Good morning. It's
Friday, March 12, 2004,
and this is your first early morning
briefing.
In a vote of 391-22, the House of Representatives has voted in
favor of legislation that increases the maximum fines for
indecency to $500,000 for broadcasters per violation.
Performers will also be penalized to the tune of $500,000 per violation,
up from verbal warning followed by a fine of $11,000.
Additionally a three strikes and your out rule will be instated, wherein
a broadcaster who violates the laws three times, will automatically go to
a license revocation hearing. While President Bush’s administration
supports such a bill, as does much of the House and Senate, it is not
without its detractors who point to the calendar - it is after all an
election year. The NAB is opposed to the proposed laws, preferring
instead to encourage stations and broadcast networks to
self-governing.
The Syndicated Television Network Association (SNTA) held its
second annual confab yesterday morning in NYC, with scheduled plans to
take the dog and pony show/face to face presentations to both Chicago and
Los Angeles next week. First year President Mitch Burg oversaw the
event with a new-to-syndication message: the median age of
syndication viewers are younger than the broadcast network viewer.
To wit: the median age of sitcoms in syndication is 35.1 vs. 43.1 in
primetime on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Newsmagazines such as ET,
Access Hollywood, etc., have a median age of 47.9 vs. 54.4 for the
primetime news magazines. In daytime, viewers of syndicated fare are 45.7
vs. a 48.9 median age for daytime serial dramas. And in late night
where off net and dating shows proliferate, the median age for syndicated
programs is 32.8 vs. 44.0 for the network’s late night programming.
Overall syndicated programming collectively has a 50% higher
concentration of that elusive young male and young adult audience than
the broadcast network, according to Nielsen Media Research data provided
by SNTA. Participants in the SNTA conference this year include 20th
Century Fox, Buena Vista, King World, Paramount, Tribune, Universal and
Warner Bros., with MGM-NBC and Entertainment Studios participating as
non-members. The only big studio who has chosen not in opt-in is
Sony.
Premiering Tonight: On Fox - Playing it Straight
[p], Wonderfalls
[p]
Buena Vista Television's Who Wants to Be A Millionaire is a firm
go for its third season in syndication with host Meredith Vieira.
Since its launch in 2002, the program has shown growth year to year
across, double digit growth in numerous key markets.
ABC's The View continues its ratings climb, posting its best
February sweep numbers in the show's history. What is it about this
show that appeals? Perhaps the outlandish topics, the dry wit of
Joy Behar, the viewer camaraderie with Starr and her engagement, or just
that you never have any idea what these women are going to do or
say. Reportedly there is some talk about invoking the 5-second
delay for this show, but that could be just speculation. In
February, The View delivered 1.1 million W18-49, up 12% year to year, and
an all time high for ABC in the 11a-12n time period dating back to
1992.
New in Development/Production/Casting:
CBS has cast Jane Krakowski in its comedy pilot Taste
(Regency/CBS Prods) about a culinary school grad in her first big job.
The net's drama series Wanted (25c Prods/Warner Bros/CBS Prods) has added
Louise Lombard to the cast. This project takes place in the LAPD's
Fugitive Dept.
ABC has added Jonathan Silverman and Chris William Martin to
the cast of The Demarco Affairs (David E. Kelly,20th), a romantic drama
about three sisters who inherit their family's wedding palace on Long
Island. Silverman joins Selma Blair, Lindsay Sloane, Sabrina Lloyd, Lara
Cox and Chris Diamantopulos. Also in the net's Kat Plus One
(Berlanti Liddell Prods/Warner Bros) Wendie Mallick, Heather Burns and
Michael Urie join Marisa Coughlan and Jimmy Bennett about another single
person suddenly saddled with a relative's child. We Are Family
(Touchstone) has added Missi Pyle to the lineup.
WB's remake of the thriller/soap Dark Shadows (John Wells
Prods/Warner Bros.) has added Marley Shelton as Victoria Winters.
