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   <title>In Depth: Broadcast</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/" />
   
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2011:/news//1</id>
   <updated>2010-10-14T17:59:27Z</updated>
   <subtitle>Formerly News</subtitle>
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   <title>Google, NBC Universal End TV Ad-Sales Pact Early; Agreement Allowed Google to Sell Cable Inventory</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/10/google_nbc_universal_end_tv_ad.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.44245</id>
   
   <published>2010-10-14T17:53:46Z</published>
   <updated>2010-10-14T17:59:27Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[By Brian SteinbergAdvertising AgeGoogle and NBC Universal have dissolved an intriguing ad pact they established in 2008 nearly a year before it was set to expire, dealing a setback to Google's ambition to become a big player in TV ad sales.Under terms of the pact, which was set to end in the fall of 2011, Google was allowed to sell advertising inventory on select NBC Universal-owned cable outlets -- such as Syfy, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth and Chiller -- with the potential to expand to other networks down the line. That was seen as an important step in Google's efforts to expand its reach beyond its main business, paid-search advertising on the internet, and get into TV in a significant way. For NBC, the agreement was described as a way to bring in new advertisers, particularly the local ones Google often deals with.Rather than expanding, however, the pact has ended early. &quot;We're not currently contributing inventory into the Google marketplace, but we continue to work with Google on multiple projects involving advanced advertising,&quot; NBC Universal said in a statement Wednesday.&quot;While we are no longer offering NBC Universal inventory through Google TV Ads, NBC Universal continues to be a great partner to Google,&quot; Mark Piesanen, director of strategic partner development for Google TV Ads, said in a statement. &quot;Both NBC and Google are committed to bringing more relevance to TV viewership and advertising. CNBC is an important partner in the launch of Google TV and we are working together on research studies.&quot; The two companies are also both investors in Invidi Technologies Corp., a company involved in developing the technology behind addressable TV advertising.The end of the arrangement, however, leaves Google without access to the broad inventory of a top-tier media company. It continues its TV-advertising efforts with satellite-providers DirecTV and EchoStar's Dish Network as well as some smaller cable outlets, including Hallmark Channel, Tennis Channel, Ovation and CBS College Sports.NBC and Google's ad-sales agreement was an unusual one. NBC Universal raised eyebrows by allowing Google to sell some of its cable channels' inventory. At the time of the deal's unveiling, ad-buying executives suggested Google wasn't getting its hands on prime ad inventory, but rather less desirable stuff.Under the terms of the pact, NBC was able to set a floor for pricing as well as quality standards. The company also maintained control over its inventory, so that if a Google TV ad were to pose a conflict with another advertiser on air, the Google ad would have to run in a different fashion.A person familiar with the situation said NBC Universal felt the Google ad system worked but that it added the most value to smaller, unrated TV networks. While Chiller and Sleuth were unrated when the pact was established, they are both rated now.]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Chuck Ross</name>
      
   </author>
   
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   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[By Brian SteinbergAdvertising AgeGoogle and NBC Universal have dissolved an intriguing ad pact they established in 2008 nearly a year before it was set to expire, dealing a setback to Google's ambition to become a big player in TV ad sales.Under terms of the pact, which was set to end in the fall of 2011, Google was allowed to sell advertising inventory on select NBC Universal-owned cable outlets -- such as Syfy, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth and Chiller -- with the potential to expand to other networks down the line. That was seen as an important step in Google's efforts to expand its reach beyond its main business, paid-search advertising on the internet, and get into TV in a significant way. For NBC, the agreement was described as a way to bring in new advertisers, particularly the local ones Google often deals with.Rather than expanding, however, the pact has ended early. &quot;We're not currently contributing inventory into the Google marketplace, but we continue to work with Google on multiple projects involving advanced advertising,&quot; NBC Universal said in a statement Wednesday.&quot;While we are no longer offering NBC Universal inventory through Google TV Ads, NBC Universal continues to be a great partner to Google,&quot; Mark Piesanen, director of strategic partner development for Google TV Ads, said in a statement. &quot;Both NBC and Google are committed to bringing more relevance to TV viewership and advertising. CNBC is an important partner in the launch of Google TV and we are working together on research studies.&quot; The two companies are also both investors in Invidi Technologies Corp., a company involved in developing the technology behind addressable TV advertising.The end of the arrangement, however, leaves Google without access to the broad inventory of a top-tier media company. It continues its TV-advertising efforts with satellite-providers DirecTV and EchoStar's Dish Network as well as some smaller cable outlets, including Hallmark Channel, Tennis Channel, Ovation and CBS College Sports.NBC and Google's ad-sales agreement was an unusual one. NBC Universal raised eyebrows by allowing Google to sell some of its cable channels' inventory. At the time of the deal's unveiling, ad-buying executives suggested Google wasn't getting its hands on prime ad inventory, but rather less desirable stuff.Under the terms of the pact, NBC was able to set a floor for pricing as well as quality standards. The company also maintained control over its inventory, so that if a Google TV ad were to pose a conflict with another advertiser on air, the Google ad would have to run in a different fashion.A person familiar with the situation said NBC Universal felt the Google ad system worked but that it added the most value to smaller, unrated TV networks. While Chiller and Sleuth were unrated when the pact was established, they are both rated now.]]>
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</entry>

<entry>
   <title>October NewsPro: Environmental Journalism</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/10/october_newspro_environmental.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.44161</id>
   
   <published>2010-10-11T13:36:33Z</published>
   <updated>2010-10-11T13:44:42Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[An astonishing number of breaking stories so far in 2010 have been about the environment. TV viewers and newspaper readers were bombarded by dramatic pictures and accounts of the environment run amok, from the coal ash spill in West Virginia; the plume of volcanic ash over Europe; mine disasters in West Virginia, Chile and China; floods in Pakistan; the natural gas explosion in northern California; and, of course, the oil refinery explosions in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico.Challenges facing the journalists who cover these topics will be explored at the 20th anniversary conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists, being held in Missoula, Mont., Oct. 13 to 17. To see the entire October issue NewsPro, which is devoted to Environmental Journalism and the SEJ event, click here.. &nbsp;]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Tom Gilbert</name>
      <uri>http://www.tvweek.com/</uri>
   </author>
   
      <category term="Broadcast" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
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   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[An astonishing number of breaking stories so far in 2010 have been about the environment. TV viewers and newspaper readers were bombarded by dramatic pictures and accounts of the environment run amok, from the coal ash spill in West Virginia; the plume of volcanic ash over Europe; mine disasters in West Virginia, Chile and China; floods in Pakistan; the natural gas explosion in northern California; and, of course, the oil refinery explosions in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico.Challenges facing the journalists who cover these topics will be explored at the 20th anniversary conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists, being held in Missoula, Mont., Oct. 13 to 17. To see the entire October issue NewsPro, which is devoted to Environmental Journalism and the SEJ event, click here.. &nbsp;]]>
   </content>
</entry>

<entry>
   <title><![CDATA[CBS News Top Winner at News & Documentary Emmys; Full List of Winners Here]]></title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/09/cbs_news_top_winner_at_news_do.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.43969</id>
   
   <published>2010-09-28T04:03:21Z</published>
   <updated>2010-09-28T20:08:44Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[CBS News led the winners of the National Academy of Television Arts &amp; Sciences' 31st annual News &amp; Documentary Emmy Awards Monday night, taking a total of seven awards.CBS was recognized for &quot;60 Minutes,&quot; which notched four wins, and &quot;CBS Evening News With Katie Couric,&quot; which took three honors.NBC News  and PBS closely followed CBS, winning six and five awards, respectively.ABC, HDNet, History Channel, National Geographic Channel, Planet Green and Sundance Channel each scored two wins, and CNBC, Discovery Channel, Globeandmail.com, HBO, NYTimes.com, TIME.com and VH1 were awarded one Emmy apiece.KPIX-TV, San Francisco, KSTP-TV, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and KHOU-TV, Houston, took the News &amp; Documentary Emmys for regional reporting.The News &amp; Documentary Emmys were presented at a ceremony at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located in the Time Warner Center in New York City. The ceremony will be broadcast Oct. 9 at 8 p.m. ET on C-SPAN.A complete list of winners follows:OUTSTANDING COVERAGE OF A BREAKING NEWS STORY IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCASTNBC Nightly News with Brian Williams (NBC)Miracle on the HudsonAnchor and Managing Editor: Brian WilliamsExecutive Producer: Bob EpsteinSenior Broadcast Producer: Patrick Burkey, Aurelia GraysonDirector: Brett HoleySenior Producers: Subrata De, Mary Laurence Flynn, Tracey Lyons, Albert OetgenSupervising Producer: Jay BlackmanCorrespondents: Robert Bazell, Tom Costello, Rehema Ellis, Martin Fletcher, Mike Taibbi, Chuck ToddProducers: Donna Bass, Beverly Chase, Christine Colvin, Bob Croce, Tom Dawson, Clare Duffy, Carol Eggers, Lauren Fairbanks, Andy Franklin, Anthony Galloway, Mario Garcia, Hilary Guy, Jody Henenfeld, Robert Kaplan, Maggie Kassner, Susan Kroll, Victor Limjoco, Daniel Linden, Carla Marcus, Megan Marcus, Daniel Nagin, Samuel Singal, Robin Skolnick, Christina Vallice, Kelly VenardosOUTSTANDING CONTINUING COVERAGE OF A NEWS STORY IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCASTNBC Nightly News with Brian Williams (NBC)Unlikely RefugesAnchor and Managing Editor: Brian WilliamsExecutive Producer: Bob EpsteinSenior Broadcast Producer: Aurelia GraysonDirector: Brett HoleySenior Producer: Mary Laurence FlynnCorrespondents: Richard Engel, Adrienne MongProducers: Maria Alcon, Bredun Edwards, Madeleine Haeringer, Maggie Kassner, Paul Nassar,Matt Softley, Rachele WebbOUTSTANDING FEATURE STORY IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCASTToday (NBC)Fighting GrossmansProducer: Amanda Marshall, David EmanueleCorrespondent: Bob DotsonOUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCASTCBS Evening News with Katie Couric (CBS)Rape in America: Justice DeniedAnchor and Managing Editor: Katie CouricExecutive Producer: Rick KaplanSenior Producer: Keith SummaProducer: Laura StricklerChief Investigative Correspondent: Armen KeteyianOUTSTANDING BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC REPORTING IN A REGULARY SCHEDULED NEWSCASTCBS Evening News with Katie Couric (CBS)Financial Family TreeAnchor and Managing Editor: Katie CouricExecutive Producer: Rick KaplanSenior Producer: Kim GodwinProducers: Brandon Baur, Marsha Cooke, Erin George, Chris WeicherCorrespondents: John Blackstone, Cynthia Bowers, Kelly Cobiella, Barry PetersonOUTSTANDING COVERAGE OF A BREAKING NEWS STORY IN A NEWS MAGAZINEDateline NBC (NBC)Miracle on the HudsonExecutive Producer: David CorvoExecutive Editor: Liz ColeManaging Editor: Aretha MarshallDirectors: John Libretto, Judith FarinetSenior Producers: Ellen Mason, Jim GeretySenior Producers: Liz Cole, Ellen MasonSupervising Producer: Joe DelmonicoAnchor: Ann CurryCorrespondents: Peter Greenberg, Chris Hansen, Hoda Kotb, Dennis MurphyProducers: Tim Beacham, John Block, Katherine Chan, Bradley Davis, Cameo George, Bob Gilmartin, Marianne Haggerty, Meade Jorgensen, Sarah Longden, Marianne O'Donnell, Robin Oelkers, Mary Ann Rotondi, Susan Simpson, Dan Slepian, Justin Smith, Jane EStone, Tim Uehlinger, Esther ZuckerField Producers: Falguni Lakhani, Alex Waterfield, Katie YuCoordinating Producer: Biju MathewOUTSTANDING CONTINUING COVERAGE OF A NEWS STORY IN A NEWS MAGAZINE60 Minutes (CBS)War in PakistanExecutive Producer: Jeff FagerExecutive Editor: Bill OwensProducer: Draggan MihailovichCorrespondent: Steve KroftOUTSTANDING FEATURE STORY IN A NEWS MAGAZINEHDNet World Report (HDNet)South Africa's Shame: Modern‑Day Slavery and the World CupExecutive Producer: Dennis O'BrienSenior Producer: Kathy GettingsProducer: Gareth HarveyCorrespondent: Paul BebanOUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN A NEWS MAGAZINEFRONTLINE/World (PBS)Ghana: Digital Dumping GroundExecutive Producer: David FanningSenior Producers: Ken DornsteinSeries Executive Director: Sharon TillerProducer/Correspondent: Peter KleinProducer: Sarah CarterCo-Producers: Shira Bick, Ian Bickis, Krysia Collyer, Allison Cross, Heba Elasaad, Dan Haves, Doerthe Keilholz, Jodie Martinson, Dan McKinney, Blake Sifton, Leslie YoungOUTSTANDING BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC REPORTING IN A NEWS MAGAZINEDan Rather Reports (HDNet)Iran's Manhattan ProjectCorrespondent and Managing Editor: Dan RatherExecutive Producer: Wayne NelsonSenior Producer: Elliot KirschnerProducer: Andrew GlazerOUTSTANDING LIVE COVERAGE OF A CURRENT NEWS STORY &ndash; LONG FORMABC News Special Events (ABC)Inauguration 2009 ‑ Barack ObamaExecutive Producer: Marc BursteinExecutive Director: Roger GoodmanAnchors: Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer, George StephanopoulosAnchor/Correspondents: Robin Roberts, Ron Claiborne, Chris Cuomo, Sam Donaldson, JohnDonvan, Dan Harris, Jonathan Karl, Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran, David Muir, Martha Raddatz, Cokie Roberts, Deborah Roberts, Brian Ross, Claire Shipman, Kate Snow, Betsy Stark, Lisa Stark, Jake Tapper, Pierre Thomas, Barbara Walters, Bill Weir, Bob WoodruffSenior Producers: Bob Wheelock, Paula Cohen, Richard Sergay, Laiea Smith, Joan Preztunik, Bob Roy, Nancy Gabriner, Ricki Goldberg, Kathy O&rsquo;Hearn, Andrew MorseProducers: Annie Allen, Perita Carpenter, Teddy Davis, Jonathan Greenberger, Farnaz Haghighi, Sally Hawkins, Akilah Joseph, Lourdes Leahy, Mary Wojcik, Sunlen Miller, Eric Noll, Andrea Owen, Lana Zak, Margaret Aro, Katie Munley, Susan Archer, Ben NewmanRemote Location Producers: Stephanie Smith, Avery Miller, Dena Norland, Clayton Sandell, Quiana Burns, Matt Hosford, Kirit Radia, Drew Millhon, Courtney Chapman, Jon Garcia, Brett Hovell, Richard Coolidge, Tom Giusto, Lisa Chinn, Jen Duck, Susan Kriskey, Matt Jaffee, Jack Date, Bruno Roeber, Margaret Conley, Nick Schifrin, Ann Marie Dorning, George Pilla, Lee Alexander, Glen DacyOUTSTANDING CONTINUING COVERAGE OF A NEWS STORY &ndash; LONG FORMFRONTLINE (PBS)A Death in TehranExecutive Producer: David Fanning, Angus MacQueenSenior Producers: Raney Aronson‑Rath, Ken DornsteinProducer: Monica Garnsey, Arash SahamiOUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM &ndash; LONG FORMFRONTLINE (PBS)The WarningProducer/Director: Michael KirkProducer/Reporter: Jim GilmoreProducer: Mike WiserExecutive Producer: David FanningSenior Producer: Raney Aronson‑RathOUTSTANDING INFORMATIONAL PROGRAMMING &ndash; LONG FORMHBO Documentary Films (HBO)Which Way HomeDirector/Producer: Rebecca CammisaField Producers: Nina Alvarez, Eric Goethals, Lorenzo Hagerman, Alejandra Liceaga, Stephany Slaughter, Gabriela Sosa, Sascha WeissExecutive Producers: Bristol Baughan, Lianne Halfon, Bette Cerf Hill, John Malkovich, Sheila Nevins, Russell Smith, Jack TurnerSupervising Producer: Sara BernsteinOUTSTANDING HISTORICAL PROGRAMMING &ndash; LONG FORMBill Moyers Journal (PBS)The Good SoldierFor Out of the Blue Productions, Inc.Producer/Directors: Lexy Lovell, Michael UysFor Bill Moyers JournalExecutive Producers: Judy Doctoroff O'Neill, Sally RoyExecutive Editors: Bill Moyers, Judith Davidson MoyersProducer: Jessica WangOUTSTANDING BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC REPORTING &ndash; LONG FORMInside the Mind of Google (CNBC)Correspondent: Maria BartiromoSenior Executive Producer: Mitch WeitznerSenior Producer: Wally GriffithProducer: Morgan DownsContributing Producer: Lulu ChiangOUTSTANDING INTERVIEW60 Minutes (CBS)Saving Flight 1549Executive Producer: Jeff FagerExecutive Editor: Bill OwensCorrespondent: Katie CouricSenior Producer: Michael RadutzkyProducers: Lori Beecher, Tanya SimonCo‑Producers: Jenny Dubin, Andrew MetzOUTSTANDING ARTS &amp; CULTURE PROGRAMMINGAnvil! The Story of Anvil (VH1)Executive Producer/Director: Sacha GervasiProducer: Rebecca YeldhamExecutive Producers: Brad Abramson, Rick Krim, Christopher Soos, Shelly TatroSupervising Producer: Warren CohenOUTSTANDING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMMINGPOV (PBS)The English SurgeonDirector/Producer: Geoffrey SmithCo‑Producer: Rachel WexlerExecutive Producers: Simon Kilmurry, , Sally Jo Fifer, Nick Fraser, Greg SandersonOUTSTANDING NATURE PROGRAMMINGThe Last Beekeeper (Planet Green)Director: Jeremy SimmonsProducers: Fenton Bailey, Randy BarbatoBEST STORY IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCASTCBS Evening News with Katie Couric (CBS)The Battle of WanatAnchor and Managing Editor: Katie CouricNational Security Correspondent: David MartinExecutive Producer: Rick KaplanSenior Producer: Ward SloaneProducer: Mary WalshBEST REPORT IN A NEWS MAGAZINE60 Minutes (CBS)The Winter of Our Hardship and The Long RecessionExecutive Producer: Jeff FagerExecutive Editor: Bill OwensCorrespondent: Scott PelleyProducers: Solly Granatstein, Nicole YoungCo-Producers: Tom Honeysett, Matthew RichmanBEST DOCUMENTARYWar Dance (Sundance Channel)Directors: Sean Fine, Andrea Nix FineExecutive Producer: Susan MacLauryProducer: Albie HechtCo‑Producers: Kari Kim, Josie SwantekNEW APPROACHES TO NEWS &amp; DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMMING: CURRENT NEWS COVERAGEBehind the Veil (Globeandmail.com)Reporter: Jessica LeederPhotojournalist: Paula LernerMultimedia Producer: Jayson TaylorInteractive Designer: Chris ManzaNEW APPROACHES TO NEWS &amp; DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMMING: DOCUMENTARIESOne in 8 Million (NYTimes.com)Executive Producers: Juliet Gorman, Jodi Rudoren, Andrew De VigalSeries Producers: Sarah Kramer, Alexis Mainland, Meagan Looram, Todd HeislerInteractive Producer: Tom JacksonContributing Producers: Joshua Brustein, Jeffery DelViscio, Nancy Donaldson, Catrin Einhorn, Rogene Fisher, J. David Goodman, Lisa Iaboni, Miki Meek, Conrad Mulcahy, Emily S. Rueb, Tanzina Vega, Emily WeinsteinNEW APPROACHES TO NEWS &amp; DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMMING: ARTS, LIFESTYLE &amp; CULTUREThe Iconic Photo Series (TIME.com)Producer/Editor: Craig DuffPhotographer: Anthony SuauPhoto Editor: Mark RykoffOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: WRITINGNBC News Special (NBC)Inside the Obama White HouseWriters: Doug Adams, Marisa Buchanan, Robert Buchanan, Matt Carluccio, Katherine Chan, Bradley Davis, Subrata De, Joe Delmonico, Andrew Franklin, Annette Freeman, David Gelles, Meade Jorgensen, Mark Lukasiewicz, Amna Nawaz, Benita Noel, Meaghan Rady, Rayner Ramirez, Mary Ann Rotondi, Tim Uehlinger, Brian WilliamsOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: RESEARCHReel Impact Series (Planet Green)Split EstateResearchers: Debra Anderson, Mitchell Marti, Matt VestOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: CINEMATOGRAPHY - NATUREWild Pacific (Discovery Channel)SurvivorsCinematographers: Rod Clarke, Wade Fairley, Richard WollocombeOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: CINEMATOGRAPHY - NEWS COVERAGE / DOCUMENTARIESWar Dance (Sundance Channel)Director of Photography: Sean FineOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: EDITINGNational Geographic's Most Incredible Photos (National Geographic Channel)         Afghan WarriorEditor: Jeremy SieferOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: EDITING&ndash;QUICK TURNAROUNDNBC News Special (NBC)Inside the Obama White HouseEditors: Rob Allen, Chad Bergacs, Deb Brown, Bruce Burger, Saverio Camporeale, Sam Casalino, Justin Cece, Linda Diehl, David Emanuele, Victor Fabilli, Anthony Innarelli, Paul Nichols, Richard Platt, William Ray, Bob Spencer, Alvaro Trenchi, Irene Trullinger, David VargaOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: GRAPHIC DESIGN &amp; ART DIRECTIONStealing Lincoln's Body (History Channel)Graphic Designer: Ray DowningOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: MUSIC &amp; SOUNDWWII in HD (History Channel)Point of No ReturnSound Design and Mix: Joel RaabeAdditional Sound Design: Allison Casey, Brian Scibinico, Frank TurbeOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: LIGHTING DIRECTION &amp; SCENIC DESIGNCIA Confidential: Pakistan Undercover (National Geographic Channel)                                              Lighting Directors: Boujemaa Rassourance, Peter Schnall, Doug ShultzOUTSTANDING PROMOTIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT: INSTITUTIONAL60 Minutes (CBS)60 Minutes in 60 SecondsSenior Vice President and Creative Director: Dave McCoyDirector, Advertising &amp; Marketing: Julie HaalandDirector of Operations: Nicole FiftalProducer/Editor: Rich O'ConnellProducers: Joanne Stern, Charles HowlandSound Designers: Eric Casimiro, Daniel MaierEditor: Wes CarltonGraphic Designer: Adam SaulOUTSTANDING PROMOTIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT: EPISODICDiane Sawyer 20/20 Special (ABC)A Hidden America: Children of the MountainsExecutive Producer: Alan IvesSenior Producer: Rene Hallal-GonenProducer: Kevin SmallsArt Director: Rodrigo RedondoSound Designer/Editor: Leslie Mona-MathusOUTSTANDING REGIONAL NEWS STORY &ndash; SPOT NEWSKPIX Eyewitness News (KPIX‑TV, San Francisco)Oakland RiotReporters: Joe Vazquez, Linda YeeProducer: Brian NealPhotographers: Patrick Sedillo, Robert Moonan, Chris Mistrot, Don FordAssignment Editor: Leona WongOUTSTANDING REGIONAL NEWS STORY &ndash; INVESTIGATIVE REPORTINGKHOU News at 10 p.m. (KHOU‑TV, Houston)Soldiers at Risk: The Iraq Water InvestigationInvestigative Reporter: Jeremy RogalskiExecutive Producer for Investigations: David RaziqInvestigative Photojournalist: Keith TomsheKSTP 5 Eyewitness News (KSTP‑TV, Minneapolis)Prisoners Ride the BusInvestigative Reporter: Bob McNaneyProducer: Mike MaybayAssistant News Director: Sam ZeffBREAKDOWN BY PROGRAMCBS (7)60 Minutes (4)60 Minutes in 60 Seconds ...&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..................&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;... 1Saving Flight 1549 &hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..........................&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.... 1War in Pakistan &hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;......................&hellip;.......... 1The Winter of Our Hardship and the Long Recession &hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;....&hellip;........... 1CBS Evening News With Katie Couric (3)The Battle of Wanat &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;................ 1Financial Family Tree &hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.............. 1Rape in America &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..............&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;................ 1NBC (6)NBC News Special (2)Inside the Obama White House &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..........&hellip;...............&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;... 2NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams (2)Miracle on the Hudson &hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;..........&hellip;...............&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;............... 1Unlikely Refugees &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;................&hellip;...............&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;............. 1Dateline NBC (1)Miracle on the Hudson &hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;..........&hellip;...............&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.............. 1Today (1)Fighting Grossmans &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.............&hellip;...............&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;............ 1PBS (5)FRONTLINE (2)A Death in Tehran &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.....................................................................&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.. 1The Warning &hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.............................................................................&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip; 1Bill Moyers Journal (1)The Good Soldier &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;....&hellip; 1FRONTLINE/World (1)Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;...........................................&hellip;&hellip;&hellip; 1P.O.V. (1)The English Surgeon .&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;...............................................&hellip;&hellip;1ABC (2)ABC News Special Events (1)Inauguration 2009: Barack Obama &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip; 1Diane Sawyer 20/20 Special (1)A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;. 1HDNet (2)HDNet World Report (1)South Africa&rsquo;s Shame: Modern-Day Slavery and the World Cup &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;... 1Dan Rather Reports (1)Iran&rsquo;s Manhattan Project &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip; 1History Channel (2)Stealing Lincoln&rsquo;s Body (1)WWII in HD (1)Point of No Return &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip; 1National Geographic Channel (2)CIA Confidential: Pakistan Undercover(1)National Geographic&rsquo;s Most Incredible Photos (1)Afghan Warrior &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;...&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;....&hellip; 1Planet Green (2)The Last Beekeeper (1)Reel Impact Series (1)Split Estate &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.. 1Sundance Channel (2)War Dance (2)CNBC (1)Inside the Mind of Google (1)Discovery Channel (1)Wild Pacific (1)Survivors &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;............................................. 1Globeandmail.com (1)Behind the Veil (1)HBO (1)HBO Documentary Films (1)Which Way Home &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;............................ 1NYTimes.com (1)One in 8 Million (1)TIME.com (1)The Iconic Photo Series (1)VH1 (1)Anvil! The Story of Anvil (1)REGIONAL REPORTINGKHOU-TV (Houston, TX) (1)KHOU News at 10pm (1)Soldiers at Risk: The Iraq Water Investigation &hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;... 1KPIX-TV (San Francisco, CA) (1)KPIX Eyewitness News (1)Oakland Riot &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip; 1KSTP-TV (Minneapolis, MN) (1)KSTP 5 Eyewitness News (1)Prisoners Ride the Bus &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.... 1]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Tom Gilbert</name>
      <uri>http://www.tvweek.com/</uri>
   </author>
   
