Entertainment Industry News

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Over 38 million Americans tuned in for television coverage of Barack Obama accepting the Democratic nomination for U.S. president on Thursday in what is believed to be the most watched convention speech ever.

-Yesterday's Losers (excluding repeats): Greatest American Dog (CBS) and ongoing coverage of the Democratic Convention

The second season-premiere of ABC Family drama Greek on Tuesday, Aug. 26 rose to a series-high performance in total viewers (1.6 million), persons 12-34 (1.2 million) and females 12-34 (841,000). Comparably, that finished second in the 9 p.m. hour among all basic cable in the three categories, with growth over its debut (on July 9, 2007) of 500,000 viewers and as much as 134 percent among women 18-34. Lead-in The Secret Life of an American Teenager also soared, finishing first for the day on all of cable in adults 18-34 (1.2 million), women 18-34 (815,000) and women 18-49 (1.2 million).

With just 25 days to go until the official start of the 2008-09 season, here is an updated listing of series and season-premiere dates. Keep in mind that the return of Deal or No Deal and debut of America's Toughest Jobs, both on NBC, was this past Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - News Corp plans to launch another satellite television channel in Japan by 2011, according to a Nikkei report that cited no sources.

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia has chosen the European DVBT standard for it digital television upgrade, government regulators said on Thursday.

LOS ANGELES - A juror was removed Thursday in the federal wiretapping trial of Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano and a high-profile attorney, forcing deliberations to restart a day after the panel got the case.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp expects a slowdown in the overall consumer electronics market in the second half of 2008 in Western Europe, but sees double-digit growth in the TV market this year, its chief executive said.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has thrown out a copyright infringement case against Veoh Networks Inc, an Internet video start-up with high-profile Hollywood backers, ruling that video-sharing companies are not solely responsible for policing piracy that may take place on their sites.

LOS ANGELES - Two actors unions and the U.S. advertising industry said Monday they agreed to extend a contract covering commercials on TV, radio, the Internet and other new media by six months through March.

Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of Aug 18-24. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:

(Reuters) - Rolling Stone's owner Jann Wenner has named William Schenck as the magazine's fourth publisher in two years just as the title prepares scale down its large-format pages to a standard magazine size, the New York Post said on Thursday.

-Ratings Breakdown: Once again, this was far from an Olympic-sized performance. But NBC's winning streak continued, with an advantage last night over second-place Fox of a healthy 1.8 rating points. Third overall in the Tuesday metered markets was CBS, followed by ABC and, of course, the CW. Next week at this time I will have the initial results for 90210!

Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Aug. 18-24. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.

(Reuters) - Struggling tabloid publisher American Media Inc has secured the backing of many of its creditors for a new bond offering to refinance $570 million in existing debt, the Wall Street Journal said.

Once again, it was all about the Olympics, with the concluding nights of the 2008 Games from Beijing leading NBC to an advantage of 7.6 million viewers and 48 percent among adults 18-49 over the five competing networks combined (including MyNetworkTV). Comparably, and according to NBC, this is now the most-watched event in U.S. television history. Time will tell, of course, if this huge promotional platform will benefit the network this fall. So far, it did not have a noticeable impact on the debut of America's Toughest Jobs on Monday.

NEW YORK - It was seven more golden days for NBC last week, radiant with Olympics coverage that brought the sort of ratings victory a network dreams of.

Effective today at 2 p.m. ET, the Warner Bros. Television Group will officially launch TheWB.com, a video-on-demand destination for encore episodes of Angel, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Babylon 5, Everwood, Firefly, Friends, Gilmore Girls, In Living Color, The Loop, MADtv, The O.C., One Tree Hill, Roswell, Smallville and Veronica Mars.

LOS ANGELES - The action comedy "Tropic Thunder" clung to the top spot again at the weekend box office with $16.3 million, while the campus romp "The House Bunny" debuted in second place with $14.5 million.

(Reuters) - Digital video recorder maker TiVo Inc is set to enter into an agreement with Time Warner's Entertainment Weekly that will allow its users to automatically record shows suggested by the magazine's staff, the Wall Street Journal said.

-Yesterday's Losers: High School Musical – Get in the Picture (ABC), America's Toughest Jobs (NBC), coverage of the day one of the Democratic Convention

NEW YORK - NBC says the Beijing Olympics proved so captivating that millions of Americans now need to catch up on some sleep.

-Ratings Breakdown: NBC's winning streak continued, with the prime-time portion of the ongoing 2008 Summer Olympics at a dominant (but below average) 17.73 million viewers and a 5.4 rating/18 share from 8:30-11 p.m. on Friday. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

SAN FRANCISCO - The end is near for a bitter legal dispute between the three surviving members of The Doors now that the California Supreme Court has refused to take up their case.

-Ratings Breakdown: Once again, it is all about NBC, with the 2008 Summer Olympics from Beijing at a significant 18.0 rating/29 share in the overnights for the prime-time (8-11 p.m.) portion. Comparably, that beat the four competing networks combined by 75 percent. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two billionaires used the screening of a documentary in theaters across the United States on Thursday to urge the country to come to grips with its staggering debt load.

-Ratings Breakdown: NBC's Beijing Summer Olympics steamroller continued, with a whopping 18.4 rating/29 share in the overnights for the prime-time (8-11 p.m.) portion. Take a look at the half-hour breakdown:

NEW YORK - Junior Mints, Yoo-hoo, Drake's Coffee Cakes, puffy shirts: These are all things Jerry Seinfeld has endorsed — at least in his alter ego on his classic sitcom. Now, add Microsoft software.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Virgin Comics, a partnership between Virgin Books and India-based comics publisher Gotham Entertainment that had Hollywood dreams, announced Tuesday that it is closing its New York offices and will reorganize its operations.