Patrick's stunt engineered by shock jocks Opie and Anthony on WNEW(AM) in New York. But it also wiped away complaints against Viacom-owned CBS and UPN that we hadn't heard about—until our Freedom of Information Act request came through.

It turns out that complaints were made against 15 Viacom shows, including episodes of Big Brother and CSI.

Here are a couple of TV moments from other episodes Viacom chose not to defend:

From UPN's Dec. 9, 2003, Rock Me Baby:

Beth: Of course you are [immature]; that's why you laugh every time the South Carolina Gamecocks play the Oregon State Beavers.

Jimmy: Hey—do you remember that time the announcer said, “The Gamecocks are deep in Beaver territory?”

From CBS's Dec. 19, 2002, Survivor: Thailand

When cast member Stephanie Dill does a striptease (her breasts and pubic area are pixilated), she holds a fish to her crotch, saying “If you don't pick me, you can kiss my fish.”