UPN's Nikki & Nora (Warner Bros. TV) will add Shemar Moore
to the cast. Beck & Call (Shephard-Robin/Warner Bros. TV) with
Vanessa Williams and Christina Vidal has cast Jordana Spiro, Adam
Kaufman, David Conrad and Erica Gimpel.
Fox's Untitled David Shore project (Heel & Toe
Prods/Universal) about a group of doctors tackling the most baffling
medical cases, has added Hugh Laurie, Omar Epps and Jesse Spencer to the
cast which already includes Robert Sean Leonard and Jennifer Morrison.
MGM is working on an unscripted series called The Real Rocky -
not to be confused with the NBC/Mark Burnett Project The Contender.
According to Variety, The Real Rocky is being produced by Robert Chartoff
and Irwin Winkler who control the rights to the Rocky movies. The
project, in development since last May, will be shopped to the networks
next week. And in case you were wondering if all of this sounds a
tad familiar, MGM is not the only one jumping into the ring with The
Contender; Paramount has reportedly been shopping a similar idea with
boxer Roy Jones Jr., and you've heard before about the George Foreman
project being developed by Jim Lampley/Next Wave Ent.
WIBV/Miami hasn't seen a single share point reported in a ratings
book in for years. The station airs primarily infomercials, which
may have something to do with that lack of viewers, and according to
Broadcasting & Cable has no full times sales people. The
station is owned by Hispanic Keys Broadcasting, who has been looking for
an out-of-market buyer for the past ten years. And now they've
found one - only this one was in their own backyard which begs the
question, what happened to the duopoly rule? The FCC agreed to a
waiver of the duopoly rule in this case (the market has already maxed out
its duopoly limits), allowing Sonia Broadcasting to acquire the
station for $2.8 million. Sonia also owns WDLP in the market. Going
forward, Sonia plans to convert the station to full digital and provide
Spanish language programming.
Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week
of Feb 23-29, 2004
ranked by HH
Rtg Wheel of Fortune (King
World)
9.3 AA
Jeopardy (King
World) 7.7
AA
Oprah (King
World) 7.5
AA / 7.7 GAA
Seinfeld
(Sony) 6.7
AA / 8.2 GAA
Friends (Warner
Bros.) 6.3
AA / 7.6 GAA
Entertainment Tonight
(Paramount) 6.2
AA / 6.3 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King
World) 5.8 AA / 6.5 GAA
Dr. Phil (King
World) 5.7
AA / 5.8 GAA
Judge Judy
(Paramount) 5.4
AA / 8.1 GAA
Regis and Kelly
(BVT) 4.1
AA Source Nielsen Media Research
Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week
ofFeb 23-29, 2004
ranked by
A18-49 Seinfeld
(Sony) 4.7
AA / 5.7 GAA
Friends (Warner
Bros.) 4.4
AA / 5.3 GAA
Everybody Loves Raymond (King
World) 3.2 AA / 3.5 GAA
Oprah (King
World) 3.2
AA / 3.3 GAA
That 70's Show (Carsey-Werner) 2.9 AA / 3.7
GAA
Entertainment Tonight
(Paramount) 2.9
AA / 3.0 GAA
Wheel of Fortune (King
World) 2.8
AA
Judge Judy
(Paramount) 2.2
AA / 3.1 GAA
Dr. Phil (King
World) 2.2
AA / 2.2 GAA
Jeopardy (King
World) 2.2
AA Source Nielsen Media Research
Kroenke Sports Enterprises new regional sports network
scheduled to launch in September 2004 featuring professional, collegiate
and amateur sports and entertainment programming, has undergone a name
change. The channel will now be called Altitude Sports &
Entertainment. The channel will include sports teams such as
Colorado Avalanche, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Mammoth. In
addition to sports programming, the channel will include outdoor and
lifestyle programming and community pgms from in and around the Rocky
Mountain West. Additional pgm announcements to come.
Producers Braxton Pope and Andrew Weiner have joined forces to launch
Ithaka Entertainment, a feature film and television production
company, that is also currently in negotiations with Lions Gate Films to
form a strategic alliance. Ithaka will focus on the production of
genre films, developing material from novelists and contemporary
directors. Their first project is a thriller from novelist Andrew Klavan
(Don't Say a Word) and director Richard Brandes, which begins prod this
month.
