1-10-2007: The TV Industry News Round-Up

CBS Ties Its Future to Web Deals 
(WSJ) In a glitzy presentation yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, CBS Corp. tried to send a strong message to the technology industry: We get it.

Congress Takes Up Net's Future (NYT)
Senior lawmakers, emboldened by the recent restrictions on AT&T and the change in control of Congress, have begun drafting legislation that would prevent high-speed Internet companies from charging content providers for priority access.

Brazil Court Gives YouTube the Go Ahead (NYPost)
A Brazilian court said that Internet service providers could allow Web surfers access to the popular video-sharing site YouTube, a day after they started blocking it because of a celebrity sex video.

Broadcast Board Asks for Replacement (Wash Post)
The chairman of the agency that oversees Voice of America and other government broadcasts to foreign countries said yesterday he would not seek renomination, likely ending a series of ethical controversies that have clouded his tenure.

Glenn Becks Winning Formula (Radar)  At first glance, Glenn Beck looks a lot like all of the other uptight conservative firebreathers who think World War III is upon us and that you are going to Hell for one reason or other.

New Serials: Now You See Them, Now You Don't (NYT)
For the last several years, executives at other television networks have dreaded the annual debut of “24,” the Fox hit that, with its continuing storyline about a secret agent saving the nation unwinding from one episode to the next, is the ultimate serial drama.

Katie Couric's 50th Birthday (NYO) Katie Couric, the anchor of the CBS Evening News, was in Georgia on Friday, Jan. 5, in a car parked outside a Nathan’s hot-dog stand. It was two days before her 50th birthday, just after 1 p.m.

Scooby Doo Creator Dies (NYT)
Iwao Takamoto, the artist who created the mystery-solving Great Dane, Scooby-Doo, among many other indelible cartoon characters, died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 81.

Apple Introduces the iPhone: Is it Worth It? (WSJ)
The long-awaited announcement that Apple Inc. would offer a media-playing cellphone -- dubbed the iPhone -- sent ripples through the telecom industry and pushed Apple's stock to a high, but it also raised questions about the company's strategy to parlay its successful iPod music player as an entry in the cutthroat handset market.