News Shorts

Regular-season football win for Fox
Fox got a boost from the NFL Sunday night, winning the evening in both households and adults 18-49 with the return of regular-season football. Without adjusting for time-zone differences, the football game topped the U.S. Open men’s tennis final on CBS by more than five household shares. CBS placed second for the night in households with its coverage of Lleyton Hewitt’s defeat of Pete Sampras, while NBC placed second among adults 18-49 with back-to-back episodes of “Law and Order” and “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.” The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Sunday night were: Fox 6.7/11 and 5.1, CBS 6.0/10 and 2.4, NBC 5.5/9 and 2.8, and ABC 5.1/8 and 2.1.

Yankees unveil plans for cable network
The parent company of the New York Yankees yesterday unveiled the ballclub’s bold new plan to start its own regional cable station. The Yankees Entertainment & Sports (YES) Network will debut on March 1, 2002. In its first season, YES will carry 125-130 regular-season Yankees games. The NBA’s New Jersey Nets will appear on YES beginning next October, while the network will have to wait until 2007 to pick up the rights to New Jersey Devils hockey games. Both teams are owned by YankeeNets LLC, owner of the Yankees and majority owner of the new cable channel. Leo Hindery, who as president of AT&T Broadband took the fall for that company’s open-access debacle, will serve as CEO of the YES Network.

GE's Welch accused of Election Night meddling
With his reign at General Electric ended and his autobiography coming out, Jack Welch can expect to bask in a sea of adulation this fall, but Rep. Henry Waxman doesn’t plan on joining in the hero worship. For months, Waxman, a California Democrat, has been trying in vain to get Welch to admit that he abused his influence and meddled in NBC’s Election Night coverage last November. Yesterday, he sent the network an eight-page letter in which he details Welch’s activities on the night of Nov. 7, 2000. According to an eyewitness, early in the evening Welch quipped to Sheldon Gawiser, director of elections for the network, "How much would I have to pay you to call the election for Bush?" But later on, after Fox News had pronounced Bush the winner, Welch laid a hand on Gawiser’s shoulder and insisted on knowing that NBC hadn’t done so yet, according to the letter. Waxman also reiterated his demand that NBC turn over tapes that he claims show Welch pressuring Gawiser to call the election for Bush. NBC, for its part, acknowledges that Welch was rooting for Bush but denies the existence of any tapes that show him behaving inappropriately.

Group protests child-targeted advertising
At yesterday’s Golden Marbles awards in Manhattan, advertisers and marketers congratulated each other on the best advertising campaigns aimed at children. Meanwhile, at the same hotel, a coalition of activist parents and psychologists were gathered to protest what they see as the unconscionable exploitation of young minds. Calling itself Stop Commercial Exploitation of Children, the group is in favor of stricter controls on marketing campaigns aimed at kids, including a total ban on ads in school and ads aimed at children under the age of eight. It opposes marketing products to kids that encourage insecurities or unhealthy eating habits. As the advertisers received their Golden Marbles, the protesters were handing out "Have You Lost Your Marbles?" awards recognizing what they deemed the most irresponsible practices. Winners included Channel One, the in-school television station, and the "Teletubbies" TV show, which has partnered with McDonald’s and Burger King.

FCC wants radio stations to tape themselves
Is it better to incriminate yourself or face direct regulation from the FCC? It's not an appealing choice, but it may be the one facing radio operators soon. Two of the five newly-appointed FCC commissioners--Democrat Michael Copps and Republican Kathleen Abernathy--have called on radio broadcasters to police themselves by voluntarily taping their own programs. Current rules mandate that indecency complaints be matched with transcripts from the offending material, which outgoing FCC commissioner Gloria Tristani blasted as placing too much of the burden of evidence on the listener. Often radio stations deny playing the material, which results in no action. The new commissioners suggested at this year's annual radio convention, sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters, that harsh penalties--like the $7,000 fine for playing an edited version of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" incurred by a station in Colorado--would be unnecessary with voluntary transcripts. Broadcasters are cool to the idea but say it may be preferable to intrusive regulation by the FCC.

CBS and Fox settle 'Boot Camp' copyright spat
It just takes a little to grease the wheels. Fox and CBS have settled the copyright infringement suit filed earlier this year over the resemblance between "Boot Camp" and "Survivor" with an undisclosed arrangement. CBS and Survivor Entertainment Group have dropped their claim against Fox, which they issued right after the premiere of "Boot Camp." The suit contended the show was a rip-off of "Survivor," with specific "Survivor" elements inserted after CBS declined to pick up the series, having been offered the idea first. Fox deflected the concerns by saying "Survivor" wasn't a reality show, since it was rigged, according to former "Survivor" contestant Stacy Stillman's lawsuit against CBS. A judge threw out that argument in June, which led to an agreement between the parties. The Stillman case against CBS and Mark Burnett is still on.

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