With all the convention coverage of late, there’s been a dearth of other news chum. But, dear readers, I did find something during today’s lunchtime perusal of recent news. Is it related to politics? You decide, and as you do, think about how much the leaders of this week’s “Beer Blast in St. Paul” have been avoiding mention of the event’s previous organizers.
- From the “And Then There Were Four?” Department: Variety has an interesting report, echoed by the Los Angeles Times, about how Tribune-owned CW-affiliated stations are quietly downplaying the CW affiliations. They are removing CW from their name (changing their call letters if necessary), and removing any traces of the CW from their websites. Don’t believe me? Look at the KTLA website — no mention of the CW, not even on the “About” page. However, the two Tribune owned MyNetworkTV affiliates still use the News Corp logos. Could Tribune be trying to distance itself from the CW? Nah, it would never happen.
- From the “And The Frog Came Back” Department: As you know, the CW Network is the combination of CBS, the previous owners of UPN, and Warner Brothers, the previous owners of “The WB”. “The WB” supposedly died when the CW was created… but did it? [insert ominous music] The LA Times is reporting about how “The WB” has returned, at least as an Internet-Only network showing both old WB TV shows, other shows produced by Warners, and new Web content. This includes Firefly. No word yet on whether the frog will reappear.
- From the “On The Record” Department: The LA Times is also reporting that DirecTV has reembraced Tivo, from whom it once tried to separate. Specifically, TiVo Inc. said Wednesday that it would launch a new high-definition digital video recorder under an extended agreement with DirecTV Group Inc. The new development deal extends the companies’ agreement by five years to Feb. 15, 2015, and calls for satellite television provider DirecTV to market TiVo’s DVR products to new customers for the first time since DirecTV began using a rival DVR.
So there you have it. Once the media darling, folks seem to be rushing away from the CW. Once spured, Tivo is once again in the embrace of DirectTV. I’m sure you can think of other groups trying to regain their former cache and distance themselves from recent failures and poor decisions.
