Good morning. It's
Friday, April 9, 2004,
and this is your first early morning
briefing.
The FCC has proposed a $495,000 fine against Clear
Channel for "apparently willfully broadcasting indecent
material" on an edition of The Howard Stern Stern show last
April. That accounts for 18 separate violations at $27,500 each.
(Perhaps a good thing they were fined now, and not later should the
$500,000 per violation bill is passed). In statement from John Hogan,
President/CEO, Clear Channel: "Mr. Stern’s show has created a
great liability for us and other broadcasters who air it. The
Congress and the FCC are even beginning to look at revoking station
licenses. That’s a risk we’re just not willing to take." Clear
Channel also announced its decision to take Stern’s show off the air
permanently on six of its stations: WBGG-GM/Ft. Lauderdale;
WTKS-FM/Cocoa Beach, FL; WTFX-FM/Louisville; WNVE-FM/Honeoye Falls, NY;
KIOZ-FM/San Diego; and WXDX-FM/Pittsburgh. Additionally, the FCC
has initiated an investigation that could result in further fines being
thrown at Viacom’s Infinity Broadcasting Corp. In support of the FCC
proposal, Commission Michael Copps said in a statement, "Today's
decision is a step forward towards imposing meaningful fines. For
the first time, the Commission assesses a fine against more than a single
utterance, rather than counting an entire program as one utterance.
In addition, the Commission makes clear that its indecency enforcement
will address not only the station that is the subject of a complaint, but
also any other station that aired the same programming." On
Stern's website, he issued a statement which reads in part : "This
is not a surprise. This is a follow up to the McCarthy type ‘witch hunt’
of the administration and the activities of this group of Presidential
appointees in the FCC …. They [the FCC members] are expressing and
imposing their opinions and rights to tell us all who and what we may
listen to and watch and how governmental interference into our rights and
free speech takes place in the US." The Howard Stern Show,
syndicated by Viacom Inc., is also carried on 18 Infinity Broadcasting
stations
Howard Stern isn't the only one in the hot seat. Mancow's
Morning Madness airing on WKQX/Chicago, a Emmis Radio
License Corporation station, was also nailed with a fine, admittedly
less stressful, $14,000. According to the FCC, the radio station
"repeatedly aired indecent material" during Mancow's
show. Emmis argued the complaints received by the FCC about five
separate incidents, did not include enough information to support the
commission's findings. Commissioner Copps dissented from this decision,
not for the decision to fine, but for the minute amount of the fine he
says will be written off as the 'cost of doing business.'
Commission Copps: "Our enforcement actions should send a
message that licensees cannot ignore their responsibility to serve the
public interest and to protect children. The Commission's action
today fails to do so."
Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week
of Mar 22-28,
2004ranked by
HH Rtg Wheel of Fortune (King
World)
8.7 AA
Jeopardy (King
World) 7.3
AA
Seinfeld
(Sony) 6.3
AA / 7.8 GAA
Oprah (King
World) 6.1
AA / 6.2 GAA
Friends (Warner
Bros.) 5.8
AA / 7.0 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King
World) 5.2 AA / 5.9 GAA
Entertainment Tonight
(Paramount) 4.9
AA / 5.0 GAA
Dr. Phil (King
World) 4.8
AA / 4.9 GAA
Judge Judy
(Paramount) 4.8
AA / 7.0 GAA
That 70's Show (Carsey-Werner) 4.0 AA / 5.2
GAA Source Nielsen Media Research
Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week
ofMar 22-28, 2004
ranked by
A18-49 Seinfeld
(Sony) 4.3
AA / 5.3 GAA
Friends (Warner
Bros.) 4.0
AA / 4.8 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King
World) 2.8 AA / 3.1 GAA
That 70's Show (Carsey-Werner) 2.8 AA / 3.8
GAA
Wheel of Fortune (King
World) 2.7
AA
Oprah (King
World) 2.5
AA / 2.5 GAA
Entertainment Tonight
(Paramount) 2.3
AA / 2.3 GAA
Jeopardy (King
World) 2.3
AA
King of the Hill
(20th) 2.1
AA / 2.3 GAA
Will & Grace (Warner
Bros.) 2.0
AA / 2.4 GAA Source Nielsen Media Research
Fox did it again on Wednesday - another check in the
win column. For the night Fox drew a 7.7/22 A18-49 according
to Nielsen Media Research - far and away ahead of #2 ABC 4.2/12,
as well as NBC 3.3/9, CBS 2.7/7, WB 1.1/3, UPN 0.8/2. At 8pm
American Idol was again huge with a 8.6/27 (10.8/35 W18-34), more than
tripling the demo share of the closest competitor (ABC 2.4/8). At
9p Fox's debut of its newest reality series The Swan took center stage
with a 6.8/18. At the same hour, ABC debuted its newest The
Bachelor which in its first hour delivered a 4.2/11, climbing to a 6.0/16
winning the 10p hour. CBS and NBC each delivered a 9 share from
9-10p. At 10pm following The Bachelor was a repeat of Law &
Order (4.5/12) and 48 Hours (2.9/8).
