Television. (Barely Making the Grade).Year in Review: Labor turmoil, spiraling production costs, and the worst ad slump in a decade combined to make 2001 a year to forget...The big got bigger with another wave of consolidation. NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. parent General Electric Co. bought Telemundo Communications Group Telemundo Communications Group is a holding company within NBC Universal for the television properties bearing the Telemundo brand. It is owned by General Electric and based in Hialeah, Florida.[1] Inc. for S2.7 billion, News Corp. bought Chris-Craft Industries Inc. (including KCOP-13) for $4.4 billion, and Disney snagged Fox Family Worldwide and its stations for $5.2 billion. Meanwhile, Sony Pictures Entertainment said it would close its network television production arm and lay off 20 percent of its studio staff... Unable to find an investor to bail out the sinking company, Michael Ovitz was forced to shutter his Artists Television Group. Players to Watch: All eyes are on Hollywood's new odd couple: USA Networks Inc.'s independent-minded Barry Duller and his new boss, Vivendi Universal Chairman Jean-Marie Messier, who are merging their assets into a media superpower capable of challenging AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. Time Warner Inc. in new and traditional media... EchoStar Communications Corp., which outbid out·bid tr.v. out·bid, out·bid·den or out·bid, out·bid·ding, out·bids To bid higher than: We outbid our rivals at the auction. News Corp for Hughes Electronics Corp. and its DirecTV subsidiary for $29 billion, seeks regulatory approval for a deal that would give it 90 percent of the U.S. satellite TV market... Growth of digital delivery could reverse Gemstar-TV Guide's yearlong stock slide. Buzz for 2002: Network advertising will pick up in the second quarter, but don't expect a return to anything approaching the levels of 2000... Advertisers will opt for more targeted ad campaigns in response to a more segmented TV landscape. If Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. further relaxes community ownership rules, there will be more consolidation, with independent station owners drawing interest from the big boys... Talk of the demise of unscripted un·script·ed adj. Not adhering to or in accordance with a script written beforehand: "his unscripted encounters with the press" Eleanor Clift. TV is premature. There will be plenty of reality shows in 2002, along with a push by networks to connect such programming to pay-for-play online gaming and interactive services. Expect talent agents to win some concessions in their drive to broaden their business dealings... Hollywood's creative community face ever scarcer -- and cheaper -- development deals as studios redouble re·dou·ble v. re·dou·bled, re·dou·bling, re·dou·bles v.tr. 1. To double. 2. To repeat. 3. Games To double the doubling bid of (an opponent) in bridge. v. their commitment to cost cutting. Grade: C+ |
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