360AM: Sept. 6 Programming, Online News & More
• PROGRAMMING
The BBC World News America nightly newscast, which launches Oct. 1 on BBC America and BBC World News, announced Matt Frei as the anchor for the 7pm ET newscast with Katty Kay as Washington correspondent. BBCA will run a second daily newscast at 10pm, anchored by Philippa Thomas.
Bravo signed Macy’s, Maybelline and Garnier as sponsors for Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style, which premieres tonight at 10pm ET. The Weinstein Company denied (to the New York Post‘s Page Six) TV critic Melanie McFarland’s report on her Seattle Post-Intelligencer‘s blog. She quoted Gunn saying the Weinsteins’ lawyers wouldn’t let him reference Project Runway in his book related to tonight’s series.
Comedy Central upped three-time vet EVP/GM Michele Ganeless to president.
Discovery Communications named former AOL SVP (and AOL Video VP) Joshua Freeman EVP of digital media, reporting to digital media/biz dev president Bruce Campbell; while Discovery Channel announced a partnership with NASA for on-air and online content and grassroots activities pegged to its 50th anniversary next year.
Food Network and Mario Batali refuted a New York Post gossip item yesterday claiming it had fired Batali. Although the New York-based chef hasn’t taped new episodes of Molto Mario or Ciao America in ages, he is taping new episodes of Iron Chef America, as Newsday follows up and Batali tells today’s New York Post.
HBO‘s Curb Your Enthusiasm, which returns Sunday night at 10pm (just before James Gandolfini’s Alive Day Memories Iraq doc) features John McEnroe in an episode that will air sometime around late October, Larry David said during USA‘s coverage of the Roddick/Federer U.S. open match last night.
HBO reached an out-of-court settlement with former HBO International president Steven Rosenberg, relating to his dismissal in 2004.
Mojo announced a 2nd season of Dr. Danger with the intrepid Bob Arnot, starting Oct. 17; and a new series, Pressure Cook, starting Oct. 14, featuring Hell’s Kitchen contender and Hampton’s chef Ralph Pagano.
MTV Networks killed its Brand Solutions ad sales group six months after its formation, leading to the dismissal of EVP Lisa McCarthy and SVP Marc Weinhouse. [Mediaweek]
NBC‘s new fall series will be heavily promoted on its cable networks: SCI FI will repeat Bionic Woman two days after its NBC premiere, Life will re-air later the same night on USA, and a block of NBC fall pilots (including Chuck and Journeyman) will run on USA (Oct. 6) and Bravo (Oct. 7). A schedule is posted on TheFutonCritic.com.
SBS-MEGA TV will launch nationally on DirecTV Mas on Oct. 17; it’s currently available in Miami.
Shalom TV added Fighters, a look at the soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces, to its schedule.
The Sportsman Channel this month expands its Comcast rollout to Detroit and Flint, MI.
TV Land celebrates the 35th anniversary of The Bob Newhart Show Monday night, when it will run eight episodes selected by Newhart himself.
• ONLINE
Verizon enhanced its FiOS email to offer up to 4 GB of storage and wireless access.
The Wall Street Journal profiles Cablevision chairman Charles Dolan’s side business, NeuLion, an IPTV start-up that streams international and niche programming over the Internet to TV sets via a subscription-based set-top box. It’s finding success with targeted content such as KyLinTV, a Chinese programming service, but making slower inroads with bigger players like the NHL, which is using NeuLion to stream hockey games on the Web — and only the Web, in fear of antagonizing cable and satellite TV companies.
Starz Entertainment‘s Vongo downloading service is being integrated into HP QuickPlay, a feature in HP and Compaq notebook PCs, expanding on a partnership with Hewlett-Packard that began in the spring of 2006. HP also signed a deal to offer Dave Networks’ Web TV content on HP notebooks, notes PCmag.com.
Digitalsmiths Corp. launched VideoSense, a contextual video ad technology that searches video and audio.
ExpoTV partnered with Tremor Media for online ads featuring ExpoTV’s user-generated Videopinions.
Gray Television is adding local video search (powered by Pixsy) to its broadcast stations’ website on Oct. 1, reports Mediapost, while Gannett tapped Crisp Wireless to power its mobile websites for more than 30 of its local TV stations and newspapers.
ICTV added Web video from Fox and Reuters to its ActiveVideo platform for cable and IPTV set-top boxes, which it’s demo-ing at IBC. Its other broadband content includes HSN, AccuWeather and a gaming channel from TAG Networks.
JumpTV signed a deal with the Big East conference to launch its first broadband channel at BigEast.org.
mtvU and Cisco announced the winners of its 2007 Digital Incubator program, which offers up to $250,000 for new digital ideas from college students — check out the winners here.
Toshiba and fellow computer-makers HP, Gateway and Dell are releasing cheaper PCs that embed high-end gaming features previously available in pricier models aimed at avid gamers, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Veoh was sued by the Universal Music Group for alleged copyright infringement on its online video site, reports Wired.
YouTube phenom Marie Digby secretly had a deal with Hollywood Records while passing herself off as a gifted amateur in a fake marketing stunt cooked up by the label, reports the Wall Street Journal.
A glimpse into the YouTube psyche: Luciano Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma clip hit 1 million views after his death last night from pancreatic cancer; while Britain’s Got Talent winner Paul Potts’ version hit 89 views/minute overnight to top 11 million views.
• Click here for this morning’s top headlines »
Got a tip? Contact Shirley Brady at [email protected]
