Fox

NEW YORK (AP) — Kimberley Locke wants to fill that vacant judge’s chair on American Idol. The season 2 finalist feels having a former contestant on the show can bring […]

Posting the biggest rating drop in its history this past season, Fox’s American Idol, the biggest non-sports TV series in the U.S., needs changes. But it may not be enough to put Fox on top by the end of next season.

At the TCA this morning, the network says it will give viewers an early look at Ben and Kate and The Mindy Project between Aug. 27 and Sept. 9 on Facebook, Yahoo!, Hulu, AOL, MSN, Fox.com, Xfinity and other outlets.

Tyler said he’s leaving the Fox show after two seasons to rededicate himself to Aerosmith, the band he fronts.

Satellite broadcaster Dish Network lost the preliminary legal bout with broadcast networks CBS, NBC and Fox over its commercial skipping feature known as the Auto Hop. A New York federal court Monday denied Dish’s request for a declaratory ruling that the Auto Hop does not violate copyright law.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan said Monday that she will make a decision within a week on Dish network’s request to move the case brought by CBS, Fox and NBC against the satellite provider’s ad-skipping technology from New York to Los Angeles.

Fox has sold out its ad inventory in and around next week’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game, moving spots at a high single-digit percentile increase versus last year’s rates. According to industry sources, Fox has priced in-game 30-second spots at around $550,000 a pop, this despite the formidable challenge of having to compete with NBC’s Olympics for sponsor dollars.

The three broadcast networks will face Dish in court starting today over its commercial-skipping feature Auto Hop, which works on TV network programs recorded on DVRs.

Both CNN and Fox News Channel incorrectly reported Thursday that the law’s central provision, requiring virtually all Americans to have health insurance, had been struck down. Both networks backtracked when it became clear that the court upheld the provision.

The sophomore reality competition kicks off the 2012-13 season on Sept. 13, while the network saves Raising Hope and Touch returns for October.

Beginning July 1, the network will be seen on Fisher’s MNT affiliate KXPI Pocatello, Idaho, and its co-owned KIDK Idaho Falls.

Movies, autos seek to grab important audiences but price hikes haven’t reached double-digit range yet.

Dish sued the Big Four TV networks over its new ad-skipping Auto Hop feature Thursday, even as Fox filed the first network Auto Hop lawsuit against Dish. Dish sought a federal court’s “declaratory judgment on questions” related to the technology, which allows viewers to skip commercials when they watch previously aired shows. Fox, meanwhile, accused Dish of copyright violations.

The Idaho station will no longer be an affiliate when its contract expires on June 30. GM Shelley Goings says Fox is demanding a new compensation rate that is higher than the station’s current revenue.

For Dr. Gregory House, boring had always been life’s least tolerable state. The satisfying one-hour finale — the series’ 177th episode — served well as a reminder: House seldom was.

Lopez, who has young twins, told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres this week that she wasn’t sure about renewing her contract as a judge on the Fox singing contest for a third year.

Fox has finally completed its metamorphosis into CBS, after being CBS Lite for the last few seasons. Nowadays, the two primary reasons for watching broadcast television are sitcoms and singing shows. And guess what? Fox has plenty of both.

Last week, News Corp COO Chase Carey told Wall Street analysts that “our challenge for next year is to put some fresh energy in” Fox’s American Idol after “we probably didn’t do enough this year” in terms of changes. During this morning’s Fox upfronts conference call, Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly said the show will undergo “some creative tweaking” heading into next season, declining to elaborate.

The network adds three new comedies and two new dramas to slate. Glee moves to Thursdays following The X Factor.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski testified Wednesday that his agency takes calls to cancel Fox’s broadcast licenses “very seriously.” During a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Frank Lautenberg pressed Genachowski on whether he plans to do anything about the allegations. Genachowski said it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on a specific case, but that the commission is “certainly aware of the serious issues that have been raised in the U.K.”

The network has renewed flagship animated comedy Family Guy for an 11th season and American Dad for an eighth with 22-epsiode ofders for each.

The network, which just got done picking up five new shows and renewing a sixth (Kiefer Sutherland’s Touch), has axed freshman dramas Alcatraz and The Finder.

This is good news no matter what universe or timeline you live in: Fox has renewed Fringe for a fifth and final 13-episode season.

The former Real Housewives star will get a six-week test run on Fox stations in New York, Los Angeles and four other markets.

Scoffed at from its start for setting itself up as a rival to the stodgy, old CBS, NBC and ABC, Fox celebrates 25 years on the air this Sunday with a two-hour special featuring cast reunions, reruns, highlights and some major trumpet blowing.

Television has changed so much in the 25 years since the Fox network launched in primetime — an anniversary being celebrated with a primetime special on Sunday night — that it’s hard to convey to someone under 30 what a big deal it was for a fourth network to not only debut, but endure.

The former TBS late-night host will take the helm of the new summer dating series.