Google Rumored To Be In Talks To Buy YouTube [UPDATE] October 9, 2006 4:26 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Video Downloads.1 comment so far
Update – 10/9/2006:
It has now been confirmed that Google has acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion.
More information about the sale can be read at TV Week.
Best Buy Enters Music Download Business October 9, 2006 8:30 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Music, News.add a comment
Already online at www.bestbuy.com/digitalmusicstore, Best Buy has entered into the music download business with their new service, along with partners RealNetworks and SanDisk.
The service, Best Buy Digital Music Store, allows users to either download individual tracks of music (stored permanently) or pay a monthly subscription fee (files are not permanent). The store is run on RealNetworks’ Rhapsody 4.0 service and it will be jointly promoted by Best Buy, and RealNetworks. Best Buy will also begin promoting SanDisk MP3 players for use with the service in their stores.
Best Buy Enters Music Downloads (Video Business)
Warner Bros. Lowers High-Definition DVD Forecast October 9, 2006 8:00 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD, High Definition Optical Disc, Movies, News.add a comment
After a weaker than expected September in total sales for High-Definition hardware and software, Warner Bros. has halved their original sales estimate for the new medium.
Back in August of this year, they forecasted sales of $1.5-$1.9 billion in hardware and $500 million in software by years end. Because of the lower than expected September take (about $30 million, roughly half of what was expected) estimates have been revised downward to $750 million on hardware and $150 million for software.
Warner Halves High-Def Projections (Video Business)
FOX Sets Premiere Date for “The Rich List” October 9, 2006 7:30 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.add a comment
A new game show in which teams create lists of information to win prices will premiere November 1st (Wednesday) at 9:00 PM. following Bones on FOX.
The Rich List will be hosted by British morning show host Eamonn Holmes.
William Shatner Tapped To Host New Game Show for ABC October 9, 2006 7:00 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.add a comment
William Shatner of Star Trek (and more recently Boston Legal) fame has been chosen by ABC to host a new game show titled Show Me The Money for the network.
“Bill was the guy we wanted from day one to host ‘Show Me the Money,'” said David Goldberg, president of Endemol USA. “More than anything, we were looking for a great showman, and in addition to being an instantly recognizable entertainer to audiences of all ages, Bill’s got a naturally warm and witty presence that is simply perfect for the material.”
Produced by Endemol USA, the company responsible for the NBC hit Deal or No Deal, Show Me the Money has not yet been given a release date.
‘The Departed’ Takes Box Office (Oct. 6-8) October 9, 2006 6:30 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, Top 10 Box Office.add a comment
Taking in an estimated $27.015M (All data based on Studio Estimates. Weekend actuals will be released Monday afternoon. Any comparisons will be using actual data.), “The Departed” becomes Martin Scorsese’s largest opening movie in his career, surpassing the $10.261M of “Cape Fear” back in 1991 to take the weekend win.
The film was also Scorsese’s widest opening release ever at 3,017 theaters.
Who Wants To Be A Superhero Renewed For A Second Season October 6, 2006 9:12 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Renewals, Television.1 comment so far
Sci Fi Wire is reporting that the Sci Fi Channel has ordered a full second season of its original reality series, expanding the show from 6 episodes to 10 one-hour episodes.
“Who Wants to Be a Superhero? was a success for us on many levels last summer,” Mark Stern, SCI FI’s executive vice president, original programming, said in a statement. “The show garnered great reviews, attracted a record-breaking number of younger viewers to the channel and held its own against some very stiff competition on Thursday nights.”
The first season of the show averaged a 1.1 household rating, good enough for an average of 1.5M viewers per week.
TV Notes: Scheduling Changes & Cancellations (10/6/2006) October 6, 2006 6:10 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Fall 2006 TV, Television.add a comment
Scheduling Changes:
It appears Kidnapped hasn’t been canceled just yet. Starting October 21st, NBC will move the show from its current time slot (Wednesday @ 10:00 PM) to Saturdays at 10:00 PM.
Cancellations:
Smith has been pulled from CBS’s schedule, repeats of CSI and Criminal Minds will be used to fill the show’s slot.