Top 5 Broadcast Spanish Language Primetime Programs for the week
of March 1-7, 2004 UNIV Velo
De Novia (Thur
8p) 25.9 NHTI HH
Rtg
UNIV Velo De
Novia (Tue
8p) 23.5
NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV Velo De
Novia (Mon
8p) 23.1
NHTI HH Rtg
UNIV Velo De
Novia (Wed
8p) 23.0 NHTI HH
Rtg
UNIV Amar Otra Vez (Mon
7p) 19.1
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 March 1-7, 2004
- highest rated primetime network programs in
African American TV homes according to Nielsen Media Research
UPN Girlfriends (Mon
9p) 18.4
HH Rtg / 3.2m Total Viewers 2+
UPN Half & Half (Mon
930p) 18.2
HH Rtg / 3.1m Total Viewers 2+
FOX American Idol
(Tue) 17.3
HH Rtg / 3.5m Total Viewers 2+
UPN America's Next Top Model
(Tue 9p) 17.1 HH
Rtg / 3.1m Total Viewers 2+
UPN All of Us (Tue
830p) 16.7
HH Rtg / 3.0m Total Viewers 2+
UPN Eve (Mon
830p) 19.1
HH Rtg / 3.2m Total Viewers 2+
ABC My Wife & Kids (Wed
8p) 15.1
HH Rtg / 2.6m Total Viewers 2+
FOX American Idol:
Uncut
(Wed) 13.4
HH Rtg / 2.6m Total Viewers 2+
UPN The Parkers (Mon
8p) 12.6
HH Rtg / 2.1m Total Viewers 2+
FOX American Idol (Wed
830p) 12.3
HH Rtg / 2.9m Total Viewers 2+ Source Nielsen Media Research
Another big night for Fox on Wednesday posting an
overall 7.3/20 A18-49 rating according to Nielsen Media
Research data. ABC was #2 for the night with a 3.6/10, followed
closely by NBC 3.4/10, then CBS 2.3/6, WB 1.3/4, UPN 0.7/2. At 8pm,
Fox kicked off the night with That 70's Show (5.5/17) and the first half
hour of American Idol (9.1/25), dusting its closest competition, ABC
(3.1/9). UPN's debut of its new CGI-animated series Game Over aired
at 8pm, earning a slight 0.6/2 A18-49 rating, though did slightly better
among teens (1.7/6). Also on UPN, The Mullets returned at 830p with
a similar result: A18-49 0.6/2, Teens 1.5/5. At 9p Fox's second
half hour of American Idol (10.3/27) and the second episode of Cracking
Up (4.4/12) won the hour (7.4/20), though ABC did come up and bite Fox at
930-10p with the final 30m reveal of Extreme Makeover (5.2/14).
NBC's Law & Order won the 10p hour, but not by the usual landslide --
NBC 4.2/12 vs. ABC's new drama series Kingdom Hospital 3.7/10. The
two tied among A18-34, and NBC led by a single share among W18-49 and by
two share points among M18-49.
Hal Protter has been named SVP/Technology of a new dept at
the WB Network created to address station's tech needs as they
convert from analog to digital and HDTV.
Wednesday, March 10, 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 10.0/16That
70s Show 7.2/12, American Idol 13.1/21, Cracking Up
6.6/10
NBC 7.1/12 The
Apprentice [r] 4.6/7, Law & Order [r] 7.3/11, Law & Order [r]
9.4/16 ABC 6.0/10 My
Wife and Kids 5.8/10, My Wife and Kids [r] 5.3/8, Extreme Makeover
6.8/11, Kingdom Hospital 5.7/10
CBS
5.9/10 60
Minutes II 6.7/11, The King of Queens [r] 5.4/8, Yes Dear [r] 4.9/8, 48
Hours Investigates 5.8/10
WB 2.6/4 Smallville
[r] 2.7/4, Smallville [r] 2.5/4
UPN 1.4/2 Game
Over [p] 1.4/2,
The Mullets 1.2/2, Enterprise [r] 1.6/2 A18-49
Fox 7.3/20, ABC 3.6/10, NBC 3.4/10,CBS 2.3/6,
WB 1.3/4, UPN 0.7/2
A MESSAGE FROM
WARNER BROS. DOMESTIC CABLE DISTRIBUTION
EXIT
WOUNDS DELIVERS FOR TNT
IN ITS
7TH
&
8TH
RUN
TNT's #2 program for the week (out of
120+)
With M/A18-49, M25-54 & Total Viewers
beating 14 airings of Law & Order!
