360AM: Oct. 8 Programming, Online News & More

• PROGRAMMING



Fox Business Network, which goes live a week today, is featured in today’s Wall Street Journal, where News Corp. gives extensive access and coverage to FBN’s pending launch. In a Q&A, Fox News head Roger Ailes slams CNBC and asked if there will be "Bill O’Reilly-like stars" on FBN, comments: "Who’s like Bill O’Reilly?" The full transcript is here. Fox Newsers, meanwhile, have been criticizing other rival news nets on-air, including "piling on" CNN‘s God’s Warriors series featuring Christiane Amanpour, notes Variety. Fox News Channel, meanwhile, turned 11 yesterday. It launched to 17 million cable subscribers on Oct. 7, 1996, and is now in about 85 million cable homes.

ABC Family ordered a third season of Kyle XY, which was just licensed to BBC 2 in the U.K.

BET is being lobbied over perceived stereotypes of black men and women by the Rev. Delman L. Coates, whose Enough is Enough campaign is staging protests rallies in NYC and outside BET chairman Debra Lee’s Washington, D.C. home on Saturday.

Adult Swim tonight premieres a new season of The Boondocks. 15 new episodes inspired by Aaron McGruder’s  comic strip (which is no longer being produced) will run through January.

Comedy Central‘s The Colbert Report is shopping a global edition at this week’s MIPcom mart in Cannes, reports Variety. It already produces a weekly global edition of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for CNN International.

The CW is offering free downloads of its fall shows on iTunes for a week, reports Dow Jones.

Disney Channel launched a public affairs program for middle and high schools related to its High School Musical franchise. Applications for its new Music in You grant program, which will offer 10 schools a $5,000 grant each to support music and arts programming, are due Nov. 30. It’s being administered with the NAMM Foundation.

FX tapped Forest Whitaker to direct and executive produce an untitled series set in the world of arms dealers.

HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg said talks have ended with UFC about a potential deal with the mixed martial arts franchise. [Yahoo Sports]

HDNet‘s Dan Rather Reports tomorrow night offers a rare interview with the Dalai Lama. HDNet also will exclusively televise owner Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks games to hoops fans in Texas starting with tomorrow’s pre-season opener against NBA champs the San Antonio Spurs. Details are here.

PBS Kids Sprout launched two new morning blocks of original programming and a new season of The Good Night Show.

SOAPnet‘s premiere of General Hospital: Night Shift last Thursday was its most-watched original series in total viewers, women 18-34 and women 18-49.

Spike TV has signed former Discovery Channel start Jesse James to a two-year exclusive deal. James, who starred in Monster Garage and Motorcycle Mania until last year, is producing original programming for Spike including Metal Church, a Sunday morning DIY series that’s still at the pilot stage.

Travel Channel will let viewers vote online to choose their favorites of seven pilots that will be shown on-air the week of Dec. 1. The now Cox-owned Travel Channel will next year air 24 episodes each of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern. [TV Week]

USA averaged 3.1 million viewers for the off-NBC premiere of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, making it #1 on cable Thursday night for both total viewers and key demos (adults 18-49 and 25-54). USA also paid about $13 million for cable rights to Hairspray, featuring John Travolta and HSM star Zac Efron. [Variety]

VH1‘s Hip Hop Honors airs tonight at 10/9c (it was taped last week in NYC).

Disgruntled Comcast customer (and Ad Age columnist) Bob Garfield launched ComcastMustDie.com.

MSNBC.com acquired Newsvine, a Seattle-based site that meshes social media and news. The New York Times has more.

NBC is kicking itself for not clearing rights for Andy Samberg’s Iran So Far Away music video mocking Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that ran in the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, according to the New York Post.

Netflix tapped comedian Dana Carvey for a 48-hour preview of some classic movies available for download with a Netflix.com subscription. Carvey’s take (watch here) on 11 classics will run Friday and Saturday.

VH1 EVP of programming and production Michael Hirschorn writes that "Facebook could become as important to us as Google" in his column for The Atlantic Monthly.

AP examines TV networks’ experiments with minisodes for advertisers and off-TV platforms.

The New York Times looks at the ethical dilemma of reality TV series such as A&E‘s Intervention and VH1‘s Breaking Bonaduce, whose cameras follow subjects who imbibe and then engage in activities that could harm themselves or others, such as driving.

Comcast was forced to pull ads its ran in New England criticizing Verizon‘s sale of its network of land telephone lines to FairPoint Communications, notes Broadband Reports. Local Verizon employees are also voicing their opposition through their unions, reports the Boston Globe.

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman’s first year on the job is profiled in the Los Angeles Times.

Liberty Global named former Starz and HBO veteran Bob Leighton as SVP of programming, a new role.

While triple-play bundles of voice, video and broadband are a hit, quadruple-play bundles that throw wireless in the mix are unproven according to a report from UK-based research firm Analysys, which looks at the U.S., France and the U.K.

A Cox Communications cameraman in Rhode Island was charged with "cyberstalking" a former public access host after allegedly posting threatening videos on YouTube. • Return to today’s Cable360AM news briefing >