|
|
Fox won last night in both households and adults 18-49, thanks to Game 2 of the World Series. Without adjusting for time zone differences, the game averaged a preliminary 12.0/18 household rating and share and 7.0 adult 18-49 rating from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Fox also won all of its half-hours on the night among adults 18-49, starting with “Futurama” at 7 p.m., and every hour except 7 p.m. in households, when CBS’s “60 Minutes” won. At 10 p.m., CBS’s movie “The Wedding Dress” won households and ABC’s “The Practice” won among adults 18-49. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Sunday night were: Fox 11.6/18 and 6.8, CBS 9.6/15 and 3.8, NBC 7.2/11 and 3.7, and ABC 6.3/10 and 4.4. Over the weekend, Game 1 of the World Series paid off for Fox on Saturday night as well. The game averaged a preliminary 10.0/18 household rating and share and 5.0 adult 18-49 rating. Picking up the audience scraps were CBS, which placed second in households, and ABC, which placed second among adults 18-49 with a repeat of the feature film “My Best Friend’s Wedding.” On Friday, the burning question is how long CBS will let “The Ellen Show” languish before finally canceling it. The move to 8:30 p.m. didn’t help much this weekend, as “The Ellen Show” dropped 21 percent of the lead-in audience from a repeat of “King of Queens.” Its lead-out, “That’s Life,” rebounded at 9 p.m., gaining back most of the audience that had left during “The Ellen Show.” Meanwhile on ABC, “The Radio Music Awards” underperformed the network’s already underperforming Friday night to finish the evening third in households and second among adults 18-49. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Friday night were: NBC 9.3/17 and 3.8, CBS 5.5./10 and 2.1, ABC 3.8/7 and 2.6, and Fox 3.0/5 and 2.2. For Saturday night: Fox 10.0/18 and 5.0, CBS 6.1/11 and 2.2, ABC 5.4/10 and 3.1, and NBC 3.8/7 and 1.9.
EchoStar agrees to buy DirecTV for $25.8B
In a deal that promises to change the face of the pay-TV business, General Motors Corp. agreed yesterday to sell Hughes Electronics, home of the DirecTV satellite service, to rival EchoStar Communications. The transaction takes the form of an extremely complicated "reverse merger," with about $25.8 billion in cash and stock changing hands. With nearly 17 million subscribers, the merged company will have a virtual monopoly in the satellite television business, controlling more than 90 percent of the market. As such, the merger is expected to face intense scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission despite the strongly pro-consolidation stance of the agency's chairman, Michael Powell. In sealing the deal, EchoStar beat out News Corp., which walked away from negotiations on Saturday night.
Examiner publisher axed by dear old mom
On top of all the other abuse that regularly gets hurled at him, the San Francisco Examiner's Ted Fang now has to put up with the shame of having been fired by his mom. Thirty-eight years after giving birth to him, Florence Fang, chairman of the family-owned newspaper chain, announced her son's ouster in a four-paragraph news release on Friday. Florence Fang will take over as publisher while Ted is on "administrative leave," though he retains his spot on the Examiner's board of directors. Fang had already become something of a laughingstock in the newspaper business for his role in what was widely seen as a fig leaf deal that allowed Hearst Corp. to skirt antitrust regulations and buy the San Francisco Chronicle. Under the deal, Hearst sold the Examiner to the Fangs and agreed to pay them a $67 million "subsidy" to run the paper for three years. Despite the financial backing, the Examiner has been hit with a $1.4 million lawsuit filed by seven construction companies who say the paper owes them for remodeling work.
NBC benches 'Emeril' and 'Schwartz' for sweeps
After struggling through October, freshman comedies "Emeril" and "Inside Schwartz" are heading to the bench for the duration of November sweeps, with NBC saying it plans to put them back on the air in December. Reruns of other NBC comedies, a Jennifer Lopez concert special and an hourlong "Three Sisters" will fill the vacated time slots. Though most TV critics predicted a rapid death for the comedy cooking show built around the real-life Food Network chef Emeril Lagasse, it initially earned a respectable 6.1 rating and 10 share for the premiere. It has slipped considerably since then to below a 5 rating and last in its 8 p.m. Tuesday slot among adults 18-49. "Emeril's" other network competition is Fox's "That '70s Show," CBS's "JAG," and ABC's "Dharma and Greg." "Schwartz" has also disappointed, dropping 30 percent or so of the audience for its lead-in, "Friends."
Questions raised over ABC's bin Laden interview
You might call it "the war behind the war": One news organization wrangles a coveted "get" with a personage much in demand, and competing news outlets immediately question the means used to obtain the interview. The most recent example of this followed the appearance of Carmen bin Laden, estranged sister-in-law of Osama bin Laden, on ABC's "PrimeTime Thursday" last week. It emerged afterwards that bin Laden had originally planned to be interviewed by Dan Rather on CBS but had called off the interview when the network balked at a list of conditions presented by her lawyer. Among the conditions, according to one report, was the right to prescreen the footage and edit out anything objectionable. Bin Laden also wanted to be portrayed as being in sympathy with the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and unambiguous about condemning the attacks. She approached ABC News only after being rebuffed by CBS. ABC News and bin Laden’s lawyer have both denied that the network accepted any conditions. Recently, CNN was criticized for submitting a list of questions to Osama bin Laden via Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite news network of the Arab world. Normally, news standards prohibit interview subjects from seeing lists of questions beforehand. CNN has tried to play down the episode by saying that it does not expect bin Laden to respond to the overture.
We're shocked: 'Spin City' plans lesbian kiss
It's sweeps month again, and you know what that means nowadays: time for two hot babes to swap spit. This time around Heather Locklear and guest star Denise Richards will lock lips on ABC's "Spin City." The trend that for some reason began with Roseanne and Mariel Hemingway on "Roseanne" over ten years ago has since included Calista Flockhart and Lucy Liu on "Ally McBeal" and Jennifer Aniston and Winona Ryder on "Friends." Locklear had only kind words for her time with former Bond girl Richards. "I knew how sexy Denise was," said Locklear, according to the New York Daily News. "When it [the kiss] really happened, I have never felt such beautiful, soft lips in my life. I fell in love." Richards is no stranger to on-camera interludes with the same sex. She made out with former "Party of Five" star Neve Campbell during a three-way romp with Matt Dillon in the 1998 feature film "Wild Things."
October 29, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
Send to a
Friend| Printer-Friendly Version
Cover Page | Contact
Us
