Here & there
TVB: Q1 advertising off 11.9 percent
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Jun 15, 2009 - 1:02:45 AM

TVB: Q1 broadcast revenue falls 11.9 percent
Automotive advertising on broadcast TV drove off a cliff during first quarter, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising. Spending plunged 52.1 percent, from $698.6 million to $334.8 million, despite hanging on to the No. 1 position in the ad category. Car and truck dealers were also off significantly, 39.6 percent, though they still ranked No. 4. Overall, broadcast TV spending was off 11.9 percent during first quarter compared to last year, to $10,496,127 from $11,918,357, based on a TVB analysis of TNS Media Intelligence/CMR data. Spot TV took the biggest dip, down 27.6 percent, from $3.97 billion to $2.88 billion. Network TV dipped 4.8 percent, from $6.85 billion to $6.52 billion. Syndicated television was the only media category to see a rise, up 0.2 percent from $1.097 billion to $1.099 billion. Across all media, including TV, radio, magazines, newspapers and more, first quarter was equally bad, down anywhere from 12 to 15 percent, according to different estimates.

Run for the Roses: ESPN grabs bowl game
And you thought “SportsCenter” aired a lot of Rose Bowl clips before. Starting in 2011, every Bowl Championship Series game will be on cable, with ESPN securing the rights to the Rose Bowl, following its acquisition of the other BCS games starting in two years. The Rose Bowl currently airs on ABC, which will broadcast the game next year, when it also happens to host the BCS title game. After that, college football’s five biggest games will all air on ESPN, marking the first time the championship has been decided on cable. ESPN announced the Rose Bowl deal Friday, though it did not disclose any terms. ESPN acquired the other BCS games after Fox decline to match its offer, but the Rose Bowl negotiates its rights deal separately from the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls.  

Makeover time: TV Guide Channel lays off 38
There may be less roar for TV Guide Channel under new owner Lionsgate. The network laid off 38 staffers over the weekend, mostly those working on its original shows, as it apparently readies to focus on acquiring shows rather than producing them. John Fugelsang and Teresa Strasser, the hosts of the weekly talk show “TV Watercooler,” have been dismissed and the show has been nixed. “Hollywood 411” is going from a daily to a weekly program, and weekly show “Infanity” will be downgraded to a series of specials, with all the changes slated to begin next week. Earlier this year, Macrovision sold TV Guide Channel to Lionsgate, which recently sold a 49 percent stake to One Equity Partners. It’s part of an apparent strategy change for the network, which recently acquired reruns of “Punk’d” and also attempted to get “Entourage” reruns, though it was outbid by Spike.

Programming notes: Convicts in Canada's kitchens
“Hell’s Kitchen” meets “Prison Break?” That’s what a new reality series from Canadian broadcast company Citytv sounds like. In “Conviction Kitchen,” ex-cons with no cooking skills take part in a culinary boot camp and then staff a high-class Toronto restaurant. Shooting for the series hasn’t been going on for long, but already there’s drama. One of the ex-cons was released after threatening the restaurant co-owner when he was told to cut his hair, while another was let go when he was caught using drugs in the back of the kitchen. The series is set to premiere in the fall. Meanwhile, in other programming, CBS has ordered three more episodes of “I Get That a Lot,” in which celebrities work low-paying jobs and try to fool customers. The network aired an episode of the show as a special on April Fools Day. Also, Reveille Productions has picked up the U.S. rights to “The Nightshift,” an Icelandic sitcom about the graveyard shift at a gas station. The production company is still looking for a network for the series.

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