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      <![CDATA[CBS News led the winners of the National Academy of Television Arts &amp; Sciences' 31st annual News &amp; Documentary Emmy Awards Monday night, taking a total of seven awards.CBS was recognized for &quot;60 Minutes,&quot; which notched four wins, and &quot;CBS Evening News With Katie Couric,&quot; which took three honors.NBC News  and PBS closely followed CBS, winning six and five awards, respectively.ABC, HDNet, History Channel, National Geographic Channel, Planet Green and Sundance Channel each scored two wins, and CNBC, Discovery Channel, Globeandmail.com, HBO, NYTimes.com, TIME.com and VH1 were awarded one Emmy apiece.KPIX-TV, San Francisco, KSTP-TV, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and KHOU-TV, Houston, took the News &amp; Documentary Emmys for regional reporting.The News &amp; Documentary Emmys were presented at a ceremony at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located in the Time Warner Center in New York City. The ceremony will be broadcast Oct. 9 at 8 p.m. ET on C-SPAN.A complete list of winners follows:OUTSTANDING COVERAGE OF A BREAKING NEWS STORY IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCASTNBC Nightly News with Brian Williams (NBC)Miracle on the HudsonAnchor and Managing Editor: Brian WilliamsExecutive Producer: Bob EpsteinSenior Broadcast Producer: Patrick Burkey, Aurelia GraysonDirector: Brett HoleySenior Producers: Subrata De, Mary Laurence Flynn, Tracey Lyons, Albert OetgenSupervising Producer: Jay BlackmanCorrespondents: Robert Bazell, Tom Costello, Rehema Ellis, Martin Fletcher, Mike Taibbi, Chuck ToddProducers: Donna Bass, Beverly Chase, Christine Colvin, Bob Croce, Tom Dawson, Clare Duffy, Carol Eggers, Lauren Fairbanks, Andy Franklin, Anthony Galloway, Mario Garcia, Hilary Guy, Jody Henenfeld, Robert Kaplan, Maggie Kassner, Susan Kroll, Victor Limjoco, Daniel Linden, Carla Marcus, Megan Marcus, Daniel Nagin, Samuel Singal, Robin Skolnick, Christina Vallice, Kelly VenardosOUTSTANDING CONTINUING COVERAGE OF A NEWS STORY IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCASTNBC Nightly News with Brian Williams (NBC)Unlikely RefugesAnchor and Managing Editor: Brian WilliamsExecutive Producer: Bob EpsteinSenior Broadcast Producer: Aurelia GraysonDirector: Brett HoleySenior Producer: Mary Laurence FlynnCorrespondents: Richard Engel, Adrienne MongProducers: Maria Alcon, Bredun Edwards, Madeleine Haeringer, Maggie Kassner, Paul Nassar,Matt Softley, Rachele WebbOUTSTANDING FEATURE STORY IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCASTToday (NBC)Fighting GrossmansProducer: Amanda Marshall, David EmanueleCorrespondent: Bob DotsonOUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCASTCBS Evening News with Katie Couric (CBS)Rape in America: Justice DeniedAnchor and Managing Editor: Katie CouricExecutive Producer: Rick KaplanSenior Producer: Keith SummaProducer: Laura StricklerChief Investigative Correspondent: Armen KeteyianOUTSTANDING BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC REPORTING IN A REGULARY SCHEDULED NEWSCASTCBS Evening News with Katie Couric (CBS)Financial Family TreeAnchor and Managing Editor: Katie CouricExecutive Producer: Rick KaplanSenior Producer: Kim GodwinProducers: Brandon Baur, Marsha Cooke, Erin George, Chris WeicherCorrespondents: John Blackstone, Cynthia Bowers, Kelly Cobiella, Barry PetersonOUTSTANDING COVERAGE OF A BREAKING NEWS STORY IN A NEWS MAGAZINEDateline NBC (NBC)Miracle on the HudsonExecutive Producer: David CorvoExecutive Editor: Liz ColeManaging Editor: Aretha MarshallDirectors: John Libretto, Judith FarinetSenior Producers: Ellen Mason, Jim GeretySenior Producers: Liz Cole, Ellen MasonSupervising Producer: Joe DelmonicoAnchor: Ann CurryCorrespondents: Peter Greenberg, Chris Hansen, Hoda Kotb, Dennis MurphyProducers: Tim Beacham, John Block, Katherine Chan, Bradley Davis, Cameo George, Bob Gilmartin, Marianne Haggerty, Meade Jorgensen, Sarah Longden, Marianne O'Donnell, Robin Oelkers, Mary Ann Rotondi, Susan Simpson, Dan Slepian, Justin Smith, Jane EStone, Tim Uehlinger, Esther ZuckerField Producers: Falguni Lakhani, Alex Waterfield, Katie YuCoordinating Producer: Biju MathewOUTSTANDING CONTINUING COVERAGE OF A NEWS STORY IN A NEWS MAGAZINE60 Minutes (CBS)War in PakistanExecutive Producer: Jeff FagerExecutive Editor: Bill OwensProducer: Draggan MihailovichCorrespondent: Steve KroftOUTSTANDING FEATURE STORY IN A NEWS MAGAZINEHDNet World Report (HDNet)South Africa's Shame: Modern‑Day Slavery and the World CupExecutive Producer: Dennis O'BrienSenior Producer: Kathy GettingsProducer: Gareth HarveyCorrespondent: Paul BebanOUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN A NEWS MAGAZINEFRONTLINE/World (PBS)Ghana: Digital Dumping GroundExecutive Producer: David FanningSenior Producers: Ken DornsteinSeries Executive Director: Sharon TillerProducer/Correspondent: Peter KleinProducer: Sarah CarterCo-Producers: Shira Bick, Ian Bickis, Krysia Collyer, Allison Cross, Heba Elasaad, Dan Haves, Doerthe Keilholz, Jodie Martinson, Dan McKinney, Blake Sifton, Leslie YoungOUTSTANDING BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC REPORTING IN A NEWS MAGAZINEDan Rather Reports (HDNet)Iran's Manhattan ProjectCorrespondent and Managing Editor: Dan RatherExecutive Producer: Wayne NelsonSenior Producer: Elliot KirschnerProducer: Andrew GlazerOUTSTANDING LIVE COVERAGE OF A CURRENT NEWS STORY &ndash; LONG FORMABC News Special Events (ABC)Inauguration 2009 ‑ Barack ObamaExecutive Producer: Marc BursteinExecutive Director: Roger GoodmanAnchors: Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer, George StephanopoulosAnchor/Correspondents: Robin Roberts, Ron Claiborne, Chris Cuomo, Sam Donaldson, JohnDonvan, Dan Harris, Jonathan Karl, Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran, David Muir, Martha Raddatz, Cokie Roberts, Deborah Roberts, Brian Ross, Claire Shipman, Kate Snow, Betsy Stark, Lisa Stark, Jake Tapper, Pierre Thomas, Barbara Walters, Bill Weir, Bob WoodruffSenior Producers: Bob Wheelock, Paula Cohen, Richard Sergay, Laiea Smith, Joan Preztunik, Bob Roy, Nancy Gabriner, Ricki Goldberg, Kathy O&rsquo;Hearn, Andrew MorseProducers: Annie Allen, Perita Carpenter, Teddy Davis, Jonathan Greenberger, Farnaz Haghighi, Sally Hawkins, Akilah Joseph, Lourdes Leahy, Mary Wojcik, Sunlen Miller, Eric Noll, Andrea Owen, Lana Zak, Margaret Aro, Katie Munley, Susan Archer, Ben NewmanRemote Location Producers: Stephanie Smith, Avery Miller, Dena Norland, Clayton Sandell, Quiana Burns, Matt Hosford, Kirit Radia, Drew Millhon, Courtney Chapman, Jon Garcia, Brett Hovell, Richard Coolidge, Tom Giusto, Lisa Chinn, Jen Duck, Susan Kriskey, Matt Jaffee, Jack Date, Bruno Roeber, Margaret Conley, Nick Schifrin, Ann Marie Dorning, George Pilla, Lee Alexander, Glen DacyOUTSTANDING CONTINUING COVERAGE OF A NEWS STORY &ndash; LONG FORMFRONTLINE (PBS)A Death in TehranExecutive Producer: David Fanning, Angus MacQueenSenior Producers: Raney Aronson‑Rath, Ken DornsteinProducer: Monica Garnsey, Arash SahamiOUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM &ndash; LONG FORMFRONTLINE (PBS)The WarningProducer/Director: Michael KirkProducer/Reporter: Jim GilmoreProducer: Mike WiserExecutive Producer: David FanningSenior Producer: Raney Aronson‑RathOUTSTANDING INFORMATIONAL PROGRAMMING &ndash; LONG FORMHBO Documentary Films (HBO)Which Way HomeDirector/Producer: Rebecca CammisaField Producers: Nina Alvarez, Eric Goethals, Lorenzo Hagerman, Alejandra Liceaga, Stephany Slaughter, Gabriela Sosa, Sascha WeissExecutive Producers: Bristol Baughan, Lianne Halfon, Bette Cerf Hill, John Malkovich, Sheila Nevins, Russell Smith, Jack TurnerSupervising Producer: Sara BernsteinOUTSTANDING HISTORICAL PROGRAMMING &ndash; LONG FORMBill Moyers Journal (PBS)The Good SoldierFor Out of the Blue Productions, Inc.Producer/Directors: Lexy Lovell, Michael UysFor Bill Moyers JournalExecutive Producers: Judy Doctoroff O'Neill, Sally RoyExecutive Editors: Bill Moyers, Judith Davidson MoyersProducer: Jessica WangOUTSTANDING BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC REPORTING &ndash; LONG FORMInside the Mind of Google (CNBC)Correspondent: Maria BartiromoSenior Executive Producer: Mitch WeitznerSenior Producer: Wally GriffithProducer: Morgan DownsContributing Producer: Lulu ChiangOUTSTANDING INTERVIEW60 Minutes (CBS)Saving Flight 1549Executive Producer: Jeff FagerExecutive Editor: Bill OwensCorrespondent: Katie CouricSenior Producer: Michael RadutzkyProducers: Lori Beecher, Tanya SimonCo‑Producers: Jenny Dubin, Andrew MetzOUTSTANDING ARTS &amp; CULTURE PROGRAMMINGAnvil! The Story of Anvil (VH1)Executive Producer/Director: Sacha GervasiProducer: Rebecca YeldhamExecutive Producers: Brad Abramson, Rick Krim, Christopher Soos, Shelly TatroSupervising Producer: Warren CohenOUTSTANDING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMMINGPOV (PBS)The English SurgeonDirector/Producer: Geoffrey SmithCo‑Producer: Rachel WexlerExecutive Producers: Simon Kilmurry, , Sally Jo Fifer, Nick Fraser, Greg SandersonOUTSTANDING NATURE PROGRAMMINGThe Last Beekeeper (Planet Green)Director: Jeremy SimmonsProducers: Fenton Bailey, Randy BarbatoBEST STORY IN A REGULARLY SCHEDULED NEWSCASTCBS Evening News with Katie Couric (CBS)The Battle of WanatAnchor and Managing Editor: Katie CouricNational Security Correspondent: David MartinExecutive Producer: Rick KaplanSenior Producer: Ward SloaneProducer: Mary WalshBEST REPORT IN A NEWS MAGAZINE60 Minutes (CBS)The Winter of Our Hardship and The Long RecessionExecutive Producer: Jeff FagerExecutive Editor: Bill OwensCorrespondent: Scott PelleyProducers: Solly Granatstein, Nicole YoungCo-Producers: Tom Honeysett, Matthew RichmanBEST DOCUMENTARYWar Dance (Sundance Channel)Directors: Sean Fine, Andrea Nix FineExecutive Producer: Susan MacLauryProducer: Albie HechtCo‑Producers: Kari Kim, Josie SwantekNEW APPROACHES TO NEWS &amp; DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMMING: CURRENT NEWS COVERAGEBehind the Veil (Globeandmail.com)Reporter: Jessica LeederPhotojournalist: Paula LernerMultimedia Producer: Jayson TaylorInteractive Designer: Chris ManzaNEW APPROACHES TO NEWS &amp; DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMMING: DOCUMENTARIESOne in 8 Million (NYTimes.com)Executive Producers: Juliet Gorman, Jodi Rudoren, Andrew De VigalSeries Producers: Sarah Kramer, Alexis Mainland, Meagan Looram, Todd HeislerInteractive Producer: Tom JacksonContributing Producers: Joshua Brustein, Jeffery DelViscio, Nancy Donaldson, Catrin Einhorn, Rogene Fisher, J. David Goodman, Lisa Iaboni, Miki Meek, Conrad Mulcahy, Emily S. Rueb, Tanzina Vega, Emily WeinsteinNEW APPROACHES TO NEWS &amp; DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMMING: ARTS, LIFESTYLE &amp; CULTUREThe Iconic Photo Series (TIME.com)Producer/Editor: Craig DuffPhotographer: Anthony SuauPhoto Editor: Mark RykoffOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: WRITINGNBC News Special (NBC)Inside the Obama White HouseWriters: Doug Adams, Marisa Buchanan, Robert Buchanan, Matt Carluccio, Katherine Chan, Bradley Davis, Subrata De, Joe Delmonico, Andrew Franklin, Annette Freeman, David Gelles, Meade Jorgensen, Mark Lukasiewicz, Amna Nawaz, Benita Noel, Meaghan Rady, Rayner Ramirez, Mary Ann Rotondi, Tim Uehlinger, Brian WilliamsOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: RESEARCHReel Impact Series (Planet Green)Split EstateResearchers: Debra Anderson, Mitchell Marti, Matt VestOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: CINEMATOGRAPHY - NATUREWild Pacific (Discovery Channel)SurvivorsCinematographers: Rod Clarke, Wade Fairley, Richard WollocombeOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: CINEMATOGRAPHY - NEWS COVERAGE / DOCUMENTARIESWar Dance (Sundance Channel)Director of Photography: Sean FineOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: EDITINGNational Geographic's Most Incredible Photos (National Geographic Channel)         Afghan WarriorEditor: Jeremy SieferOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: EDITING&ndash;QUICK TURNAROUNDNBC News Special (NBC)Inside the Obama White HouseEditors: Rob Allen, Chad Bergacs, Deb Brown, Bruce Burger, Saverio Camporeale, Sam Casalino, Justin Cece, Linda Diehl, David Emanuele, Victor Fabilli, Anthony Innarelli, Paul Nichols, Richard Platt, William Ray, Bob Spencer, Alvaro Trenchi, Irene Trullinger, David VargaOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: GRAPHIC DESIGN &amp; ART DIRECTIONStealing Lincoln's Body (History Channel)Graphic Designer: Ray DowningOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: MUSIC &amp; SOUNDWWII in HD (History Channel)Point of No ReturnSound Design and Mix: Joel RaabeAdditional Sound Design: Allison Casey, Brian Scibinico, Frank TurbeOUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN A CRAFT: LIGHTING DIRECTION &amp; SCENIC DESIGNCIA Confidential: Pakistan Undercover (National Geographic Channel)                                              Lighting Directors: Boujemaa Rassourance, Peter Schnall, Doug ShultzOUTSTANDING PROMOTIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT: INSTITUTIONAL60 Minutes (CBS)60 Minutes in 60 SecondsSenior Vice President and Creative Director: Dave McCoyDirector, Advertising &amp; Marketing: Julie HaalandDirector of Operations: Nicole FiftalProducer/Editor: Rich O'ConnellProducers: Joanne Stern, Charles HowlandSound Designers: Eric Casimiro, Daniel MaierEditor: Wes CarltonGraphic Designer: Adam SaulOUTSTANDING PROMOTIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT: EPISODICDiane Sawyer 20/20 Special (ABC)A Hidden America: Children of the MountainsExecutive Producer: Alan IvesSenior Producer: Rene Hallal-GonenProducer: Kevin SmallsArt Director: Rodrigo RedondoSound Designer/Editor: Leslie Mona-MathusOUTSTANDING REGIONAL NEWS STORY &ndash; SPOT NEWSKPIX Eyewitness News (KPIX‑TV, San Francisco)Oakland RiotReporters: Joe Vazquez, Linda YeeProducer: Brian NealPhotographers: Patrick Sedillo, Robert Moonan, Chris Mistrot, Don FordAssignment Editor: Leona WongOUTSTANDING REGIONAL NEWS STORY &ndash; INVESTIGATIVE REPORTINGKHOU News at 10 p.m. (KHOU‑TV, Houston)Soldiers at Risk: The Iraq Water InvestigationInvestigative Reporter: Jeremy RogalskiExecutive Producer for Investigations: David RaziqInvestigative Photojournalist: Keith TomsheKSTP 5 Eyewitness News (KSTP‑TV, Minneapolis)Prisoners Ride the BusInvestigative Reporter: Bob McNaneyProducer: Mike MaybayAssistant News Director: Sam ZeffBREAKDOWN BY PROGRAMCBS (7)60 Minutes (4)60 Minutes in 60 Seconds ...&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..................&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;... 1Saving Flight 1549 &hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..........................&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.... 1War in Pakistan &hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;......................&hellip;.......... 1The Winter of Our Hardship and the Long Recession &hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;....&hellip;........... 1CBS Evening News With Katie Couric (3)The Battle of Wanat &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;................ 1Financial Family Tree &hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.............. 1Rape in America &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..............&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;................ 1NBC (6)NBC News Special (2)Inside the Obama White House &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..........&hellip;...............&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;... 2NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams (2)Miracle on the Hudson &hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;..........&hellip;...............&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;............... 1Unlikely Refugees &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;................&hellip;...............&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;............. 1Dateline NBC (1)Miracle on the Hudson &hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;..........&hellip;...............&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.............. 1Today (1)Fighting Grossmans &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.............&hellip;...............&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;............ 1PBS (5)FRONTLINE (2)A Death in Tehran &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.....................................................................&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.. 1The Warning &hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.............................................................................&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip; 1Bill Moyers Journal (1)The Good Soldier &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;....&hellip; 1FRONTLINE/World (1)Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;...........................................&hellip;&hellip;&hellip; 1P.O.V. 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The Story of Anvil (1)REGIONAL REPORTINGKHOU-TV (Houston, TX) (1)KHOU News at 10pm (1)Soldiers at Risk: The Iraq Water Investigation &hellip;&hellip;.&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;... 1KPIX-TV (San Francisco, CA) (1)KPIX Eyewitness News (1)Oakland Riot &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;..&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip; 1KSTP-TV (Minneapolis, MN) (1)KSTP 5 Eyewitness News (1)Prisoners Ride the Bus &hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;&hellip;.... 1]]>
   </content>
</entry>

