Cynopsis: Year in
Review 2006
01/01/07
Good morning. It’s Monday, January 1, 2007 and this is your Year in Review 2006. The one thing that stands out above all else in 2006 is this was the year of digital! A year when all industry parties developed alternative ways to deliver network programming and originals to the masses – broadband, mobile, viral, subscription and free VOD, SecondLife.com, and that’s just a sampling. It was also a year that felt like we had more than our share of losses, and a year of several significant and major moves by major folks. Here’s the quick rundown in “headline” format …
JANUARY 2006
NPR has nailed the big fish — Ted Koppel will join NPR in June as a Senior News Analyst
CBS preps to launch microseries – The Courier
Iran banned CNN from operating in the country
CNN Headline News will add a new face to its primetime lineup – Glenn Beck
ESPN has cancelled its original series ESPN Hollywood
As The World Turns available to podcasters
CBS looking outside for new single anchor
DirecTV launches family friendly tier, as does DISH
NBC Universal will acquire KDEN/Denver
Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were both seriously injured yesterday while on assignment in Iraq for World News Tonight when their convoy was hit by an explosive device.
NFL Network picks up package of 8 NFL regular season games
Viacom Inc. went out of 2005 as one company and enters into 2006 as two separate publicly traded entities, the CBS Corporation and “new” Viacom Inc.
FEBRUARY 2006
ABC News plans for interim co-anchor chair while Bob Woodruff recovers
New to iTunes: Oxygen’s two original series Campus Ladies and Snapped
NBC will launch an internet-exclusive series this summer on NBC.com called StarTomorrow
Grey’s Anatomy comes to iTunes
90.7 million US television viewers tuned into the Super Bowl XL
Turner Classic Movies has picked up the cable TV rights to 100+ film titles from the Paramount Pictures
Citadel Broadcasting has acquired ABC Radio’s 22 AM and FM stations and most of ABC Radio holdings from The Walt Disney Company for a price tag of approx $2.7 billion
Bravo will be taking its newest endeavor straight to the internet – OutZonetv.com
The Documentary Channel – a 24/7 network dedicated entirely to documentaries- launched on February 6
Univision Communications Inc. has now officially announced will test the “for sale” waters.
MARCH 2006
ABC has won the February Sweep by two tenths of a rating point over Fox
In its first three days, Cynopsis Video Podcast downloaded more than 2800 times
Cingular Video service with content from NBC, Fox News, Cartoon Network, ESPN and HBO
NBC Universal TV will buy iVillage.com
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. has signed a video distribution deal with Cingular Wireless
Music Choice is partnering with Warner Music Group to offer Cingular Wireless customers access to music videos
TiVo has partnered with Verizon Wireless to launch TiVo Mobile
VNU will be taken over by six private equity firms who will collectively purchase the company for $8.9 billion and assumption of debt
Bunim-Murray Productions has formed M Theory Entertainment
SoapNet acquires Sony’s The Young & the Restless
USA Network picks up NCIS, distributed by Paramount
ABC and ABC Family pick up 8 film deal from Warner Bros. Domestic Cable
Verizon FiOS TV and CBS have signed a retransmission deal
Spike will launch new logo/tag line … again
The US Senate Judiciary Committee has voted 12-6 for a bill that would allow TV cameras to cover Supreme Court proceedings
APRIL 2006
Meredith Vieira will get a new view – from the couch of NBC’s Today
Steven Spielberg will be looking for the next great filmmaker in American Idol fashion with executive producer Mark Burnett, in a show titled On the Lot for Fox
Media General will acquire four new television stations and divest four others
new horror channel, FEAR.Net, a co-venture of Comcast Corp and Sony Pictures Entertainment
Disney-ABC TV Group will offer ad-supported, full-length episodes of four ABC primetime series online at www.ABC.com
TV One does rich off-net and movie deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution
Matt Lauer will stick with Today for three more years (Cynopsis)
Katie Couric moves to CBS.
