cable

Some cable TV networks slowed down commercial clutter in the fourth quarter of 2015; network executives had earlier pledged to do so. Bernstein Research estimates that the number of non-kids prime-time advertising commercials — excluding news and sports — declined 1% versus the same period in fourth quarter 2014.

In the latest of an ongoing series on how different news organizations are deploying distributed content strategies, Mădălina Ciobanu looks at Fusion’s operation. Fusion deploys a 12-person team for content production on Instagram, Vine, Tumblr and Snapchat Discover, the latter to which eight members are devoted daily. The team, which collaborates on Slack, is also divided between Oakland, New York and Fusion’s Miami HQ.

Unhappy with what they call an “obscure” proposal from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler allowing consumers to buy set-top boxes that sounds an awful lot like the “AllVid” scheme they’ve been stridently resisting for months, the pay TV industry united Wednesday in a rhetorical show of strength.

Kevin Reilly is giving himself three years to reinvent TBS and TNT. He joined the networks as chief creative officer in late 2014 and spent much of last year quietly making changes. The Turner transformation kicked off last week with the Jan. 17 premiere of Rashida Jones’ new TBS comedy Angie Tribeca. Reilly shares what else is on tap.

Subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu and Amazon have shot up since 2010, which would seem to threaten premium cable networks. But their ranks are growing too. Comparing the big ones.

A former HBO talent relations executive has admitted bilking the cable network out of nearly $1 million through fraudulent bills for services that were never rendered.

Less than a month after Byron Allen got AT&T and DirecTV carriage deals after charging them with racial discrimination in a $10 billion lawsuit, he’s got some new targets. On Wednesday, both the FCC and Charter Communications were sued for $10 billion in federal court by Allan’s Entertainment Studios and the National Association of African American-Owned Media for “racial discrimination in contracting for television channel carriage.”

The purchase price is partially offset by the network’s $200 million in net operating losses, which Sinclair will be able to carry forward to its taxes and save it around $65 million. Sinclair has lined up deals with MVPDs to increase the channel’s coverage from 30 million to 50 million homes. The channel’s CEO, Ken Solomon, is staying on.

If approved, the merger would most likely include strong conditions meant to prevent Charter from leveraging its market power to hurt rival streaming services.

Kevin Draper portrays ESPN as “hemorrhaging subscribers and money” as cords are cut and subscribers trade down to ESPN-free packages. “Faced with a declining revenue stream, there are two choices for most businesses: sell more of your product, or charge more for it,” Draper writes, but unfortunately for ESPN, it really isn’t in a position to do either. While the apocalypse isn’t here yet for the sports giant, it’s also caught in market dynamics that see its potential acceleration.

Executives of  Time Warner and its HBO programming division met with officials of the FCC’s Media and Wireline Competition Bureaus last week, warning them that Charter’s purchases of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks could threaten the deployment of over-the-top services.

Five months after he coined the term “peak TV” to describe the overwhelming amount of video content available to audiences, FX Networks CEO John Landgraf said we’re not yet at the peak, but will be soon. Landgraf also renewed his calls for Netflix to release data so it can be on a level playing field with the other TV networks.

Jordan Weissmann says that Al Jazeera America’s name and Quatari pedigree may have had a role in its demise, but its bigger problem was its content. “The channel was founded on the utterly ill-conceived idea that Americans were starving for sober, ‘unbiased’ hard news coverage,” he writes. “It made the mistake of offering viewers the programming they claimed to want, instead of the programming that all available evidence suggests they actually enjoy.”

ESPN is becoming a problem for Disney. In a note to clients today, Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar downgraded shares of Disney to “Underweight” from “Equal Weight,” citing increasing investor attention around the struggles at ESPN.

CLEVELAND (AP) — LeBron James will co-produce and appear in a reality TV series called “Cleveland Hustles.” James and his close friend and business partner, Maverick Carter, are producing the […]

The cable news outlet, which began broadcasting in August 2013, said it would expand its digital presence in the United States.

Looking to spur more linear and digital video ad innovation, cable network group Turner is launching industry-wide research consortium Turner Ad Lab. Turner Ad Lab will be led by an advisory board made up of representatives from industry trade organizations, research companies, ad tech start-ups and the advertising community.

NEW YORK (AP) — With the extension of “Sesame Street” into a high-price neighborhood – HBO, where it premieres Saturday morning – it has signaled significant urban renewal. “Sesame Street” […]

Jessica Mendoza wonders what she’d be doing during the upcoming Major League Baseball season if not for some events out of her control. The retired softball star was scheduled to […]