<entry>
   <title>Program for the News &amp; Documentary Emmys, to Be Presented Tonight</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/09/news_and_documentary_emmys_to.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.43943</id>
   
   <published>2010-09-26T23:14:10Z</published>
   <updated>2010-09-27T03:22:53Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[The 31st Annual News &amp; Documentary Emmy Awards will be presented Monday night by the National Academy of Television Arts &amp; Sciences (NATAS) at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located in the Time Warner Center in New York City.Awards will be handed out in 41 categories, including Breaking News, Investigative Reporting, Outstanding Interview and Best Documentary, among others.&ldquo;From the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the struggling American economy, to the inauguration of Barack Obama, 2009 was a significant year for major news stories,&rdquo; said&nbsp;News &amp; Documentary Emmy Awards Chairman&nbsp;Bill Small. &ldquo;The journalists and documentary filmmakers nominated this year have educated viewers in understanding some of the most compelling issues of our time, and we salute them for their efforts.&rdquo;Click here to see complete program for the event.&nbsp;]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Tom Gilbert</name>
      <uri>http://www.tvweek.com/</uri>
   </author>
   
      <category term="Broadcast" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
      <category term="Cable" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
      <category term="Digital" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
   <category term="10663" label="Awards" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#tag" />
   <category term="5536" label="documentary" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#tag" />
   <category term="3200" label="Emmy" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#tag" />
   <category term="439" label="News" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#tag" />
   
   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[The 31st Annual News &amp; Documentary Emmy Awards will be presented Monday night by the National Academy of Television Arts &amp; Sciences (NATAS) at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located in the Time Warner Center in New York City.Awards will be handed out in 41 categories, including Breaking News, Investigative Reporting, Outstanding Interview and Best Documentary, among others.&ldquo;From the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the struggling American economy, to the inauguration of Barack Obama, 2009 was a significant year for major news stories,&rdquo; said&nbsp;News &amp; Documentary Emmy Awards Chairman&nbsp;Bill Small. &ldquo;The journalists and documentary filmmakers nominated this year have educated viewers in understanding some of the most compelling issues of our time, and we salute them for their efforts.&rdquo;Click here to see complete program for the event.&nbsp;]]>
   </content>
</entry>

<entry>
   <title>Bill Abbott, President and CEO of the Hallmark Channels, Who Came Up on the Ad Side of the Business, On the Importance of Brand Strategy</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/05/bill_abbott_president_and_ceo.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.41675</id>
   
   <published>2010-05-05T20:21:16Z</published>
   <updated>2010-05-05T21:14:01Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[Clearly, over the past two decades, one of the smartest, yet unsung,&nbsp;ad sales executives in the TV business has been Bill Abbott, first at Fox Family and Fox Kids, and then at Hallmark. One of the hallmarks of his career, if you'll excuse the pun, has been his ability to mesh the brands he's been selling with the brands of his client in win-win situations that not not only make sense for those on both sides of the negotiating table, but for&nbsp;viewers and consumers as well.With Abbott's ascension to the top spot at Hallmark, as its President and CEO, TVWeek's Chuck Ross caught up with&nbsp;him to talk about brand stategy, particularly that of the Hallmark Channel, and its importance on the eve of the Upfront marketplace. An edited transcript follows.TVWEEK: Having covered the advertising and media and TV businesses for more than three decades, I&rsquo;ve always been struck that there are not more heads of networks who have come up on the ad sales side of the business. I was fairly close to Larry Divney, who came up from ad sales and eventually ran Comedy Central. Has the fact it doesn&rsquo;t happen more often struck you as well?BILL ABBOTT: You&rsquo;re right. It&rsquo;s odd to me why it doesn&rsquo;t happen more often. Ad sales provides such a great platform on how to learn the business. There&rsquo;s no business that ad sales really doesn&rsquo;t touch.TVWEEK: Absolutely.ABBOTT: You&rsquo;re intimately involved in the finances and economics. You&rsquo;re intimately involved in the ratings and the programming decisions that get made, and why certain things are scheduled and why they work. And certainly from a marketing point of view, there&rsquo;s no one better qualified to think about marketing than people who are out selling the product.So it&rsquo;s odd to me that more ad sales people aren&rsquo;t tapped to&nbsp;run networks.&nbsp;But then you look at history, and while there aren&rsquo;t that many&nbsp;out of ad sales, certainly some of the ones that have been the most successful in the business were out of ad sales. From Mark Lazarus, who used to be at Turner, to David Levy, who&rsquo;s there now, to Charlie Collier, who runs AMC, all remarkably successful in their own right.TVWEEK: Absolutely.ABBOTT: But that makes it all the more interesting why ad sales isn&rsquo;t a bigger breeding ground. I could not ask for a better area to have been trained within and have grown up within than ad sales and research, which is the better part of my background. The learning that you get from those areas is really critical to how you run the business.TVWEEK: Is running a network something in the back of your mind you&rsquo;d hope your career path would lead to at some point?ABBOTT: I think so. I think that I&rsquo;ve always felt like a research background certainly, along with the strategy and financial understanding of the business that ad sales provides, puts you in a position where you hope to gain more responsibility and take it to a new level. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate in that I&rsquo;ve been in management for a long part of my career, for almost 20 years.TVWEEK: How long exactly have you been at Hallmark now?ABBOTT: Just over 10 years, at this point, at Hallmark. I was at what was a combination of Family Channel, Fox Family and ABC Family over a 12-year period before being at Hallmark.TVWEEK: As you&rsquo;ve looked at how Hallmark has evolved, how did you decide where you wanted to take it and how are you going about taking it where you want it to go?ABBOTT: I think if you look at the channel we&rsquo;ve had remarkable success: a very highly-rated property that&rsquo;s grown distribution to be fully distributed over the years. We had a lot of product that was highly-rated, but wasn&rsquo;t necessarily tied as much to the brand as we would like.So, when I took over in May, we developed a new mission statement and vision around how we can celebrate life&rsquo;s special moments everyday, which we feel is very much is in line with what the essence of Hallmark really is.You look at the Hallmark television business and there&rsquo;s certainly their heritage and legacy and award-winning Hallmark Hall of Fame&mdash;the quality and the high ratings there, and that&rsquo;s a very important part of who we are that will ultimately be our Hallmark Movie Channel. It&rsquo;s in 35 million homes, on its way to 40 million pretty quickly here. It&rsquo;s becoming a strong service in its own right.And then we look at the Hallmark Channel, and we thought about what direction that might go. We came to the conclusion that, in terms of helping celebrate life&rsquo;s special moments everyday, we could really tap into that part of the Hallmark brand that up until now has not been reflected on TV.That would be holidays and events and cooking and decorating and different things people do everyday to celebrate life and that lifestyle category area. And so the direction we have gone in is really beginning to develop the channel towards more of that lifestyle celebration mood.TVWEEK: Can you tell me how that evolution led you to get Martha Stewart involved? I&rsquo;m assuming that as you were sitting there brainstorming about this lifestyle direction you wanted to move the channel towards that getting somehow involved with Stewart was high on your wish list.ABBOTT: We were fortunate that the stars were really aligned. If you sat for two weeks, you couldn&rsquo;t come up with a better name than Martha Stewart in terms of helping celebrate life&rsquo;s special moments everyday. She is the ultimate banner ad for that type of product.Fortunately, they also had been thinking about a little bit of a different business model in that syndication [which is the TV business Stewart was in] doesn&rsquo;t provide that consistent day and date opportunity that cable does. And as we developed our definition of who we wanted to be and we started having conversations with them, we started to make it a bigger proposition. And they started to see a bigger opportunity with Omnimedia and across the different talent that Martha has at Omnimedia and had really vested so well.So you begin to see that it&rsquo;s more than just &lsquo;The Martha Stewart Show&rsquo; and that you have the opportunity to develop a fully integrated lifestyle block on multiple platforms. And that lifestyle block speaks to the strengths of both Hallmark and Martha Stewart. That&rsquo;s really where the conversation went, actually very, very quickly once we got in the same room and we started to brainstorm about Martha.It wasn&rsquo;t &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s just take &lsquo;The Martha Stewart Show&rsquo; and move it from syndication to cable&rsquo; but, &lsquo;How can we make this a bigger, better partnership.&rsquo; And I give [Omnimedia Chairman] Charles Koppleman and Martha full credit for recognizing the opportunity and the value of what a 24/7 cable platform can do to help them develop their properties and products and how they can help us develop our channel.TVWEEK: Makes a lot of sense. As you look across the landscape, is something you pay attention to a lot the competition? Is it important to be real differentiated? Do you see Scripps as competition? Maybe the new Oprah channel with Discovery?ABBOTT: Certainly, Food Network and HGTV are the leaders in this category. They&rsquo;ve done a great job of branding themselves and really being consistent. That would be competition.Some of what Discovery has done would be competition. The Oprah channel is clearly undefined at this point, so it&rsquo;s really hard to view that as surely as competition.We can compete from day one with a personality and profile like Martha Stewart. We don&rsquo;t have to take a backseat to anyone in this lifestyle category. We feel that we will be competitive, if not better, quite frankly, right out of the gate than those channels who don&rsquo;t have a profile like Martha on their air. We still feel there&rsquo;s a lot of room in this area to navigate, and with our brand and our heritage and our ability to really represent so much of how people connect and people live day-to-day, we think we have a great opportunity to be highly, highly successful here.TVWEEK: Can you talk a little bit about how you&rsquo;d like to see advertising integrated in your vision?ABBOTT: There&rsquo;s no question as technology changes and changes the way viewers watch TV, we&rsquo;re all going to have to be a lot more responsive to the needs of advertisers. And I think you&rsquo;re seeing that on an evolutionary basis.I would say the death of the :30 has long since been overblown. But, the reality is we do need to be more responsive, we do need to look for unique ways in which we can embed an advertiser&rsquo;s message seamlessly into our product and into the development process. It&rsquo;ll make TV, I think, more valuable and certainly more appreciated. And it&rsquo;s creative, innovative ideas like that that we struggle with and work toward developing everyday.The lifestyle block is one that is particularly conducive to that type of activity. It&rsquo;s easier, I think, in lifestyle to place products seamlessly into the content. But certainly, we need to be true to our brand and we need to be carefully that we don&rsquo;t over do it and that we be sensitive to the value that we&rsquo;re creating for others when we do do it.TVWEEK: Can you talk a little bit about social media? That&rsquo;s obviously become a buzzword in the last year. Where you see Hallmark fitting with that phenomenon?ABBOTT: It&rsquo;s certainly real in terms of it being a phenomenon, but the real question is: What&rsquo;s the business model? We haven&rsquo;t certainly figured it out here, and that&rsquo;s one we&rsquo;re staying attuned to.Martha and Omnimedia have done a great job about being on the forefront of technology and having different applications around decorating and cooking and things that are really very, very relevant. As we develop our lifestyle area, we&rsquo;ll certainly play more in that space and whole digital arena as a rule. But, right now, it&rsquo;s not necessarily something we can point to as being a leader in.TVWEEK: Do you see the digital platforms as being more promotionally oriented and pointing viewers to the on-air products that you offer, or will they have a life of their own?ABBOTT: I see that as being a big change for us. That&rsquo;s one of the beauties as we move more towards this different side of the brand and are less focused and reliant on off-network acquisitions.When you&rsquo;re 100% reliant on scripted series that you acquire from a distributor, you have very little opportunity to play in the digital space. Here, we&rsquo;re going to have reasons to drive people to the Internet more than just information around what&rsquo;s on our air.We will have different opportunities to develop content that will speak to viewers&rsquo; interests in whatever we have on our network. And we&rsquo;ll make that a legitimate, vibrant business for us moving forward. It&rsquo;s something that we&rsquo;re thinking about everyday. It&rsquo;s something that we are very, very focused on.TVWEEK: As an independent channel, does it make sense in any way to do some sort of alliance?ABBOTT: We&rsquo;re open to forming relationships and partnerships, and you look at our partnership with Omnimedia, I would certainly put that in the alliance category, whether formal or informal.But, I think that the real issue there is that as our competitors get bigger and bigger and more complicated, ultimately some of what they have bought comes into question and they have to use their own leverage to leverage their own weaker sisters. You look at how big NBC is, and how big that whole organization will be with Comcast. There will be networks that they&rsquo;ll have to leverage to get favors in other cases. So there isn&rsquo;t an awful lot of room.You know, size cuts both ways. Too big, and you&rsquo;re in a position to have to protect your weaker properties. In a down market, being too big can be problematic, in that you&rsquo;ve got a lot of money to place on the agency side of the perspective, or you&rsquo;ve got a lot of different masters to satisfy.I&rsquo;m not so sure that that is necessarily, within the big companies, the way we want to go. With smaller organizations, certainly if we could develop some alliance that pullstogether some of those that aren&rsquo;t under big corporate umbrellas, that might be something smart to do. Overall, the big conglomerates probably are looking for alliances because they&rsquo;ve got an awful lot to leverage themselves. We wouldn&rsquo;t want to be part of anything where we would be the leveragee.TVWEEK: As we move closer toward the upfront, are there particular categories that you hope you&rsquo;ll do better in than you have in the past because of this new strategy?ABBOTT: We have already had an extremely high interest level from a number of categories, everything from automotives to financials to travel categories, that we have had a very difficult time playing in before.And there are many reasons for that. One is certainly the nature of the product is more geared toward potentially having different elements that could be incorporated within our actual content. And that our viewership will migrate much more towards a top 20 market, upper income level than we have been historically. So we are seeing a lot of activity from those clients that happen to target a more upscale adult 25-54 demographic than we have historically delivered. We are optimistic that we are going to have a robust upfront.TVWEEK: How important do you think measurement is going forward? How granular do we need to be?ABBOTT: It&rsquo;s critical. Speaking candidly, it&rsquo;s very frustrating to see so much fluctuation in the numbers and so much instability in the sample sizes where it&rsquo;s at.The question is what the right metric is. I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s second-by-second or anything that extreme. But, I do think there&rsquo;s got to be a better way given where technology is. And frankly to compete with the Internet, I think it&rsquo;s very important that television develop some type of system that is more scientific and is more reliable, quite frankly, that what we have.This is very, very important. We&rsquo;re lucky we have people who are as brilliant as Reno [Scanzoni at Group M and TVWeek&rsquo;s 2010 Media Buyer of the Year] in the process who are on it. I&rsquo;m sure everyday, when he sees the numbers, it drives him as crazy as it does the rest us in the business. To be competitive moving forward as a medium, television needs to step up and figure out ways to gain a better understanding of what actually is going on out there.TVWEEK: Anything you want to add?ABBOTT: I think at the end of the day, we are in a great position with not only our lifestyle content but with our original movies. We&rsquo;re producing 24 original movies in 2010 with two of those on our movie channel. It&rsquo;s a big commitment to the Hallmark Movie Channel, which became measured in the second quarter and that is a growing and vibrant and viable property. Our holiday effort will continue here moving forward. We had our highest rated holiday in our history recently, and our Countdown to Christmas and Countdown to Holidays have been remarkably successful. We have a lot going on here other than just that lifestyle, Martha Stewart area. That&rsquo;s all very, very exciting and we&rsquo;re all optimistic about our future. #]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Chuck Ross</name>
      
