Old TVs cause new problems

By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY

EL CERRITO, Calif. —Televisions carelessly disposed of can be toxic to the environment. A huge backlog of unused old ones (99.1 million, the EPA says) is sitting around in people's homes.

And later this year— either on Feb. 17 or on June 12 if Congress passes a delay— the USA will switch from analog to digital TV transmission. The number of unwanted TVs will go even higher as consumers upgrade to sets capable of receiving high-definition broadcasts. Though a TV set is benign in the living room, it's not when it is broken up to reach the reusable materials inside. There's a lot of lead, a bit of barium, cadmium, chromium, traces of gold and even mercury in the lamps on some flat screens.

The best way to deal with them is not to throw them away at all but to keep using them, says John Cross of EPA's Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery. Buying a converter box or getting cable or satellite TV will keep a TV useful for years. But if TVs are discarded, the federal agency wants to make sure the materials in them are recycled.

Six states have passed laws making it illegal to throw a TV away, and another five are expected to do so in 2010. Eighteen states, as well as New York City, have ordered electronic recycling programs. But not all the laws include televisions, which in the year of digital conversion is unfortunate.

Find this article at:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/enviornment/2009-01-26-tv-waste_N.htm

Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Super Bowl pregame ads a tougher sell
By Deborah Yao and Ryan Nakashima, AP Business Writers (AP) — Sales of Super Bowl ads are holding up fairly well, even at $3 million for 30 seconds. But commercial spots that will run in the pregame hours? That's a different ball game. People who buy ad time on behalf of advertisers say NBC is having a tough time selling out the ads that will run in the four hours or more leading up to the Feb. 1 championship. Now the network is making deals to more quickly move unsold inventory for the less-watched but still pricey pregame spots.

Depending on the number of ads bought or the hour of the day, pregame ads can cost about half the price of an in-game commercial, ad buyers said. That would mean some of this year's pregame ads could cost more than $1 million for 30 seconds. While there's typically some unsold pregame spots in the final days before the game, several ad buyers said the bad economy is giving advertisers more pause this year. Sales took a hit after the economy took a drastic turn for the worse last September. Still, advertising buyers were impressed that NBC was able to sell many of its spots during the Super Bowl for a good price considering the downturn. The list price was a record $3 million for 30 seconds, on average, compared to $2.7 million last year. TNS Media is projecting a record haul of $200 million in in-game ad revenue for NBC.

Ad buyers said between six to 10 commercial spots are left to be sold for the game itself.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2009-01-23-pre-super-bowl-game-ads_N.htm

Networks lose ground in the fall TV season

Networks Lose Ground By Gary Levin, USA TODAY In a continuation of a steady trend, he big networks continue to lose viewers, only two new shows are successes, and there's not much excitement among fans. Prime-time viewership is up 2% this fall, but fans aren't going to the major networks their TV. MORE: How the major networks are faring SURVEY RESULTS: What you thought of the season so far •Last winter's writers' strike crimped development of new shows: Only 14 scripted series joined the schedule. •ABC and NBC lost big bets that viewers would return to five holdover series benched last winter during the strike (ABC's Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money, and NBC's Chuck and Life). •An electrifying presidential campaign has nearly tripled viewership for the three major cable news networks in October, draining potential audience, while other cable channels once leery of fall now compete aggressively. Univision and MyNetwork TV also have gained viewers. •And continued growth in streaming online and time-shifting with DVRs — now in 28% of homes — has stripped the immediacy from scripted TV viewing, and risks leaving once-loyal fans less so. At least one in four viewers of Fringe, Heroes, 90210 and The Office record and watch those shows later. The four biggest networks combined averaged 36.9 million prime-time viewers this fall, down 9%, compounding last year's losses. Among the bright spots, CBS has the smallest decline from last fall, the most new shows and this season's biggest new hit: The Mentalist, a twist on its familiar crime-drama formula, which is averaging nearly 16 million viewers behind NCIS. And remarkably, seven of the network's returning series have gained viewers over last fall, reversing a typical trend for long-running series. With Tina Fey's star on the rise, thanks to her Sarah Palin impression on Saturday Night Live, NBC's 30 Rock returned to series highs last week. But all of the fourth-place network's new series have had mediocre turnouts. ABC, heavily dependent on serialized dramas that target younger women, has seen losses, though it remains a close second among young-adult viewers. CW has narrowed its target to young women, and in that measure has something of a new hit with its 90210 remake. And Fox, always a laggard in fall, has seen declines in almost every returning show (and arecord-low World Series), though Fringe is helping the network bide its time. "They're waiting for 24 and (American) Idol in January," says Brad Adgate of ad buyer Horizon Media. "That changes the whole race." And programmers hope the end of election season will draw more viewers back to prime time, invigorating a ratings race that pales by comparison.

Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

'30 Rock' Hits Ratings High

Season premiere of critically-adored but ratings-starved sitcom delivered a 4.1 rating/10 share in the adult 18-49 demo in overnights

By B&C Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/31/2008 12:05:00 PM

CHART: Download primetime broadcast ratings from Oct. 20-26

Sarah Palin is apparently the gift that keeps on giving for NBC after 30 Rock returned to its highest rating ever Thursday night—a 4.1 rating/10 share in the adult 18-49 demo—according to preliminary Nielsen data.

That number was undoubtedly buoyed by curiosity tune-in thanks to Tina Fey’s wildly-popular impersonations of the Republican vice presidential candidate in recent weeks on Saturday Night Live.

The third-season premiere of the critically-adored but ratings-starved 30 Rock held up well out of its lead in of The Office (4.7/12).

Hulu's sharing tools, TV shows help it win online video fans
By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY 10-29-08

LOS ANGELES — Hulu CEO Jason Kilar could give you a whole list of reasons his "premium" video site has seen such stunning growth, but the sharing tools would have to top it.

The Hulu service launched just a year ago and is the sixth-most-viewed online video channel, bypassing more established sites Veoh, Joost and Fancast, according to market tracker Nielsen Online.

Monthly traffic figures are few, since Hulu has been around for such a short time. But the service
showed nearly 150 million video streams in September, over one-third more than August's 107 million streams, according to Nielsen.

While that's a fraction of YouTube's 5.3 billion September video streams, Hulu clearly is onto something.

Kilar increased Hulu's visibility by cutting deals with big distributors such as Yahoo, MySpace and MSN. Fans can watch one of over 1,000 TV shows or movies, mostly from the Fox and NBC libraries, along with a handful of cable channels, including Comedy Central.

Two big omissions: CBS and ABC.

Kilar says he hopes to come to terms with both networks, which have deals with competing video services including Veoh, Fancast and AOL. In the meantime, he's made it easy for Hulu users to find those shows by adding links to CBS and ABC shows in Hulu searches.

NBC Universal and Fox parent News Corp. (NWS) formed Hulu in reaction to the unauthorized appearance on YouTube of clips fromFamily Guy and other shows, as fans posted clips from homemade recordings.

Dan Fawcett, president of Fox's digital media division, says Fox and NBC were "surprised" by Hulu's rapid growth. He says Fox anticipated that by now Hulu would be spending money on marketing, but that hasn't been needed. "It's all been via word of mouth."

'Lights' stays brilliant despite downsizin

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

In tough times, you just have to make do with what you have.

For the small town of Dillon, Texas, that entails dealing with a high school budget that has no money for books but a surplus for a scoreboard. And for fans of NBC's Friday Night Lights, that entails putting up with a deal that sends the show to DirecTV's 101 Network for a 13-episode fall run, to be followed, we're told, by an NBC run in January.

No, it's hardly ideal, particularly considering how few people will get the show in its first go-round. But without the deal, there'd be no Lights on at all, and that would be far worse.

This is, to be sure, a cut-down version of Lights, starting with that episode order. Roles have been reduced, and the show as a whole seems less populated — and a less true re-creation of small-town life.

On the upside, the stories in the first two episodes are a major improvement from last fall, as the show refocuses on the town and its team. (That's a particular blessing for Adrianne Palicki and Jesse Plemons, two wonderful actors who were trapped in the show's least-wonderful plot.) And with Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton in place on top, the cast as a whole remains strong.

There's no denying that the show looks a little worn, a victim perhaps of budget pressures that may have moved the series from cost-efficient to cheap. But even a reduced Lights is better than most TV series, and a reduced Lights was all we were going to get.

We'll just have to make the best of it.

Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Its Me

Introduction: Dr. J from BT Janes on Vimeo.