You think NBC is making a good return on its investment for these Olympics? You don't even know what a good return is. NBC had to bid for these Olympic rights in an auction, and they ended up paying more than $1.5 billion for the most recent summer and winter games. But how much did CCTV, the national broadcast…
Time Warner yesterday announced some weak quarterly financials, with earnings off 26 percent. But there was a big bright spot, the media conglomerate's cable networks like HBO and CNN, where profits were up 18 percent, led by advertising gains. There's a similar situation at NBC Universal, where ratings gains at Bravo…
TV is dying, right? We read about it online. Kids these days spend all their time on YouTube, and television is left to geriatrics watching Depends ads, right? But no! One word, friends: Cable. Just today, news came out that the executives at Discovery Communications, home of the Discovery Channel, are some of the…
Longtime readers of Defamer no doubt recall the days when our corporate campus was limited to a fifty-acre plot on the Eastside. True, we had all the razor scooters and air hockey we ever dreamed of, but, unfortunately, we were also solely reliant on the unstable intertube-accessing services of Time Warner Cable.…
Discovery is launching a new cable network called "Planet Green" that will offer round-the-clock "green" programming. The standard assumption is that his network signals a further mainstreaming of environmentalism, and therefore will somehow be good for the environment. This assumption is incorrect. Rather, it…
Optimum Online commercials: they are now their own genre. A specific category at the Grammy Awards, a spot in the Olympic Games, and a bust on Mount Rushmore are reserved specifically for the psychedelic, grating ads that this strange company produces. The original "Reggaeton-Jet Ski-Lifeguard" spot was an…
Fox News's 3 a.m. time-slot filler Greg Gutfeld has an interview with TVNewser coming up that is sure to be chock-full of quotable lines. Like Gutfeld calling his show Red Eye "the most subversive, surreal piece of programming ever to be on TV." You, sir, have apparently never caught Unbeatable Banzuke. Greg will also…
Aaron Brown was the serious, soft-spoken voice of CNN. Americans all remember his calm, powerful, and moving presence on CNN covering the attacks on the World Trade Center, as they happened, all day long. His first day at CNN! Then a couple years later CNN ditched him and gave his time-slot to Anderson Cooper, who is…
Remember that IO Digital Cable/ Optimum Online reggaeton ad on the beach that is the most ubiquitous thing on television in the tristate area? Ha, you don't just remember it, you secretly love it! Or perhaps it makes you want to murder people. Either way, when I saw this old Spanish remix of the ad running on…
How is Fox News supposed to bring the REAL news to the American mainstream when they are busy fighting off a bug infestation of the newsroom? If only we were making a metaphorical joke about the network's tendency to employ cockroaches. We're not! A liberal media outlet, the New York Times, reports that Fox News…
Marketwatch media person (and frequent target of Gawker ridicule) Jon Friedman actually wrote a thought that is sorta original and correct and interesting! According to him, MSNBC's ratings may suck, but they "stand out in one underappreciated category: embarrassing, mealy-mouthed apologies." He refers to David…
We tried to leave this one alone, but its influence has now grown to the point that it must be mentioned. We're referring, of course, to that reggaeton-themed commercial for IO Digital Cable, which is maddeningly effective at making you remember a phone number you will never call. What do mermaids, life preservers,…
Remember way back in the olden times when we had to be in front of an actual television at very specific times to see all our dumb shows? That sucked. Now we TiVo it or watch it on DVD or the web or whatever. And now, thanks to the magic power of market competition, even the horrible cable companies who feel entitled…
Remember when TiVo ran ads where TV viewers defenestrated network executives? CEO Tom Rogers doesn't, either. Vultures have circled over the hardware maker ever since cable companies realized they, too, could make digital video recorders. Rogers has taken the hint. With an extreme business makeover, he's now selling…
Has cable's golden age ended? Cable-TV subscriptions were long seen as recession-proof. But as their price continues to soar, at last, consumers are voting with their pocketbooks. Comcast shares dropped 12.3 percent Wednesday after the company lowered earnings and growth forecasts. Added competition from Verizon,…
