360AM: Oct. 16 Programming, Online News & More
Broadcast networks lost an average 5% audience share during the Big Four’s fall TV premiere week, according to Nielsen‘s "live plus seven day" ratings released today. More in the New York Times and Mediapost.
Bravo‘s Project Runway 4 doesn’t premiere until Nov. 14 and it’s already making waves.
CNN is moving Lou Dobbs Tonight to 7pm, following The Situation Room from 4-7pm, to create a four-hour block of breaking news and political analysis starting Nov. 5, a year before Election Day 2008.
ESPNEWS HD will launch in March on Comcast, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV.
Five days after G4 and Mojo announced they will share off-network cable rights to NBC’s Heroes, G4 and SCI FI this morning announced they will share off-network cable rights to ABC’s Lost.
Lifetime hired Mike Greco as EVP of research to replace the retiring Tim Brooks, who will stay on as a consultant through the end of the year. Greco was formerly SVP of research for MTV.
MTV is mounting a cross-platform push for scripted drama Kaya, which premieres Monday at 10:30pm, including a sneak peek of the first episode on Time Warner Cable‘s MTV on Demand VOD channel; posting each episode on MTV.com after it debuts on-air; and full-episode downloads on iTunes, Amazon Unbox, walmart.com and BitTorrent.
Retirement Living TV launches Retired & Wired, a half-hour weekly series, on Oct. 25.
TBS will premiere Frank TV, a weekly half-hour sketch comedy series starring impressionist Frank Caliendo, on Nov. 20 at 11pm.
Turner hired the former Stacey Lynn Koerner (now Schulman) as SVP of ad sales research for Turner Entertainment, reporting to Turner’s chief research officer Jack Wakshlag. Schulman was formerly CEO and chief insight officer of the Interpublic Group‘s consumer experience practice.
The New York Times looks at research showing that it doesn’t seem to make much difference whether the TV’s on or off, so long as families eat dinner together — though off, naturally, is preferable.
• ONLINE
Almost 16% of Web-connected U.S. households watch television video online, according to new research from the Conference Board and TNS.
NYC chef Mario Batali, semi-associated with Food Network these days, today debuts an original Web series, Mario Unclogged, exclusively on foodie website SeriousEats.com.
Chinese peer-to-peer site Blin.cn offers 50x faster downloads than BitTorrent, reports TechCrunch.
Dailymotion added content from Turner’s Adult Swim and CNN International, Herb Scannell’s Next New Networks, Si TV and others.
ESPN.com added an Earn Your Stripes sports section for kids, sponsored by Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes.
Food Network is holding an eBay auction, today through Oct. 26, to raise money for Share Our Strength.
Google launched the YouTube Video Identification system to protect content owners and thwart copyright-infringers on YouTube. The still-in-beta effort requires TV networks, movie studios and other copyright holders to give YouTube a master copy of their videos, which YouTube won’t post but use as reference to search for unauthorized copies uploaded onto its site. More on Google’s blog, Dow Jones, the New York Times and the L.A. Times.
Live Nation confirmed its groundbreaking, multiplatform deal to sign Madonna, who alluded to the Web’s impact on Warner Bros. Records and other labels by commenting, "The paradigm in the music business has shifted and as an artist and a business woman … I have to move with that shift."
MeeVee relaunched its online video guide.
MTV Networks is launching mobile websites for Comedy Central, VH1, Spike and CMT using July Systems’ technology.
Napster‘s subscription-based music service will now work on any Web browser, without requiring users to download software; Reuters and TechCrunch have more. It will also work across consumer electronics devices.
TV Guide announced the nominees (led by NBC) across 18 categories in its first online video awards. Fan voting starts today, and the winners will be announced Dec. 1.
WWE tapped Crisp Wireless for mobile interactive features including polling, quizzes and image galleries.
Citing the impact of online movie rentals and cable VOD, Movie Gallery, the second-largest U.S. video rental chain, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Movie Gallery, which acquired Hollywood Video and, earlier this year, Movie Beam, also shelved a planned move into online rentals. AP has more. • Return to this morning’s 360AM news briefing >
