Wednesday, January 17, 2007

NATPE/TCA update

Here is the latest going on at NATPE in Las Vegas and TCA press tour in Pasadena, Calif.:

-Warner Bros. has pulled its proposed new show, Celebrity Jury- for now. Warner Bros. was unable to come to an agreement with the Fox-owned stations on the program, but may be launched at a later date. Meanwhile, the chances for Dr. Keith Ablow's talk show to be picked up for a second season appear slim-to-none.

-Scrubs, which entered syndication this year, will be back for another season - on ABC?

-In order to expand (or perhaps replace) its small audience, MyNetworkTV has signed a deal with the International Fight League. The league is a Mixed Martial Arts League with 12 teams in a big boxing ring with matches that take place for 3-4 minutes. The IFL also reached a deal with Fox Sports Net. The programs will debut either this spring or summer. This comes as MyNetworkTV announced that syndication veterran Greg Meidel will be coming aboard as president of the beleagured network. He held that post in the '90's for Paramount Domestic Television (president of programming) and Twentieth Television.

-CBS has renewed Survivor for the 2007-08 season, with the 15th and 16th editions, respectively. Ratings are down for the program this year despite this claim that it's dominant in it's time period (Certainly not WLS or WSB dominant.)

-CBS' game shows in syndication, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! and rookie talk show Rachael Ray have been cleared in 60% through the 2011-12 season and 70% of the country through the 2009-10 season, respectively.

-ABC announced it was putting the remaining episodes of Daybreak onto the web after resolving a music rights issue, so the 14 people who watched it could find out what happened.

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