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ABC’s live coverage of the Academy Awards ceremony dominated Sunday night programming. According to preliminary numbers, ABC averaged a household rating nearly triple that of its closest competitors and more than double its closest adult 18-49 competitor. But because of the nature of live events, the numbers below are derived from time period averages, not the programs themselves. For those on the West Coast, the schedule was the reverse of the East Coast, with the Academy Awards beginning at 5:30 p.m., and the “Barbara Walters Special” running during primetime afterwards. On the counter-programming side, Fox was the most successful network with its repeat of “True Lies.” Fox finished second for the night in both households and adults 18-49. NBC ran a very distant last place with NBA coverage and “Homicide: The Movie.” The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Sunday night were: ABC 22.0/33 and 14.2, Fox 7.9/12 and 6.1, CBS 7.8/12 and 4.1, and NBC 3.1/5 and 1.5. Meanwhile on Friday, ABC gave up on finding effective sitcoms and simply expanded “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” by a half-hour. The gambit worked too, as ABC pulled off wins in both households and adults 18-49 for the night. CBS placed second among adults 18-49 with its coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, and NBC finished second in households with “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.” Fox finished last, as the “Lone Gunmen” continued to slide in the ratings. The “X-Files” spinoff lost over 35 percent of its lead-in rating from “Police Videos.” On Saturday night, things are getting predictable. CBS won the night in households, Fox placed second, ABC third, and NBC fourth. In yet another sad story about the XFL, ABC’s coverage of the “World Figure Skating Championships” trounced NBC’s extreme football league on Saturday. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Friday night were: ABC 9.4/17 and 4.1, NBC 8.2/14 and 3.7, CBS 6.5/12 and 4.0, and Fox 4.3/8 and 3.0.
AOL-TW: We're going to
take on MTV
Rumors that AOL Time Warner is looking to challenge MTV with a cable music
network of its own are solidifying, with reports appearing over the
weekend that the media giant will launch a channel called AOL Music late
this year or early in 2002. Such a play would allow the newly-merged
company to ply a number of new synergies across its music, television and
online divisions. Rather than debut as a channel in its own right, it is
likely that AOL Music would begin life as a programming block on another
Turner Networks channel such as TNT, according to a report on MSNBC.com.
Turner has tried before to compete with MTV without success, launching the
Cable Music Channel in 1984 only to fold it almost immediately. But AOL
Music has a variety of advantages that channel lacked, including
experience: AOL-TW co-COO Robert Pittman was one of three co-founders of
MTV.
Viacom swipes AOL-TW
brain-truster Bressler
A seismic power shift took place over the weekend at AOL Time Warner as
Richard Bressler, chief financial officer of Time Warner and a close
friend of CEO Gerald Levin, resigned from the company. Bressler, who was
reportedly one of the key brokers of the AOL-Time Warner merger that was
completed earlier this year, is said to be headed for an executive job at
rival Viacom after getting out of a no-compete clause. Some observers
think his departure signals a diminishment of Levin’s clout at AOL Time
Warner and a corresponding rise in chairman Steve Case’s pull. AOL CFO
Ken Novak will take over Bressler’s duties.
Academy Awards
winners for those who dozed off
"Gladiator" won the award for best picture at last night’s 73rd Annual Academy Awards, which
aired live on ABC. The movie won the most awards overall, picking up five Oscars including the Best
Actor honor for Russell Crowe’s performance in the film. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and
"Traffic" followed by taking home four Academy Awards apiece, while no other film won more than
one statuette. Steven Soderbergh, nominated for best director for both "Erin
Brockovich" and "Traffic," won for "Traffic," becoming the first director to win the honor while being nominated twice
in the category in the same year. The awards, hosted by Steve Martin, began at 8:30 and
ended close to midnight. For a complete list of this year’s Oscar winners click here.
SF Examiner hints
Chron behind dog-doo plot
San Francisco’s newspaper war has hit a new low as officials at the
Examiner have all but accused their rival, the Hearst-owned Chronicle, of
being behind a disgusting pattern of newspaper box vandalism. According to
a recent report in the Examiner, vandals have been hitting the boxes
between midnight and 3 a.m., smearing dog feces into the coin slots and
onto the rack handles. Though no direct accusation has been made, all
signs point to competitive foul play, according to the Examiner report.
"The growing amounts of the
feces suggests a concerted operation to gather and store
the droppings," notes Examiner reporter Nick Driver. "It
would not surprise me to see the Chronicle behind these dirty
tricks," Examiner publisher Ted Fang was quoted as saying.
Vince's WWF buys
rope-a-doped
WCW
The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) is buying the ailing rival professional wrestling league, the World Championship Wrestling
(WCW), from AOL Time Warner, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The sale consolidates the World Wrestling Federation's position as the only major producer of scripted TV wrestling programs and eliminates
its major competitor of the last 20 years. Details of the deal are sketchy,
but sources within the companies told the paper the WWF will acquire a film library dating back to the 1970s and merchandise, as well as some production and exercise equipment. The WCW was almost sold to Fusient Media Ventures recently,
but the deal was cancelled after Turner Broadcasting decided to drop the WCW’s wrestling shows from TBS and TNT.
'Survivor's' Alicia:
Kimmi was a pain
"Survivor: The Australian Outback’s" most recent castaway, Alicia Calaway, is speaking out
about her experience on the top-rated reality show. The Manhattan fitness trainer, who
was known for her hard body and bad-ass attitude, recently revealed to TV Guide
Online that her biggest challenge on the show was dealing with fellow tribe member Kimmi Kappenberg. "The
hardest part of Survivor for me was outlasting Kimmi," Calaway told the magazine. Recalling
the on-screen fight with Kappenberg, an outspoken vegetarian, Calaway said: "One day
Rodger came into the little shelter and said, 'Let's separate one of the chickens to figure out
which one is laying the eggs.' Kimmi just lost her mind and was concerned because the chicken
was going to be lonely. That was the end for me. The moment she said that, a trigger went off
in my head." Calaway also says Kappenberg’s thick Long Island accent was particularly
grating, telling the site, "It was rough 24 hours a day, seven days a week." When asked
how she might fare in a physical fight with her nemesis, Calaway went straight for the jugular.
"She can't outrun me, so I got her there. But if she catches me, I may be in a little bit of
trouble. She's big."
Access Internet
Magazine trims its web staff
With the dot.com advertising landscape in ruin, Access Internet Magazine
is scaling back various facets of its online operations. Parent company Access Media slashed a quarter of its total payroll, or 21 positions, mainly
from accessmagazine.com, according to Editor and Publisher. The decision seems in part fueled by a seven-figure financial infusion from the company's lead investor, General Atlantic Partners
LLC, which reportedly wants Access Media to focus on print publishing.
Former Washington Post executive and Access board of directors member Tom Ferguson
has been named Access Media's new CEO. He replaces Mike Veitch, who remains as an adviser to the company and board member.
Access Internet Magazine president John Jay and accessmagazine.com
president Larry Sanders will be leaving. Though only online since August, the web site has encountered the rough economic waters of all dot.coms and has had to scale back plans for a national online advertising network and new e-mail products. Other venture investors in Access Media include Sequoia Capital, One Liberty Ventures, and Labrador Ventures. Individual investors include former Time Warner co-CEO N.J. Nicholas Jr. and E-Trade founder Bill Porter.
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