VIDEOAGE "PAPER CLIPS": A WEEKLY PRESS REVIEW*

PROGRAMMING
It was a good year for Grey's Anatomy, but not quite as good for Desperate Housewives. The Wisteria Lane-centered primetime soap's ratings fell by 5 percent in its second season, while the Seattle surgeon drama increased its viewership by 11 percent, prompting ABC to move it to the always-competitive Thursday night this coming fall.
E! Online

Indian consumers need not go further than their couches for some retail therapy. Television Eighteen India has announced that it will launch the country's first fully-integrated Home Shopping Network. The company decided to go ahead with the plan after studies predicted an almost 300 percent increase in the spending population in India between 2002 and 2010.
The Hindu

And then there was one . . . . ABC has rejected the dual-host experiment on World News Tonight in favor of one sole host. Charles Gibson will replace Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas, who took over the anchor spot after Peter Jennings' death. Woodruff has been unable to work after being seriously injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq in January; and Vargas is expecting a child in mid-August.
The New York Times

The Canadian pay-TV duopoly is officially done. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has backed Allarco Entertainment's bid for a pay-TV license, thus ending a nearly two decade duopoly run by Corus Entertainment and Astral Media. Cable and satellite companies will be obliged to carry the new as-of-yet-unnamed pay-TV service, but prices haven't been announced. Some observers say the new service will be hurt by the fact that the CRTC refuses to place limits on exclusive program supply agreements between the studios and Corus and Astral.
The Globe and Mail

BUSINESS
Canadian broadcaster CanWest Global Communications has agreed to sell its interest in Irish network TV3 to one of Europe's largest private equity firms, Doughty Hanson & Co. The company is purchasing the entire network from CanWest and partner Granada Media Group for U.S.$340 million.
National Post

TECHNOLOGY
China is going digital. According to Zhang Haitao of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, China is planning to make digital cable TV available to all its residents by 2015, following a three-year pilot program in urban areas. Digital cable has already begun rolling out in certain metropolitan areas, including Qingdao, Hangzhou and Shenzen.
Xinhua<{? Hong Kong phone operator PCCW is using a new technology that will broadcast TV channels to more mobile users than ever before. The technology, Cell Multimedia Broadcast, or CMB, allows up to 250 mobile phone users to simultaneously tune in to TV broadcasts within an area covered by one base station (compared to a maximum of 10 users with streaming technologies). PCCW will offer a 24-hour financial channel, ESPN, Star Sports and a channel showing English Premier League soccer matches to 3G phone users.
Shanghai Daily

ADVERTISING
It had to happen sometime....Google is taking initial steps to go after the market for television advertising, with a new service that will place video commercials on the websites where it sells advertising. Advertisers have been eager to buy the relatively limited supply of spaces for online commercials at prices that equal and sometimes exceed the rates charged by major networks, as measured by cost per thousand viewers.
The New York Times

Unlike last spring, when ad agency executives wasted little time in picking potential hits and flops, at this year's upfronts ad executives were a bit more hesitant about doling out money to the networks. A major reason is the increase in the number of drama series with elaborate plots and large casts, which ad executives say they need to see in full before making a judgement on their potential popularity.
The New York Times

CONTROVERSY
While small video clips have been proven compatible with the web, TV-quality and high-definition programming could cause the Internet to choke. Internet Service Providers (ISPs), cable and telephone companies are worrying about the strain prolonged streaming video could have on the Internet if people begin watching shows on the Internet as they do on traditional TV sets. Beeefing up the Internet's capacity to do that would be expensive, and as a result ISPs want to start charging content providers to ensure delivery of large video files. This plan has enraged consumer groups and Internet activists who fear it would tilt the Internet's level playing field, which is one of its most admirable qualitites.
Associated Press

FILM
Harry Potter and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory helped British films more than double their share of the worldwide box office in the span of two years. Last year the top 10 performing U.K. films took $2.6 billion, compared with $1.17bn in 2003.
The Daily Telegraph

Talk about strange casting. At the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, Australian actress Cate Blanchett confirmed that she will depict the young Bob Dylan in I'm Not There, a film about the crooner's life. Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Christian Bale and Ben Wishaw will depict Dylan at other times in his life.
The Daily Telegraph

* Please note that the 2006-2007 Season's Series list has been updated on our website to include more Buena Vista International Television-distributed series. The list is available at Our L.A. Screenings webpage.

VIDEOAGE'S L.A. SCREENINGS ISSUE 2 IS NOW OUT!!!
Today and tomorrow it will be distributed to all buyers attending the L.A. Screenings in their hotel rooms. Copies of the issue are available at the Park Hyatt, Hyatt Regency Century Plaza and at the studios. The issue will also be distributed at the Licensing Show, Promax/BDA and DISCOP.

This newsletter is also available at www.videoage.org

This free service is directed to international television executives.

To subscribe, please e-mail us at paperclips@videoageinternational.com.

To unsubscribe, please send a reply to this e-mail with "remove" in the subject line.

Copyright © 2006 Video Age International. All Rights Reserved.