   </author>
   
      <category term="Advertising" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
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   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[Clearly, over the past two decades, one of the smartest, yet unsung,&nbsp;ad sales executives in the TV business has been Bill Abbott, first at Fox Family and Fox Kids, and then at Hallmark. One of the hallmarks of his career, if you'll excuse the pun, has been his ability to mesh the brands he's been selling with the brands of his client in win-win situations that not not only make sense for those on both sides of the negotiating table, but for&nbsp;viewers and consumers as well.With Abbott's ascension to the top spot at Hallmark, as its President and CEO, TVWeek's Chuck Ross caught up with&nbsp;him to talk about brand stategy, particularly that of the Hallmark Channel, and its importance on the eve of the Upfront marketplace. An edited transcript follows.TVWEEK: Having covered the advertising and media and TV businesses for more than three decades, I&rsquo;ve always been struck that there are not more heads of networks who have come up on the ad sales side of the business. I was fairly close to Larry Divney, who came up from ad sales and eventually ran Comedy Central. Has the fact it doesn&rsquo;t happen more often struck you as well?BILL ABBOTT: You&rsquo;re right. It&rsquo;s odd to me why it doesn&rsquo;t happen more often. Ad sales provides such a great platform on how to learn the business. There&rsquo;s no business that ad sales really doesn&rsquo;t touch.TVWEEK: Absolutely.ABBOTT: You&rsquo;re intimately involved in the finances and economics. You&rsquo;re intimately involved in the ratings and the programming decisions that get made, and why certain things are scheduled and why they work. And certainly from a marketing point of view, there&rsquo;s no one better qualified to think about marketing than people who are out selling the product.So it&rsquo;s odd to me that more ad sales people aren&rsquo;t tapped to&nbsp;run networks.&nbsp;But then you look at history, and while there aren&rsquo;t that many&nbsp;out of ad sales, certainly some of the ones that have been the most successful in the business were out of ad sales. From Mark Lazarus, who used to be at Turner, to David Levy, who&rsquo;s there now, to Charlie Collier, who runs AMC, all remarkably successful in their own right.TVWEEK: Absolutely.ABBOTT: But that makes it all the more interesting why ad sales isn&rsquo;t a bigger breeding ground. I could not ask for a better area to have been trained within and have grown up within than ad sales and research, which is the better part of my background. The learning that you get from those areas is really critical to how you run the business.TVWEEK: Is running a network something in the back of your mind you&rsquo;d hope your career path would lead to at some point?ABBOTT: I think so. I think that I&rsquo;ve always felt like a research background certainly, along with the strategy and financial understanding of the business that ad sales provides, puts you in a position where you hope to gain more responsibility and take it to a new level. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate in that I&rsquo;ve been in management for a long part of my career, for almost 20 years.TVWEEK: How long exactly have you been at Hallmark now?ABBOTT: Just over 10 years, at this point, at Hallmark. I was at what was a combination of Family Channel, Fox Family and ABC Family over a 12-year period before being at Hallmark.TVWEEK: As you&rsquo;ve looked at how Hallmark has evolved, how did you decide where you wanted to take it and how are you going about taking it where you want it to go?ABBOTT: I think if you look at the channel we&rsquo;ve had remarkable success: a very highly-rated property that&rsquo;s grown distribution to be fully distributed over the years. We had a lot of product that was highly-rated, but wasn&rsquo;t necessarily tied as much to the brand as we would like.So, when I took over in May, we developed a new mission statement and vision around how we can celebrate life&rsquo;s special moments everyday, which we feel is very much is in line with what the essence of Hallmark really is.You look at the Hallmark television business and there&rsquo;s certainly their heritage and legacy and award-winning Hallmark Hall of Fame&mdash;the quality and the high ratings there, and that&rsquo;s a very important part of who we are that will ultimately be our Hallmark Movie Channel. It&rsquo;s in 35 million homes, on its way to 40 million pretty quickly here. It&rsquo;s becoming a strong service in its own right.And then we look at the Hallmark Channel, and we thought about what direction that might go. We came to the conclusion that, in terms of helping celebrate life&rsquo;s special moments everyday, we could really tap into that part of the Hallmark brand that up until now has not been reflected on TV.That would be holidays and events and cooking and decorating and different things people do everyday to celebrate life and that lifestyle category area. And so the direction we have gone in is really beginning to develop the channel towards more of that lifestyle celebration mood.TVWEEK: Can you tell me how that evolution led you to get Martha Stewart involved? I&rsquo;m assuming that as you were sitting there brainstorming about this lifestyle direction you wanted to move the channel towards that getting somehow involved with Stewart was high on your wish list.ABBOTT: We were fortunate that the stars were really aligned. If you sat for two weeks, you couldn&rsquo;t come up with a better name than Martha Stewart in terms of helping celebrate life&rsquo;s special moments everyday. She is the ultimate banner ad for that type of product.Fortunately, they also had been thinking about a little bit of a different business model in that syndication [which is the TV business Stewart was in] doesn&rsquo;t provide that consistent day and date opportunity that cable does. And as we developed our definition of who we wanted to be and we started having conversations with them, we started to make it a bigger proposition. And they started to see a bigger opportunity with Omnimedia and across the different talent that Martha has at Omnimedia and had really vested so well.So you begin to see that it&rsquo;s more than just &lsquo;The Martha Stewart Show&rsquo; and that you have the opportunity to develop a fully integrated lifestyle block on multiple platforms. And that lifestyle block speaks to the strengths of both Hallmark and Martha Stewart. That&rsquo;s really where the conversation went, actually very, very quickly once we got in the same room and we started to brainstorm about Martha.It wasn&rsquo;t &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s just take &lsquo;The Martha Stewart Show&rsquo; and move it from syndication to cable&rsquo; but, &lsquo;How can we make this a bigger, better partnership.&rsquo; And I give [Omnimedia Chairman] Charles Koppleman and Martha full credit for recognizing the opportunity and the value of what a 24/7 cable platform can do to help them develop their properties and products and how they can help us develop our channel.TVWEEK: Makes a lot of sense. As you look across the landscape, is something you pay attention to a lot the competition? Is it important to be real differentiated? Do you see Scripps as competition? Maybe the new Oprah channel with Discovery?ABBOTT: Certainly, Food Network and HGTV are the leaders in this category. They&rsquo;ve done a great job of branding themselves and really being consistent. That would be competition.Some of what Discovery has done would be competition. The Oprah channel is clearly undefined at this point, so it&rsquo;s really hard to view that as surely as competition.We can compete from day one with a personality and profile like Martha Stewart. We don&rsquo;t have to take a backseat to anyone in this lifestyle category. We feel that we will be competitive, if not better, quite frankly, right out of the gate than those channels who don&rsquo;t have a profile like Martha on their air. We still feel there&rsquo;s a lot of room in this area to navigate, and with our brand and our heritage and our ability to really represent so much of how people connect and people live day-to-day, we think we have a great opportunity to be highly, highly successful here.TVWEEK: Can you talk a little bit about how you&rsquo;d like to see advertising integrated in your vision?ABBOTT: There&rsquo;s no question as technology changes and changes the way viewers watch TV, we&rsquo;re all going to have to be a lot more responsive to the needs of advertisers. And I think you&rsquo;re seeing that on an evolutionary basis.I would say the death of the :30 has long since been overblown. But, the reality is we do need to be more responsive, we do need to look for unique ways in which we can embed an advertiser&rsquo;s message seamlessly into our product and into the development process. It&rsquo;ll make TV, I think, more valuable and certainly more appreciated. And it&rsquo;s creative, innovative ideas like that that we struggle with and work toward developing everyday.The lifestyle block is one that is particularly conducive to that type of activity. It&rsquo;s easier, I think, in lifestyle to place products seamlessly into the content. But certainly, we need to be true to our brand and we need to be carefully that we don&rsquo;t over do it and that we be sensitive to the value that we&rsquo;re creating for others when we do do it.TVWEEK: Can you talk a little bit about social media? That&rsquo;s obviously become a buzzword in the last year. Where you see Hallmark fitting with that phenomenon?ABBOTT: It&rsquo;s certainly real in terms of it being a phenomenon, but the real question is: What&rsquo;s the business model? We haven&rsquo;t certainly figured it out here, and that&rsquo;s one we&rsquo;re staying attuned to.Martha and Omnimedia have done a great job about being on the forefront of technology and having different applications around decorating and cooking and things that are really very, very relevant. As we develop our lifestyle area, we&rsquo;ll certainly play more in that space and whole digital arena as a rule. But, right now, it&rsquo;s not necessarily something we can point to as being a leader in.TVWEEK: Do you see the digital platforms as being more promotionally oriented and pointing viewers to the on-air products that you offer, or will they have a life of their own?ABBOTT: I see that as being a big change for us. That&rsquo;s one of the beauties as we move more towards this different side of the brand and are less focused and reliant on off-network acquisitions.When you&rsquo;re 100% reliant on scripted series that you acquire from a distributor, you have very little opportunity to play in the digital space. Here, we&rsquo;re going to have reasons to drive people to the Internet more than just information around what&rsquo;s on our air.We will have different opportunities to develop content that will speak to viewers&rsquo; interests in whatever we have on our network. And we&rsquo;ll make that a legitimate, vibrant business for us moving forward. It&rsquo;s something that we&rsquo;re thinking about everyday. It&rsquo;s something that we are very, very focused on.TVWEEK: As an independent channel, does it make sense in any way to do some sort of alliance?ABBOTT: We&rsquo;re open to forming relationships and partnerships, and you look at our partnership with Omnimedia, I would certainly put that in the alliance category, whether formal or informal.But, I think that the real issue there is that as our competitors get bigger and bigger and more complicated, ultimately some of what they have bought comes into question and they have to use their own leverage to leverage their own weaker sisters. You look at how big NBC is, and how big that whole organization will be with Comcast. There will be networks that they&rsquo;ll have to leverage to get favors in other cases. So there isn&rsquo;t an awful lot of room.You know, size cuts both ways. Too big, and you&rsquo;re in a position to have to protect your weaker properties. In a down market, being too big can be problematic, in that you&rsquo;ve got a lot of money to place on the agency side of the perspective, or you&rsquo;ve got a lot of different masters to satisfy.I&rsquo;m not so sure that that is necessarily, within the big companies, the way we want to go. With smaller organizations, certainly if we could develop some alliance that pullstogether some of those that aren&rsquo;t under big corporate umbrellas, that might be something smart to do. Overall, the big conglomerates probably are looking for alliances because they&rsquo;ve got an awful lot to leverage themselves. We wouldn&rsquo;t want to be part of anything where we would be the leveragee.TVWEEK: As we move closer toward the upfront, are there particular categories that you hope you&rsquo;ll do better in than you have in the past because of this new strategy?ABBOTT: We have already had an extremely high interest level from a number of categories, everything from automotives to financials to travel categories, that we have had a very difficult time playing in before.And there are many reasons for that. One is certainly the nature of the product is more geared toward potentially having different elements that could be incorporated within our actual content. And that our viewership will migrate much more towards a top 20 market, upper income level than we have been historically. So we are seeing a lot of activity from those clients that happen to target a more upscale adult 25-54 demographic than we have historically delivered. We are optimistic that we are going to have a robust upfront.TVWEEK: How important do you think measurement is going forward? How granular do we need to be?ABBOTT: It&rsquo;s critical. Speaking candidly, it&rsquo;s very frustrating to see so much fluctuation in the numbers and so much instability in the sample sizes where it&rsquo;s at.The question is what the right metric is. I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s second-by-second or anything that extreme. But, I do think there&rsquo;s got to be a better way given where technology is. And frankly to compete with the Internet, I think it&rsquo;s very important that television develop some type of system that is more scientific and is more reliable, quite frankly, that what we have.This is very, very important. We&rsquo;re lucky we have people who are as brilliant as Reno [Scanzoni at Group M and TVWeek&rsquo;s 2010 Media Buyer of the Year] in the process who are on it. I&rsquo;m sure everyday, when he sees the numbers, it drives him as crazy as it does the rest us in the business. To be competitive moving forward as a medium, television needs to step up and figure out ways to gain a better understanding of what actually is going on out there.TVWEEK: Anything you want to add?ABBOTT: I think at the end of the day, we are in a great position with not only our lifestyle content but with our original movies. We&rsquo;re producing 24 original movies in 2010 with two of those on our movie channel. It&rsquo;s a big commitment to the Hallmark Movie Channel, which became measured in the second quarter and that is a growing and vibrant and viable property. Our holiday effort will continue here moving forward. We had our highest rated holiday in our history recently, and our Countdown to Christmas and Countdown to Holidays have been remarkably successful. We have a lot going on here other than just that lifestyle, Martha Stewart area. That&rsquo;s all very, very exciting and we&rsquo;re all optimistic about our future. #]]>
   </content>
</entry>

<entry>
   <title>RTDNA Study: More TV News Despite Less Manpower</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/04/rtdna_study_more_tv_news_despi.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.41561</id>
   
   <published>2010-04-28T22:11:53Z</published>
   <updated>2010-04-28T22:15:15Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[By Hillary AtkinThere is more television news on the air but fewer jobs in the business these days, according to a just-released annual study conducted by the Radio Television Digital News Association and Hofstra University.The bottom line in 2009 was that stations were doing more with less, yet industry executives are feeling confident that cutbacks have leveled off and that staffing is likely to increase in 2010.Four hundred people lost their TV news jobs last year, about 1.5 percent of the total employment in the business. But that was a considerable improvement from 2008, when 1,200 people got pink-slipped, amounting to 4.3 percent of the work force.The dramatic turnaround in employment stats foretells an even brighter future, according to the study. More than 60 percent of television news directors said they expect staff levels to stay the same in 2010, up 20 points from last year. The number expecting an increase in hiring was up a whopping 145 percent from 2009, while those predicting a decrease in staffing dropped 77 percent from last year.&ldquo;In my mind, there&rsquo;s no question we&rsquo;ll see staffing increases in 2010. It&rsquo;s pretty clear not just in the survey but in talking to news directors, as well,&rdquo; said Bob Papper, who conducts the RTDNA/Hofstra studies and is chair of the department of journalism, media studies and public relations at Hofstra University.&ldquo;Doing more with less can get you through the recession, but it&rsquo;s not a long-term strategy. You simply can&rsquo;t keep operating that way. The fact is stations have gone well beyond the bone at this point,&rdquo; said Papper. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re seeing the car business coming back. Upfronts are going to be better, the economy is rebounding &mdash; and employers have to respond.&rdquo;Papper also pointed to the flood of mid-term election money flowing into stations and predicted that more job opportunities will become available in the nation&rsquo;s largest markets, at the same stations that shed the most number of positions. &ldquo;I would expect more hiring at network affiliates, and Fox stations are likely to lead the way,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They have the greatest room for expansion and tend to be doing more of it. CBS stations may well be right behind that. A lot is going to depend on NBC&rsquo;s new programming that helps at 11. We could see some growth there, as many NBC stations have really been hurt.&rdquo;In 2009, the amount of news on the average television station escalated to five hours each weekday, up from 4.7 hours the previous year.Going into 2010, a net loss of eight stations doing news left 762 stations producing original local television newscasts, and sharing content with another 224, for a total of 986 stations.&ldquo;The amount of news set a new record, and that tells you that stations are betting on local news,&rdquo; Papper said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve clearly staked out that this is critical to their future. With only eight stations dropping news, it clearly reinforces the notion that if you&rsquo;re in the local TV news business, or a network affiliate, you&rsquo;re betting on local news.&rdquo;The study showed stations that did cut newscasts deleted them on the weekends, both morning and evening. Behind that were a few stations that cut in the 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., noon to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. time slots. Fox affiliates were more likely to report gains in the amount of news, while CBS affiliates reported cuts.The profitability of news on TV stations dropped slightly, about 5 percent, although the percentage of station revenue produced by news remained about the same. About 48 percent of TV news organizations showed a profit, while about 15 percent broke even, 8 percent lost money &mdash; and a staggering 29 percent didn&rsquo;t know the answer to the profitability question. Geographically, stations in the Northeast were less likely than others to make a profit on news and more likely to lose money.&ldquo;What&rsquo;s interesting and critically important is the percent of station revenue from news held steady,&rdquo; said Papper. &ldquo;That reinforces the notion that stations are making big bets on news and information.&rdquo;Radio news changed little in 2009, with the amount of news on the air about the same as the prior year. The average news department was made up of one person, with a typical radio news director overseeing news on three stations. Major market, group-owned and noncommercial stations were most likely to have increased the amount of news they aired.The study was conducted in the last quarter of 2009 with responses from 1,355 television stations and 203 radio news directors and general managers representing 301 radio stations.]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Tom Gilbert</name>
      <uri>http://www.tvweek.com/</uri>
   </author>
   
      <category term="Broadcast" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
   
   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[By Hillary AtkinThere is more television news on the air but fewer jobs in the business these days, according to a just-released annual study conducted by the Radio Television Digital News Association and Hofstra University.The bottom line in 2009 was that stations were doing more with less, yet industry executives are feeling confident that cutbacks have leveled off and that staffing is likely to increase in 2010.Four hundred people lost their TV news jobs last year, about 1.5 percent of the total employment in the business. But that was a considerable improvement from 2008, when 1,200 people got pink-slipped, amounting to 4.3 percent of the work force.The dramatic turnaround in employment stats foretells an even brighter future, according to the study. More than 60 percent of television news directors said they expect staff levels to stay the same in 2010, up 20 points from last year. The number expecting an increase in hiring was up a whopping 145 percent from 2009, while those predicting a decrease in staffing dropped 77 percent from last year.&ldquo;In my mind, there&rsquo;s no question we&rsquo;ll see staffing increases in 2010. It&rsquo;s pretty clear not just in the survey but in talking to news directors, as well,&rdquo; said Bob Papper, who conducts the RTDNA/Hofstra studies and is chair of the department of journalism, media studies and public relations at Hofstra University.&ldquo;Doing more with less can get you through the recession, but it&rsquo;s not a long-term strategy. You simply can&rsquo;t keep operating that way. The fact is stations have gone well beyond the bone at this point,&rdquo; said Papper. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re seeing the car business coming back. Upfronts are going to be better, the economy is rebounding &mdash; and employers have to respond.&rdquo;Papper also pointed to the flood of mid-term election money flowing into stations and predicted that more job opportunities will become available in the nation&rsquo;s largest markets, at the same stations that shed the most number of positions. &ldquo;I would expect more hiring at network affiliates, and Fox stations are likely to lead the way,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They have the greatest room for expansion and tend to be doing more of it. CBS stations may well be right behind that. A lot is going to depend on NBC&rsquo;s new programming that helps at 11. We could see some growth there, as many NBC stations have really been hurt.&rdquo;In 2009, the amount of news on the average television station escalated to five hours each weekday, up from 4.7 hours the previous year.Going into 2010, a net loss of eight stations doing news left 762 stations producing original local television newscasts, and sharing content with another 224, for a total of 986 stations.&ldquo;The amount of news set a new record, and that tells you that stations are betting on local news,&rdquo; Papper said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve clearly staked out that this is critical to their future. With only eight stations dropping news, it clearly reinforces the notion that if you&rsquo;re in the local TV news business, or a network affiliate, you&rsquo;re betting on local news.&rdquo;The study showed stations that did cut newscasts deleted them on the weekends, both morning and evening. Behind that were a few stations that cut in the 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., noon to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. time slots. Fox affiliates were more likely to report gains in the amount of news, while CBS affiliates reported cuts.The profitability of news on TV stations dropped slightly, about 5 percent, although the percentage of station revenue produced by news remained about the same. About 48 percent of TV news organizations showed a profit, while about 15 percent broke even, 8 percent lost money &mdash; and a staggering 29 percent didn&rsquo;t know the answer to the profitability question. Geographically, stations in the Northeast were less likely than others to make a profit on news and more likely to lose money.&ldquo;What&rsquo;s interesting and critically important is the percent of station revenue from news held steady,&rdquo; said Papper. &ldquo;That reinforces the notion that stations are making big bets on news and information.&rdquo;Radio news changed little in 2009, with the amount of news on the air about the same as the prior year. The average news department was made up of one person, with a typical radio news director overseeing news on three stations. Major market, group-owned and noncommercial stations were most likely to have increased the amount of news they aired.The study was conducted in the last quarter of 2009 with responses from 1,355 television stations and 203 radio news directors and general managers representing 301 radio stations.]]>
   </content>
</entry>

<entry>
   <title>Summing Up the Peabody Award Winners</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/04/summing_up_the_peabody_award_w.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.41559</id>
   
   <published>2010-04-28T22:02:27Z</published>
   <updated>2010-04-28T22:06:00Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[By Elizabeth JensenThirty-six programs will take home George Foster Peabody Awards in May, the program&rsquo;s 69th year.The awards honor the best in electronic media for 2009 and are conferred by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, in Athens. Multiple winners included PBS programs, which received a total of six awards, and HBO, which is being honored for two series and a documentary. NPR received two awards, as did &ldquo;BBC World News America.&rdquo;CBS News&rsquo; &ldquo;60 Minutes&rdquo; won for its fourth year in a row, with both of its awards going to correspondent Steve Kroft.The awards will be presented in a ceremony hosted by ABC&rsquo;s Diane Sawyer on Monday, May 17, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.Modern Family (ABC)Twentieth Century Fox Television in association with Levitan Lloyd ProductionsThe judges said: &ldquo;This wily, witty comedy puts quirky, contemporary twists in family ties but maintains an old-fashioned heart.&rdquo;The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: An Evening with Archbishop Desmond Tutu (CBS)Worldwide Pants Inc.Calling the interview with the Nobel Peace Prize winner &ldquo;fascinating, often funny,&rdquo; the judges said the Scottish-born Ferguson &ldquo;has made late-night television safe again for ideas.&rdquo;Noodle Road: Connecting Asia's Kitchens (KBS1 TV)Korean Broadcasting SystemAccording to the judges, this show is &ldquo;the who, where, what, why and how of Asia's culinary staple, rolled into one visually delicious hour.&rdquo;A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains (ABC)ABC NewsDiane Sawyer and her producers and camera crew spent nearly two years in central Appalachia reporting this documentary on children coping with adult-created problems, which the judges said &ldquo;reminds us that not all critical problems lie in &lsquo;developing&rsquo; nations.&rdquo;SesameStreet.orgSesame WorkshopThe website was given a complete makeover in 2008 and the judges approved, noting that &ldquo;Bird and company display prodigious adaptability on this delightfully educational, interactive site.&rdquo;BBC World News America: Unique Broadcast, Unique Perspective (BBC America)BBC World News America, BBC AmericaThe cable broadcast is &ldquo;a nightly newscast like none the United States has ever had,&rdquo; which &ldquo;places our actions and concerns in a global context,&rdquo; said the judges.The Cost of Dying (CBS)CBS News, 60 MinutesThis report treated the costs of end-of-life medical care &ldquo;with courage and compassion,&rdquo; the judges said.Independent Lens: Between the Folds (PBS)Green Fuse Films, ITVSThis documentary about the art of paper folding &ldquo;makes you gasp at the possibilities &mdash; of paper and of human creativity,&rdquo; the judges said.Glee (FOX)Twentieth Century Fox TelevisionFox&rsquo;s hit musical dramedy about members of a high school choral club is &ldquo;dependably tuneful and entertaining,&rdquo; the judges found.The OxyContin Express (Current TV)Vanguard on Current TVThis documentary about drug-dealing M.D.s in Florida and Appalachia &ldquo;makes clear the enormity of the prescription-drug epidemic,&rdquo; the judges said.NPR.orgNational Public Radio&ldquo;One of the great one-stop websites,&rdquo; the judges said, with the added plus of &ldquo;music you can dance to.&rdquo;Diane Rehm Personal AwardThe NPR talk show, which has been heard for decades on Washington's WAMU-FM, &ldquo;is the gold standard for civil, civic discourse,&rdquo; said the judges.The Day that Lehman Died (BBC World Service)A Goldhawk Essential Production/BBC World Service ProductionThis radio docudrama based on exhaustive interviews mixed news and dramatic reconstruction and &ldquo;put listeners in the boardroom and halls of Lehman Brothers as the financial giant collapsed.&rdquo;In Treatment (HBO)Leverage, Closest to the Hole Productions and Sheleg in association with HBO EntertainmentThis fictional series about psychiatrist-patient sessions, adapted from an Israeli series, &ldquo;is the very essence of drama,&rdquo; the judges said.Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times (PBS)Peter Jones ProductionsThere&rsquo;s &ldquo;drama enough for several feature films&rdquo; in this documentary about the longtime owners of the Los Angeles Times, the judges said.No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (HBO)Mirage Enterprises and Cinechicks in association with The Weinstein Company, BBC and HBO EntertainmentThe judges noted that Alexander McCall Smith's novels about African detective Precious Ramotswe &ldquo;come vividly to life in this groundbreaking series.&rdquo;Sabotaging the System (CBS)CBS News, 60 MinutesSteve Kroft's examination of cyber threats to the country&rsquo;s infrastructure was &ldquo;alarming and then some,&rdquo; the judges said.Brick City (Sundance Channel)Sundance Channel, Brick City TV LLCThis five-hour documentary series about the challenges of the city of Newark, N.J., is &ldquo;sociologically instructive and dramatically compelling,&rdquo; the judges wrote. Sundance has ordered a second season.Thrilla in Manila (HBO)Darlow Smithson Production, HBO Sports, HBO Documentary FilmsThis documentary about Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier &ldquo;pulls no punches and lays bare misconceptions about their rivalry,&rdquo; the judges said.FRONTLINE: The Madoff Affair (PBS)FRONTLINE, RAINmediaThe judges singled out this documentary on Bernie Madoff's devastating Ponzi scheme for taking &ldquo;viewers into the very heart of&rdquo; the scandal and &ldquo;explaining how and why it worked for so long.&rdquo;I-Witness: Ambulansiyang de Paa (GMA Network)GMA Network Inc., PhilippinesThis report about poor villagers &ldquo;who carry their sick and injured over dangerous terrain to distant medical care using &lsquo;ambulances on foot&rsquo; simultaneously condemns deplorable conditions and celebrates neighborliness and ingenuity,&rdquo; the judges found.Independent Lens: The Order of Myths (PBS)Folly River Inc., Netpoint Productions, Lucky Hat Entertainment, ITVSMargaret Brown explored the race-divided Mardi Gras traditions in Mobile, Ala., in a documentary the judges called &ldquo;highly original, moving and insightful.&rdquo;Hard Times (OPB Radio)Oregon Public BroadcastingThis series of radio reports on how the Wall Street meltdown affected ordinary citizens was singled out by the judges for &ldquo;humanly and thoughtfully&rdquo; documenting its subject.Iran &amp; the West Brook Lapping Productions for the BBC in association with National Geographic Channel, France 3, NHK, VPRO, SVT, RTBF, VRT, NRK, SRC/CBC, DRTV SBS, YLE, TVP and Press TVThe judges called this &ldquo;a spectacular, epic documentary that explains in fascinating, sometimes startling, detail how the West and Iran arrived at the present standoff,&rdquo; adding that &ldquo;it's imminently watchable and historically invaluable.&rdquo;Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson: Covering Afghanistan (NPR)National Public RadioNPR&rsquo;s Kabul bureau chief is praised by the judges, who note that &ldquo;No reporter in any medium gives us a better sense of the variety of life inside Afghanistan.&rdquo;The Great Textbook War (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)Trey Kay ProductionsThe roots of the current culture wars are traced through a 1974 battle over textbook content in rural West Virginia, in what the judges called a &ldquo;thoughtful, balanced and gripping radio documentary.&rdquo;Mind the Gap: Why Good Schools Are Failing Black Students (Public Radio Stations)Nancy SolomonThe independent producer &ldquo;exhibited great empathy&rdquo; and asked &ldquo;tough, necessary questions&rdquo; of students and teachers at a suburban New Jersey high school, judges said.Endgame (PBS)Daybreak/Channel 4/Target Entertainment, Presented on PBS/MASTERPIECE by WGBH BostonDramatizing secret negotiations at an English country estate, which helped end apartheid in South Africa, this film &ldquo;offers a lesson in the possibilities of peaceful conflict resolution,&rdquo; judges said.Sichuan Earthquake: One Year On (Now-Broadband TV News Channel)Now-TV News, Hong KongThis report on the anniversary of China&rsquo;s Sichuan earthquake was reported &ldquo;with respect for the victims and their families and hard questions about the substandard construction that worsened the death toll,&rdquo; the judges said.BART Shooting (KTVU-TV)KTVU, Oakland, Calif.When a train station altercation ended in a fatal shooting, KTVU's quick response &ldquo;gave its reporters an edge, but it was their persistent digging afterwards that revealed serious, systematic problems in the Bay Area Rapid Transit police's tactics,&rdquo; the judges noted.American Masters: Jerome Robbins &mdash; Something to Dance About (PBS)Thirteen/WNETThis retrospective documentary of Robbins&rsquo; life and work, filled with performance clips and comments from his ballet and Broadway colleagues, &ldquo;captured the legendary director-choreographer's &lsquo;dark genius,&rsquo;&rdquo; the judges said.Chronicle: Paul's Gift (WYFF-TV)WYFF 4, Greenville, S.C.This public service special, which followed the donated organs of an accident victim to their various recipients, was &ldquo;simple, ingenious and effective,&rdquo; the judges found.Under Fire: Discrimination and Corruption in the Texas National Guard (KHOU-TV)KHOU-TV, Houston, Belo, Inc.The judges noted that &ldquo;dogged work by the Houston station's investigative reporters found such blatant discriminatory treatment of female soldiers that three top Texas Guard generals were fired and a new commanding officer was appointed.&rdquo; The series also won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award in January.Derrion Albert Beating (WFLD-TV)FOX Chicago News: WFLD-TV and myfoxchicago.comWFLD obtained horrifying video of the beating death of a Chicago high school honor student, but the judges said &ldquo;the greater feat was its comprehensive follow-up coverage of the suspects, the legal process and prevalence of similar violence.&rdquo;Where Giving Life Is a Death Sentence (BBC America)BBC World News America, BBC America, BBC World News, NewsnightCorrespondent Lyse Doucet &ldquo;trekked deep into Afghanistan's rugged Badakshan province&rdquo; for this report on the world&rsquo;s worst recorded rate of maternal mortality.Up in Smoke (KCET-TV)KCET, Los AngelesFor the judges, this report on KCET&rsquo;s &quot;SoCal Connected&quot; provided &ldquo;lively, eye-opening coverage&rdquo; of the medical marijuana business.]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Tom Gilbert</name>
      <uri>http://www.tvweek.com/</uri>
   </author>
   