Lifetime acquires off-net series Desperate Housewives
MAY 2006
Re-launching today: The new and improved Cynopsis website! Check it out and watch the daily video podcast!
CBS announced the launch of its own ad-supported, free broadband channel, called innertube.
Fox joins iTunes
A special episode of the USA Network series The 4400 premiered exclusively on Yahoo! TV
CBS Corporation will sell its Paramount Parks division for $1.24 billion
ABC has named Charles Gibson as anchor of World News Tonight, effective Monday.
A lawsuit was filed yesterday in the US District Court in Manhattan against Cablevision for its plan to launch a Network DVR service
JUNE 2006
In Iraq a car bomb killed two of the CBS News crew and injures a third
Law & Order will undergo yet another major cast change – new ADA for Law & Order – Alana De La Garza
Cablevision Systems yesterday announced it would delay the launch of its new network DVR system
Launching this fall is cable network ReelzChannel, formerly known as Moviewatch
Kagan Research: cable networks in 2005 earned $29.9 billion in revenue, up 12.7% over the previous year
MTV has launched Viewser Labs, a new experiment partnering the network, sponsor clients and advertising agencies
ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff made a surprise visit to the ABC Newsroom
Nielsen Media Research will now provide integrated, all-electronic ratings for television wherever and whenever it is viewed: Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement
Weekends with Maury & Connie … no more. (Oh my goodness – have you see the video??)
The Montel Williams Show is breaking the syndication mold and offering its daily talk on weekly podcasts.
Say goodnight, Dan (Rather)
Layoffs at Court TV
There’s a new sports channel launching next summer – The Big Ten Channel
Univision’s board approved the sale of Univision Communications for a final bid of $13.4 billion from a group led by Haim Saban
Star Jones announced yesterday on The View that she will be leaving the show in July – tho planned, it’s not nice to surprise Barbara Walters
The Office will premiere 10 stand-alone webisodes on NBC.com
JULY 2006
ABC has closed its Upfront 2006 books, with a total tally of $2.3 billion
Dan Rather signs on with Mark Cuban’s HDNet
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and Major League Baseball have signed a new television agreement through 2013
CBS’ summer reality series Rock Star: Supernova has been hit with a law suit
Lionsgate has purchased television distributor Debmar-Mercury
MyNetworkTV has reached its goal of penetrating at least 90% of the U.S. before its debut on September 5
Spike Lee has signed a one year development deal with NBC Universal Television Studio
ABC News has officially changed the name of its evening newscast to World News with Charles Gibson
Nash Entertainment has agreed to house its video library on Google Video
AUGUST 2006
Time Warner and Comcast’s purchase of Adelphia Communications Corp for a cool $17 billion has been finalized
Media General has sold off its four CBS stations in three separate deals
SCI FI Channel picks up extensive series & made-for library from CBS Paramount Domestic Television
The Ellen DeGeneres Show has been renewed for another three years
Fox News is reporting two of its news crew in Gaza City were abducted by Palestinian gunmen yesterday
The FCC sent out three and a half dozen letters of inquiry to 77 broadcast license holders asking about the use of Video News Releases
America’s Next Top Model will debut on schedule, not effected by the writers strike
Fox Entertainment Group will offer free primetime programs on the websites of nine O&O stations
Pegasus Broadcast Television, Inc. has sold 11 television stations to CP Media, LLC of Wilkes-Barre
Chris Cuomo made News Anchor of Good Morning America
Sony Pictures Entertainment announced its acquisition of viral video website Grouper
Telepictures President Jim Paratore will leave the company to launch a new full-service television production company, paraMedia inc.
