Paris of plaster: Hilton's mother tanks Tuesday
   Like mother, like daughter? Not quite. America will not accept cheap knockoffs.
   When Paris Hilton’s reality show “The Simple Life” premiered in December 2003 on Fox, it averaged a 5.9 rating among viewers 18-49. Last night, facing much less competition, Kathy Hilton’s new NBC reality show pulled less than half the audience that her daughter’s show did.
   “I Want to Be a Hilton,” airing at 9 p.m., averaged a mere 2.5 adults 18-49 rating, losing 5 percent of its lead-in and placing fourth in its timeslot among total viewers and households.
   ABC’s coverage of the NBA Finals led it to a first place finish for the night among viewers 18-49 with a 3.6 average rating and a 10 share, according to overnights. CBS was second for the night at 2.8/8, Fox and NBC tied for third at 2.6/8, and the WB and UPN tied for fifth at 0.7/2.
   Game 6 of the finals averaged a 10.5 household rating, up 5 percent over Game 5 and up 15 percent versus the last Game 6, in 2003. The game peaked at 11:30 p.m. with a 13.8.
   NBC led at 8 p.m. with a 2.6 rating for a “Dateline” episode that featured an interview with the runaway bride. ABC was second with a 2.5 average for a repeat of “My Wife & Kids” (2.4) and an NBA pregame show (2.6), and CBS kicked off the three-hour special “AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes,” which averaged a 2.3 during the hour.
   At 9 p.m. the actual finals game began, and ABC was first during the hour with a 3.7 average rating. A repeat of Fox’s “House” averaged a 3.2 rating that hour, while CBS was third with a 2.9 average for its AFI special. NBC averaged a 2.5 for “I Want to Be a Hilton.” 
   ABC continued to lead at 10 p.m. as the finals game wound down, averaging a 4.6 among viewers 18-49. CBS was second that hour with a 3.2 for the last hour of the AFI special and NBC third with a 2.8 for a repeat of “Law & Order: SVU.”
   Among households, ABC led the night with a 6.2 average rating and an 11 share, followed closely by a 6.1/10 for CBS. NBC was third at 5.8/10, Fox fourth at 4.4/8, the WB fifth at 1.4/2 and UPN sixth at 1.3/2.  

'Nightline' gets post-Koppel extreme makeover
The future of “Nightline” after anchor Ted Koppel’s December departure remains uncertain, but until he’s gone, ABC will play with the late-night news show’s format to see if it can be revived. On Monday and Friday nights, ABC will tweak the 11:35 p.m. show’s traditional single-topic focus by adding multiple topics in each episode, more pop culture coverage and multiple anchors. Koppel himself only anchors three nights per week. The question is whether ABC can find the right formula to justify keeping the long-slumping show on the air. For the week ended June 12, “Nightline” averaged only 3.2 million total viewers and a 1.0 18-49 rating, well behind NBC and CBS’s late-night shows. Only a few years ago ABC tried to woo CBS’s David Letterman to replace “Nightline.” ABC started the experiment Friday with a show dedicated to Father’s Day. The network reportedly shot at least one pilot for a revamped show earlier this year but has insisted since Koppel said earlier this year he was leaving that “Nightline” would continue.

Report: Jann & Janice at Us reach contract deal 
Us Weekly has done quite well under editor Janice Min since predecessor Bonnie Fuller jumped to American Media, with rising ad pages and circulation. With the celebrity weekly market extremely competitive and about to get moreso with Britain’s U.S. version of OK! looming, Us parent Wenner Media wanted to make sure Min wouldn’t run off. Jann Wenner and Min have agreed to a deal to keep her at the magazine for two more years, Keith Kelly reports in today's New York Post. Kelly says Min’s new deal, which has not been signed yet, could pay her $1.2 million plus bonuses, even more than Fuller is making as editorial director at AMI. Us told Media Life it had no comment this morning. Us ad pages are up 24.6 percent year-to-date through May, according to the latest numbers from the Publishers Information Bureau.

Fox's 'Celebrity Idol,' for those left off NBC's show
Lesson: if you rip an idea from Fox, the network will steal it right back. A few days ago NBC fast-tracked “I'm a Celebrity but I Want to Be a Pop Star,” a singing competition similar to Fox’s “American Idol.” Now Fox is producing a similar show, “Celebrity Idol,” a 10-episode series featuring celebrities singing for a $1 million prize that will be donated to charity. The network says the show had been discussed well before NBC's show was announced. "Celebrity Idol" will be produced by the same team behind “Idol” and may even feature host Ryan Seacrest and judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul. The show could air this fall. NBC’s show should premiere later this summer. Neither has any stars lined up yet. In other programming, E! will launch a daily morning music video show called “The Daily Blend” on July 18 at 8 a.m. Next week Starz will begin production on “1st Amendment Stand-Up,” a comedy show airing on Starz InBlack in September. Doug Williams will host the show, which will include comedians Tommy Chunn, Joey Diaz, D'Militant and others. And AMC is producing a four-hour Western miniseries called “Daughters of Joy,” which actor Robert Duvall will produce and star in.

Tribune Co.: We've settled with most advertisers 
After last year’s circulation-puffing scandal at Newsday and Hoy, Tribune Co. will be all square with most advertisers by the end of the month. Yesterday Tribune Co. chief executive Dennis FitzSimons told attendees at the Newspaper Association of America’s Mid-Year Review in Manhattan that Newsday had reached settlements with more than 33,000 advertisers, including at least 80 percent of its biggest advertisers. Ad revenue this year is down just 7 percent at Newsday despite circulation adjustments of 15 to 17 percent. The deals reportedly cost some $90 million. Newsday reports today that Tribune will not lower future advertising rates as a result of the scandal and that Tribune expects to report smaller circulation declines when the latest numbers are released later this year.

Study: 10 percent of ads may be zapped by 2009
It seems that every other month a study comes out contradicting the last on how hurtful digital video recorders are to advertisers. The latest, released by research firm Accenture today, says that by 2009, they could be pretty hurtful. According to the study, about 10 percent of television ads will be zapped by DVRs four years from now. That’s assuming that many more U.S. homes add TiVo-like technology. Currently 8 percent have DVRs, but Accenture expects that to jump to 40 percent over the next four years. The report says that ad skipping could cost some $6 billion to U.S. advertisers. Currently about 2 percent of ads are zapped.