News Shorts

World Series sweep for Fox
Game three of the World Series swept last night for Fox, winning every half-hour in both households and adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m. Without adjusting for time zone differences, the game averaged a 14.5/21 household rating and share and a 7.4 adult 18-49 rating. CBS finished second for the night in households, while NBC placed second among adults 18-49. The surprise success was ABC’s rebroadcast of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and “Boo! To You, Winnie the Pooh” from 8-9 p.m. Both holiday cartoons finished second behind the World Series among adults 18-49 for the hour, defeating new episodes of NBC’s “Emeril” and “Three Sisters” and CBS’s “JAG” in the demographic. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Tuesday night were: Fox 14.5/21 and 7.4, CBS 10.0/15 and 4.0, NBC 7.2/11 and 4.5, and ABC 5.4/18 and 3.5. On Monday, ABC and Fox split households and adults 18-49, while NBC fell to fourth in both audience categories. On Fox, the season premiere of “Boston Public” won both of its half-hours in the demographic, and the 8:30 p.m. half-hour in households. At 9 p.m., the premiere of “Ally McBeal” didn’t fare as well, dropping 20 percent of “Boston Public’s” lead-in audience, but still finished ahead of NBC’s “Third Watch” for the hour. CBS’s “Everybody Loves Raymond” won the 9 p.m. half-hour in households and adults 18-49, and then ABC’s “Monday Night Football” swept the rest of the night from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. At 10 p.m., NBC ran into more trouble, when “Crossing Jordan” finished third behind CBS’s “Family Law” in households and just barely edged the legal drama among adults 18-49. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Monday were: ABC 10.4/16 and 5.5, CBS 9.9/15 and 5.3, Fox 8.1/12 and 5.8, and NBC 7.4/12 and 3.9.

NY Times hit with denial-of-service attack
Employees of The New York Times were unable to access the web for several hours yesterday after the company was hit with an apparent denial-of-service attack, a crude but effective way of shutting down an internet server by flooding it with thousands of email messages. The attack began shortly after 2 p.m. and continued until at least 4:30 p.m. The paper shut down its mailroom last week after receiving a suspicious package, which later tested negative for anthrax. The main web site for the White House fell victim to a denial-of-service attack in May, and Yahoo, eBay, CNN.com and Amazon were targeted in a wave of similar attacks in February of 2000.

Media giants go after Replay TV in court
A posse of media-heavy hitters are hoping to run Replay TV out of town on a legal rail, terrified that the company's new technology will damage their businesses beyond repair. ABC, CBS and NBC--the networks of Disney, Viacom and General Electric, respectively--are planning to slap the personal-videorecorder maker with a copyright infringement suit before the week is out, according to Broadcasting & Cable. Fueling their hostility is a button on the new Replay TV unit that allows viewers essentially to watch recorded programs while skipping over commercials. The device also gives users the ability to swap video files over the internet, Napster-like.

Condé Nast boss in Italy after Armani-Vogue tiff
Condé Nast Chairman Si Newhouse doesn't hop on a plane for just anyone--but then, Giorgio Armani is not just anyone. Fuming at what he saw as a lack of coverage devoted to his clothes, the iconic designer recently pulled all his advertising from style bible Vogue, according to a report in the New York Daily News. Newhouse responded by dashing off to Italy, along with Condé Nast President Steve Florio, to smooth Armani's ruffled feathers, according to the report. A Condé Nast spokeswoman would say only that the pair are in Europe meeting with various advertisers. Perhaps Vogue editor Anna Wintour could stand to learn a lesson from Art Cooper, her counterpart at GQ, who last year featured the man and his designs in a generous spread as part of its Man of the Year package.

Turner Learning may fall to AOL-TW cost cuts
It looks like Ted Turner's pet educational project may fall prey to the recession-driven number crunching at AOL Time Warner. Turner Learning, which has a staff of about 45 and several million dollars in funding, is getting re-evaluated after years of bringing world news--and the CNN brand--into classrooms. One of its programs is "CNN Newsroom," which packages a half-hour of commercial-free news for teachers to tape and show to their classrooms the next day. The project has never made a profit. Executives at Turner are hoping to lure corporate sponsorship by emphasizing its access to the 18,000 schools across the nation in which the show is exhibited. Turner Learning previously teamed with Chuck E. Cheese to create a math program for elementary schools. "If it is profitable, we'll keep it," Brad Turell, Turner Broadcasting's top spokesman, told the Atlanta Journal-Consitution. "If it breaks even, we'll keep it. But if it is going to lose a lot of money, should we keep it?"

Reality wades ashore on 'Fantasy Island'
It may sound like a contradiction in terms, but NBC is planning to introduce reality to "Fantasy Island," or maybe the other way around. The network is planning a reality-game-show version of the old ABC series, which was set on a resort owned by a mysterious man in a white suit, who was endowed with the power to fulfill people's dreams. The new version will try to teach the same lesson, one along the lines of "Be careful what you wish for." The show will also include a host and possibly a sidekick (remember Tattoo?) to navigate among several stories, some of which could overlap. The last incarnation of the show, hosted by "A Clockwork Orange" actor Malcolm McDowell, failed after 13 episodes on ABC back in 1998.

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