I Love Television

Don't you kind of feel sorry for Fox TV? In the olden days (back when it was the fourth-place network out of four networks), Fox was like a 5-year-old kid jacked up on Mountain Dew and Pixy Stix—it'd do ANYTHING to get your attention. I particularly enjoyed its guerrilla-style (and super-offensive) reality shows, such as Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire, Man vs. Beast, and my favorite, The Littlest Groom (in which it tried to hook a dwarf up with a hot, normal-sized babe). However! Nowadays it seems like Fox has "grown up" and can no longer find room in its schedule for shows about such important topics as When Animals Attack. Apparently dwarfs, bimbos, and ass-ripping lions are no longer a concern to Fox executives. And that's too bad, because now that Fox has grown into a self-absorbed teenager (who in order to look more like an adult has been seen wearing a coat with elbow patches and smoking a pipe), it has been receiving some of its worst ratings ever.

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Marketing a TV Pilot to Success

BrandIntel's lead media analyst takes a close look at this TV season's biggest hits-- and reveals how online research and marketing may have put them at the top. With Halloween officially in the rearview mirror, TV watchers have had more than eight weeks to decide on new shows to fit into their busy viewing schedule. With each new season comes difficult choices-- stick with the reliable show that's been around for years ("ER"), try a sexy new one ("Shark") or wade through ratings death row to sample a surefire turkey ("Twenty Good Years"). Since the line between a full season pickup and unemployment has become thinner than an "OC" plotline, the research and marketing brains behind new shows often turn to internet research for help with pre-launch strategy.

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24-hour i2 TV on air beginning today

Dubai: i2, the largest mobile provider in the Middle East and Africa (Mena), launched the first 24-hour television station in the world dedicated to mobile technology for mobile users across the region. i2 decided to begin its one of a kind touch point as part of its customer focused expansion plan. i2 TV airs today on Nile Sat 103 and is accessible by all mobile users in the Middle East. "i2 TV is the first television station in the world that is dedicated completely to mobile telecommunication and technology. "We have state of the art production equipment, making us the first TV station in the region to run without the use of tapes" stated Izzat Kittaneh, Managing Director of i2 TV. Positioned as an Arabic "infotainment" channel, i2 TV will give mobile users access to the latest information for all their mobile needs.

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Hot Box: Television to talk about

Crossing Over: Tonight's Las Vegas plays suspiciously like a crossover with Crossing Jordan, as CJ's Jill Hennessey and Jerry O'Connell investigate a murder and missing rare violin (NBC, Global at 9). Politics Now: On Royal Canadian Air Farce: Larry King and Paul McCartney compare divorce scars while Don Rumsfeld meets Jerry Seinfeld (CBC at 8). Vanishing: Hang in there Vanished fans. Tonight agents Eddie Cibrian and Ming-Na encounter a death row killer linked to a conspiracy even larger than the one they're trying to unravel (Fox at 8). Hey You: People keep telling me they'd like to watch CBC's Intelligence Tuesdays at 9, but not if it means missing House or The Unit. CBC has a well-positioned rerun Friday nights at 11.

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Court TV and Barnes & Noble in Joint Marketing Promotions for New ...

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Court TV and Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) have joined forces to promote the network's upcoming series, Murder by the Book, featuring James Ellroy, Michael Connolly, Faye Kellerman, Jonathan Kellerman and Lisa Scottoline. The series will premiere on November 13th at 10pm, and takes viewers through the real-life cases that most captivated these best-selling mystery writers. Court TV will implement a national TV, print, and online marketing campaign. The series will also be featured on Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com). Barnes & Noble.com commercials will appear on Court TV throughout the holiday season. In addition, there will be extensive placements throughout the Court TV Web site (www.courttv.com) with links to Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com/murderbythebook), so visitors can purchase books written by authors appearing on Murder by the Book.

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Last night's TV

The image of an old man gambolling in a Russian lake with a bear cub was pure fairy tale. Like the blue of the lake or the volcano behind them, so symmetrical it looked edible. This was Natural World: The Bear Man of Kamchatka (BBC2), who has raised orphaned grizzly cubs in this wilderness for 10 years to prove that bears are neither ferocious nor unpredictable. The cubs were orphans because their mother was shot defending them. That, as it happens, is how the first Teddy Bear was born. .

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TV Networks Hope YouTube Mocking Stays As Marketing

Now part of the Google team, YouTube is trying to go legit. Some content providers are demanding it. But TV networks should be careful–they could be shooting themselves in their marketing feet. Viacom demanded early this week that all that illegal copyrighted content of Comedy Central video like that of "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report," as well as from networks like MTV and BET, be taken off the site. Interestingly, at the same time Viacom is demanding this, it is negotiating a content deal with YouTube. YouTube recently made content deals with CBS and NBC. YouTube is getting its ducks in a row–something you figured it would have done before striking a $1.65 billion deal to be bought by Google. Last week, YouTube took off 30,000 clips of TV shows, movies and music videos after the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers cited copyright infringement.

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