      <category term="Broadcast" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
      <category term="Cable" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
   
   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[By Elizabeth JensenThirty-six programs will take home George Foster Peabody Awards in May, the program&rsquo;s 69th year.The awards honor the best in electronic media for 2009 and are conferred by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, in Athens. Multiple winners included PBS programs, which received a total of six awards, and HBO, which is being honored for two series and a documentary. NPR received two awards, as did &ldquo;BBC World News America.&rdquo;CBS News&rsquo; &ldquo;60 Minutes&rdquo; won for its fourth year in a row, with both of its awards going to correspondent Steve Kroft.The awards will be presented in a ceremony hosted by ABC&rsquo;s Diane Sawyer on Monday, May 17, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.Modern Family (ABC)Twentieth Century Fox Television in association with Levitan Lloyd ProductionsThe judges said: &ldquo;This wily, witty comedy puts quirky, contemporary twists in family ties but maintains an old-fashioned heart.&rdquo;The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: An Evening with Archbishop Desmond Tutu (CBS)Worldwide Pants Inc.Calling the interview with the Nobel Peace Prize winner &ldquo;fascinating, often funny,&rdquo; the judges said the Scottish-born Ferguson &ldquo;has made late-night television safe again for ideas.&rdquo;Noodle Road: Connecting Asia's Kitchens (KBS1 TV)Korean Broadcasting SystemAccording to the judges, this show is &ldquo;the who, where, what, why and how of Asia's culinary staple, rolled into one visually delicious hour.&rdquo;A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains (ABC)ABC NewsDiane Sawyer and her producers and camera crew spent nearly two years in central Appalachia reporting this documentary on children coping with adult-created problems, which the judges said &ldquo;reminds us that not all critical problems lie in &lsquo;developing&rsquo; nations.&rdquo;SesameStreet.orgSesame WorkshopThe website was given a complete makeover in 2008 and the judges approved, noting that &ldquo;Bird and company display prodigious adaptability on this delightfully educational, interactive site.&rdquo;BBC World News America: Unique Broadcast, Unique Perspective (BBC America)BBC World News America, BBC AmericaThe cable broadcast is &ldquo;a nightly newscast like none the United States has ever had,&rdquo; which &ldquo;places our actions and concerns in a global context,&rdquo; said the judges.The Cost of Dying (CBS)CBS News, 60 MinutesThis report treated the costs of end-of-life medical care &ldquo;with courage and compassion,&rdquo; the judges said.Independent Lens: Between the Folds (PBS)Green Fuse Films, ITVSThis documentary about the art of paper folding &ldquo;makes you gasp at the possibilities &mdash; of paper and of human creativity,&rdquo; the judges said.Glee (FOX)Twentieth Century Fox TelevisionFox&rsquo;s hit musical dramedy about members of a high school choral club is &ldquo;dependably tuneful and entertaining,&rdquo; the judges found.The OxyContin Express (Current TV)Vanguard on Current TVThis documentary about drug-dealing M.D.s in Florida and Appalachia &ldquo;makes clear the enormity of the prescription-drug epidemic,&rdquo; the judges said.NPR.orgNational Public Radio&ldquo;One of the great one-stop websites,&rdquo; the judges said, with the added plus of &ldquo;music you can dance to.&rdquo;Diane Rehm Personal AwardThe NPR talk show, which has been heard for decades on Washington's WAMU-FM, &ldquo;is the gold standard for civil, civic discourse,&rdquo; said the judges.The Day that Lehman Died (BBC World Service)A Goldhawk Essential Production/BBC World Service ProductionThis radio docudrama based on exhaustive interviews mixed news and dramatic reconstruction and &ldquo;put listeners in the boardroom and halls of Lehman Brothers as the financial giant collapsed.&rdquo;In Treatment (HBO)Leverage, Closest to the Hole Productions and Sheleg in association with HBO EntertainmentThis fictional series about psychiatrist-patient sessions, adapted from an Israeli series, &ldquo;is the very essence of drama,&rdquo; the judges said.Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times (PBS)Peter Jones ProductionsThere&rsquo;s &ldquo;drama enough for several feature films&rdquo; in this documentary about the longtime owners of the Los Angeles Times, the judges said.No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (HBO)Mirage Enterprises and Cinechicks in association with The Weinstein Company, BBC and HBO EntertainmentThe judges noted that Alexander McCall Smith's novels about African detective Precious Ramotswe &ldquo;come vividly to life in this groundbreaking series.&rdquo;Sabotaging the System (CBS)CBS News, 60 MinutesSteve Kroft's examination of cyber threats to the country&rsquo;s infrastructure was &ldquo;alarming and then some,&rdquo; the judges said.Brick City (Sundance Channel)Sundance Channel, Brick City TV LLCThis five-hour documentary series about the challenges of the city of Newark, N.J., is &ldquo;sociologically instructive and dramatically compelling,&rdquo; the judges wrote. Sundance has ordered a second season.Thrilla in Manila (HBO)Darlow Smithson Production, HBO Sports, HBO Documentary FilmsThis documentary about Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier &ldquo;pulls no punches and lays bare misconceptions about their rivalry,&rdquo; the judges said.FRONTLINE: The Madoff Affair (PBS)FRONTLINE, RAINmediaThe judges singled out this documentary on Bernie Madoff's devastating Ponzi scheme for taking &ldquo;viewers into the very heart of&rdquo; the scandal and &ldquo;explaining how and why it worked for so long.&rdquo;I-Witness: Ambulansiyang de Paa (GMA Network)GMA Network Inc., PhilippinesThis report about poor villagers &ldquo;who carry their sick and injured over dangerous terrain to distant medical care using &lsquo;ambulances on foot&rsquo; simultaneously condemns deplorable conditions and celebrates neighborliness and ingenuity,&rdquo; the judges found.Independent Lens: The Order of Myths (PBS)Folly River Inc., Netpoint Productions, Lucky Hat Entertainment, ITVSMargaret Brown explored the race-divided Mardi Gras traditions in Mobile, Ala., in a documentary the judges called &ldquo;highly original, moving and insightful.&rdquo;Hard Times (OPB Radio)Oregon Public BroadcastingThis series of radio reports on how the Wall Street meltdown affected ordinary citizens was singled out by the judges for &ldquo;humanly and thoughtfully&rdquo; documenting its subject.Iran &amp; the West Brook Lapping Productions for the BBC in association with National Geographic Channel, France 3, NHK, VPRO, SVT, RTBF, VRT, NRK, SRC/CBC, DRTV SBS, YLE, TVP and Press TVThe judges called this &ldquo;a spectacular, epic documentary that explains in fascinating, sometimes startling, detail how the West and Iran arrived at the present standoff,&rdquo; adding that &ldquo;it's imminently watchable and historically invaluable.&rdquo;Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson: Covering Afghanistan (NPR)National Public RadioNPR&rsquo;s Kabul bureau chief is praised by the judges, who note that &ldquo;No reporter in any medium gives us a better sense of the variety of life inside Afghanistan.&rdquo;The Great Textbook War (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)Trey Kay ProductionsThe roots of the current culture wars are traced through a 1974 battle over textbook content in rural West Virginia, in what the judges called a &ldquo;thoughtful, balanced and gripping radio documentary.&rdquo;Mind the Gap: Why Good Schools Are Failing Black Students (Public Radio Stations)Nancy SolomonThe independent producer &ldquo;exhibited great empathy&rdquo; and asked &ldquo;tough, necessary questions&rdquo; of students and teachers at a suburban New Jersey high school, judges said.Endgame (PBS)Daybreak/Channel 4/Target Entertainment, Presented on PBS/MASTERPIECE by WGBH BostonDramatizing secret negotiations at an English country estate, which helped end apartheid in South Africa, this film &ldquo;offers a lesson in the possibilities of peaceful conflict resolution,&rdquo; judges said.Sichuan Earthquake: One Year On (Now-Broadband TV News Channel)Now-TV News, Hong KongThis report on the anniversary of China&rsquo;s Sichuan earthquake was reported &ldquo;with respect for the victims and their families and hard questions about the substandard construction that worsened the death toll,&rdquo; the judges said.BART Shooting (KTVU-TV)KTVU, Oakland, Calif.When a train station altercation ended in a fatal shooting, KTVU's quick response &ldquo;gave its reporters an edge, but it was their persistent digging afterwards that revealed serious, systematic problems in the Bay Area Rapid Transit police's tactics,&rdquo; the judges noted.American Masters: Jerome Robbins &mdash; Something to Dance About (PBS)Thirteen/WNETThis retrospective documentary of Robbins&rsquo; life and work, filled with performance clips and comments from his ballet and Broadway colleagues, &ldquo;captured the legendary director-choreographer's &lsquo;dark genius,&rsquo;&rdquo; the judges said.Chronicle: Paul's Gift (WYFF-TV)WYFF 4, Greenville, S.C.This public service special, which followed the donated organs of an accident victim to their various recipients, was &ldquo;simple, ingenious and effective,&rdquo; the judges found.Under Fire: Discrimination and Corruption in the Texas National Guard (KHOU-TV)KHOU-TV, Houston, Belo, Inc.The judges noted that &ldquo;dogged work by the Houston station's investigative reporters found such blatant discriminatory treatment of female soldiers that three top Texas Guard generals were fired and a new commanding officer was appointed.&rdquo; The series also won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award in January.Derrion Albert Beating (WFLD-TV)FOX Chicago News: WFLD-TV and myfoxchicago.comWFLD obtained horrifying video of the beating death of a Chicago high school honor student, but the judges said &ldquo;the greater feat was its comprehensive follow-up coverage of the suspects, the legal process and prevalence of similar violence.&rdquo;Where Giving Life Is a Death Sentence (BBC America)BBC World News America, BBC America, BBC World News, NewsnightCorrespondent Lyse Doucet &ldquo;trekked deep into Afghanistan's rugged Badakshan province&rdquo; for this report on the world&rsquo;s worst recorded rate of maternal mortality.Up in Smoke (KCET-TV)KCET, Los AngelesFor the judges, this report on KCET&rsquo;s &quot;SoCal Connected&quot; provided &ldquo;lively, eye-opening coverage&rdquo; of the medical marijuana business.]]>
   </content>
</entry>

<entry>
   <title>Sports Journalism: Time for a Change-Up</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/04/sports_journalism_time_for_a_c.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.41558</id>
   
   <published>2010-04-28T21:58:57Z</published>
   <updated>2010-04-28T22:02:16Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[By Jon LafayetteHoly cow, these are tough time for traditional sportscasters. But new technology and social media may be creating opportunities for people who want a career in sports journalism.Despite record ratings for big events like the Super Bowl, the recession has hit broadcast outlets like a blitzing linebacker, and on-air talent are feeling the pain in their paychecks. Also taking a toll on broadcast jobs is the growth of cable, where outlets led by ESPN are acquiring rights to more and more games and aggressively pushing into local markets.Jobs are being created on cable, but they&rsquo;re mostly for less experienced sportscasters, or for people who can create content for the Web.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an ever-changing world, an ever-changing industry, an ever-changing landscape,&rdquo; said Dave Goren, executive director of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and Hall of Fame.While new media is creating opportunities for those smart enough to change with it, Goren said, &ldquo;I think there&rsquo;s probably more of a contraction to come before there&rsquo;s an expansion.&rdquo;Things are tough for sports writers in the troubled newspaper industry as well.&ldquo;Anecdotally, all you have to do is be able to read and you can tell,&rdquo; Goren said. &ldquo;Every day there&rsquo;s another paper either dropping sports or cutting a bunch of sports people.&rdquo;But because most employers are looking to do things more cheaply to make up for lost revenue, &ldquo;in some ways that might be good for younger kids coming into the business,&rdquo; Goren said.Expansion seems to be going on at ESPN, which is adding events and pushing into new media, which is creating a need for more sportscasters.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s certainly creating more opportunities for younger broadcasters, especially on the digital side,&rdquo; said Laurie Orlando, senior VP for talent planning and development at ESPN.She suggested that digital media might be replacing local stations as the training ground for young sportscasters.&ldquo;No longer are we just a broadcaster. If there&rsquo;s any place in our industry that is full-service and multimedia, it&rsquo;s ESPN. We expect that our talent, within reason, are going to contribute to all of those platforms,&rdquo; she said, adding that the expectations are just as high online as on television to deliver credible information and deep knowledge to the ESPN fan base.Orlando said that channels like ESPNU and ESPN Regional Television are two places where sportscasters with just five years in the business can gain big-time experience.&ldquo;As long as they show promise and they&rsquo;re people we see potential in for down the road, it&rsquo;s a great training ground.&rdquo;Regional cable sports network Comcast SportsNet Chicago is also expanding.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re adding people and our business is still in a growth mode,&rdquo; said Jim Corno, president of Comcast SportsNet.Much of the hiring is for network&rsquo;s website.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got people who go out and cover the teams from a digital standpoint,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re hired for the digital department, but they do have some on-air exposure as well.&rdquo;For example, John Mullin, who covers the Bears for chicago.comcastsportsnet.com, also appears on the network&rsquo;s &ldquo;Chicago Tribune Live&rdquo; show and its &ldquo;Bears Postgame Live.&rdquo;At the same time, the network&rsquo;s veteran sportscasters are becoming switch-hitters.&ldquo;Our on-air people are learning the digital side,&rdquo; Corno said.Online reporting and social media are creating new expectations for sportscasters.&ldquo;The guy can no longer just sit there, call the game and go home. Or if you&rsquo;re an anchor, you can&rsquo;t just go on, &lsquo;here&rsquo;s the news of the day,&rsquo; and go home,&rdquo; he said. People expect you to be visible on all the different platforms. They expect to see you and have access to you through the Web space.&rdquo;Corno said some of his on-air talent have been very aggressive about blogging and social media.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like we&rsquo;re twisting arms here,&rdquo; he said.The activity is good for both the network and the anchors.&ldquo;You hope that the Comcast SportsNet brand is getting more exposure and more people have access to it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;As far as the talent goes, all the exposure they get helps them too. It&rsquo;s a win-win.&rdquo;Eventually, Corno said, his on-air and digital sportscasters will have nearly interchangeable skills.&ldquo;I think the on-air personality is always going to be the higher priority. But I think you&rsquo;re going to expect those on-air personalities to participate in our Web and digital components.&rdquo;While cable outlets are expanding, many stations are thinking about cutting back on sportscasts and sportscasters.&ldquo;I would say that it is something that a lot of stations are talking about,&rdquo; said Stacey Woelfel, chairman of the Radio Television Digital News Association and news director of KOMU-TV. The reason is that studies have shown that only 20 percent of the audience cares about sports, and that it&rsquo;s often an expensive area to cover.But Woelfel said there&rsquo;s more talk than action.&ldquo;The problem is none of us wants to give up 20 percent to the other guy. And that 20 percent goes up when the local team goes to the NCAA Tournament or Super Bowl,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not to say there haven&rsquo;t been cutbacks.&rdquo;Many sports departments are down to one or two people. Travel has also been reduced sharply; instead of sending anchors, reporters, sportscasters, a cameraman and producers to an event, these days a station may send just two people.One survey suggests that recent cutbacks have been more anecdotal than systematic. According to the latest RTDNA/Hofstra University study, about 2,000 people work in TV sports as an anchor, reporter or both, or about 2.7 per station. That number has held steady over the past five years.Some stations are taking a one-man-band approach to sporting events.&ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s shoot your story, cut it, send it back by FTP and then set up your Skype and do a live shot for us,&rdquo; Woelfel said.In fact, that may provide a scouting report for what stations will be looking for in a sportscaster.&ldquo;The local or regional sports journalist of the future is a one-man band, and is somebody who moves easily between sports, and is a person who has an interest in important local and regional sports,&rdquo; Woelfel said.Of course, there are some optimists.&ldquo;Sports is a staple of television. There&rsquo;s an ebb and a flow, but sports is going to stay important, and hiring is going to increase in the future,&rdquo; said Richard Leibner, president of top talent agency N.S. Bienstock. &ldquo;Maybe you won&rsquo;t have five-person or 10-person departments, but you&rsquo;ll have two- or three-person sports departments. These days, sports crimes and scandals become a lead story, and whether that&rsquo;s covered by news or sports remains to be seen.&rdquo;Goren, who was in sportscasting for 24 years, said he&rsquo;d still recommend it as a profession.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d better know there&rsquo;s a shrunken pool out there. You better know how to shoot video. You better know how to do everything is the bottom line,&rdquo; said Goren. &ldquo;I always said as I was coming up, if you love it enough you&rsquo;ll do whatever it takes. But anybody who paints it with a rosy picture and said everything is wine and roses is selling you a bill of goods.&rdquo;]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Tom Gilbert</name>
      <uri>http://www.tvweek.com/</uri>
   </author>
   
      <category term="Broadcast" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
      <category term="Cable" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
      <category term="Digital" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
   
