IN BRIEF
Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/7/2001
Thurston, three ex-Spartans team up
Barry Thurston, former president of Columbia TriStar Television Distribution, and three former Spartan Communications executives—Nick Evans, Jack West and Steve Castellaw—formed Associated Media Partners LLC, a station broker/consultant firm with offices in Atlanta and Los Angeles.
Touching all bases
CBS and NBC split the 30th week of the TV season. NBC took the week of April 23-29 in adults 18-49 (4.9 rating/14 share), while CBS claimed victory in total viewers (12.0 million), according to Nielsen Media Research. The weekly ratings include the first three days of the on-going May sweeps. ... A study by child-advocacy organization Children Now found that the 8-9 p.m. so-called Family Viewing Hour contains the least racially diverse programming in all of network prime time. The report said that 13% of all prime time network fare during the hour has "mixed opening credits by casts," compared with 67% of programs during the 10 p.m. hour. Latino representation on prime time slipped from 3% of total characters during the 1999-2000 season to 2% this season. ...
Time Warner Cable will add Rainbow's WE: Women's Entertainment to 10 million of its 12.7 million homes by fourth quarter 2002. Previously known as Romance Classics, WE should have a total of 50 million subs by December. ... Bonnie Hammer has been promoted to president, a new position, at the Sci Fi Channel. She had been EVP/GM.