New kid entertainment network Qubo is born
SEPTEMBER 2006
FOX introduced a new quiz show concept imported from the U.K. – The Rich List – it lasted 1 episode
Bravo has picked up the off-HBO rights to Six Feet Under
Advertising spending has increased by 5.1% during the first half of this year
For the first time in this daily, Emails to the Editor appear at the base of Cynopsis – topic: upcoming season of Survivor
CBS Evening News with Katie Couric premiered with 13.59 million total viewers
Mark Burnett Prods gets into syndication with Telepictures
Cynopsis introduces a new web-based feature – Cynopsis Showcase
The New York Times Co. has announced plans to sell off its station group
NBC Universal and its broadcast affiliates will launch an independent business-to-business unit called nbbc
ABC Newsman Bob Woodruff has recovered enough from his injuries sustain in Iraq last January, that he plans to be back at work this fall
NBC will offer streaming of its new fall primetime shows on www.nbc.com
CBS primetime series will stream on Google Video
Disney-ABC Television Group will again offer ad-supported, full-length primetime shows for free online at www.ABC.com
A&E’s Dog the Bounty Hunter, Duane Dog Chapman, his son and his colleague Tim Chapman (no relation) were arrested in Hawaii yesterday
The View on ABC began its tenth season week and the debut of Rosie O’Donnell
Meredith Vieira made her Today show debut
Does Dennis Rodman, noted for being a really snappy dresser, need a makeover, or will he just host a makeover show?
VP/GM of Cablevision’s Fuse network, Catherine Mullen, will officially announce her departure
OCTOBER 2006
Showtime will be offering a handful of its primetime series on Yahoo
FX has picked up the cable TV rights to the film Invincible
Fox will now put ad-supported primetime episodes on MySpace
NBC’s Kidnapped is the first official cancellation of the new season
The first fall freshman series to get a full season pickup – Heroes on NBC
Google Inc. will purchase YouTube for $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction
From FremantleMedia North America, the beach patrol series Baywatch will return to American televisions next fall 2007
CBS Corp. has entered into a deal with YouTube to provide programming clips and to share any advertising revenue
See if this ranking of the Evening Broadcast News sounds familiar: NBC 1, ABC 2 and CBS 3
Jim Gaffigan will launch a series of webisodes called Pale Force on NBC.com
NBC’s NBCU 2.0 initiative will cut 700+ jobs, consolidate news bureaus, use lower rent programs at 8p
ABC News has scheduled the return of Bob Woodruff
RHI has cut a deal with Sci Fi Channel to produce up to 10 monster films over the next two years
Cable nets opting out of Nielsen Media Research’s new commercial viewer tracking data service
CMT Loaded will debut a 10-week made-for-broadband series called MUZIKMAFIA TV
Vanished on Fox told to finish up kidnapping story arc in 13 eps
The St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series in five – average viewers for the series was down considerably from last year
Young Broadcasting Inc. will make free commercial time available to political candidates for the November election
Dick Clark will return to his hosting duties for the New Year’s Rockin’ Eve
Comcast Corp. launches its new broadband and VOD channel FEARnet.com for VOD, online and mobile
NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution will renew The Martha Stewart Show for a third season
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. will debut its newest broadband and interactive-online community channel, Super Deluxe
Spot Runner has received $40 million in financing from the CBS Corp. and two advertising holding companies, WPP Group and Interpublic Group of Cos
NOVEMBER 2006
NGC Crew injured in Afghanistan
After 35 years as the host of The Price is Right and 50 years on television, Bob Barker says he will retire in June
The Tennis Channel is partnering with Bellrock Media and has launched Turbo Tennis, a new mobile game
Kuma Reality Games, a publisher/developer of episodic videogames, and The History Channel have joined to develop gaming and TV content
Fangoria TV launched online last month and provides content for fans of the horror genre
NeuLion Incorporated and Africast TV (www.africast.tv) have teamed to launch a new African consumer broadcast network in December
Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings, Inc. have launched their National TV/Internet Fusion database
Spanish-language Telemundo programming and bilingual mun2 shows will be available for purchase and download on the iTunes