   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[By Jon LafayetteHoly cow, these are tough time for traditional sportscasters. But new technology and social media may be creating opportunities for people who want a career in sports journalism.Despite record ratings for big events like the Super Bowl, the recession has hit broadcast outlets like a blitzing linebacker, and on-air talent are feeling the pain in their paychecks. Also taking a toll on broadcast jobs is the growth of cable, where outlets led by ESPN are acquiring rights to more and more games and aggressively pushing into local markets.Jobs are being created on cable, but they&rsquo;re mostly for less experienced sportscasters, or for people who can create content for the Web.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an ever-changing world, an ever-changing industry, an ever-changing landscape,&rdquo; said Dave Goren, executive director of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and Hall of Fame.While new media is creating opportunities for those smart enough to change with it, Goren said, &ldquo;I think there&rsquo;s probably more of a contraction to come before there&rsquo;s an expansion.&rdquo;Things are tough for sports writers in the troubled newspaper industry as well.&ldquo;Anecdotally, all you have to do is be able to read and you can tell,&rdquo; Goren said. &ldquo;Every day there&rsquo;s another paper either dropping sports or cutting a bunch of sports people.&rdquo;But because most employers are looking to do things more cheaply to make up for lost revenue, &ldquo;in some ways that might be good for younger kids coming into the business,&rdquo; Goren said.Expansion seems to be going on at ESPN, which is adding events and pushing into new media, which is creating a need for more sportscasters.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s certainly creating more opportunities for younger broadcasters, especially on the digital side,&rdquo; said Laurie Orlando, senior VP for talent planning and development at ESPN.She suggested that digital media might be replacing local stations as the training ground for young sportscasters.&ldquo;No longer are we just a broadcaster. If there&rsquo;s any place in our industry that is full-service and multimedia, it&rsquo;s ESPN. We expect that our talent, within reason, are going to contribute to all of those platforms,&rdquo; she said, adding that the expectations are just as high online as on television to deliver credible information and deep knowledge to the ESPN fan base.Orlando said that channels like ESPNU and ESPN Regional Television are two places where sportscasters with just five years in the business can gain big-time experience.&ldquo;As long as they show promise and they&rsquo;re people we see potential in for down the road, it&rsquo;s a great training ground.&rdquo;Regional cable sports network Comcast SportsNet Chicago is also expanding.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re adding people and our business is still in a growth mode,&rdquo; said Jim Corno, president of Comcast SportsNet.Much of the hiring is for network&rsquo;s website.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got people who go out and cover the teams from a digital standpoint,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re hired for the digital department, but they do have some on-air exposure as well.&rdquo;For example, John Mullin, who covers the Bears for chicago.comcastsportsnet.com, also appears on the network&rsquo;s &ldquo;Chicago Tribune Live&rdquo; show and its &ldquo;Bears Postgame Live.&rdquo;At the same time, the network&rsquo;s veteran sportscasters are becoming switch-hitters.&ldquo;Our on-air people are learning the digital side,&rdquo; Corno said.Online reporting and social media are creating new expectations for sportscasters.&ldquo;The guy can no longer just sit there, call the game and go home. Or if you&rsquo;re an anchor, you can&rsquo;t just go on, &lsquo;here&rsquo;s the news of the day,&rsquo; and go home,&rdquo; he said. People expect you to be visible on all the different platforms. They expect to see you and have access to you through the Web space.&rdquo;Corno said some of his on-air talent have been very aggressive about blogging and social media.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like we&rsquo;re twisting arms here,&rdquo; he said.The activity is good for both the network and the anchors.&ldquo;You hope that the Comcast SportsNet brand is getting more exposure and more people have access to it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;As far as the talent goes, all the exposure they get helps them too. It&rsquo;s a win-win.&rdquo;Eventually, Corno said, his on-air and digital sportscasters will have nearly interchangeable skills.&ldquo;I think the on-air personality is always going to be the higher priority. But I think you&rsquo;re going to expect those on-air personalities to participate in our Web and digital components.&rdquo;While cable outlets are expanding, many stations are thinking about cutting back on sportscasts and sportscasters.&ldquo;I would say that it is something that a lot of stations are talking about,&rdquo; said Stacey Woelfel, chairman of the Radio Television Digital News Association and news director of KOMU-TV. The reason is that studies have shown that only 20 percent of the audience cares about sports, and that it&rsquo;s often an expensive area to cover.But Woelfel said there&rsquo;s more talk than action.&ldquo;The problem is none of us wants to give up 20 percent to the other guy. And that 20 percent goes up when the local team goes to the NCAA Tournament or Super Bowl,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not to say there haven&rsquo;t been cutbacks.&rdquo;Many sports departments are down to one or two people. Travel has also been reduced sharply; instead of sending anchors, reporters, sportscasters, a cameraman and producers to an event, these days a station may send just two people.One survey suggests that recent cutbacks have been more anecdotal than systematic. According to the latest RTDNA/Hofstra University study, about 2,000 people work in TV sports as an anchor, reporter or both, or about 2.7 per station. That number has held steady over the past five years.Some stations are taking a one-man-band approach to sporting events.&ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s shoot your story, cut it, send it back by FTP and then set up your Skype and do a live shot for us,&rdquo; Woelfel said.In fact, that may provide a scouting report for what stations will be looking for in a sportscaster.&ldquo;The local or regional sports journalist of the future is a one-man band, and is somebody who moves easily between sports, and is a person who has an interest in important local and regional sports,&rdquo; Woelfel said.Of course, there are some optimists.&ldquo;Sports is a staple of television. There&rsquo;s an ebb and a flow, but sports is going to stay important, and hiring is going to increase in the future,&rdquo; said Richard Leibner, president of top talent agency N.S. Bienstock. &ldquo;Maybe you won&rsquo;t have five-person or 10-person departments, but you&rsquo;ll have two- or three-person sports departments. These days, sports crimes and scandals become a lead story, and whether that&rsquo;s covered by news or sports remains to be seen.&rdquo;Goren, who was in sportscasting for 24 years, said he&rsquo;d still recommend it as a profession.&ldquo;You&rsquo;d better know there&rsquo;s a shrunken pool out there. You better know how to shoot video. You better know how to do everything is the bottom line,&rdquo; said Goren. &ldquo;I always said as I was coming up, if you love it enough you&rsquo;ll do whatever it takes. But anybody who paints it with a rosy picture and said everything is wine and roses is selling you a bill of goods.&rdquo;]]>
   </content>
</entry>

<entry>
   <title>Sportscasters and Sportswriters Honor Their Own</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/04/sportscasters_and_sportswriter.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.41557</id>
   
   <published>2010-04-28T21:54:08Z</published>
   <updated>2010-04-28T21:57:56Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[By Jarre FeesSeeking to honor the best sports journalists in the nation, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association will induct football&rsquo;s John Madden and baseball&rsquo;s Peter Gammons into the NSSA Hall of Fame at its annual awards ceremony on May 3 in Salisbury, N.C.Along with Madden and Gammons, Jim Nantz of CBS Sports will be honored for the fifth time as National Sportscaster of the Year, and Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe will be honored for the fourth time as National Sportswriter of the Year.Dave Goren, NSSA executive director and former State Sportscaster of the Year for North Carolina, said, &ldquo;You couldn&rsquo;t ask for two better hall-of-famers. John Madden re-defined the role of TV football analyst with his simple, conversational approach. And as a Boston Globe reader growing up, I&rsquo;ve been reading Gammons for years. He and Bob Ryan are two of the reasons I went into a sports journalism career.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re thrilled to have Jim Nantz and Ryan as our national winners for the third straight year,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Jim is as talented and smooth a play-by-play man as there is, and Bob has a knack for selling his opinions by painting a perfect picture. Even better, they are both classy men who love NSSA.&rdquo;Madden&rsquo;s career as an NFL coach included a Super Bowl win and a regular-season record of 103-32-7, and provided the impetus for a 30-year television career as football analyst for CBS, Fox, ABC and ESPN. He won 13 Emmy awards for outstanding sports personality/analyst during that stretch, and was named NSSA Sportscaster of the Year in 1984.Madden is also revered by a generation of video gamers for the wildly successful game series Madden NFL. He retired in 2009.Gammons&rsquo; Sunday Notes baseball column for the Globe set a new standard for baseball coverage. He followed the Boston stint with a career at Sports Illustrated and joined ESPN in 1988 as an in-studio analyst, in addition to writing for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. Gammons can now be seen on the New England Sports Network and the MLB Network, in addition to writing for MLB.com and other online entities.&ldquo;The first 40 years of my career I only had three employers &mdash; the Boston Globe, Sports Illustrated and ESPN,&rdquo; Gammons said. &ldquo;Now I have five at the same time, and I&rsquo;m grateful for every one of them.&rdquo;Gammons and Ryan both started as interns at the Boston Globe on June 10, 1968. Gammons, who graduated a year later from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said he still refers to himself &ldquo;as an ink-stained wretch,&rdquo; although he admitted he does more television than writing at this point.&ldquo;A lot of things have become Internet-oriented,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everything changes constantly, but it&rsquo;s still about reporting the news.&rdquo;&ldquo;We had no idea of the paths we would wind up taking,&rdquo; Ryan said, &ldquo;because the things we would end up doing weren&rsquo;t even available to us when we started.&ldquo;No one thought about the crossover business of TV, or had any idea [sports writing] would lead us all over the world. All I cared about was writing and covering the games.&rdquo;Ryan has spent his career at the Boston Globe, covering the Boston Celtics for 15 years before branching out to become a general columnist. He also appears frequently on ESPN&rsquo;s &ldquo;The Sports Reporters&rdquo; and other TV and radio shows.Ryan said his &ldquo;so-called reputation&rdquo; was based on his association with the Boston Celtics, but he admitted that baseball was actually his first love. He regrets he was &ldquo;never able to slip away to the College World Series&rdquo; because it conflicted with the NBA playoffs. But in general, Ryan said, he had few regrets about the direction his career had taken.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still associated with the Celtics and I&rsquo;m very proud of it,&rdquo; Ryan said. &ldquo;Basketball has been very, very good to me.&rdquo;Nantz started at CBS in 1985 and has become the network&rsquo;s lead play-by-play announcer for golf, the NFL and college basketball.&ldquo;This is what I wanted to do even as a young boy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now I look at the talent that&rsquo;s in that room every year &mdash; the state winners and the national winners and the hall-of-famers &mdash; and it just amazes me to be part of it.&rdquo;Nantz said his &ldquo;biggest thrill&rdquo; this year will be in the person of &ldquo;one of his boyhood heroes&rdquo; who will be presenting his award. &ldquo;I got Arnold Palmer,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was too timid to ask him to fly any more than he has to, but then I decided I&rsquo;d never be able to live with myself if I didn&rsquo;t ask him to come.&rdquo;In addition to the national winners, the NSSA will honor 106 recipients of the State Sportscaster and Sportswriter of the Year awards.]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Tom Gilbert</name>
      <uri>http://www.tvweek.com/</uri>
   </author>
   
      <category term="Broadcast" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
      <category term="Cable" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
      <category term="Digital" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
   
   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[By Jarre FeesSeeking to honor the best sports journalists in the nation, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association will induct football&rsquo;s John Madden and baseball&rsquo;s Peter Gammons into the NSSA Hall of Fame at its annual awards ceremony on May 3 in Salisbury, N.C.Along with Madden and Gammons, Jim Nantz of CBS Sports will be honored for the fifth time as National Sportscaster of the Year, and Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe will be honored for the fourth time as National Sportswriter of the Year.Dave Goren, NSSA executive director and former State Sportscaster of the Year for North Carolina, said, &ldquo;You couldn&rsquo;t ask for two better hall-of-famers. John Madden re-defined the role of TV football analyst with his simple, conversational approach. And as a Boston Globe reader growing up, I&rsquo;ve been reading Gammons for years. He and Bob Ryan are two of the reasons I went into a sports journalism career.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re thrilled to have Jim Nantz and Ryan as our national winners for the third straight year,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Jim is as talented and smooth a play-by-play man as there is, and Bob has a knack for selling his opinions by painting a perfect picture. Even better, they are both classy men who love NSSA.&rdquo;Madden&rsquo;s career as an NFL coach included a Super Bowl win and a regular-season record of 103-32-7, and provided the impetus for a 30-year television career as football analyst for CBS, Fox, ABC and ESPN. He won 13 Emmy awards for outstanding sports personality/analyst during that stretch, and was named NSSA Sportscaster of the Year in 1984.Madden is also revered by a generation of video gamers for the wildly successful game series Madden NFL. He retired in 2009.Gammons&rsquo; Sunday Notes baseball column for the Globe set a new standard for baseball coverage. He followed the Boston stint with a career at Sports Illustrated and joined ESPN in 1988 as an in-studio analyst, in addition to writing for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. Gammons can now be seen on the New England Sports Network and the MLB Network, in addition to writing for MLB.com and other online entities.&ldquo;The first 40 years of my career I only had three employers &mdash; the Boston Globe, Sports Illustrated and ESPN,&rdquo; Gammons said. &ldquo;Now I have five at the same time, and I&rsquo;m grateful for every one of them.&rdquo;Gammons and Ryan both started as interns at the Boston Globe on June 10, 1968. Gammons, who graduated a year later from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said he still refers to himself &ldquo;as an ink-stained wretch,&rdquo; although he admitted he does more television than writing at this point.&ldquo;A lot of things have become Internet-oriented,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everything changes constantly, but it&rsquo;s still about reporting the news.&rdquo;&ldquo;We had no idea of the paths we would wind up taking,&rdquo; Ryan said, &ldquo;because the things we would end up doing weren&rsquo;t even available to us when we started.&ldquo;No one thought about the crossover business of TV, or had any idea [sports writing] would lead us all over the world. All I cared about was writing and covering the games.&rdquo;Ryan has spent his career at the Boston Globe, covering the Boston Celtics for 15 years before branching out to become a general columnist. He also appears frequently on ESPN&rsquo;s &ldquo;The Sports Reporters&rdquo; and other TV and radio shows.Ryan said his &ldquo;so-called reputation&rdquo; was based on his association with the Boston Celtics, but he admitted that baseball was actually his first love. He regrets he was &ldquo;never able to slip away to the College World Series&rdquo; because it conflicted with the NBA playoffs. But in general, Ryan said, he had few regrets about the direction his career had taken.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m still associated with the Celtics and I&rsquo;m very proud of it,&rdquo; Ryan said. &ldquo;Basketball has been very, very good to me.&rdquo;Nantz started at CBS in 1985 and has become the network&rsquo;s lead play-by-play announcer for golf, the NFL and college basketball.&ldquo;This is what I wanted to do even as a young boy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now I look at the talent that&rsquo;s in that room every year &mdash; the state winners and the national winners and the hall-of-famers &mdash; and it just amazes me to be part of it.&rdquo;Nantz said his &ldquo;biggest thrill&rdquo; this year will be in the person of &ldquo;one of his boyhood heroes&rdquo; who will be presenting his award. &ldquo;I got Arnold Palmer,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was too timid to ask him to fly any more than he has to, but then I decided I&rsquo;d never be able to live with myself if I didn&rsquo;t ask him to come.&rdquo;In addition to the national winners, the NSSA will honor 106 recipients of the State Sportscaster and Sportswriter of the Year awards.]]>
   </content>
</entry>

<entry>
   <title>Salisbury, N.C.: Why Sports Journalists Return Year After Year</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/04/salisbury_nc_why_sports_journa.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.41555</id>
   
   <published>2010-04-28T21:47:54Z</published>
   <updated>2010-04-28T21:50:41Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[By Jarre FeesBack in 1957, a Salisbury, N.C., restaurateur Pete DiMizio had the idea to honor regional sportscasters and sportswriters whom he had met at the Greensboro (N.C.) Open Golf Tournament. Following DiMizio&rsquo;s untimely death in 1959, Dr. Edward McKenzie, another Salisbury resident, helped realize DiMizio&rsquo;s ambition by bringing in other locals to form the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters.The first NSSA awards program was held in Salisbury on April 12, 1960, and the five-decade affiliation between the organization and the town was off and running.Today, the City of Salisbury has around 30,000 people, which would qualify it as a town in most other states. But in addition to hosting the NSSA Awards and Hall of Fame every year, Salisbury boasts a fair number of big-city attractions.&ldquo;Until recently, we were the smallest city in the nation with its own symphony,&rdquo; said Mayor Susan Kluttz. &ldquo;We also have a blues and jazz festival, and a beautiful downtown that still had to be reinvented in the 1980s when downtowns started to die.&rdquo;Salisbury is 254 years old, Kluttz said, and the community is &ldquo;a leader in historic preservation. In the 1970s we started preserving our older buildings.&rdquo; In fact, several Salisbury neighborhoods were included in the March issue of This Old House Magazine&rsquo;s &ldquo;51 Best Old House Neighborhoods.&rdquo;&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a core group of people here who pour their hearts and souls into honoring these sportswriters,&rdquo; said NSSA executive director Dave Goren. &ldquo;They picked up a torch that needed to be carried.&rdquo;Former organizer Barbara Lockert, who last year handed the reins of the NSSA awards weekend to her daughter Cassandra Barrier after &ldquo;years of being chief cook and bottle-washer,&rdquo; said she started volunteering for the NSSA awards weekend in 1972. &ldquo;Once you start volunteering, it takes up all your time,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;so finally they hired me.&ldquo;Salisbury&rsquo;s not glitzy, but we&rsquo;re genuine,&rdquo; Lockert said. &ldquo;People have wanted to take it to Vegas or Orlando or New York City. But the NSSA people who come in, they love it like it is. They don&rsquo;t have to put on a tux. People come here and they know we like them. We make them feel welcomed.&rdquo;The NSSA turns 51 this year, but some of the connections between sportscasters and citizens go back even further.Jim Nantz, NSSA&rsquo;s National Sportscaster of the Year, said his grandfather ran the train depot in the nearby town of Spencer in the early 20th Century.&ldquo;Several years ago my uncle Mark came to the NSSA ceremony with me,&rdquo; he said, and we spent the day retracing my grandfather&rsquo;s steps.&rdquo;They found the house his grandfather had lived in, and discovered his grandfather had bought the house from a doctor who was headed to Texas to help with &ldquo;a typhus epidemic in El Paso.&rdquo; &ldquo;The real estate records showed my father bought the house for $1,400 somewhere around 1912,&rdquo; said Mark Nantz, Jim Nantz&rsquo;s uncle, who lives in Atlanta. &ldquo;He paid $140 down and took a loan at 6 percent interest.&ldquo;But the amazing thing we discovered was he bought the house from a Dr. Kluttz, whose grandson is now a judge who&rsquo;s married to the mayor.&rdquo;&ldquo;Here you have these events that take you all over the world,&rdquo; Jim Nantz said, &ldquo;and then the NSSA ceremony takes place two miles from where my grandfather ran the train station.&rdquo;Dr. Kluttz died while treating patients in the Texas epidemic, and his wife returned with their children to Salisbury. &ldquo;It was a fateful transaction between two families,&rdquo; Jim Nantz said, &ldquo;and then here I am getting an award in Salisbury and Mayor Kluttz is speaking at the opening ceremony. It&rsquo;s like everything coming full circle.&rdquo;]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Tom Gilbert</name>
      <uri>http://www.tvweek.com/</uri>
   </author>
   
      <category term="Broadcast" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
      <category term="Cable" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
   
   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[By Jarre FeesBack in 1957, a Salisbury, N.C., restaurateur Pete DiMizio had the idea to honor regional sportscasters and sportswriters whom he had met at the Greensboro (N.C.) Open Golf Tournament. Following DiMizio&rsquo;s untimely death in 1959, Dr. Edward McKenzie, another Salisbury resident, helped realize DiMizio&rsquo;s ambition by bringing in other locals to form the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters.The first NSSA awards program was held in Salisbury on April 12, 1960, and the five-decade affiliation between the organization and the town was off and running.Today, the City of Salisbury has around 30,000 people, which would qualify it as a town in most other states. But in addition to hosting the NSSA Awards and Hall of Fame every year, Salisbury boasts a fair number of big-city attractions.&ldquo;Until recently, we were the smallest city in the nation with its own symphony,&rdquo; said Mayor Susan Kluttz. &ldquo;We also have a blues and jazz festival, and a beautiful downtown that still had to be reinvented in the 1980s when downtowns started to die.&rdquo;Salisbury is 254 years old, Kluttz said, and the community is &ldquo;a leader in historic preservation. In the 1970s we started preserving our older buildings.&rdquo; In fact, several Salisbury neighborhoods were included in the March issue of This Old House Magazine&rsquo;s &ldquo;51 Best Old House Neighborhoods.&rdquo;&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a core group of people here who pour their hearts and souls into honoring these sportswriters,&rdquo; said NSSA executive director Dave Goren. &ldquo;They picked up a torch that needed to be carried.&rdquo;Former organizer Barbara Lockert, who last year handed the reins of the NSSA awards weekend to her daughter Cassandra Barrier after &ldquo;years of being chief cook and bottle-washer,&rdquo; said she started volunteering for the NSSA awards weekend in 1972. &ldquo;Once you start volunteering, it takes up all your time,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;so finally they hired me.&ldquo;Salisbury&rsquo;s not glitzy, but we&rsquo;re genuine,&rdquo; Lockert said. &ldquo;People have wanted to take it to Vegas or Orlando or New York City. But the NSSA people who come in, they love it like it is. They don&rsquo;t have to put on a tux. People come here and they know we like them. We make them feel welcomed.&rdquo;The NSSA turns 51 this year, but some of the connections between sportscasters and citizens go back even further.Jim Nantz, NSSA&rsquo;s National Sportscaster of the Year, said his grandfather ran the train depot in the nearby town of Spencer in the early 20th Century.&ldquo;Several years ago my uncle Mark came to the NSSA ceremony with me,&rdquo; he said, and we spent the day retracing my grandfather&rsquo;s steps.&rdquo;They found the house his grandfather had lived in, and discovered his grandfather had bought the house from a doctor who was headed to Texas to help with &ldquo;a typhus epidemic in El Paso.&rdquo; &ldquo;The real estate records showed my father bought the house for $1,400 somewhere around 1912,&rdquo; said Mark Nantz, Jim Nantz&rsquo;s uncle, who lives in Atlanta. &ldquo;He paid $140 down and took a loan at 6 percent interest.&ldquo;But the amazing thing we discovered was he bought the house from a Dr. Kluttz, whose grandson is now a judge who&rsquo;s married to the mayor.&rdquo;&ldquo;Here you have these events that take you all over the world,&rdquo; Jim Nantz said, &ldquo;and then the NSSA ceremony takes place two miles from where my grandfather ran the train station.&rdquo;Dr. Kluttz died while treating patients in the Texas epidemic, and his wife returned with their children to Salisbury. &ldquo;It was a fateful transaction between two families,&rdquo; Jim Nantz said, &ldquo;and then here I am getting an award in Salisbury and Mayor Kluttz is speaking at the opening ceremony. It&rsquo;s like everything coming full circle.&rdquo;]]>
   </content>
</entry>