Peter Bogdanovich will direct Hustle, ESPN's nextoriginal movie based on the findings of Major League Baseball'sDowd Report chronicling the gambling life of Pete Rose during the mid-to-late 1980s. Hustle will begin filming on May 17th in Toronto and will premiere Sept. 25th at 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Top 5 Broadcast Spanish Language Primetime Programs for the week ofMar 29 - Apr 4, 2004 UNIV Mariana de la Noche (Tue 8p) 21.0 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV Mariana de la Noche (Mon 8p) 19.9 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV Mariana de la Noche (Wed 8p) 19.0 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV Amar Otra Vez (Tue 7p) 18.4 NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV Mariana de la Noche (Thu 8p) 18.3 NHTI HH Rtg Source Nielsen Media Research
Note NHTI Ratings are based on 10.57 million Hispanic TV Homes
Top 5 Broadcast English Language Primetime Programs in Hispanic TV Homes for the week ofMar 29 - Apr 4, 2004 Fox American Idol (Tue 8p) 8.9 NHTI HH Rtg
Fox American Idol (Wed 830p) 7.8 NHTI HH Rtg
UPN WWE Smackdown (Thu 8p) 7.2 NHTI HH Rtg
NBC Fear Factor (Mon 8p) 6.6 NHTI HH Rtg
Fox Simpsons (Sun 830p) 6.4 NHTI HH Rtg Source Nielsen Media Research
Note NHTI Ratings are based on 10.57 million Hispanic TV Homes
African American television homes in the US represent 12,870,000 households. Here are the rankings for the week of Mar 29 - Apr 4, 2004 - highest rated primetime network programs in African American TV homes according to Nielsen Media Research
FOX American Idol (Tue 8p) 19.3 HH Rtg
UPN Girlfriends (Mon 9p) 17.5 HH Rtg
UPN Half & Half (Mon 930p) 17.1 HH Rtg
UPN Eve (Mon 830p) 15.8 HH Rtg
FOX American Idol (Wed 830p) 14.9 HH Rtg
ABC My Wife & Kids (Wed 8p) 14.3 HH Rtg
UPN All of Us (Tue 8:30p) 13.7 HH Rtg
CBS NCAA Basketball Championship (Sat 850p)12.9 HH Rtg
ABC My Wife & Kids (Wed 830p) 12.6 HH Rtg
CBS CSI (Thur 9p) 12.2 HH Rtg Source Nielsen Media Research
Could be a quite day - many people are out due to the holiday. So if you find yourself with nothing to do, check out this particularly weird, and oddly disturbing, website from Burger King called The Subservient Chicken. http://www.subservientchicken.com/ You type in the command, and the chicken does it.
FastChannel Network named Dean McCausland as CFO. FastChannel Network is a Boston-based asset management company that creates, delivers and manages digital advertising assets through 3 integrated channels, CreativeChannel, TrafficChannel and MediaAssetChannel.
Glenn Adilman has been named VP/Network Development at Sony Pictures Television (SPT). Glenn will share responsibility in developing scripted programming for both comedy and drama for the broadcast network marketplace. He reports to Jamie Erlicht, SVP/Development, Broadcast Network Programming for SPT.
Lifetime Entertainment Services named Catherine Moran as VP/Marketing. Catherine is responsible for leading and managing the Lifetime brand across consumer marketing, affiliate distribution and national advertising sales. She is based in New York.