Sinclair Broadcast Group wants cable operator Mediacom Communications Corp. to pay retransmission fees to Sinclair of $1 million more than what Mediacom is interested in paying
United Artists, will be resurrected in a new partnership agreement between Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner and MGM
Zone Mobile division has brokered a deal with Amp’d Mobile in the U.S. to exclusively carry the made-for-mobile horror series, When Evil Calls
Nielsen Media Research has decided to wait indefinitely on releasing its first-ever Average Commercial Minute MIT Data File Service
Bill O’Reilly is embroiled in a controversy and a potential investigation … again
CBS has launched a new broadband-only series on its Innertube site today – The Papdits
Previous episode order of 13 for the NBC project Singles Table from 20th Century Fox, has received a reduced order for only 6 episodes
If you haven’t heard or checked out the website SecondLife.com, now may be the time
Writers Guild of America, West filed suit against the producers of The CW’s America’s Next Top Model show
The Anime Network has made a deal with Sprint
Eli Broad and investor Ron Burkle have submitted a bid to buy Chicago-based Tribune Co
NBC Universal Television Stations, iVillage and Universal Orlando Resort are working together to launch multi-platform, interactive daytime talk show iVillage Live
CBS’ freshman cancellation Smith will be streamed on the network’s broadband channel innertube
NBC Universal has launched a new comedy broadband channel DotComedy
NBC Universal has begun layoffs based on its NBCU 2.0 plan designed to tighten budgets in every department
Buena Vista Television has secured a robust handful of local station syndication clearances for Grey’s Anatomy
FremantleMedia N.A. have shifted the distribution rights of Family Feud from Tribune Entertainment Co., over to Debmar-Mercury
Television producer Steven Bochco teams up with video-sharing website Metacafe
Aggregator Limited and MercuryMedia will launch a new TV-over-broadband (TVoBB) service called joiningthedots.tv
Randy Falco is making his move from NBC Universal Television Group over to head up Time Warner’s AOL division
Nielsen completed its first Product Placement Valuation Study, which is part of its Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement
Comcast is set to launch its new HD cable channel, Golf Channel/Versus in January
HBO and AOL have partnered to launch a new broadband website for first quarter next year: This Just In.
Cynopsis teams with CABLEready to launch a new subscriber-based website for programmers and producers alike: CableU
Fox Reality Channel will launch several of its new series on iTunes a full week before the official launch on air
Cox Communications will launch Oxygen on Demand in all its On DEMAND
YouTube will join the list of content providers for Verizon’s wireless VCAST service
BitTorrent signs new deals with a bevy of networks
DECEMBER 2006
ABC wins November sweep among A18-49
Another NBC Universal executive is exiting: Keith Turner, President/Advertising Sales and Marketing
A new series coming to Comedy Central that originally debuted on mobile phones: Lil’ Bush: Resident of the United States
It’s finally here – birth of CableU!
CBS has scheduled Criminal Minds to air in the coveted timeslot immediately following the Super Bowl XLI
David Letterman renews thru fall of 2010
The advertising expenditures numbers are out from TNS Media Intelligence Š and media is up across the board
VH1 Mobile has launched a new original mobile series called Celebhead, a short-form parody of what it’s like being inside a famous celebrity’s head
GAMEPLAY HD will stream full episodes of its programming online for free
Say what you want about the FCC, but don’t say it with profanity
News Corp. and Liberty Media have confirmed they struck a deal
Time Warner Cable will soon add the free service Music Choice On Demand to its VOD offerings
Time Warner Cable, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against DirecTV alleging false advertising and deceptive business practice
Nielsen Media Research will offer its clients raw data based on how many people watch broadcast commercials minute by minute
Media Rivals discuss possibility of joining forces to create viral video site to compete against YouTube
CBS Interactive and Artificial Life, Inc. will launch the first avatar-based mobile game tied to America’s Next Top Model
Granite Broadcasting has filed for Chapter XI protection in the US Bankruptcy Court with a plan of financial reorganization
Sundance Channel will launch a virtual screening room within the online community of Second Life
ABC News and Yahoo will expand their current content relationship
ABC has given the official go to two projects, both from Harpo Prods.
