Sinclair Counters Cash-For-Spectrum Plan

The stock market ended a down week with light selling as investors grew uneasy about a rising dollar and spiking demand for the safest government debt.

When The Oprah Winfrey Show goes off TV stations' air on Sept. 9, 2011, the entity that stands to lose the most money is: Oprah. Winfrey and her Harpo Productions take home by far the most profit from Oprah. CBS Television Distribution, which distributes the show, earns well south of $50 million annually in distribution fees on the show, estimates New York-based investment firm J.P. Morgan in a research note released this morning.

As broadcasters watch Oprah move her ratings powerhouse to cable, they need to be thinking about how they can stop the migration of their best programming to cable and what they need to do to get some new best programming.There's really only one answer: retransmission consent revenue. Way more of it. And instead of affiliates and networks fighting over pennies, they need to work together -- cooperate to get and share dollars from cable to fund the best possible programming.

Holding back tears, Oprah Winfrey told her studio audience Friday that she would end her show in 2011 after a quarter-century on the air, saying prayer and careful thought led her to her decision.

Oprah's new cable network has a launch date -- January 2011 -- eight months before her syndicated talk show airs its final episode.

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.) Friday praised the Senate Judiciary Committee for approving a compromise version of the shield law bill. And while they want passage without further amendment; Republicans still raise issues.

For the first time this season, CBS finished first among adults 18-49, holding a slight advantage over usual leader ABC. CBS averaged a 3.7 adults 18-49 rating and a 10 share, with ABC second at 3.5/10. CBS's victory is more attributable to ABC's decline than anything else, with all three of the latter's shows off from last week,

More than 100 Chrysler Group LLC U.S. dealerships face possible closure if they cannot reach new financing deals with GMAC Financial Services or another lender, people involved in the process said on Thursday.

CBS and Walt Disney Co.'s ABC are expected to bear the brunt of the financial pain ushered in by Winfrey's departure. CBS, which acquired Winfrey's original syndicator, King World, for $2.5 billion 10 years ago, has taken in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue over the years from The Oprah Winfrey Show.

The list of repercussions of Oprah Winfrey's decision to end her daytime talk show is long. For CBS, the owner of syndication rights to her show, it means the loss of its signature program and millions of dollars every year in revenue. For ABC stations, where her show was largely seen, it means the loss of daytime's most popular program, a generator of giant audiences leading into evening news programs.

With money and time slots freed up, local newscasts and Oprah spin-offs are among the likely replacement options.

A wagon full of fat, a Pontiac for everybody and detente with Dave were just some of moments that kept The Oprah Winfrey Show on top in broadcast syndication over the years.

One thing will be certain about the media outlook for 2010 and beyond: good advertising, not technology, will keep viewers watching long enough to select the "RFI" button to request more information about a product rather than their fast-forward option. Art will be at least as important as science as we work to refocus, revitalize and rebuild our way out of the worst period for advertising-supported media in history.

Fire knocked KXAS Dallas off the air Thursday night just as the 10 p.m newscast was beginning. "We had to evacuate in the middle of the newscast," station Vice President Susan Tully said. "Everybody jumped out of their seats." The NBC O&O was dark for over seven hours.

The Local TV-owned Fox affiliate in Cleveland had begun streaming its newscasts and local programming live on the iPhone and iPod Touch. The live video stream works over a 3G network or WiFi connection.

General Electric and Vivendi are at least $1 billion apart in their valuation of the French group's stake in NBC Universal, damping hopes of a quick resolution to a stand-off that is holding up Comcast's planned bid for a majority stake in the broadcast, cable and film group.

In the past 30 months, the Nielsen Co. has had multiple rounds of layoffs and let go of several hundred employees in Dunedin and Oldsmar, Fla. Wednesday, the ax fell again and the TV ratings company trimmed 57 more positions at its Oldsmar facility.

NBC's Chuck returns Sunday, Jan. 10 in back-to-back episodes. It moves to its regular time slot Jan. 11 at 8 p.m. In addition, the network orders three more episodes of struggling freshman series Trauma.

Cyrus Capital Partners says its $250 million offer to acquire the bulk of Ion Media Networks is still on the table, though Ion does not seem to be interested in the deal. Cyrus is a Chicago-based hedge fund and a creditor to Ion, which entered bankruptcy protection in May. The firm offered $250 million last week for a 62.5% ownership stake in Ion; another creditor had previously made a $150 million bid.

The Senate Judiciary Committee failed to bring a federal shield law bill to a vote again on Thursday.