13 episodes of the show were ordered by CBS, with the series being pulled as its seventh episode was being filmed.
Smith premiered with 11.00M viewers on September 19th, with its second episode dipping to 9.67M and the third episode to 8.43M viewers.
ABC sets “Big Day” Premiere Date October 6, 2006 12:53 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in News, Television.add a comment
Knights Of Prosperity was originally going to have the Tuesday at 9:00 PM time-period, but that show has been put on hold (ABC apparently feels it has been lost in the shuffle of new show promotions and will hold on to it a bit longer).
TV Notes: Schedule Changes and Episode Orders – (10/5/06) October 5, 2006 1:05 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Fall 2006 TV, Television.add a comment
Back-Nine Orders:
- New Adventures of Old Christine
- The back-nine have been ordered for this sophomore show, which is averaging a respectable 12.10M viewers up to last week.
- The Unit
- Same as Old Christine. Through two episodes, this series is averaging 11.88M viewers up to last week.
- Heroes
- Picked up for a full season order. The series premiered to a strong 14.10M.
Scheduling Changes:
- The Class / How I Met Your Mother
- These comedies will swap time-periods, with How I Met Your Mother (Mon at 8:00 PM) leading into The Class (Mon at 8:30 PM) instead of the opposite.
- Justice
- Moving from Wed at 9:00 PM to Mon at 9:00 PM (out of Prison Break).
- Vanished
- Moving from Mon at 9:00 PM to Fri at 8:00 PM starting Oct. 27th (replacing Nanny 911).
- The CW Monday & Sunday Night line-ups flip places .
- Everybody Hates Chris, All of Us, Girlfriends and The Game will now air on Monday from 8-10 PM. (Starts October 16th).
- 7th Heaven and Runaway will now air from 8-10 PM on Sunday. (Starts October 15th).
Kidnapped Canceled? October 5, 2006 12:27 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cancellations, Fall 2006 TV, Television.add a comment
According to sources (being reported on as early as yesterday) the first casualty of the new season has been announced. Kidnapped, the critically acclaimed by lowly viewed series, has apparently been canceled by NBC (NBC has yet to confirm this).
According to sources, the show will wrap after the original 13 episode order. A decision on where and if NBC will air the remaining 10 episodes should be known sometime today.
The series premiered September 20th to a disappointing 7.6M viewers. The second episode dipped further to 6.3M and the third episode, which aired last evening, dropped even further to about 5.2M viewers.
Fall 2006 TV Review, Part Seven (“The Nine”) October 4, 2006 5:32 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Fall 2006 TV, Reviews, Television.add a comment
Before we get going on the next part of my Fall 2006 Review feature (here is part one, part two, part three, part four, part five and part six), let’s recap the series premiere ratings from Tuesday evening, of which there was only one.
Friday Night Lights
Averaged a 4.7/8 HH Rating with a 2.8 A18-49 rating (7.18M viewers). Staying consistent from half-hour to half-hour is the only good thing I can say about the ratings for the show. It’s certainly a high-quality hour of television and that it did worse than I thought it would (I would have figured numbers in the 10-14M range) really surprises me. It’ll be very interesting to see where the show goes from here, will it gain an audience, or will it just continue to drop week to week? It’s very hard for a show to gain viewers after its premiere, but perhaps NBC can use Sunday Night Football to propel the show some.
Alright, now let’s move on to my mini-review feature. Only one show is set to premiere this evening, The Nine.
Broadcast TV Ratings for Tuesday, October 3, 2006 October 4, 2006 4:26 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Broadcast TV Ratings, Nielsen Ratings, Television.1 comment so far
With FOX starting their Baseball coverage, ABC pulled out an easy win. Friday Night Lights struggles out of the gate, while Veronica Mars premieres even with last season.
Fall 2006 TV Review, Part Six (”Friday Night Lights”) October 3, 2006 11:41 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Fall 2006 TV, Television.add a comment
Lets get right into the sixth part of my mini-review feature; “Friday Night Lights” (here is part one, part two, part three, part four and part five).
Your Entertainment Now 