Broadway lays an egg: Tonys tumble on Sunday
  If last year’s Tony Awards slumped among viewers 18-49, Sunday night’s show positively bombed. It was down 7 percent from last year’s already anemic 1.5 adults 18-49 average to a 1.4 for CBS, according to Nielsen overnights.
   The show also matched last year’s worst-ever 4.6 household rating and averaged 6.62 million viewers, up slightly versus last year’s 6.46 million.
   The weakness of the awards dropped CBS to a fourth-place finish Sunday night among 18-49s with a 1.5 average and a 4 share. Fox and ABC tied for first at 2.6/8, with NBC third at 1.5/4 and the WB fifth at 0.8/2.
   CBS actually started primetime in the lead among 18-49s with a 1.8 rating for “60 Minutes.” ABC was second that hour with a 1.7 for a repeat of “Dancing With the Stars” and Fox third with a 1.6 average for repeats of “Malcolm in the Middle” (1.3) and “King of the Hill” (1.9).
   Fox jumped into the lead at 8 p.m. with a 2.9 average for back-to-back reruns of “The Simpsons.” ABC was second with a 2.8 average for a rerun of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and NBC third with a 2.2 for “Dateline.”
   Fox led again at 9 p.m., this time with a 3.3 average for the combination of “Family Guy” (3.7) and “American Dad” (3.0). ABC was second with a 3.1 for a “Desperate Housewives” rerun and NBC third with a 2.7 for a repeat of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”
   ABC claimed the lead during the last hour of the night, averaging a 2.8 for a repeat of “Grey’s Anatomy” during the 10 p.m. hour. NBC was second with a 2.6 for a repeat of “Crossing Jordan” and CBS, with the wheels already fallen off, was third that hour with a 1.5 average for the last hour of the Tonys.
   Among households, NBC led the night with a 5.6 average rating and a 10 share. CBS was second for the night at 5.2/9, with ABC third at 4.4/8, NBC fourth at 3.4/6 and the WB fifth at 1.2/2.

Looking to Shapiro's exit, NBC shakes up 'News'
NBC News still hasn’t commented on reports surfacing two weeks ago that president Neal Shapiro is on his way out, but sometimes actions speak louder than words. Possibly in preparation for Shapiro’s departure, NBC News yesterday moved “Nightly News” producer Steve Capus to senior vice president, the No. 2 spot behind Shapiro. Capus takes the place of Bill Wheatley, who announced his retirement in April. John Reiss, Capus’ top deputy while at “Nightly News,” will slide into the vacated producer role. Capus’ new position will put him in charge of “Nightly News,” breaking news, as well as the ethics and style of NBC News as a whole. Shapiro has been feeling pressure over continually sliding ratings for “Today,” and several have even speculated that NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol could take over the news unit.

CNN plays musical anchors with O'Brien & O'Brien 
The shakeups at CNN continue. Days after the second-place cable news network replaced the executive producers on primetime shows “Anderson Cooper 360” and “Paula Zahn Now” and saw longtime staple “Crossfire” end, it’s making some changes in front of the camera. “American Morning” co-anchor Bill Hemmer, who has been at the network for 10 years, will be replaced by “Live From” host Miles O’Brien. O’Brien will team with Soledad O’Brien (no relation), who joined the show in 2003. Though CNN wanted Hemmer to become chief White House correspondent, he’s decided to pursue an anchor job elsewhere. “Morning’s” viewership has fallen by nearly 20,000 since Soledad joined the show, averaging 462,000 total viewers last month. Among the other on-air changes at CNN: “Morning’s” Jack Cafferty moves to a commentary position on Wolf Blitzer’s newly named afternoon show, “Situation Room.” Blitzer’s show is replacing “Inside Politics,” “Crossfire” and “Wolf Blitzer Reports.”

Court rules there's merit to Disney dissidents' suit
Roy E. Disney and Stanley P. Gold will get their day in court. A Delaware Chancery court ruled yesterday that a lawsuit filed against Walt Disney by the two former Disney board members over the selection of new CEO Bob Iger can proceed. Disney had motioned for a dismissal, claiming the suit had no merit. Disney and Gold claim that Disney did not seriously consider outside candidates during its search for a successor to longtime CEO Michael Eisner earlier this year and thus its board made false statements to shareholders. The Disney dissidents, who led a shareholder revolt against Eisner last year, want Disney’s board of directors voided, a new CEO search begun, and full disclosure of how the new CEO is chosen. The trial will start in August.

Voom debacle will cost Cablevision $130 million
Cablevision’s Voom satellite service will soon be just a bad memory, if a very expensive one. Yesterday the company said in a regulatory filing that it will cost up to $130 million to shut down the controversial service. Cablevision founder Chuck Dolan had hoped to keep it alive even after the Cablevision board sold off a satellite to EchoStar. But after Dolan dismissed four board members opposed to the plan in March, hoping to fund the project out of his own pocket, the board eventually killed the venture. Cablevision will receive roughly $200 million for the EchoStar deal, which will help offset the more than $100 million Cablevision will lose from contract terminations and employee benefit payouts.

NBC Universal gives 'Blind Date' another chance 
NBC Universal knows exactly what it’s getting with “Blind Date:” A once-strong reality show that has seen its ratings slip over the past year. It wants the show back nonetheless. The syndicated program has been renewed for a seventh season despite household ratings declines of 25 percent this year. The show is averaging a 1.2 household rating, though NBC Universal thinks it can perk back if it can grab one of the plum daytime timeslots opening up in many markets this season thanks to several syndie cancellations. NBC Universal has also renewed three weekly syndicated shows, “The Wall Street Journal Report,” “The Chris Matthews Show” and “The George Michael Sports Machine,” which will enter its 22nd year. In other programming, the UPN reality series “R U The Girl” in which TLC searches for another member will premiere July 27 at 8 p.m. Discovery’s new weekday show “Go Ahead, Make My Dinner,” about two competing chefs, will launch June 27 at noon. VH1 has ordered 10 episodes of “The Agency,” a reality show that chronicles booking agents at the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency. And WGN has ordered a fall series called “Race Car Driver” about Canadian racer Paul Tracy.