Programming

Based on its strong performance, Court TV was awarded its own category under TV Unlimited by LodgeNet. Court began debuting in hotels in Jan. LodgeNet also increased Court’s distribution base from 350K to more than 450K hotel rooms. — BBC America acquired hit UK comedy "The Kumars at No. 42" from Hat Trick Prod. The series premieres Sundays at 9pm beginning Aug 29. — Good stunt during US Open week next week as The Golf Channel’s "Grey Goose 19th Hole" hosts guest Donald Trump (Tues, 9pm ET). — Hallmark will begin carrying "JAG" in Oct, one week after episodes air on CBS. Hallmark shares rights to the series with USA. It’s also sharing rights with USA on "Walker, Texas Ranger," acquiring the rights to run it from 6pm-6am. — Outdoor Channel picked up monster truck series "Monsters of Destruction," which debuts Sats in Jan, 3pm. — Cartoon will build on the success of its "Star Wars: Clone Wars" shorts with a plan to launch 5 1-hr animated "Star Wars" movies. The miniseries’ debut will coincide with the ’05 theatrical release of "Star Wars: Episode III." — Jerry Seinfeld is back on the small screen, appearing on TBS with his pal Superman in American Express’ ongoing series of animated/live-action shorts. "The Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman" makes its cable debut Tues, followed by a 2nd installment the next week. — NBC added 399 additional hrs of Olympics coverage, with much of the live daytime programming going to CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, USA and Telemundo. The grand total of 1,210 hrs is more airtime than the last 5 summer Olympics combined. The Peacock will offload much of the extra coverage to an HD feed it will supply to O&Os and affiliates. NBC has sold 90% of its $1bln Olympics inventory.