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adds six new series Other shorts: FCC tunes into minority PPM beefs May 19, 2009 Upfront buzz: CBS orders six new series Staid CBS may be readying to rip up its schedule. The latest upfront buzz has the network ordering six new shows, more than the most stable of the Big Five networks usually picks up, and nearly all of them built around a well-known TV or movie actress. Four dramas, a comedy and one unscripted series have gotten the go-ahead from CBS. The “NCIS” spinoff, considered a likely go since it was first mentioned months ago, will star Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J after airing a backdoor pilot earlier this month. In another drama, “ER’s” Julianna Margulies returns to work in “The Good Wife.” “Moonlight’s” Alex O’Loughlin plays the lead in “Three Rivers,” a medical drama, as is the new “Miami Trauma” from producer Jerry Bruckheimer (“CSI”). And Jenna Elfman of “Dharma & Greg” stars in the new comedy, “Accidentally on Purpose.” The new reality series, “Undercover Boss,” sends high-powered executives undercover as underlings in their company. Among returning shows, “Cold Case” has been renewed, while “Without a Trace” is under consideration for midseason, as is “Rules of Engagement.” Meanwhile, Fox pushed back the start time for World Series games to just before 8 p.m., the first time since 1971 that the games will begin that early. And NBC reportedly renewed “Law & Order” for a 20th season, putting it in a tie with “Gunsmoke” for the longest-running series on television. The network will announce its fall schedule later today. FCC tunes into minority beefs over Arbitron PPM Media people have long supported a better way to track radio listenership, and most have supported the rollout of Arbitron's portable people meter as a vast improvement over the old paper diary system it's intended to replace. But a lot of station owners are far less happy as they see ratings adjusted, often downward, and most aggrieved are owners of minority stations, who have long complained that the PPM undercounts their listeners. Their complaints have now found a willing listener in the Federal Communications Commission, which yesterday issued what's known as a notice of inquiry titled "Impact of Arbitron Audience Ratings Measurements on Radio Broadcasters." In a release, the FCC notes: "Broadcasters, particularly minority broadcasters, have raised serious concerns that the PPM methodology is flawed and that its undercounting of minority audiences will harm diversity and competition by harming the revenues of minority and urban-formatted broadcasters." The FCC will examine Arbitron’s sample as it reflects the makeup of radio listenership at large and whether the PPM system is more accurate than the old diaries. In theory, an unfavorable finding by the FCC could lead to a ban on the use of the PPM by broadcasters, but that would seem most unlikely. One point of contention is whether the FCC even has the power to investigate the PPM. Technically it does not. In justifying the notice of inquiry members argue that the agency has a stake in the accuracy of the system, since it relies on its data for a lot of the rulings and reports it issues. Arbitron, for its part, says it's open to hearings on the PPM's superiority over paper diaries. The ratings service has already reached agreements with New York and New Jersey over charges that the PPM undercounts minorities. Comcast and NFL Network close in on deal Football’s most heated rivalry isn’t Redskins-Cowboys or Patriots-Colts. It’s NFL-Comcast, and it looks like it could finally be cooling off after years of discord. Barely a month after Comcast threatened to black out the NFL Network in their long-running carriage dispute, the two sides are nearing a deal that would not only avoid future blackouts but also take the network off a premium tier and put it on the basic one where the NFL has long argued it belongs. Comcast had balked at placing the NFL Network on that tier and having to pay the steep per-subscriber fees to the league, saying that its programming appealed only to a specialized group of cable subscribers and thus belonged on a sports tier. But the NFL Network, which has rights to a series of regular-season games, argued that its appeal included a wide swath of viewers and should be available to them. If the two sides do reach a deal to put the NFL Network on basic, with the network reportedly lowering its per-subscriber asking price by 20 cents, that could help it gain much wider distribution, as the deal will pave the way for similar agreements with other cable operators. The NFL Network launched six years ago. Critics: Redesign makes magazine 'Newsweak' It was almost too easy. After the newly redesigned Newsweek hit newsstand yesterday, with its new focus on analysis and features at the expense of breaking news, the New York Post immediately dubbed the magazine “Newsweak.” Indeed, with Tina Brown’s feature on Nancy Pelosi, editor Jon Meacham’s interview with President Barack Obama, and a redesigned front section with much shorter news bytes, the new Newsweek is earning comparison to The Economist and reads “more like a monthly magazine than a newsweekly,” according to The Huffington Post’s Danny Shea. Proclaims the NY Post: “If yesterday's issue of Newsweek truly reflects the weekly magazine's new world order, the publishers should consider dropping the word ‘news’ from the title.” The new look is part of a plan to reduce the magazine’s rate base and raise the price for subscriptions while also becoming more relevant in a web-driven world. That seismic shift has sent shockwaves through the newsweekly category. Two years ago Time switched its publishing schedule to become more of a forward-looking weekend read. U.S. News & World Report has abandoned weekly publishing altogether, as ad pages in the category continue to sink. According to the Publishers Information Bureau, ad pages for the five major newsweeklies, which also include The Economist and The Week, dipped 25 percent during first quarter compared to last year. Supremes: We'll hear Sir Black's conviction appeal Conrad Black, the former Canadian tycoon, was accused by prosecutors of looting his media empire as if it were his personal piggy bank, taking more than $5.5 million from Hollinger International, parent of The Chicago Sun-Times and a slew of other papers in the U.S. and Canada. It's a charge Black, now sitting in a Florida prison cell, has vigorously denied, and yesterday he learned that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear his case. In appealing his conviction, Black, who gained a knighthood a few years back, is arguing that the federal government never proved that he actually looted Hollinger International, the company he controlled, instead winning its case on the far weaker argument that he somehow deprived the company of his honest services by not gaining the approval of its board for what Black terms management fees (the disputed $5.5 million and change). So there was really no fraud after all, his lawyers argue. At issue is a federal law that expanded the notion of criminal fraud to include not just tangible assets, such as money, but of services that person has contracted for. This would apply, for example, to a public official holding a no-show job. The law has come under attack as a crutch for prosecutors unable to win cases on outright fraud. Black was sentenced to 6-1/2 years in prison two years ago after being convicted on three counts of mail fraud and a count of obstruction of justice. His lawyers are seeking to overturn that conviction, which would likely lead to a new trial.
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