Pull out the gloves: Leno and WGA battle over rules Is Jay Leno allowed to write his own monologues during the continuing strike? That’s the root of the latest skirmish between the Writers Guild of America and the NBC late-night host, who returned to the air Wednesday with the rest of the talkers after nearly three months away. Leno delivered a self-penned monologue his first two nights, causing the WGA to accuse the guild member of breaking strike rules. But Leno, in a statement released by NBC, insisted he’s doing nothing wrong according to the WGA’s most recent contract. Leno and the WGA have spoken about the issue, though neither side seems likely to budge. The disagreement could result in a fine or loss of membership. Leno and the union have had an up-and-down few months. The comedian has voiced support for the strike and brought donuts to picketing writers as it began. But the WGA criticized his decision to return to the air, prompted by NBC’s threat to start laying off non-writing staff, and picketed in front of his studio on Wednesday.   Fox sees slight ratings dip after BCS game blowouts Before Kansas’ thrilling 24-21 victory over Virginia Tech in last night’s Orange Bowl, there had not been a competitive Bowl Championship Series game, with Georgia and West Virginia winning in blowouts. No surprise, that has led to a slight ratings dip versus last year. Fox’s coverage of the first two BCS games, Tuesday’s Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Hawaii and Wednesday’s Fiesta Bowl between West Virginia and Oklahoma, averaged a 7.3 household rating and 11.9 million total viewers, off slightly from a 7.7 and 12.2 million viewers for the first two BCS games a year ago. Georgia won 41-10 and West Virginia came out on top 48-28. But among true football fans who’ll stay tuned no matter what the score, Fox is still pacing ahead of last year. The network is up 9 percent among men 18-34, 5 percent among men 18-49, 11 percent among viewers 18-34 and 5 percent among viewers 18-49.   In 2007, ABC had the most-watched evening news Charles Gibson has helped ABC do something it hadn’t done in more than a decade, albeit barely. He’s beaten NBC. In his first full year as anchor of ABC’s “World News,” Gibson’s broadcast averaged 8.39 million total viewers, a 5.8/12 rating and share among households and a 2.1/9 among viewers 25-54, giving the network its first yearly win in total viewers and the demos since 1996. Gibson’s newscast edged NBC’s “Nightly News with Brian Williams,” which finished the year averaging 8.30 million total viewers, a 5.7/12 among households and a 2.1/8 among 25-54s. “World News” was up 4 percent among total viewers in 2007 versus the previous year, while NBC slipped 13 percent versus 2006. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is that CBS’s “Evening News with Katie Couric” remains in third place, ending 2007 averaging 6.44 million total viewers, a 4.5/9 among households and a 1.6/7 among 25-54s. The Couric-led newscast was off 6 percent year-to-year among total viewers.   Chinese government cracks down on video sharing Video sharing sites may be all the rage around the world, but they aren’t catching on with the Chinese authorities. The Chinese government has just issued new rules to restrict video streaming sites. The aim is to restrict sexually explicit and political content from the web and to avoid having state secrets revealed or material of questionable moral fiber broadcast. The regulations say that only government-controlled entities will be able to put videos on the web. So far it is unclear exactly what the implications of these rules will be for foreign sites. The rules, which will come into effect on Jan. 31, say that to post audio-visual content, a site must apply for a license. To get such a license the organization must be state controlled. The campaigning group Reporters without Borders has previously labeled China as an enemy of the internet, claiming that it uses advanced filtering techniques and monitoring to prevent free expression.   Radical artists' nuclear TV prank mushrooms into trial Nuclear weapons are no joke, and that’s a message a group of six radical artists in the Czech Republic will hear a-plenty during their upcoming trial. Prosecutors said yesterday that the six will face charges for a political prank pulled last year on a local TV station. Back in June the artists, part of the Ztohoven collective that tries to penetrate public spaces with its messages, spliced footage of a nuclear explosion with a live shot of the Krkonose mountains while it aired on the TV station CT2. The stunt set off a panic, and callers flooded the TV station’s switchboard, some believing nuclear war was underway. In a statement, Ztohoven said, “We are neither a terrorist organization nor a political group. Our aim is not to intimidate society or manipulate it, which is something we witness on a daily basis both in the real world and that created by the media. On June 17, 2007, [we] attacked the space of TV broadcasting, distorting it, questioning its truthfulness and its credibility.” For its effort, the six artists responsible face six years behind bars for spreading false information.