Wednesday, April 7, 2004. Fast Affiliate Household Ratings for all Networks. Fast affiliate numbers which reflect time period data, not program data, and can change slightly once the finals come in, particularly for LIVE programming (i.e. Football). Source Nielsen Media Research. Time Period Averages Only. [p] = Premiere; [o] = Original; [r] = Repeat FOX 10.5/17 American Idol 11.9/21, The Swan [p] 9.2/14 NBC 6.8/11 The Apprentice [r] 3.5/6, Law & Order [r] 7.6/12, Law & Order [r] 9.4/15 CBS 6.4/11 60 Minutes II 6.4/11, The King of Queens 6.5/10, The King of Queens 5.9/9, 48 Hours 6.6/11
ABC 6.4/11 My Wife and Kids [r] 4.7/8, My Wife and Kids [r] 4.6/8, The Bachelor [p] 7.3/12
WB 1.9/3 Smallville [r] 1.8/3, Smallville 2.1/3
UPN 1.2/2 Enterprise [r] 1.3/2, Enterprise [r] 1.2/2 A18-49 FOX 7.7/22, ABC 4.2/12, NBC 3.3/9, CBS 2.7/7, WB 1.1/3, UPN 0.8/2
A MESSAGE FROM WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION
They missed each other. This time, their aim is better.
THE WHOLE TEN YARDS
OPENS TODAY
Warner Bros.' sequel to the 2000 hit comedy starring
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Natasha Henstridge and Kevin Pollack
Tune-In Tomorrow To See The First Movie THE WHOLE NINE YARDS Saturday at 8:00 PM on CBS
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Friday Fun Fact: The shoestring was invented in England in 1790. Prior to this time, all shoes were fastened with buckles. (Boy, you can't get this kind of stuff just anywhere)
The History ChannelpresentsThis Day in History: In 1939, more than 75,000 people gather at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, to hear a concert by famed African-American contralto Marian Anderson. The high-profile concert was arranged after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall because she was black.
Answer to yesterday's Trivia Question:If you're looking for the big picture, this is the vehicle for you. It moves along at 35 mph, and has been around since 1925. It's been seen by literally billions of people on TV over the years, and is always fun to see in person, though a little high-falutin' for my taste. What vehicle is this?THE GOODYEAR BLIMP Kudos to: Perry Casciato-KYW, WSPG/Philadelphia; Gary Stein-Good Morning America/NY; Diane Streckfuss-ARF/NY; Christine Sciacca-The Weather Channel /NY; Sharon Roseman-Echostar/Englewood; Barb Throm-Smart Media/St. Louis; Al Kuenn-MediaChoice/Phoenix; Bob Quigley-KJZZ/Salt Lake City; Rob Maresca-Rocket Branding and Strategic Services/LA; Sophia Stevens-Buena Vista Television/LA; Atheria-Wheel of Fortune/Culver City; Scott Freeman-Bunim Murray Prods/Van Nuys.
Today's Trivia Question: Who is Francine Lawrence? (click hereto respond to the trivia question and please be sure to include with your answer your name, company, city and time zone. Only the second four correct responses from each time zone will be listed in tomorrow's kudo list.)
Later -- Cyn
Cynthia Turner's Cynopsis
04/08/04
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WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: Friday, APRIL 9, 2004
COURT TV The Investigation Channel SPOT CHECK:
Our Viewers' Higher Receptivity to Food & Beverage Advertising (#2 in cable)
+ YOUR SPOT = Great ROInvestigation
SPOT QUIZ: Name 6 of the actors in the 2001 version of the
movie Ocean's Eleven. Click this spot to enter Click here for source
COURT TV:Forensic Fridays
ABC George Lopez, The Big House, Hope & Faith, Life with Bonnie, The DA
CBS Joan of Arcadia [r], JAG [r], The District [r]
FOX Totally Outrageous Behavior, The World's Craziest Videos, Forever Eden
NBC Dateline NBC, Third Watch
PAX Making of the Passion, PAX TV Movie: Thomas
UPN Movie: Double Take
WB Reba [r], What I Like About You [r], Grounded for Life [r], The Help
TELE Prisonera,El Alma Herida, Mujeres Apasionadas
UNIV Mariana de la Noche, Bajo la Misma Piel, Casos de la Vida Real: Edicion Especial