Fates & Fortunes
Primetime's richest men
It should come to no surprise that American Idol’s Simon Cowell is the richest man on primetime TV, earning $75 million between June 1, 2008 and June 1, 2009, according to Forbes. All that money doesn’t come from American Idol alone, although the show is primetime’s most watched. Cowell (pictured left) also earns from many other ventures: his company produces shows such as Bri ...... Read More
Comments (0)Current TV lays off 80
The LA Times reported today that Current TV, the cable network Al Gore founded, is laying off 80 people, including head programmer David Neuman. The company said in a statement: “Current Media has made changes to its organization, most notably in the area of television programming. Current will be shifting away from short-form programming and daily in-house production and towards pro ...... Read More
Comments (0)Zucker looking like a lock to head new Comcast-GE venture
Reuters is reporting what we’ve been hearing for a while now: Comcast and GE have agreed to keep NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker on as head of the two companies’ proposed joint venture. The structure of the board is still being negotiated. The media that cover media are breathlessly awaiting the deal’s closure, which values NBCU at $30 billion and would give Comcast a 51% owners ...... Read More
Comments (3)Fates & Fortunes Weekly Round-Up: week of Nov. 9, 2009
This week’s goings and comings are a bit late this week due to last week’s syndication craziness that kept me busy. As always, you can follow Fates on Twitter @BCFates or me personally @PaigeA if you are willing to put up with tweets about how ridiculous the big Gossip Girl three-way was. Forward fates to me at BCFates@gmail.com or at palbiniak@gmail.com. Big Kahunas WCBS New York Pr ...... Read More
Comments (0)Dunn to run CBS stations
Peter Dunn is in and Tom Kane is out as president of the CBS Television Stations. While Dunn’s ascension comes as a bit of a surprise, Kane’s exit does not. Sources say that Kane actually has been expected to leave the company for more than a year, but his contract ended up being extended twice: once for a year and then again for 90 days. CBS would not comment on Kane’s depart ...... Read More
Comments (0)Revising history: Why I should have sat on that last blog post
Funny story about yesterday’s blog item on OWN’s Lisa Erspamer. First of all, I posted it but then our blog tool mysteriously deleted it. We still don’t know how that happened, but I now suspect it was because the news angels that occasionally watch over me were trying to tell me something. Like maybe WAIT, HOLD UP, STOP because something bigger was coming. An additional warni ...... Read More
Comments (0)Erspamer named OWN's CCO
I’ve heard a lot of industry chatter about when (and even whether) OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network is going to launch. Initially it was supposed to launch this year, but the economy and challenges of coming up with 24 hours per day of programming has pushed that back to some unspecified time next year. The network is hiring like gangbusters though, expecting to launch in 2010. Exactly when r ...... Read More
Comments (0)Shake up at CNN
Ratings results for Tuesday’s election coverage came in today, and the results remained depressing for CNN. The network that started it all continued its downward trend, coming in fourth to Fox, MSNBC and sister net HLN. And Fox crushed everyone, with four million viewers compared to MSNBC’s 974,000. Those problems probably partly explain why TVNewser wrote about a shake-up at CNN to ...... Read More
Comments (3)The Broadcasters Foundation of America: 'People helping people,' says President Jim Thompson
With local advertising still in the doldrums, broadcasters have been hit as hard by this recession as anyone else, leaving many people who have served this industry well scrambling to pay their bills and stay afloat. That’s where the Broadcasters’ Foundation of America comes in. The foundation isn’t in the position to help every TV or radio employee that might find themselves ...... Read More
Comments (0)Fates & Fortunes Weekly Round-Up: Nov. 2, 2009
We at B&C were sad to learn of the loss of one of our own last week. Contributing Editor Brent Felgner, 57, passed away from cancer. While we’ve been celebrating our industry’s achievements at our own and the Cable Center’s Hall of Fame proceedings in recent weeks, Brent’s passing was a reminder to appreciate our families, friends and all of life’s precious m ...... Read More
Comments (0)It could be you: B&C's GM of the Year
Here’s your chance to let your boss (or your employee) know what a good job he or she is doing. Follow this link to nominate him or her for B&C’s General Manager of the Year! TV stations have probably had the roughest year on record, and it’s when times are toughest that real leaders shine. Let us know how your leaders have done. Last year was the first year of this award ...... Read More
Comments (0)Remembering Brent Felgner
Veteran business journalist and Broadcasting & Cable contributing editor Brent Felgner passed away from cancer on Oct. 26 at his father’s home in Florida, to which he and his wife had relocated earlier this year. Felgner was 57 years old. Please share memories of our dear friend and colleague by leaving a comment below. …. ...... Read More
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