<entry>
   <title>Philly's WTXF Adds Fans to the Mix</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/04/phillys_wtxf_adds_fans_to_the.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.41554</id>
   
   <published>2010-04-28T21:44:25Z</published>
   <updated>2010-04-28T21:46:45Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[By Hillary AtkinPhiladelphia is known as the City of Brotherly Love, and it&rsquo;s also home to countless numbers of fans who love their local sports teams, like the champion Eagles and Phillies &mdash; who have been on top of their respective professional sports leagues in recent years &mdash;and the NHL&rsquo;s Philadelphia Flyers and the NBA&rsquo;s Sixers.Given the extremely knowledgeable and passionate fan base, WTXF-TV Fox 29 decided to try something new in how it presented sports to its audience. The concept has similarities to sports talk radio, going beyond highlights, scores and post-game interviews to give the audience insight and analysis on the biggest sports stories of the day. The challenge was to embrace a fundamental change and find the right mix while incorporating traditional sports coverage.&ldquo;We wanted to cover sports from a fan perspective; what they&rsquo;re talking about at work, at the game, at a bar, or texting their friends,&rdquo; said WTXF VP and general manager Patrick Paolini. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s our approach &mdash; the story behind the story. We&rsquo;re committed to sports, especially in a city like Philadelphia, and we think local sports is an important part of news coverage.&rdquo;Adding to the expertise provided by its sports director and anchor Tom Sredenschek and anchor-reporters Joe Staszak and John Anderson, the station regularly uses contributors from print, the Internet and radio, including sports radio hosts Anthony Gargano and Mike Missanelli.Viewers get in-depth analysis, different perspectives, and the larger context of what sports stories mean to the market. Recent hot topics included the controversial trading of quarterback Donovan McNabb to the archrival Washington Redskins, ending an era that put the Eagles in five NFC title games and one Super Bowl.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll look at who&rsquo;s making decisions,&rdquo; said Paolini. &ldquo;Was the coach behind it as well as the front office? We try to dig beneath the surface when it comes to local sports.&rdquo;Depending on the story, from Tiger Woods returning to golf in the wake of his sex scandal to the strength of the Phillies&rsquo; pitching lineup, the station brings in contributors for their specific proficiency on those topics. Rather than simply reporting the news, they present different viewpoints on subjects that people are going to be talking about that day &mdash; and fans can make their own decisions, or point to something they heard on the station.In discussing Ben Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback who is alleged to have raped a 20-year-old college student, the station looked at whether race was playing a factor in his case &mdash; a subject not many sports departments talk about on the air.&ldquo;This all started with me reiterating our commitment to sports,&rdquo; said Kingsley Smith, VP and news director. &ldquo;I recognize passionate sports fans in Philadelphia. They have opinions and they&rsquo;re smart. We have to create content in such a way that satisfies the smart, savvy sports fan. We started looking at what was being done, and asking whether we were doing enough to engage the audience. With so much information available, you have to provide something different, engaging and interesting. So much of what was being done sports-wise was predictable and not interesting. In a market like this, fans appreciate good work.&rdquo;The station broadcasts Phillies and Eagles games through Fox Sports, and airs 46.5 hours of news per week.]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Tom Gilbert</name>
      <uri>http://www.tvweek.com/</uri>
   </author>
   
      <category term="Broadcast" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
   
   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[By Hillary AtkinPhiladelphia is known as the City of Brotherly Love, and it&rsquo;s also home to countless numbers of fans who love their local sports teams, like the champion Eagles and Phillies &mdash; who have been on top of their respective professional sports leagues in recent years &mdash;and the NHL&rsquo;s Philadelphia Flyers and the NBA&rsquo;s Sixers.Given the extremely knowledgeable and passionate fan base, WTXF-TV Fox 29 decided to try something new in how it presented sports to its audience. The concept has similarities to sports talk radio, going beyond highlights, scores and post-game interviews to give the audience insight and analysis on the biggest sports stories of the day. The challenge was to embrace a fundamental change and find the right mix while incorporating traditional sports coverage.&ldquo;We wanted to cover sports from a fan perspective; what they&rsquo;re talking about at work, at the game, at a bar, or texting their friends,&rdquo; said WTXF VP and general manager Patrick Paolini. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s our approach &mdash; the story behind the story. We&rsquo;re committed to sports, especially in a city like Philadelphia, and we think local sports is an important part of news coverage.&rdquo;Adding to the expertise provided by its sports director and anchor Tom Sredenschek and anchor-reporters Joe Staszak and John Anderson, the station regularly uses contributors from print, the Internet and radio, including sports radio hosts Anthony Gargano and Mike Missanelli.Viewers get in-depth analysis, different perspectives, and the larger context of what sports stories mean to the market. Recent hot topics included the controversial trading of quarterback Donovan McNabb to the archrival Washington Redskins, ending an era that put the Eagles in five NFC title games and one Super Bowl.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll look at who&rsquo;s making decisions,&rdquo; said Paolini. &ldquo;Was the coach behind it as well as the front office? We try to dig beneath the surface when it comes to local sports.&rdquo;Depending on the story, from Tiger Woods returning to golf in the wake of his sex scandal to the strength of the Phillies&rsquo; pitching lineup, the station brings in contributors for their specific proficiency on those topics. Rather than simply reporting the news, they present different viewpoints on subjects that people are going to be talking about that day &mdash; and fans can make their own decisions, or point to something they heard on the station.In discussing Ben Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback who is alleged to have raped a 20-year-old college student, the station looked at whether race was playing a factor in his case &mdash; a subject not many sports departments talk about on the air.&ldquo;This all started with me reiterating our commitment to sports,&rdquo; said Kingsley Smith, VP and news director. &ldquo;I recognize passionate sports fans in Philadelphia. They have opinions and they&rsquo;re smart. We have to create content in such a way that satisfies the smart, savvy sports fan. We started looking at what was being done, and asking whether we were doing enough to engage the audience. With so much information available, you have to provide something different, engaging and interesting. So much of what was being done sports-wise was predictable and not interesting. In a market like this, fans appreciate good work.&rdquo;The station broadcasts Phillies and Eagles games through Fox Sports, and airs 46.5 hours of news per week.]]>
   </content>
</entry>

<entry>
   <title>Mary Carillo: A Jump to the Nets</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/04/mary_carillo_a_jump_to_the_net.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.41552</id>
   
   <published>2010-04-28T21:38:26Z</published>
   <updated>2010-04-28T21:40:12Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[By Hillary AtkinSportscaster Mary Carillo knows her way around a field, a gymnasium, an Olympic mountaintop &mdash; and most definitely, a tennis court. The versatile broadcaster played on the professional women&rsquo;s tennis circuit from 1977-80, even winning the French Open mixed doubles title with longtime pal John McEnroe, before she traded in her tennis racquet for a microphone. Now, she&rsquo;s often paired with the former bad boy of tennis in the broadcast booth.In the past three decades, after starting her career at USA Network, she&rsquo;s had award-winning stints as a commentator, reporter and host across the dial &mdash; from HBO to PBS, CBS, NBC and ESPN.But perhaps there&rsquo;s been nothing as satisfying as the job she completed in February as host of &ldquo;Late Night at the Olympics&rdquo; on NBC, the nightly wrap-up of all the competition and the biggest stories at the Vancouver Winter Games. Adding to the excitement was the novelty of having a moose in the studio, which became a de facto mascot for the NBC team.Carillo has covered seven Winter Olympics and two Summer Olympic Games, the first in Albertville, France, in 1992 for CBS.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had some remarkable experiences,&rdquo; Carillo said. &ldquo;I have a great affinity for winter sports. Tennis is pretty straightforward. But winter sports are so dangerous and crazy and take you to beautiful mountain villages throughout the world.&rdquo;In Canada, she covered everything from the tragic luge track death that marred the opening of the games to the grand finale, which saw the host country joyfully winning the gold medal for hockey. The Western time zone worked in the broadcast&rsquo;s favor, especially compared with doing the late show from Beijing in the summer of 2008 at 1 p.m. local time.&ldquo;The good part was we were abler to react to what had just happened,&rdquo; Carrillo said. &ldquo;As soon as we were off live air, they would package things for the late show. Anyone who missed prime time got a nice feel. I thought my assignment was pretty easy, because the stuff we were given was so strong.&rdquo;As a former professional tennis player, Carillo is a frequent presence behind the mic on the Grand Slam tour and is currently working on four features for the upcoming French Open for ESPN. She&rsquo;s been covering the sport for 30 years.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen everyone. It&rsquo;s been a remarkable time in the sport,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;The game used to be played with wooden racquets on grass. It&rsquo;s so different and there are so many different styles of player. The racquets are much more powerful and produce so much more spin. It&rsquo;s been a tremendous time in the evolution of tennis to cover it.&rdquo;Much as a player has to adapt to conditions, Carillo must adjust her style accordingly for each network.&ldquo;The coverage is different, with different producers and directors. There is a different sound at every network,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;At CBS, less is more, while at ESPN there is a lot of talking with a lot of announcers. They like a lot of people to have a discussion on one topic or one match. Given a choice between quieter and noisier, I like quieter. My personal choice is to set people up.Something extraordinary has to be happening for me to talk at the end of a match. You want the viewer to see it unfold.&rdquo;Carillo initially transitioned from being a player to covering sports when she was asked to do pickup commentary when she was sidelined with injuries. That led to requests to cover women&rsquo;s and then men&rsquo;s tennis &mdash; and then a host of other sports.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve covered events as a reporter, studio host, done features &mdash; they kind of throw me around and I get to experience events around the country and the world &mdash; that&rsquo;s a great gig,&rdquo; she said.]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Tom Gilbert</name>
      <uri>http://www.tvweek.com/</uri>
   </author>
   
      <category term="Broadcast" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
      <category term="Cable" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
   
   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[By Hillary AtkinSportscaster Mary Carillo knows her way around a field, a gymnasium, an Olympic mountaintop &mdash; and most definitely, a tennis court. The versatile broadcaster played on the professional women&rsquo;s tennis circuit from 1977-80, even winning the French Open mixed doubles title with longtime pal John McEnroe, before she traded in her tennis racquet for a microphone. Now, she&rsquo;s often paired with the former bad boy of tennis in the broadcast booth.In the past three decades, after starting her career at USA Network, she&rsquo;s had award-winning stints as a commentator, reporter and host across the dial &mdash; from HBO to PBS, CBS, NBC and ESPN.But perhaps there&rsquo;s been nothing as satisfying as the job she completed in February as host of &ldquo;Late Night at the Olympics&rdquo; on NBC, the nightly wrap-up of all the competition and the biggest stories at the Vancouver Winter Games. Adding to the excitement was the novelty of having a moose in the studio, which became a de facto mascot for the NBC team.Carillo has covered seven Winter Olympics and two Summer Olympic Games, the first in Albertville, France, in 1992 for CBS.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had some remarkable experiences,&rdquo; Carillo said. &ldquo;I have a great affinity for winter sports. Tennis is pretty straightforward. But winter sports are so dangerous and crazy and take you to beautiful mountain villages throughout the world.&rdquo;In Canada, she covered everything from the tragic luge track death that marred the opening of the games to the grand finale, which saw the host country joyfully winning the gold medal for hockey. The Western time zone worked in the broadcast&rsquo;s favor, especially compared with doing the late show from Beijing in the summer of 2008 at 1 p.m. local time.&ldquo;The good part was we were abler to react to what had just happened,&rdquo; Carrillo said. &ldquo;As soon as we were off live air, they would package things for the late show. Anyone who missed prime time got a nice feel. I thought my assignment was pretty easy, because the stuff we were given was so strong.&rdquo;As a former professional tennis player, Carillo is a frequent presence behind the mic on the Grand Slam tour and is currently working on four features for the upcoming French Open for ESPN. She&rsquo;s been covering the sport for 30 years.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen everyone. It&rsquo;s been a remarkable time in the sport,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;The game used to be played with wooden racquets on grass. It&rsquo;s so different and there are so many different styles of player. The racquets are much more powerful and produce so much more spin. It&rsquo;s been a tremendous time in the evolution of tennis to cover it.&rdquo;Much as a player has to adapt to conditions, Carillo must adjust her style accordingly for each network.&ldquo;The coverage is different, with different producers and directors. There is a different sound at every network,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;At CBS, less is more, while at ESPN there is a lot of talking with a lot of announcers. They like a lot of people to have a discussion on one topic or one match. Given a choice between quieter and noisier, I like quieter. My personal choice is to set people up.Something extraordinary has to be happening for me to talk at the end of a match. You want the viewer to see it unfold.&rdquo;Carillo initially transitioned from being a player to covering sports when she was asked to do pickup commentary when she was sidelined with injuries. That led to requests to cover women&rsquo;s and then men&rsquo;s tennis &mdash; and then a host of other sports.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve covered events as a reporter, studio host, done features &mdash; they kind of throw me around and I get to experience events around the country and the world &mdash; that&rsquo;s a great gig,&rdquo; she said.]]>
   </content>
</entry>

<entry>
   <title>NBC Sports Will Give Comcast a Needed Broadcast Edge</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/04/comcasts_acquisition_of_nbc_sp.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.41551</id>
   
   <published>2010-04-28T21:32:23Z</published>
   <updated>2010-04-28T21:38:03Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[By Jon LafayetteThe sports world will be lining up against a new giant when Comcast&rsquo;s $30 billion acquisition of NBC Universal finally pushes into the end zone.Like Walt Disney Co., which owns 80 percent of ESPN, a leader in cable and online sports, as well as a broadcast network in ABC, Comcast will boast a formidable roster of broadcast, cable and online properties.That muscle should mean that Comcast, which tried and failed to land an NFL package five years ago, now will have the count more in its favor when it comes to bidding for the most prominent and prestigious sports properties.&ldquo;Comcast will likely downplay the impact of the combining of the sports business because they don&rsquo;t want to make it seem as though they&rsquo;re going to be in control of so many assets,&rdquo; said Thomas Eagan, analyst at investment company Collins Stewart.At first it will be a reverse image of Disney. &ldquo;More strong in broadcast than strong in cable,&rdquo; Eagan said. But Comcast&rsquo;s new brawn in broadcast with NBC &ldquo;will help them in terms of being able to get eyeballs. In the broadcast business today it&rsquo;s about getting eyeballs that are real-time eyeballs.&rdquo;Comcast tried to acquire Disney &mdash; and with it ESPN &mdash; in 2004. Now no company puts more money into ESPN&rsquo;s coffers than Comcast. SNL Kagan estimates Comcast pays $5.8 billion a year to carry ESPN&rsquo;s domestic networks.Like a golf score, Comcast would love to see that number come down.By taking properties away from ESPN, Comcast would be building its own business while at the same time intercepting rationales ESPN could use to justify more increases in the subscriber fee it charges cable operators.&ldquo;Comcast probably at some point would like to at least hold down future payments, maybe even seek a reduction. One way to do that is to render ESPN not quite as exciting a network as it is today,&rdquo; said Neal Pilson, former CBS Sports president and now chief of Pilson Communications, a consultancy specializing in sports and media. &ldquo;And the way to do that is to take some of the sports properties that have up till now been controlled by ESPN and perhaps taking them on yourself.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not going to happen overnight, but over the long term, I&rsquo;m sure Comcast would like nothing more than to be able to turn [its national cable sports network] Versus into a viable competitor to ESPN, which would give it at least some negotiating leverage,&rdquo; said Derek Baine, senior analyst at SNL Kagan.&ldquo;ESPN has this love-hate relationship with cable operators. It&rsquo;s a must-have, but every time the negotiations come up, they&rsquo;re just horrendous,&rdquo; Baine said.Comcast declined to comment. Executives there are discouraged from talking about their plans for NBC Universal while the merger awaits government approval.Last month, the Federal Communications Commission extended its review of the deal for as much as six weeks, giving Comcast time to prepare two reports on whether the combination is in the public interest. The deadline for comments on the deal will be a month after the reports are filed.ESPN executives, while noting they&rsquo;ve always operated in a very competitive environment, also declined to comment.All by itself, NBC is a powerful player in sports. Among the events NBC telecasts are the NFL on Sunday nights, the Olympics on broadcast and cable, the NHL and the Stanley Cup Finals, Notre Dame football, Wimbledon and some top professional golf tournaments.Comcast airs the NHL, the Tour de France and professional bull riding on Versus. It also owns the Golf Channel and array of regional sports networks. After a long feud, Comcast finally reached a deal with the NFL to provide wide distribution of the NFL Network on its cable systems. With NBC on board, Comcast becomes an important media partner with the league.Baine said that Versus has been an underperformer for Comcast, and the merger could help shore it up.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve just had all of these problems getting carriage, and the ratings have not been good and the programming is not that great. There are big synergies in being able to take existing sports rights like that and slam them in there,&rdquo; he said.Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports, appears likely to be put in charge of the combined companies&rsquo; sports assets, according to Pilson.Jeff Shell, president of Comcast Programming Group, has been leading Comcast&rsquo;s push into sports.Having Comcast in his corner might give Ebersol more latitude in pursuing big-ticket items.&ldquo;I think the next Olympic negotiations are going to be an example of where NBC is a stronger contender for rights with Comcast that it would have been with GE, which is much more concerned about the P&amp;L of the games themselves, even though the games have tremendous supplemental value or ancillary value that no one ever seems to account for,&rdquo; Pilson said.The NCAA&rsquo;s decision last month to award rights to its annual men&rsquo;s basketball tournament to CBS and Turner Sports for $10.8 billion over 14 years shows the power of combining the reach of broadcast and business model of cable for major sports properties. CBS also puts tourney games online with March Madness on Demand.Turner expects to be able to recoup some of its new March Madness costs by raising subscriber fees it charges operators, led by Comcast.As rights fees go up, televising sports becomes a tougher business on which to make a profit.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing written in the constitution of the United States that says every sports event, or even the sports network has to be profitable,&rdquo; Pilson said.&ldquo;The fact is that sports is clearly an enormous platform for launching and sustaining your entertainment and news programming. The most recent example was that NBC used the Olympics, basically, to restart its entire prime-time schedule.&rdquo;And where does that leave ESPN?&ldquo;They can decide strategically what&rsquo;s important to them and what isn&rsquo;t, which they&rsquo;re in the process of doing right now,&rdquo; said Pilson.He said ESPN advised the Atlantic Coast Conference that they&rsquo;re not prepared to bid up to levels it pays for the Southeastern Conference for college sports It also apparently decided not to bid as much as CBS and Turner did to secure the NCAA basketball tournament.ESPN is a smart well-managed company. I&rsquo;m sure they can deal with some added competition,&rdquo; Pilson said.]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Tom Gilbert</name>
      <uri>http://www.tvweek.com/</uri>
   </author>
   
      <category term="Broadcast" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
      <category term="Cable" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
      <category term="Digital" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
   
