Where to be and what to watch…

With fall around the corner and the humidity in New York dipping below 100%, the good folks of the National Association For Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) are pulling into Gotham for their annual confab at the Hilton. Held in conjunction with cable's Diversity Week, “Diversity 2.0: The New Protocol” is the theme of this year's bash. Panelists in the opening session on leadership include MTV Networks president Christina Norman, BET prez Scott Mills and A&E Executive VP Bob DeBitetto (see Fifth Estater, p. 33).

Breakfast options abound. Over at NAMIC, the day kicks off with our cable cousins at MultiChannel News, as programming editor R. Thomas Umstead co-moderates the multi-ethnicity/sports session “In the Game and Scoring Points.” Major League Baseball Executive VP Jimmie Lee Solomon and Soccer United Marketing President Doug Quinn share their viewpoints. Other Manhattan options for petite dejeuner include the Jack Myers Breakfast at Michael's, which sees CBS Interactive Chief Marketing Officer Patrick Keane and others discuss “Monetizing the Video Long Tail,” and free bagelettes at the Grand Hyatt, where Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt speaks at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia. Elsewhere in the Apple, Alan Greenspan and NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell talk about the world economy—and, hopefully, their marriage—at the 92nd Street Y. Several time zones away, Digital TV: Central and Eastern Europe kicks off at the Prague Marriott.

CTAM New York holds its Blue Ribbon Breakfast at Gotham Hall, with insights on broadband video from Next New Networks CEO Herb Scannell and Google veep David Eun. Across town, Liberty Media President/CEO Greg Maffei takes his turn at Communacopia. Also taking a close look at broadband and the way media is consumed is the Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association, which holds its seminar at the Penn Club in New York. Finally, if you've had your fill of New York suits telling you what's what, the highly anticipated debut of Kid Nation is here. See if the reality rookie lives up to the buzz—and if the kids on their own in the wilds of New Mexico turn into sinners, saints or godless cannibals—when it airs on CBS at 8 p.m. ET.

The FCC gets down and dirty with a public hearing on media ownership in Chicago. Taking place at the headquarters of Jesse Jackson's PUSH initiative, expect the commissioners to get pushed on minority ownership and a merged media's control of the national news agenda. Down Miami way, Blue Frog Media holds a party at Santos for the launch of its interactive television project Bulla. And back in New York, Weird Al Yankovic, who played a clueless TV station manager in the unforgettable film UHF, headlines at the Beacon Theater. Flick your Bic to the dulcet strains of Yankovic chestnuts like Another One Rides the Bus.

A couple of A-listers embarking on the next chapter of their careers get feedback from some New York fans. Today correspondent Tiki Barber, no longer carrying the Giants offense on his broad back, reads from his tome Tiki at Barnes & Noble on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. A few blocks west, Claire Danes, obviously finding the world of TV and film a little too simple, steps onto the hardwood for the debut of Pygmalion at the American Airlines Theater on Broadway. Danes plays Eliza Doolittle. The forecast for Spain? Rain, but thankfully it's mostly on the plain.