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Posts tagged as “News”

Scary business

Remember that news about NBC cutting costs?

Well CBS may also do that in the very near future as they announced yesterday a third quarter loss of $12.5 billion (linked to a $14 billion write-down) with ad revenue declining in its main divisions, including television.

Incidentally, digital revenues have rose 6% this year with a 12% increase regarding Internet display ads.

As for their revenues, they are up 3%, thanks primarily to CSI: NY’s cable syndication.

All in all, CBS is now in the top 10 Internet company and the “#1 producer and provider of premium online content”.

No wonder they are trying to cash in on the future.

Meanwhile, Yahoo Video is now the (distant) second in video streams with a 56% increase (to about 265 millions).
Still, Google’s YouTube is very far ahead with 5 billion video streams in September.
Let’s not forget though that most Yahoo Vids have ads in them (= money = good for the company).

Speaking of, Lisa Klink has posted about “[trying to come] at the TV biz sideways”. Meaning that wannabe TV (and for that matter any) writer wanting to break in will have better chance of doing that by trying various other “creative outlets”.
TV writing is becoming increasingly more competitive due to a number of reasons, including strong cuts in budgets, therefore creating a smaller gap for people to squeeze in.
Any kind of “out of the box” success will definitely be a plus, distinguishing you from the rest.

Remaking the remake

Let’s make a quick (but far from exhaustive) list of upcoming planned remakes:

– Footloose with Efron.

– Bienvenue chez les Chtis (aka The Sticks).
Do I need to remind people that the story was very local-based?

– A 1963 Akira Kurosawa classic (High and Low), by David Mamet and directed by Mike Nichols.

– A remake of another Kurosowa remake (yes you read that right), The Seven Samurai by the Weinstein Co.

– A Hellraiser “relaunch”, by Pascal Laugier.

and

– Melrose Place, the spin-off of BH 90210.
Will the new version be considered a spin-off of the new 90210 or a spin-off of the old 90210? Or a spin-off of the spin-off of another show?
I’m confused.

Sautéed days

First, I’d like to welcome all my new readers, especially the ones that are from the far-away APA Blog. :)
I hope you won’t get too lost in the crazy rants I sometime post.

Speaking of crazy rants (and crazy days for that matter)…

Wednesday is Obama Day.
And by that I mean he’s tomorrow’s Daily Show guest.
What? You thought I was gonna talk about another show he’ll be on tomorrow night simultaneously on NBC, CBS and FOX?
Also, ABC is airing Pushing Daisies.
Who will win the rating war: a pie-maker or a terrorist lover?

As for next Tuesday.
Mmmm…
What are you supposed to do on November 4th again?
Right, buy French fries.
Delish’.

Today, don’t forget that Strike.TV is officially launched.
And, no, I am not producing anything over there, thanks for asking telepathically.

Also today, I successfully cooked “Sautéed aubergines and leeks with ginger”.
Yay me.

In other worldwide TV news, France Television’s primetime will begin next year at around 8:35PM instead of 8:50/9PM (as ads will be suppressed after 8PM).
To try to counter its rival network, M6 will also program its primetime at around 8:35PM.
This is a huge change in the French TV landscape.
That’s like having Mad Men on NBC right after the Super Bowl leading to record-shattering ratings of 10 people watching the show.
Only, you know, at 8:35PM.

Forgive me but I couldn’t leave you with a smile on your face, so here goes:
The Footloose remake has been fast-tracked by Paramount with… Zack Efron in the lead. Right after he signs that half-mil check.