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The Hollywood Reporter: You talk of investment in exclusive programming for your TV Guide Channel. What kind of money are we talking about?Richard Battista: We don't disclose detailed programing costs for our shows. This year we had a 25% increase in our programming and marketing budget versus last year, and last year we spent 25% more than the year before. We changed basically the entire programming format of the network. ... Two years ago, we made a concerted effort to create 30-minute and one-hour programs that cover the world of television.THR: How about advertisers?Battista: Historically, the channel got OK advertising, mostly infomercial and direct-response advertising. We said, again, if we create original programming that's about television, we can significantly enhance the ad opportunities. Now we have full-blown advertising coming from a number of blue-chip brands.THR: What are your highest-rated shows?Battista: The Red Carpet specials with Joan and Melissa Rivers each … [Read more...] about Gemstar-TV Guide high on future

The Sundance Channel, an indie film network owned by Robert Redford, NBCU and CBS Corp., will provide full-length original series, short films and shortform content shot exclusively for the Internet. Included in their package will be the green-friendly series "Big Ideas for a Small Planet" and the Jay Bakker reality show "One Punk Under God."Fuel TV, News Corp.'s extreme sports channel, and Speed, a motor sports network owned by Comcast Corp. and News, will provide shortform content to the venture and will host programming on their own sites. Oxygen, a women's network owned by Oxygen Media, will also contribute shortform content. Initially, this will come from its shows "The Bad Girls Club," "Fight Girls," "50 Funniest Women" and "Our Bodies, Myself."Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc.'s TV Guide will distribute content from its broadband network including reviews and celebrity interviews. The company also will present highlights from its original series "America's Next … [Read more...] about Channels join NBC Uni, News Corp. venture

There certainly has been a sea change in Germany after public broadcasters ARD/ZDF blacked out Tour coverage after the first doping allegations against T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz (HR 7/19). China, meanwhile, is looking to become the strictest overseer ever of athletic ethics as it prepares for next year's Olympic Games in Beijing.Nikolaus Brender, head of news and sport at Germany's ZDF, said in an interview that Germany's public broadcasters will continue to exercise the option of canceling broadcasts and voiding sports-rights contracts in cycling and other sports if major rule violations occur.ARD/ZDF are the main buyers of sports rights in Germany. In addition to holding an option for the 2008 Tour, the public broadcasters control German rights to soccer's European Cup and the Olympics in 2008.A wave of public support for the blackout and a spate of new doping allegations has led major sports sponsors in Germany — including Adidas, T-Mobile, Volkswagen division Skoda and … [Read more...] about A new TV sport: backpedaling

TV tumbles: The news earlier this week that the broadcast TV networks were down some seven million viewers per night in the May sweeps versus last November is bad news not only for the networks, but also for Hollywood.It's actually a problem for Hollywood on two levels. In today's world of global media giants, the same handful of companies that own the networks also own most of the major studios. In that regard, the fortunes of both industries are intertwined at the corporate ownership level and when one of these businesses is in trouble the economic repercussions are felt in all of the corporate corners.At the same time, the networks' continuing decline as a mass medium poses another set of problems for the motion picture industry because movie marketers have for over 30 years made network TV their advertising medium of choice. It was a development that made perfect sense in the mid-1970's when the whole concept of wide distribution coupled with national television advertising was … [Read more...] about TV nets ratings slide bad news for movie marketers

In the wake of a famously messy stretch at Viacom, 23-year company veteran Kevin Kay has emerged as one of new CEO Bob Bakish's top lieutenants. A straight-talking executive, Kay, 63, has been handed the keys to two more cable networks (TV Land and CMT) and tasked with rebranding male-skewing Spike — home to breakout Lip Sync Battle and mixed martial arts — as a general entertainment channel with the synergistic name Paramount Network. The Jan. 18 changeover will be accompanied by a fresh batch of high-end originals, including miniseries Waco, with Taylor Kitsch and Michael Shannon; and Taylor Sheridan drama Yellowstone, starring Kevin Costner. If all goes as the New York native plans, Paramount Network, which reaches 83 million homes, will be part of the same prestige conversation as FX and AMC in a matter of years.At the same time, Kay, who began his career holding cue cards at Saturday Night Live, is realistic about the challenges facing him, including skinnier cable … [Read more...] about Paramount Network Chief on Kevin Costner’s Massive Salary, Rebranding Spike TV