News Corp. considers programming strategy overhaul of MyNetwork TV
MAJOR EXECUTIVE MOVES … Dick Askin leaves Tribune; Hamish McLenan named CEO of Y&R Adv; Peter Kosann appointed President/CEO, Westwood One; Following the split of Viacom into two entities, Herb Scannell, President/Nickelodeon Networks Group and Vice-Chairman/MTV Networks announced he is leaving the company; Marc Graboff named President/NBC Universal Television; James Sullivan named President/CBS Television Stations National Sales; President Bush selected Robert M. McDowell to fill the vacant seat on the FCC; MSNBC Pres Rick Kaplan resigns , Gary Chapman retires, Judith McHale will leave her post as Pres/CEO of Discovery Comm; Jim Paratore leaves Telepictures to form paramedia; Tom Freston resigns; MGM restructures with Jim Packer top of MGM Worldwide TV Dist; Laura Desmond named CEO of Starcom MediaVest; Roger King heads up CBS TV Dist with Robert Madden and John Nogawski named Pres/COOs; Schleiff leaves Court TV, later named Pres/CEO of Crown Media Holdings; Steve Koonin to Pres/turner Ent Networks; Richard Beaven joined Initiative Worldwide as CEO/North America; David Ellender promoted to CEO of FreemantleMedia Enterprises; Warner Bros. named Ken Werner as President/Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution; BBC Chairman Michael Grade jumps ship over to rival ITV; Y&R Brands’ chairman and CEO Ann Fudge retired at year’s end; Nancy Dubuc named EVP/GM for The History Channel; Telemundo named Carlos R. Bardasano as EVP/Network EntertainmentBruco Chetaille named Chairman of Mediametrie; Joe DiSalvo named pres/Sales for CBS TV Dist; Randy Falco moves from NBC Univ TV Group to head up Tim Warner’s AOL division; David Zaslav named Pres/CEO of Discovery Comm; Jon Mandel leaves Group M to become CEO of VNU/NY’s NielsenConnect; Sling Media names Jason Hirschhorn as Prez; Michael Pilot named Pres/Ad Sales for NBCU; Lloyd Braun departs Yahoo Media Group; IMG names Douglas Perlman as Pres/IMG Media, NA.
IN MEMORIAM … Richard DeAngelis, Neil Strawser, Lou Rawls, Shelley Winters, Coretta Scott King, Adam “Chip” Pauken, Tony Franciosa, Franklin Cover, Wendy Wasserstein, Curt Gowdy, Al Lewis, Don Knotts, Darren McGavin, Dennis Weaver, Dana Reeve, Maureen Stapleton, Bill Beutel, Lew Anderson (Clarabell), Don Fitzpatrick, Louis Rukeyser, Earl Woods, Elma G. “Pem” Fransworth, Buck Owens, Paul Gleason, Gloria Monty, Aaron Spelling, George Page, Jan Murray, June Allyson, Red Buttons, Mike Douglas, Bruno Kirby, Moose (Eddie on Frazier), Barnard Hughes, Benjamin Hendrickson, Tony Malara, Glenn Ford, Jack Warden, Steve Irwin, Jane Wyatt, Arthur Hill, Ed Bradley, Jack Palance, Michael Gilden, Philip (Phil) R. Dixson, Betty Comden, John M. Higgins, Robert Altman, Joseph Barbera, John Jones, Ronnie F. Lippin, Peter Boyle, Mike Evans, Robert E. Yde, James Brown, Frank Stanton, President Gerald Ford, Eric Schmuckler, Noreen Welle and Jared Nathan.
Did we forget something or somebody? Of course we did, tho never intentionally. It’s a New Year … let’s move on.
Happy New Year!
Later — Cyn
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