Programming notes: NBC relies on reality in January
Everybody’s pinching pennies in this economy, TV networks included. NBC revealed its January schedule yesterday and it’s mainly filled with cheap-to-produce unscripted fare, including a month-long “Superstars of Dance” reality competition, which kicks off on Jan. 4. The network in January will also launch “The Biggest Loser: Couples” on Jan. 6, a Howie Mandel hidden camera show called “Howie Do It” on Jan. 9, and the third season of “Friday Night Lights” on Jan. 16. “Lights” has been airing on DirecTV already this fall in a money-saving deal. On two Sundays during the month, Jan. 4 and Jan. 18, NBC will air “Saturday Night Live” clip specials, plus the two-night movie “The Last Templar” on Jan. 25 and 26. The network says it will reveal its schedule for February and March at a later date, including which show will get the coveted post-Super Bowl slot in February. Meanwhile, in other programming, the syndicated celebrity news magazine “TMZ” has been renewed for two more seasons on Fox Television Stations, meaning it will run through at least 2011. The show is averaging a 2.0 household rating so far this season, up 11 percent from last season.

Interep clients CBS and Entercom now in Katz' cradle
And now the latest in the Interep saga: The rep firm’s contracts have officially been canceled, thanks to a $3.64 million payment from Katz Media Group, freeing clients to negotiate new representation. Not coincidentally, by close of business yesterday, Interep’s two biggest clients, CBS Radio and Entercom, had signed on with Katz, Interep’s longtime rival. A new division will be launched to serve those clients, with Jana Cosgrove, Interep’s CBS Radio Sales president, overseeing it. Also yesterday, radio-only employees at Interep, which is in Chapter 7 proceedings under Kenneth Silverman’s trusteeship, were told to stay home today as the firm continues to close up shop. The company had been in trouble for several years after losing contracts for major station groups like Cumulus and Citadel to Clear Channel-owned Katz.

Star Tribune settles $300K EEOC harassment lawsuit
In the past year and a half, the Minneapolis Star Tribune has laid off more than 200 employees and struggled with slumping ad sales and circulation. Now it has another big problem – a pricey sexual harassment lawsuit. The Star Tribune will pay $300,000 to settle a suit filed two months ago by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accusing the newspaper of creating a sexually hostile work environment for women in the printing plant mailroom. The newspaper has continued to dispute the EEOC’s claims but said in a statement yesterday that it agreed to the settlement in order to save the time and money involved in going to court. The paper disputes “the EEOC's assertions that the behavior rose to the level of being unlawful and that the Star Tribune did not take appropriate steps to address the situation.” Since the issue arose, the paper has held anti-harassment training for management.

Nielsen: Fewer households are unprepared for digital
As the analog-to-digital changeover continues to creep closer, the percentage of U.S. households that are completely unready for the switch is getting lower. As of November, according to a Nielsen study released yesterday, 7.4 percent of households are totally unready, down from 7.7 percent in October. The percentage of partially unready households declined to 10.3 percent, down from 10.7 percent last month. Hispanic households continue to lag the national average, perhaps due to language barriers. The percent of Hispanic households that are completely unready is 12.4 percent, the same as last month, while among non-Hispanic households that number dropped from 7.1 to 6.7 percent. Older households, on the other hand, are seeing greater readiness, with the percent of households with adult head of household age 55 or older that are completely unready shrinking from 6.4 percent to 5.9 percent. The digital changeover will occur on Feb. 17, 2009.

Correction: ABC held sweeps lead through Sunday
November sweeps standings referenced in yesterday’s edition of Media Life (“CBS gets late-hour lift in sweeps race”) were incorrect. Entering Monday night, ABC and CBS were not tied; ABC held a 0.2 lead with a 3.2 average adults 18-49 rating to CBS’s 3.0. Media Life regrets the error.

Report: Online retail spending dips for the first time
The struggling economy isn’t just having an effect on big-box retailers and shopping malls. For the first time ever, online retail spending is down, according to online researcher comScore. Internet spending dropped 4 percent in the first 23 days of November compared with the same period in 2007. According to comScore, $8.2 billion was spent at internet retailers in that span compared with the $8.5 billion during the same period last year. ComScore originally forecast that online retail spending during November and December would be flat this year compared with last, which saw $29.2 billion spent at internet retailers, a 19 percent growth rate. Apparently only holiday spending is down because between January and October, online retail spending was up by 9 percent compared with the same period last year. ComScore blamed low consumer confidence and tight disposable income on the recent online retail spending decline.

Hitwise: Still, a better Black Friday may be in offing
While most of the news these days about retail sales, both on- and offline, has been gloomy, there is a bit of good news out there. Traffic to Black Friday advertising sites is up compared to last year. In recent years, Thanksgiving Day has been the biggest day of the year when it comes to online traffic to the Retail 500 category, according to online measurement firm Hitwise. Traffic has been particularly strong to web sites of brick-and-mortar stores on this day as consumers investigate what sales will be in the offing on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Visits to the Black Friday advertising website category grew 58 percent in the week ending Nov. 22 compared to the week before Thanksgiving last year. What’s more, shoppers are then surfing over to the retailers’ web sites. While this may not ultimately result in sales, Hitwise believes it does show that consumers are interested in the Black Friday specials.

Study: More e-tailers offering Cyber Monday deals
There’s little need for savvy shoppers to get up at 3 a.m. to hit the stores Friday just to save a few dollars on the after-Thanksgiving sales. Cyber Monday is starting to inspire the same sorts of deals online. Nearly 84 percent of internet retailers are planning on a special sales promotion this coming Monday, which is seen as the kickoff to the online holiday shopping season. That’s according to a survey by the online shopping site Shopzilla conducted for Shop.org, the online division of the National Retail Federation. That’s compared to 72 percent of retailers who planned Cyber Monday deals in 2007. Another tip for internet shoppers? Don’t pay for shipping. Almost a quarter of online retailers say they plan to offer free shipping on all purchases in an effort to boost sales in these tough economic times.

Blockbuster deal: On-demand films sent to your TV
Blockbuster is trying to woo Netflix subscribers with a new on-demand service that expands on its rival’s latest digital media player. The new service is an expansion of Blockbuster's Movielink.com web site, which offers about 10,000 on-demand movies for download to personal computers. MediaPoint, made by broadband device maker 2Wire, allows Blockbuster customers to download high-definition quality movies to their TVs via broadband lines for $1.99 each. Of course, that’s after paying an initial $99 for the box and 25 films. The new service is available at http://www.blockbuster.com. Users have 30 days to watch a downloaded movie, but they must finish watching the film within 24 hours of actually starting it. So long as they have the right equipment, the service will be open to those who don’t subscribe to Blockbuster Online, one difference between MediaPoint and Netflix’ on-demand service, Watch Instantly.