Fox

This summer, TV ratings results seem like a repeat of a year ago — but with one change for NBC. Fox is leading among key 18-49 primetime viewers with an average Nielsen 2.29 million number — but it’s down 12% from a year ago. Close on its heels, ABC is next at 2.27 million, down 9% versus a year ago.

Following the loss of Nexstar’s WFXW over the network’s demands for programming fees, Fox strikes deal with LIN’s CBS affiliate, WTHI, to carry Fox on a subchannel.

A little over a week after Fox instituted its eight-day delay for non-authenticated viewers of its shows online, BitTorrent has seen a dramatic rise in the number of viewers downloading the broadcaster’s shows.

In what would represent a major push into the mainstream for the UFC, Fox has agreed to a deal that will see the network air as many as four MMA events per year, according to several sources. As part of the deal, most of the weekly programming that UFC has on Versus and Spike TV will move to FX starting in January.

On Monday, Fox followed through with its previously announced plans to keep its new shows off the Web for eight days, except for Hulu Plus and Dish Network subscribers. Disney’s ABC is now set to do the same thing, according to people familiar with the company’s plans.

Andrew Setos is out as president of engineering for the Fox Group. A Fox spokesman said that Setos’ contract was up and the decision to leave was his own. He had been in the company for 23 years, and has been in charge of engineering needs for the sprawling media company’s film and television arms.

Starting Aug. 15, the Fox network will limit next-day streaming of its shows to paying customers of approved cable and satellite distributors. ABC is considering a similar move, suggesting that the online television ecosystem may be changing.

Today, fans who tune in to watch the World Series of Poker on ESPN won’t see ads from two big sponsors that long bought commercials for the tournament. That’s because their top executives are under indictment. The ripple effects show how crucial a handful of online companies operating at the edge of the law were to a recent boom in televised poker games, which in some cases act as infomercials for the poker-playing industry.

American Idol creator Simon Fuller sued Fox Broadcasting Co. and Fremantle on Wednesday for an executive producer credit and fees for the upcoming Fox show X Factor. The suit creates an exceedingly awkward situation for Fox, which airs Idol and will debut X Factor in September, and Fremantle, which produces both shows.

WFFT, which will go independent on Aug. 1 after failing to renew its Fox affiliation, will replace the Fox primetime programming with Extra!, The Insider and, beginning this fall, back-to-back airings of The Big Bang Theory. It’s also adding a half hour of late news and promising full HD news by October.

Media buyers have already pegged The X Factor as fall’s breakout new hit, but Fox is leaving nothing to chance. The network will air an extended preview of the show next Tuesday night as a lead-in to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which usually ranks as its most-watched program of the summer, hoping to draw the biggest possible audience for its splashy new show.

Nexstar’s former Fox affil WFXW Terre Haute, Ind., will join ABC and change its calls to WAWV on Sept. 1. In addition, the group owner signs a new agreement extending its affiliations for the nine ABC affiliates it owns or operates.

Fox is betting that Terra Nova, its highly anticipated new program about a family that travels from the year 2149 to prehistoric times as part of group trying to save the planet, can survive the craziness that is the fall television season. Because the casualty rate for new shows is so high, networks often try to protect ambitious projects until after the smoke has cleared and the early casualties of the season have been carted off. Fox, however, is eschewing a safe approach, marching right into the thick of battle and telling everyone else to get out of the way.

The network’s anticipated talent competition series The X Factor will receive a two-night launch, similar to juggernaut American Idol on Wednesday, Sept. 21 and Thursday, Sept. 22.

While most agree that the networks’ claims on a chunk of affiliates’ retrans revenues are reasonable, the sticking point is how much. And since stations are valued on the basis of a multiple of cash flow, if a station has to trim its cash flow to pay programming fees to networks or share retrans revenue with them, it devalues the station. All of this is making it difficult to calculate how much stations are worth and is putting a damper on deal-making.

After Nexstar wouldn’t agree to its retrans sharing demands, Fox moved its affiliation in Springfield, Mo., from KSFX to Ted Koplar’s MNT affiliate. He plans to run both networks’ primetime programming — Fox at 7-9 p.m. and MNT at 9-11 p.m. — and is seriously considering adding local news to the mix.

Having reached an impasse with Nexstar Broadcasting on affiliate renewal, Fox has lined up Koplar Communications’ KRBK to replace Nexstar’s KSFX in Fort Wayne, Ind., and Granite Broadcasting’s WISE to replace Nexstar’s WFFT in Springfield, Mo.

Fox Sports began the auction for Olympic television rights Monday in Lausanne, Switzerland, by offering to buy the next four Games starting with the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. ESPN and NBC Sports will make their offers to the International Olympic Committee today, when a winner is expected to be declared.

With Fox having finished its primetime upfront advertising sales, Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce on Friday slightly lowered his predictions for the kind of upfront sales price increases that ABC and NBC will fetch.

Fox on Thursday said that it had concluded its primetime upfront advertising sales, but buyers were taking their time with the other broadcast networks. Fox said that by adding the new competition show The X Factor to a strong and stable schedule, it was able to achieve “significant growth in both volume and pricing, consistent with our position as the number one network.”

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Steve White, editor of the upcoming “Family Guy” comic book, is keenly aware of the franchise’s history of drawing laughs and making viewers cringe. That’s why he […]

So You Think You Can Dance continued its strong start to the season with its first Wednesday episode last night. Dance averaged a 3.0 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., up 7% over its Wednesday premiere last year. That follows Thursday’s season premiere, which grew 7% over last year to a 3.2. Last night’s show also jumped 14% in total viewers compared to last year, to 8.4 million.

General Motors has signed on as one of the larger sponsors of Fox’s X Factor, becoming the second major advertiser to pledge support for the much-anticipated musical-contest program, according to people familiar with the situation.

While the network is making news over its “take-it-or-leave-it” stance in renewal talks demanding a cut of its affiliates’ retransmission consent revenue, there’s no shortage of stations ready, willing and anxious to get on board.

Fox has inked an affiliate deal with Vision Alaska II to air the network on KJUD Juneau, Alaska. KJUD is an ABC affiliate and Fox will air on its multicast tier. Juneau does not currently have a Fox affiliate.

Two networks — Fox and ABC — were interested in moving the upfront market late this week, according to media-buying executives. The major networks have been putting in long nights over the last several days to firm up their pricing. Media buyers say Fox is initially asking 14% increases on the cost-per-thousand viewers. That comes with the understanding of Fox’s goal: to get at least 11% to 12% closing price increases.

The two-hour premiere of So You Think You Can Dance delivered Fox an easy ratings win on Thursday night against a broadcast slate rife with reruns. Dance averaged a 3.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 9.1 million viewers overall. That was up 7% compared to last season’s debut for the highest-rated premiere in three years and the most-watched debut in four years.

The upfront advertising market got rolling Thursday night as Fox cut deals with many of the major agencies, according to multiple sources in the market. The sources said Fox got price increases on the low end of double digits.