   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[By Jon LafayetteThe sports world will be lining up against a new giant when Comcast&rsquo;s $30 billion acquisition of NBC Universal finally pushes into the end zone.Like Walt Disney Co., which owns 80 percent of ESPN, a leader in cable and online sports, as well as a broadcast network in ABC, Comcast will boast a formidable roster of broadcast, cable and online properties.That muscle should mean that Comcast, which tried and failed to land an NFL package five years ago, now will have the count more in its favor when it comes to bidding for the most prominent and prestigious sports properties.&ldquo;Comcast will likely downplay the impact of the combining of the sports business because they don&rsquo;t want to make it seem as though they&rsquo;re going to be in control of so many assets,&rdquo; said Thomas Eagan, analyst at investment company Collins Stewart.At first it will be a reverse image of Disney. &ldquo;More strong in broadcast than strong in cable,&rdquo; Eagan said. But Comcast&rsquo;s new brawn in broadcast with NBC &ldquo;will help them in terms of being able to get eyeballs. In the broadcast business today it&rsquo;s about getting eyeballs that are real-time eyeballs.&rdquo;Comcast tried to acquire Disney &mdash; and with it ESPN &mdash; in 2004. Now no company puts more money into ESPN&rsquo;s coffers than Comcast. SNL Kagan estimates Comcast pays $5.8 billion a year to carry ESPN&rsquo;s domestic networks.Like a golf score, Comcast would love to see that number come down.By taking properties away from ESPN, Comcast would be building its own business while at the same time intercepting rationales ESPN could use to justify more increases in the subscriber fee it charges cable operators.&ldquo;Comcast probably at some point would like to at least hold down future payments, maybe even seek a reduction. One way to do that is to render ESPN not quite as exciting a network as it is today,&rdquo; said Neal Pilson, former CBS Sports president and now chief of Pilson Communications, a consultancy specializing in sports and media. &ldquo;And the way to do that is to take some of the sports properties that have up till now been controlled by ESPN and perhaps taking them on yourself.&rdquo;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not going to happen overnight, but over the long term, I&rsquo;m sure Comcast would like nothing more than to be able to turn [its national cable sports network] Versus into a viable competitor to ESPN, which would give it at least some negotiating leverage,&rdquo; said Derek Baine, senior analyst at SNL Kagan.&ldquo;ESPN has this love-hate relationship with cable operators. It&rsquo;s a must-have, but every time the negotiations come up, they&rsquo;re just horrendous,&rdquo; Baine said.Comcast declined to comment. Executives there are discouraged from talking about their plans for NBC Universal while the merger awaits government approval.Last month, the Federal Communications Commission extended its review of the deal for as much as six weeks, giving Comcast time to prepare two reports on whether the combination is in the public interest. The deadline for comments on the deal will be a month after the reports are filed.ESPN executives, while noting they&rsquo;ve always operated in a very competitive environment, also declined to comment.All by itself, NBC is a powerful player in sports. Among the events NBC telecasts are the NFL on Sunday nights, the Olympics on broadcast and cable, the NHL and the Stanley Cup Finals, Notre Dame football, Wimbledon and some top professional golf tournaments.Comcast airs the NHL, the Tour de France and professional bull riding on Versus. It also owns the Golf Channel and array of regional sports networks. After a long feud, Comcast finally reached a deal with the NFL to provide wide distribution of the NFL Network on its cable systems. With NBC on board, Comcast becomes an important media partner with the league.Baine said that Versus has been an underperformer for Comcast, and the merger could help shore it up.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve just had all of these problems getting carriage, and the ratings have not been good and the programming is not that great. There are big synergies in being able to take existing sports rights like that and slam them in there,&rdquo; he said.Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports, appears likely to be put in charge of the combined companies&rsquo; sports assets, according to Pilson.Jeff Shell, president of Comcast Programming Group, has been leading Comcast&rsquo;s push into sports.Having Comcast in his corner might give Ebersol more latitude in pursuing big-ticket items.&ldquo;I think the next Olympic negotiations are going to be an example of where NBC is a stronger contender for rights with Comcast that it would have been with GE, which is much more concerned about the P&amp;L of the games themselves, even though the games have tremendous supplemental value or ancillary value that no one ever seems to account for,&rdquo; Pilson said.The NCAA&rsquo;s decision last month to award rights to its annual men&rsquo;s basketball tournament to CBS and Turner Sports for $10.8 billion over 14 years shows the power of combining the reach of broadcast and business model of cable for major sports properties. CBS also puts tourney games online with March Madness on Demand.Turner expects to be able to recoup some of its new March Madness costs by raising subscriber fees it charges operators, led by Comcast.As rights fees go up, televising sports becomes a tougher business on which to make a profit.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing written in the constitution of the United States that says every sports event, or even the sports network has to be profitable,&rdquo; Pilson said.&ldquo;The fact is that sports is clearly an enormous platform for launching and sustaining your entertainment and news programming. The most recent example was that NBC used the Olympics, basically, to restart its entire prime-time schedule.&rdquo;And where does that leave ESPN?&ldquo;They can decide strategically what&rsquo;s important to them and what isn&rsquo;t, which they&rsquo;re in the process of doing right now,&rdquo; said Pilson.He said ESPN advised the Atlantic Coast Conference that they&rsquo;re not prepared to bid up to levels it pays for the Southeastern Conference for college sports It also apparently decided not to bid as much as CBS and Turner did to secure the NCAA basketball tournament.ESPN is a smart well-managed company. I&rsquo;m sure they can deal with some added competition,&rdquo; Pilson said.]]>
   </content>
</entry>

<entry>
   <title>Technology: Adding Depth to Sports</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/04/technology_adding_depth_to_spo.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.41550</id>
   
   <published>2010-04-28T21:22:59Z</published>
   <updated>2010-04-28T21:25:42Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[By Debra KaufmanWhen two NHL Hockey teams &mdash; the Rangers and the Islanders &mdash; faced off in Madison Square Garden on March 24, the event made history, and not because of game play.With the production assistance of 3ality Digital Systems, MSG telecast the event in live 3-D to the 2,000-seat Theater at Madison Square Garden, and Cablevision &mdash; which owns Madison Square Garden and the Rangers &mdash; delivered a 3-D feed to its 3 million subscribers.Ready or not, stereoscopic sports are here. &ldquo;April 2010 was historic because seven of the month&rsquo;s first 11 days featured top 3-D events reaching consumers both at home and in theaters,&rdquo; said Sports Video Group editorial director Ken Kerschbaumer. &ldquo;That is an amazing testament to the interest in 3-D and the power of the consumer electronics industry to play a vital role in making these productions happen.&rdquo;Kerschbaumer is referring to CBS Sports&rsquo; April 3 and 5 live 3-D broadcasts of the 2010 NCAA Men&rsquo;s Final Four semifinal and national championship games. Partnered with LG Electronics and Cinedigm, CBS used NEP production trucks and 3-D camera specialist Vince Pace to broadcast the game to 100 U.S. Cinedigm theaters around the country.The Masters golf tournament was also broadcast in live 3-D about two hours a day, via Comcast&rsquo;s dedicated 3-D channel and a technology partnership with Sony and IBM; Comcast is also streaming 3-D to computers via the Masters.com website.And the elephant in the room is Disney&rsquo;s ESPN, which will launch an all 3-D channel and telecast a minimum of 85 live sporting events in its first year, beginning with the June 11 FIFA World Cup match in South Africa.&ldquo;With 3-D you have to convert two streams and make them exactly the same,&rdquo; said ESPN VP of emerging technology Anthony Bailey, who adds that Snell is working with them on the real-time conversion from Europe&rsquo;s 50 frames per second to the U.S.&rsquo;s 60. &ldquo;We feel pretty confident we can do this.&rdquo;ESPN has been working toward 3-D broadcasting for the past three years, recently designating its Orlando, Fla.-based ESPN Innovation Lab at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex as a hub for developing 3-D technology with partner companies. (Currently its only announced partner is Sony.) ESPN producers, directors and freelancers will all receive 3-D training at the lab, including run-throughs of 3-D shows.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s still a big learning process,&rdquo; said Bailey. &ldquo;But I believe we&rsquo;ve gotten to a point where we can produce 3-D day-in an day-out like we do with a 2-D show.&rdquo;ESPN 3D&rsquo;s first production will be the State Farm Home Run Derby on July 12 from Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif. The cablecaster comes to the production with experience gained from a telecast of a Harlem Globetrotters game in February and a 2009 USC vs. Ohio State college football game.&ldquo;We learned quickly that you want to stay on a shot longer, and place the cameras low &mdash; but not as originally low as we thought,&rdquo; said Bailey. &ldquo;We learned the best areas to put the game cameras.&rdquo;Graphics are a particularly challenging arena for everyone in 3-D production. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve toyed with reading the convergence of each camera and setting the graphic perfectly to where the cameras converge,&rdquo; said Bailey. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve experimented with taking graphics out of the 3-D realm and putting them on a big black bar across the bottom. We&rsquo;ll all be pulling our hair out for a few months to a year or two to get this right.&rdquo;Bailey has weekly phone calls with his counterpart at BSkyB in the U.K., which launched Europe&rsquo;s first 3-D channel on April 3 with a live soccer match distributed to &ldquo;pubs and clubs.&rdquo; 3ality Digital sold BSkyB 3-D camera rigs and ancillary gear, as well as provided 3-D training for staffers.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not about the technology any more,&rdquo; said 3ality Digital Systems CEO Steve Schklair, who reports that AMV has just outfitted a mobile production truck with 3ality Digital&rsquo;s 3-D gear. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done enough live events that work almost flawlessly. The challenge &mdash; and the fun &mdash; now is the creative. How do you use this technology to improve storytelling?&rdquo;The challenge is also the economics as sportscasters contemplate the costs of providing a simultaneous 2-D and 3-D broadcast. &ldquo;The ATSC will really have to figure out a way to fast-track the standardization if broadcasters are expected to compete with the likes of ESPN,&rdquo; said Kerschbaumer. &ldquo;DirecTV will be a great partner, giving over-the-air TV networks an outlet to viewers. But is it in the best interest of over-the-air TV stations if they are not required for 3-D to reach consumers?&rdquo;]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Tom Gilbert</name>
      <uri>http://www.tvweek.com/</uri>
   </author>
   
      <category term="Broadcast" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
   
   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[By Debra KaufmanWhen two NHL Hockey teams &mdash; the Rangers and the Islanders &mdash; faced off in Madison Square Garden on March 24, the event made history, and not because of game play.With the production assistance of 3ality Digital Systems, MSG telecast the event in live 3-D to the 2,000-seat Theater at Madison Square Garden, and Cablevision &mdash; which owns Madison Square Garden and the Rangers &mdash; delivered a 3-D feed to its 3 million subscribers.Ready or not, stereoscopic sports are here. &ldquo;April 2010 was historic because seven of the month&rsquo;s first 11 days featured top 3-D events reaching consumers both at home and in theaters,&rdquo; said Sports Video Group editorial director Ken Kerschbaumer. &ldquo;That is an amazing testament to the interest in 3-D and the power of the consumer electronics industry to play a vital role in making these productions happen.&rdquo;Kerschbaumer is referring to CBS Sports&rsquo; April 3 and 5 live 3-D broadcasts of the 2010 NCAA Men&rsquo;s Final Four semifinal and national championship games. Partnered with LG Electronics and Cinedigm, CBS used NEP production trucks and 3-D camera specialist Vince Pace to broadcast the game to 100 U.S. Cinedigm theaters around the country.The Masters golf tournament was also broadcast in live 3-D about two hours a day, via Comcast&rsquo;s dedicated 3-D channel and a technology partnership with Sony and IBM; Comcast is also streaming 3-D to computers via the Masters.com website.And the elephant in the room is Disney&rsquo;s ESPN, which will launch an all 3-D channel and telecast a minimum of 85 live sporting events in its first year, beginning with the June 11 FIFA World Cup match in South Africa.&ldquo;With 3-D you have to convert two streams and make them exactly the same,&rdquo; said ESPN VP of emerging technology Anthony Bailey, who adds that Snell is working with them on the real-time conversion from Europe&rsquo;s 50 frames per second to the U.S.&rsquo;s 60. &ldquo;We feel pretty confident we can do this.&rdquo;ESPN has been working toward 3-D broadcasting for the past three years, recently designating its Orlando, Fla.-based ESPN Innovation Lab at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex as a hub for developing 3-D technology with partner companies. (Currently its only announced partner is Sony.) ESPN producers, directors and freelancers will all receive 3-D training at the lab, including run-throughs of 3-D shows.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s still a big learning process,&rdquo; said Bailey. &ldquo;But I believe we&rsquo;ve gotten to a point where we can produce 3-D day-in an day-out like we do with a 2-D show.&rdquo;ESPN 3D&rsquo;s first production will be the State Farm Home Run Derby on July 12 from Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif. The cablecaster comes to the production with experience gained from a telecast of a Harlem Globetrotters game in February and a 2009 USC vs. Ohio State college football game.&ldquo;We learned quickly that you want to stay on a shot longer, and place the cameras low &mdash; but not as originally low as we thought,&rdquo; said Bailey. &ldquo;We learned the best areas to put the game cameras.&rdquo;Graphics are a particularly challenging arena for everyone in 3-D production. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve toyed with reading the convergence of each camera and setting the graphic perfectly to where the cameras converge,&rdquo; said Bailey. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve experimented with taking graphics out of the 3-D realm and putting them on a big black bar across the bottom. We&rsquo;ll all be pulling our hair out for a few months to a year or two to get this right.&rdquo;Bailey has weekly phone calls with his counterpart at BSkyB in the U.K., which launched Europe&rsquo;s first 3-D channel on April 3 with a live soccer match distributed to &ldquo;pubs and clubs.&rdquo; 3ality Digital sold BSkyB 3-D camera rigs and ancillary gear, as well as provided 3-D training for staffers.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not about the technology any more,&rdquo; said 3ality Digital Systems CEO Steve Schklair, who reports that AMV has just outfitted a mobile production truck with 3ality Digital&rsquo;s 3-D gear. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done enough live events that work almost flawlessly. The challenge &mdash; and the fun &mdash; now is the creative. How do you use this technology to improve storytelling?&rdquo;The challenge is also the economics as sportscasters contemplate the costs of providing a simultaneous 2-D and 3-D broadcast. &ldquo;The ATSC will really have to figure out a way to fast-track the standardization if broadcasters are expected to compete with the likes of ESPN,&rdquo; said Kerschbaumer. &ldquo;DirecTV will be a great partner, giving over-the-air TV networks an outlet to viewers. But is it in the best interest of over-the-air TV stations if they are not required for 3-D to reach consumers?&rdquo;]]>
   </content>
</entry>

<entry>
   <title>Business: Stations Plunge Into Mobile</title>
   <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.tvweek.com/news/2010/04/stations_plunge_into_mobile.php" />
   <id>tag:www.tvweek.com,2010:/news//1.41549</id>
   
   <published>2010-04-28T21:20:04Z</published>
   <updated>2010-04-28T21:22:13Z</updated>
   
   <summary><![CDATA[By Debra KaufmanAt NAB 2010, new president Gordon Smith declared that broadcasters wouldn&rsquo;t readily give up spectrum that the FCC &mdash; and telephone carriers &mdash; wants for mobile broadband. But behind the scenes, broadcasters intending to exercise that spectrum with Mobile DTV services are at least toying with the idea that they might partner with those same carriers.&nbsp;With the debut of Pearl Mobile DTV, the joint venture cobbled together by 12 major station groups, all attention is on the business plan that will accompany the new media launch. Just as Mobile DTV has made partners out of competing station groups, so more than one station group executive hinted at some kind of collaboration with the carriers for a subscription model.&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t a surprising move,&rdquo; said Allison Dollar, CEO, Interactive TV Alliance and executive director, Mobile Excellence Awards, referring to Pearl. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s strategically sensible, and in a very general sense similar to why Canoe [the cable operators advertising joint venture] was created. The rub is going to be &mdash; as always &mdash; tactics. We&rsquo;ll see what model they choose, and if they can be flexible enough as a group to make it work.&rdquo;Prior to the broadcasters&rsquo; entry into the mobile space, existing distributors of mobile video have butted heads over whether the subscription or advertising models are the answer to making money. Broadcasters appear to be poised to try both.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anyone is projecting money out of the gate,&rdquo; said John Lawson, a founding board member of the Open Mobile Video Coalition, former executive VP of Ion Media Networks and currently principal of digital media consulting company Convergence Services. &ldquo;It will take a number of years to really go positive. But it seems to me that there will be a lot of exploration; there are a lot of different scenarios to work with.&rdquo;In numerous discussions about the revenue prospects of Mobile DTV, broadcasters have said that offering free mobile content is crucial to the business model. But they are already contemplating an up-sell with premium content. &ldquo;I think you&rsquo;ll see a hybrid implementation along the idea that broadcasters would provide a lot of free content, which would drive consumer device penetration,&rdquo; said Lawson. &ldquo;Which would in turn create a base from which you could market premium or other pay services.&rdquo;Premium services would likely include the kind of programming seen on cable channels, such as sporting events or even a sports channel and high-end video, including long-form content. Both experience in Europe and Asia, and research data closer to home, has shown that, contrary to common belief, long-form content can work on the mobile platform.&ldquo;We know that people watch Mobile DTV at least 30 minutes a day and that number is increasing,&rdquo; said Lawson, who believes that a DVR built into the mobile device will be a winning technology. &ldquo;Above all, the user wants control,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They may start out watching as they&rsquo;re getting ready for work, and then want to pause it, take it with them and watch the rest later.&rdquo;Advertising on Mobile DTV channels is getting a tryout over the July 4 holiday, when the Ad Council will run its &ldquo;Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving&rdquo; campaign. But, with regard to advertising, the ultimate goal is to enable interactive ads targeted to individuals. &ldquo;The best thing for all platforms would be not only attaching addressable, contextual ads, but enabling sales transactions for those brands,&rdquo; said Dollar.But Advertising 2.0, as it&rsquo;s called, isn&rsquo;t as easy as it sounds. In between the 30-second spot and the addressable ad, Lawson is hopeful that mobile GPS will make geo-targeting &mdash; for example, ads aimed at people in the airport &mdash; an intermediary step toward that goal.Not everyone is so sanguine. Frank Barbieri, founder-CEO of Transpera, a mobile video advertising network that already works with numerous media companies from CBS Sports to Showtime, notes that Mobile DTV&rsquo;s one-to-many broadcast model is a weakness when it comes to targeted advertising. &ldquo;Broadcast advertising is a spray-and-pray method of hoping you hit the target, whereas IP-based ads are targeted and efficient,&rdquo; he said.Whether broadcasters turn to IP infrastructure or some sort of back channel in addition to the ATSC-M/H over-the-air signal to make interactive personalized advertising work, it reinforces the idea that a full panoply of revenue-creation ideas will require partnerships. And some of those partners might just be the same carriers jockeying for more spectrum for mobile broadband.]]></summary>
   <author>
      <name>Tom Gilbert</name>
      <uri>http://www.tvweek.com/</uri>
   </author>
   
      <category term="Broadcast" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
      <category term="Digital" scheme="http://www.sixapart.com/ns/types#category" />
   
   
   <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.tvweek.com/news/">
      <![CDATA[By Debra KaufmanAt NAB 2010, new president Gordon Smith declared that broadcasters wouldn&rsquo;t readily give up spectrum that the FCC &mdash; and telephone carriers &mdash; wants for mobile broadband. But behind the scenes, broadcasters intending to exercise that spectrum with Mobile DTV services are at least toying with the idea that they might partner with those same carriers.&nbsp;With the debut of Pearl Mobile DTV, the joint venture cobbled together by 12 major station groups, all attention is on the business plan that will accompany the new media launch. Just as Mobile DTV has made partners out of competing station groups, so more than one station group executive hinted at some kind of collaboration with the carriers for a subscription model.&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t a surprising move,&rdquo; said Allison Dollar, CEO, Interactive TV Alliance and executive director, Mobile Excellence Awards, referring to Pearl. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s strategically sensible, and in a very general sense similar to why Canoe [the cable operators advertising joint venture] was created. The rub is going to be &mdash; as always &mdash; tactics. We&rsquo;ll see what model they choose, and if they can be flexible enough as a group to make it work.&rdquo;Prior to the broadcasters&rsquo; entry into the mobile space, existing distributors of mobile video have butted heads over whether the subscription or advertising models are the answer to making money. Broadcasters appear to be poised to try both.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anyone is projecting money out of the gate,&rdquo; said John Lawson, a founding board member of the Open Mobile Video Coalition, former executive VP of Ion Media Networks and currently principal of digital media consulting company Convergence Services. &ldquo;It will take a number of years to really go positive. But it seems to me that there will be a lot of exploration; there are a lot of different scenarios to work with.&rdquo;In numerous discussions about the revenue prospects of Mobile DTV, broadcasters have said that offering free mobile content is crucial to the business model. But they are already contemplating an up-sell with premium content. &ldquo;I think you&rsquo;ll see a hybrid implementation along the idea that broadcasters would provide a lot of free content, which would drive consumer device penetration,&rdquo; said Lawson. &ldquo;Which would in turn create a base from which you could market premium or other pay services.&rdquo;Premium services would likely include the kind of programming seen on cable channels, such as sporting events or even a sports channel and high-end video, including long-form content. Both experience in Europe and Asia, and research data closer to home, has shown that, contrary to common belief, long-form content can work on the mobile platform.&ldquo;We know that people watch Mobile DTV at least 30 minutes a day and that number is increasing,&rdquo; said Lawson, who believes that a DVR built into the mobile device will be a winning technology. &ldquo;Above all, the user wants control,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They may start out watching as they&rsquo;re getting ready for work, and then want to pause it, take it with them and watch the rest later.&rdquo;Advertising on Mobile DTV channels is getting a tryout over the July 4 holiday, when the Ad Council will run its &ldquo;Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving&rdquo; campaign. But, with regard to advertising, the ultimate goal is to enable interactive ads targeted to individuals. &ldquo;The best thing for all platforms would be not only attaching addressable, contextual ads, but enabling sales transactions for those brands,&rdquo; said Dollar.But Advertising 2.0, as it&rsquo;s called, isn&rsquo;t as easy as it sounds. In between the 30-second spot and the addressable ad, Lawson is hopeful that mobile GPS will make geo-targeting &mdash; for example, ads aimed at people in the airport &mdash; an intermediary step toward that goal.Not everyone is so sanguine. Frank Barbieri, founder-CEO of Transpera, a mobile video advertising network that already works with numerous media companies from CBS Sports to Showtime, notes that Mobile DTV&rsquo;s one-to-many broadcast model is a weakness when it comes to targeted advertising. &ldquo;Broadcast advertising is a spray-and-pray method of hoping you hit the target, whereas IP-based ads are targeted and efficient,&rdquo; he said.Whether broadcasters turn to IP infrastructure or some sort of back channel in addition to the ATSC-M/H over-the-air signal to make interactive personalized advertising work, it reinforces the idea that a full panoply of revenue-creation ideas will require partnerships. And some of those partners might just be the same carriers jockeying for more spectrum for mobile broadband.]]>
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