Yesterday, the American cable channel TLC announced that it changed its tagline to “Everyone needs a little TLC.” On its own, that’s not at all remarkable. But it’s the first time that TLC has used the popular meaning of its acronym (“tender loving care”), and it further distances the network from its original name—The Learning Channel.
Now 17 months removed from the infamous ”Poop Cruise,” Americans are starting to come around to Carnival again.
Blockbuster may have shuttered most of its stores in the United States, but the video rental chain is still alive and kicking in Mexico. Perhaps not for long.
As companies like Yahoo, YouTube, and even BitTorrent race to create their own original programming, Microsoft is axing its video content unit as part of a company-wide restructuring.
For those seeking an emotional lift from their TV shows, a storyline in which 2% of the world’s population has mysteriously disappeared, and those who remain drift through an unending stream of grief, emptiness and questionable sanity might be a turnoff.
Despite some claims to the contrary, drive-in movie theaters in the United States are not making a comeback.
Consumer goods behemoth Procter & Gamble spent almost twice as much on TV advertising last year as the next closest company, according to data released by Kantar Media, with $3.173 in commercials for mega-brands including Pantene, Tide, Crest, and Downy. P&G also owns Old Spice, which is responsible for one of the most popular TV ads of all time.
BitTorrent’s 170 million users are used to downloading content—including movies, music, and TV shows—entirely for free. Now, the peer-to-peer file-sharing company is wagering that people will pay for exclusive viewing rights to Children of the Machine, a sci-fi series financed and produced by independent film producer Marco Weber.
The man who for six years assured binge-watchers that “the following program is brought to you with limited commercial interruption,” coming to be known as the voice of Hulu, has intoned his last advertisement for the streaming video service.
The Steven Soderbergh-helmed The Knick is the latest and most ambitious effort in Cinemax’s attempt to rebrand itself as a channel with original programming up to par with HBO. It stars Clive Owen as a doctor at New York’s Knickerbocker Hospital around the turn of the twentieth century—the Downton Abbey-meets-ER premise, coupled with the prominence of its principal filmmaker and actor, could make it Cinemax’s flagship show.
