L.A. Times - TV News

Jackson memorial: both affirmation and denial

Wed, 8 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

With no practical reason for so much coverage, we see the power of pop culture that a broadcaster ignores at its own peril. Death, for a moment, wipes a slate clean.

The protracted departure of Michael Jackson from this world formally ended Tuesday morning with a private funeral at Forest Lawn and a public memorial at Staples Center. The first event was seen from afar, on television and so by the world, primarily as a sequence of arriving and departing black cars. The latter was planned from the start as a television event and carried live by all the major broadcast and cable news networks. The stars of the evening news were all on site, blinking in the sun outside the very arena where Jackson had been rehearsing his upcoming return to the stage.

U.S. Olympic Committee plans to launch own cable network

Thu, 9 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The sports organization announces a deal with cable giant Comcast. The channel could debut in 11 million homes sometime after the February 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada.

The U.S. Olympic Committee is the latest major sports organization to dive into the television channel business, announcing Wednesday that it was partnering with cable giant Comcast Corp. to launch the U.S. Olympic Network.

Some TV stations refuse to air marijuana-tax advertisement

Thu, 9 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The commercial produced by a pro-marijuana advocacy group will appear about 200 times across California in the next week, but not on KTLA or KABC.

Advocates for legalizing marijuana have released a new television advertisement calling for the drug to be decriminalized and taxed to help solve California's budget crunch.

Moguls divided over online media-revenue prospects

Wed, 8 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Some attending the annual Allen & Co. conference don t believe people will pay to view videos on the Internet, but Disney chief Bob Iger disagrees.

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger wasted little time setting the tone for this year's Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Networks find reasons to celebrate recent ratings

Wed, 8 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

CBS, NBC and Fox Broadcasting all had something to crow about from the ratings for last week's prime-time television programming.

'Warehouse 13' on Syfy

Tue, 7 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Along with the channel's new name comes this fun fusion of science, mythology and history, with two mismatched FBI agents leading the way. Sound familiar?

Syfy may not quite understand the concept of re-branding (So you actually went with the y's. Really.) but they definitely understand the concept of summer, offering us for our viewing pleasure “Warehouse 13,” a fantasy-action serial as lightly thrilling as the sound of the Good Humor man's bell on a drowsy afternoon.

'10 Things I Hate About You'

Tue, 7 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

'10 Things I Hate About You' ditches its Shakespearean source for pages from other high school comedies.

ABC Family, which may be seen as a kind of network-sized expansion of ABC's old TGIF franchise, continues its assault on the teen demo tonight with “10 Things I Hate About You,” a smarter-than-some high school comedy adapted from the 1999 Heath Ledger-Julia Stiles big-screen modernization of Shakespeare's “The Taming of the Shrew.”

'Idol' tour gives contestants a chance to do what they love

Tue, 7 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Contestants reveal what they can do after a lot of rehearsal as the 52-city tour kicks off in Portland, Ore.

For non-devotees, "American Idol's" summer tour, which launched Sunday at this city's Rose Garden Arena, may seem an afterthought. But to fans of television's most popular program, this year's 52-city tour showcasing its 10 finalists is like seeing the ducklings burst forth and become swans at last.

Debt-heavy Univision survives the punches, at least for now

Mon, 6 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Spanish-language broadcaster has blunted blows dealt by the economic recession and the company's legal battle with programming giant Grupo Televisa, but stopgap measures aren't solutions.

When Spanish-language broadcasting giant Univision Communications Inc. was sold for $13.7 billion three years ago, the highly leveraged deal was, in the words of one veteran banker, "priced for perfection."

Movies reboot as TV shows

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

This fall brings 'Eastwick,' '10 Things I Hate About You' and 'Parenthood,' each based on a successful film.

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" had all the makings of a hit, even without Arnold.