Television Companies | Principles & Practices

by Melissa Gattuso

TimeWarner was originally two separate companies, Warner Communications Inc. and Time Inc, which had assets of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. The merger occurred on March 4th, 1989. And as of mid 2010, it was the world’s second largest entertainment conglomerate in terms of revenue, only behind Disney, as well as the world’s largest media conglomerate. It’s cable channels include Home Box Office (HBO) and all the channels under Turner Broadcasting System like CNN, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT, and TruTV. [2]

Major Competitors
Showtime, owned by CBS
MSNBC, owned by NBC
FoxNews, Fox Entertainment Group
Nickelodeon, owned by Viacom
A&E, owned by the Hearts Corporation, Disney, and NBC Universal

Recent News

May

05/01 – Michael Wright has been promoted to President, Head of Programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). In this role, Wright will continue to oversee all programming and scheduling for TNT and TBS, along with original programming for TCM and original content for all three networks’ digital extensions. [3]

April

04/30 -TruTV has rebranded themselves as “Bigger, Bolder, and Broader”. With this new campaign slogan, they are going to add more original content to their programming. The channel has seen success this past year, posting it’s best quarter ever this year. With the youngest primetime audience of such direct non-fiction competitors as Discovery, History and A&E, the channel is hoping to continue to increase it’s viewers with the new content. [4]

04/15- HBO’s buzzed about show Girls premieres. After a media frenzy of praise for the show created by Lena Durham who also stars, it experienced a flood of backlash. Most of the backlash and negativity resulted from the show’s lack of diverse characters as well as the character’s whining and unrealistic state of entitlement. Despite all this, after the first three episodes aired, the show was renewed on April 30th for a second season of ten episodes. [5]

March

03/20– TBS earned the number 1 spot for basic cable network with young adults. The win can be attributed to the syndication of the popular The Big Bang Theory, as well as TBS‘ late night series, CONAN. Also announced was that the overall primetime audience has grown by 33% to 2.1 million viewers. [6]

03/14- After a third horse died during production, HBO has decided to cancel its horse-racing drama Luck. The show only drew 1.1 million viewers for its premiere and had since since struggled to attract 500,000 viewers during its initial Sunday night broadcast. [7]

03/01– Game Change, a film about Sarah Palin’s role in the 2008 Presidential Election premiered on HBO on March 10th. Sarah Palin’s press released a response video to the original film trailer.

Game Change Trailer:

Palin’s Rebuttal Video:

February

02/15-02/22- TBS renewed two of his very successful shows, CONAN and Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse. CONAN has been renewed through April 2014. And after finishing its first season as the number 1 basic cable sitcom, For Better or Worse, TBS has ordered an additional 35 more episodes. [8] [9]

January

01/29- In recent years, HBO has earned about a quarter of the total annual profits for Time Warner, generating slightly more than $1 billion annually. Showtime is growing, but remains considerably behind. The Golden Globe winning series Homeland has brought recent success to the channel, but one show can barely compete with HBO’s string of successes. A Morgan Stanley report on CBS estimated that the cable channel earned $692 million in 2011. [10]

01/27– Sandra Dewey, who has played an important role in the original-programming business strategies for TNT, TBS, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), truTV and Cartoon Network, has been promoted to executive vice president, head of business affairs for Turner Entertainment Networks (TEN) and Cartoon Network Originals. [11]

Upcoming Projects

HBO
An Aaron Sorkin written drama, The Newsroom, is premiering on June 24th.

True Blood is also returning for it’s fifth season on June 10th.
http://youtu.be/H1Jn8P3VS74

Also, the following series have been renewed: Boardwalk Empire, Enlightened, and Treme. And the series Entourage, which finished its final season, will be made into a feature film. [12]

TruTV

New Series Premiering Later this Year
Killer Karaoke featuring host Steve-o from Jackass, Container Wars, and Hardcore Pawn: Fort Braggs.

In Development
Upload with Shaquille O’Neill, Jeff & Curtis Lose Weight, and Turbulence. [13]

TBS

Men at Work, from Sony Pictures Television, centers on four guys who work together at a magazine and are living the life in NYC. The new scripted comedy series premieres May 24th.

Sullivan and Son, stars Pittsburgh native comedian Steve Byrne as a man who leaves his job as a New York lawyer to come back to his hometown of Pittsburgh to run a family-owned bar. With Vince Vaughn among its executive producers, the 10 episode series will premiere on July 19th. [14]

TNT

Returning Summer Series
Both Rizzoli & Isles which will return for its third season as well as Franklin & Bash, in it’s the second season, will premiere June 5th. Falling Skies will return for it’s second season with a two hour premiere on June 17th. The Closer, with it’s final season will premiere on July 9th with the last six episodes. And on July 15th, the 5th season of Leverage will premiere. [15]

New Summer Series

Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray reprise their famous characters as J.R., Bobby and Sue Ellen Ewing return to Southfork with secrets, schemes and betrayals along with a set of new characters in Dallas which premieres with a two hour episode on June 13th.

A new competition show, The Great Escape, will be hosted by Rich Eisen (NFL Total Access). Teams of competitors try to find their way out of seemingly impossible situations for a chance to take home a cash prize.

Premiering on July 9th, Perception a new crime related drama starring Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award winner Eric McCormack as Dr. Daniel Pierce, who possesses an intimate knowledge of human behavior and a masterful understanding of the way the mind works.

http://youtu.be/mDiGZ0DU1mU

And on August 13th, Major Crimes premieres following the final of The Closer. Two-time Oscar nominee Mary McDonnell will continue her role from The Closer as Los Angeles Police Captain Sharon Raydor. [16]

Principles & Practices

Website by the students of TRF235

Category Archives: Television Companies

Ion Media Networks

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Daystar Television Network

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PBS

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Univision

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Sinclair Broadcast Group

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Scripps Television Group

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Russian Media Group LLC (RMG)

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CBS Television Stations

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Time Warner (cable channels)

Scripps Networks Interactive

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