Archive for the ‘NBC’ Category
Retro Friday: Northridge, 15 Years Later
January 9, 2009MIKE ON TV: Leno on NBC Primetime, Smart Move or Desperate Play?
December 10, 2008Back on G4′s “Attack of the Show” today, I discuss Jay Leno’s big move to 10 p.m. next fall — the how, why and what of it all. Meanwhile, that “testicle” crack I make comes off as a non-sequitur out of context; I’m referring to a sketch that appeared earlier on the show.
Scenes from a New York Visit
May 21, 2008
At the NBC “Experience” event: NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chairman Ben Silverman… and COOLIO! That’s right — Mr. Gangsta’s Paradise, now the star of an Internet cooking show, in da house!
Also at the NBC event: Last season’s “Top Chef” winner, Hung.
Walking down Jerry Orbach Way.
Dunkin’ Donuts, baby!
American Gladiators and their giant Q-Tips.
Scenes from a New York Visit
May 21, 2008
At the NBC “Experience” event: NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios co-chairman Ben Silverman… and COOLIO! That’s right — Mr. Gangsta’s Paradise, now the star of an Internet cooking show, in da house!
Also at the NBC event: Last season’s “Top Chef” winner, Hung.
Walking down Jerry Orbach Way.
Dunkin’ Donuts, baby!
American Gladiators and their giant Q-Tips.
From Television City to Studio City: CBS Moves
March 14, 2008
CBS’ long-awaited move from Television City — its West Coast base since 1952 — to the CBS Studio Center (also known as the “Radford lot”) happens at the end of the month.
It’s been a long time coming; the network first started circulating drawings of a new CBS building in 2003; ground breaking took place (above, CBS’ Leslie Moonves, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and others) in 2005.
I write in Variety:
The new 162,000-square-foot building, which has been housing KCBS and KCAL since last April, will also lodge Eye topper Leslie Moonves’ West Coast office. It will be the home base for CBS Paramount TV Network Entertainment Group head Nancy Tellem and CBS Entertainment prexy Nina Tassler.
Much of the CBS Entertainment team will also make the move to the building, although some departments will remain at Television City. Plan is to gradually bring other staffers over in waves.
As for Television City, the historic landmark — which first opened in 1952 — isn’t in danger of disappearing. Unlike Columbia Square, which went dark after CBS sold the facility and KCBS/KCAL (plus KNX and KCBS-FM) moved out, TV City is still owned by the Eye and will remain an active facility.
In other words, contestants will still be “comin’ on down” for “The Price is Right” at TV City for the forseeable future.
By April, Fox becomes the only major broadcast net not located in the San Fernando Valley. NBC Entertainment is also moving this year, from Burbank to the Universal lot.
What’s Next for KWHY?
October 10, 2007
In Tuesday’s story that NBC Universal would acquire Oxygen Media for $925 million, the conglom announced that it would partly fund the purchase by selling two stations: A Telemundo affiliate in Puerto Rico, and Los Angeles independent Spanish outlet KWHY.
NBC has run three TV stations in Los Angeles — KNBC, KVEA and KWHY — for several years, getting waivers to do so on a temporary basis (as companies are still allowed to run a max of 2 stations in a market). Ultimately, NBC might have had to divest of KWHY anyway, so this decision made a lot of sense.
So what happens to KWHY? One possibility: Azteca America, which is about to lose its L.A. affiliate (as KAZA-Channel 54 dumps the Spanish-language network at the end of the year) may see the station as crucial to stay in the game. Or, Disney could go after it, realizing that it’s the only major TV station group in L.A. without a duopoly.
I do think it’s safe to say that the new owners won’t try to reinstate KWHY’s old business news format. Channel 22 aired a business news format during the day from 1966 to 2001, when it moved over to Channel 57 (and then disappeared altogether). In an age of cable business news and the internet, it no longer made sense; KWHY has been 24/7 Spanish since then.
In the early 1980s, KWHY also shut off in the evening in order to switch over to the subscription TV service SelecTV. Yeah, don’t think that’s coming back either.
