BC Crawler

Tuesday, November 27, 2007
November 27, 2007

By Alex Weprin

[Closer… Closer…] The first day of talks between the WGA and AMPTP were “very productive” according to Nikke Finke’s sources. The news brings a glimmer of hope that the writers and studios could resolve the strike within the next few weeks. Again, here’s hoping.

[This is Never Pretty] The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have dueling editorials regarding FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s proposals to regulate the cable industry. I will give you two guesses to figure out where they came out.

The Wall Street Journal says (Registration may be required): “In any case, Mr. Martin's machinations are in the service of solving a problem that doesn't exist. If anything, the 70/70 rule needs to be scrapped. It dates to a time when there was no satellite or phone alternative to cable, and cable operators controlled nearly all of the programming that appeared on their systems. Neither situation still exists… Mr. Martin says more regulation is needed because monopolistic players are dominating the cable industry. But his premise doesn't remotely square with reality.”

The NY Times Says: “Far more than in 1984, when broadcast television commanded the vast majority of viewers and cable penetration was low, there is a good case for energetically regulating the cable industry. Out of the regulators’ sights, the cable giants have cornered the basic cable markets, keeping competitors at bay by cutting favorable package deals with programming networks, which are sometimes part of their own conglomerate. Twenty-five years ago, cable carriers promised to provide consumers with a wealth of new programming options. Today, the carriers and their packages of unwanted channels are obstacles to choice. And their offerings are expensive: cable TV rates have been rising faster than inflation for years.

Fore some background on the current status of cable companies, check out this article by Jon Hemingway from the November 19 issue of B&C.

[To Click, or Not to Click?] NBC became the first network to utilize TiVo’s StopWatch service. The service measures not only shows but commercials, on a second by second basis. NBC will also include “Tags” in their commercials, meaning that even if you skip through an ad, an icon will pop up on the screen from the advertiser, allowing you to click for more info. Or Not. While the deal is somewhat damaging to Nielsen, it is not terribly surprising, considering TiVo head Tom Rogers used to run NBC’s cable business unit.

[I Could Have Told Them That] People love that interactive program guide. According to a study by market research firm Lieberman Research Worldwide, 75% of users immediately activate the guide after turning on the TV, and 80% say that it is a “necessity.” The survey was commissioned by Comcast to try and determine how to change future versions of the guide. Between TiVo and this, internet style advertising looks to be making its way to our TV screens.

[Today in Presidential Candidates Trying to be Funny] Now that the 2008 presidential elections are in full swing, we can ask the tough questions of the candidates, like what their favorite TV shows are. I can only imagine what Sigmund Freud would have to say about some of these choices. At any rate, some of the highlights:

Barack Obama (D-Ill.) likes The Wire, as well as Spongebob Squarepants, because he watches it with his daughters. Awww.

Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) seems to like everything on late night TV, even though they make fun of him.

John McCain (R-Ariz.) likes Prison Break, then made a joke about breaking out of the Hanoi Hilton, good one John!

Fred Thomspon (R-Tenn.) apparently is a self hating actor, because he doesn’t list Law & Order as a favorite show. Instead, he says he watches Sportscenter. The he got in his pick-up and tailgated outside a football game. I made that last part up.

Oh, and John Edwards (D-NC.) says that his guilty pleasure is “Watching Fred Thompson on Law & Order.” Oh John Edwards, such witticism.

[Yeah, Probably a Conflict of Interest] Fox Business Network made a major faux-pas yesterday, interviewing an “online shopper” at ESPN Zone in Washington DC about “Cyber Monday,” when online retailers offer sales the Monday after Thanksgiving.

The problem: that “online shopper” was actually the marketing manager of the National Retail Foundation, which created Cyber Monday a couple of years ago to try and spur buying online.

[Your Daily Dose of Darnell] Fox reality chief (and Joe Millionaire mastermind) Mike Darnell spoke about Fox’s new show The Moment of Truth, a Colombian import that hooks contestants up to a lie detector test and asks them embarrassing questions to win cash. The Colombian version of the show was cancelled when, and this is true, one of the contestants admitted to hiring a hit man to kill her husband.

Posted by BC Crawler on November 27, 2007 | Comments (0)