Cable's #1 movie for the week
w/A25-54 out of 600+!
#1 T.P. ranks out of 50+ cable nets with
M/A18-49, M/A25-54, & Total Viewers!
MOVIES WORK ON
CABLE! Warner Bros. Domestic Cable
Distribution
Source: NHTI, Galaxy Explorer,
2/23-29/04, Exit Wounds = 2/28/04, 10pm. 7th Run = Fri 9-11p, 8th Run =
Sat 8-10p. #1 on TNT w/A25-54 Ties L&O (2/24,2/25,2/26).
Excl. Sports. Cov Rtg.
FRIDAY FUN FACT:
A short period of time used to be referred to as
a "whipstitch."
The
History ChannelpresentsThis Day in History: 1979 - In a historic arrangement brokered by
President Jimmy Carter, Egypt and Israel agree to a peace treaty, after
thirty years of war. The treaty grew out of the 1978 Camp David Accords;
it stipulated that Israel would return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, and
Egypt would grant official recognition the Israeli state.
Answer to yesterday's Trivia
Question:I was named after the hospital on
whose steps I was abandoned as a baby. I have some physical
oddities as well as being surprisingly swift of foot with great
strength. When I get angry and holler, it's more than a little
frightening; and yet I'm surprisingly gentle and sensitive person.
Who am I? VINCENT on BEAUTY & THE BEAST.
Kudos to: Grace Ann Bafna-NBC/NY; Christine
Schultheiss-Sci Fi Channel/NY; Kennedy Ross-CSFB/NY; Patty
Youngross-Initiative/Atlanta; Jim Smith-Healing Touch Massage/Dallas;
Katherine Lippert-Starcom Worldwide; Jerry Wise-KTVT/Dallas; Jeff
Roark-Clear Channel/Wichita; Dan Tinianow-Dantini Media/LA; Susan
Garrett-Humanoids/Studio City; Kelly Lightner-Blair TV/LA; Lisa
Howard-ABC/Burbank; and Michelle Daly-CTV/Toronto.
Today's Trivia Question:
You may recall Nestle's used a dog puppet to sing the jingle, always
ending in "Nestle's makes the very best ...
chooooooocolaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate." What was the name of the
dog?
(
to 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
03/12/04 5:29am
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CYNOPSIS CLASSIFIEDS JOB
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WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 2004
COURT TV RETAINS OVER 95% OF ITS A18-49, W18-49, A25-54 & W25-54 AUDIENCE THROUGH COMMERCIAL BREAKS!
NOW THAT'S GREAT ROI RETURN ON INVESTIGATION!
Court TV The Investigation Channel Source: Nielsen Media Research Custom Analysis (NPower) Minute-by-Minute program minutes vs non-program minutes, November 2003. Mon-Sun 8p-11p.
COURT TV: Forensic Fridays
ABC George Lopez [r], Married to the Kellys, Hope & Faith [r], Life with Bonnie [r], 20/20
CBS Joan of Arcadia, JAG, 48 Hours Investigates
FOX Playing it Straight [p], Wonderfalls [p] NBC Dateline NBC, Crossing Jordan
PAX MGM Night at the Movies: Secret Admirer, Diagnosis Murder
UPN Mania of Wrestlemania, Game Over [r], The Mullets [r]
WB Reba [r], Reba [r], Grounded for Life [r], The Help
TELE Prisionera,El Alma Herida, Mujeres Apasionadas
UNIV Mariana de la Noche, Bajo la Misma Piel, Casos de la Vida Real: Edicion Especial
