This Just In... Prime Changes in September

Today at the TCA Press Tour in Beverly Hills, NBC announced a few schedule tweaks as it relates to the start of the new season. We're using the two-night season finale of America's Got Talent to launch the second season of Parenthood and to sneak preview Outlaw on 9/14 and 15 respectively. In addition, The Apprentice will kick off its season a week early with a 2-hour event on 9/16. Also we're excited to announce that Law & Order: SVU will have a special 2-hour premiere on 9/22 and Law & Order: Los Angeles will kick off in its regular time period a week later on 9/29. Outlaw, Parenthood and The Apprentice will all have encore presentations later that week to maximize sampling.

I'm out for lunch.. will be back and enter these in ASAP.

NBC's New "Breakthrough" Change is Episode Only

Program runs as scheduled on both August 3rd and August 10th.

See NBC for details about episodic differences.

First Quarter 2011 NHL Game Dates Announced

Air Date: 01/01/2011 Saturday
Start Time: 01:00:00 PM [ET]
Show Name: NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Duration: 03:00:00
Type: New Booking
Message: THE 2011 NHL REGULAR SEASON package is now booked for the following dates: 1/1, 1/23, 2/6, 2/13, 2/20, 3/6, 3/13, 3/20, 4/3, & 4/10.

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If I remember correctly, the New Years Day game was outdoors last year, and got great ratings. With a rare Blackhawk win of this year's Stanley Cup (hey, I cheered Stan Mikita), a return to the Chicago location is quite possible. I'll double check this, and my clients will see these inventory items updated soon.

Poker After Dark renews

Posted: 07/27/2010 05:02:36 PM
Air Date: 09/25/2010 Saturday
Start Time: 01:02:00 AM [ET]
Show Name: POKER AFTER DARK
Duration: 01:00:00
Type: New Booking
Message: POKER AFTER DARK (SAT) is booked 9/25/10-UFN. Subject to possible feed pre-empts due to other program bookings. Please see contingencies for each airdate for further details. Clearances assumed based on previously advised clearances unless otherwise notified.

Posted: 07/27/2010 05:01:11 PM
Air Date: 09/20/2010 Monday
Start Time: 02:05:00 AM [ET]
Show Name: POKER AFTER DARK
Duration: 00:59:00
Type: New Booking
Message: POKER AFTER DARK (M-F) is booked 9/20/10-UFN. Subject to possible feed pre-empts due to other program bookings. Please see contingencies for each airdate for further details. Clearances assumed based on previously advised clearances unless otherwise notified.

The link below is out of date. Go figure. :)

WHAT IS POKER AFTER DARK?
POKER AFTER DARK IS A FLUSH WITH THE FANS

* One Exclusive Tournament Each Week
* Six Consecutive Nights of Televised Poker at 2:05AM on NBC
* $120,000 in Prize Money

When the world's best poker players and the game's biggest personalities get together to play in a high-stakes, winner-take-all tournament, you never know what's going to happen. Tune in to watch all the action when the cards fly, the tempers flare, and the chips fall on NBC's groundbreaking poker program, Poker After Dark.

Starting January 2nd, 2007, six of the world's best poker players will gather in Las Vegas each week to play in this invitation-only event.

The buy-in; $20,000 each. The prize; $120,000 to the winner and a lovely parting gift for everyone else.

Hosted by Leeann Tweeden, each week's tournament will follow the action from the time the players shuffle up and deal until the last pot is pushed to the winner. In between, you'll see first-hand why the pros say it takes more than just good cards to be a winning player.

Bluffs will be called, nerves will be tested, and characters judged as each player attempts to outplay, outwit, and outmaneuver the competition.

When all is said and done, one player will walk away a winner while the rest will just walk away.

You've never seen poker played like this before - and it's brought to you like only the pros at Full Tilt Poker.Net and NBC can.

Please Check Any "The Event" Promos Airing Now

Friday, NBC yanked the promos. See their marketing website for details.


Also, I see General Electric/NBC is now using SurveyMonkey.com for affiliate feedback; the same company I'll be using to contact clients about how RDRx service has worked for them.

NBC Changes Prime in August and September

If you're an RDRx NBC client, you'll see changes in the next hours to programming on:

Saturday August 7th
Monday August 23rd
Tuesday September 14th



FollowUp:

All RDRx clients had inventory and estimates updated within an hour of the original posting.

Several hours later, on APT's What's New, visible to the public:

Saturday, August 7th
9:00-10:00 WRESTLEMANIA 26 (Original)

Monday, August 23rd
8:00-9:00 MINUTE IT TO WIN IT (Original)
9:00-11:00 2010 MISS UNIVERSE PAGEANT (Original)

Tuesday, September 14th
8:00-9:00 MINUTE IT TO WIN IT (Original)

WalMart +P&G + NBC = Jensen Project Tonight

From the New York Times:

If you go looking for “Friday Night Lights” this Friday night and find what looks like a Hallmark Channel movie instead, don’t be alarmed; your show will return. For this week, Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart are filling a couple of hours of NBC’s schedule with “The Jensen Project,” the second in a series of “family-friendly” television movies the two consumer giants are producing.

NBC's Premiere Week is Sept 20-25

Following Fox's decision to roll out every new premiere in one week, NBC has decided to join the crowd. Although I don't see formal notification of premiere bookings, I'm going to go ahead and list the entire prime schedule of that week as premieres.

Clients should have inventory and audience estimates updated before tomorrow afternoon. Should you need something sooner, please contact me.

Fourth Quarter Sports Progress

All NBC RDRx stations, except those on the Raycom VPN, have been fully updated.

Raycom stations are now taking much longer due to procedural issues caused by new VPN software and hardware requirements. I'm sure they feel safer, however. :)

Fourth Quarter Sports on NBC Trumps POTUS

Today, I was one of 3000 NV residents invited to attend an event this afternoon on The Strip, given by President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. I have friends of many political, religious and cultural backgrounds, as well as a degree in Political Science. I am NOT a political donor. (Hold those calls.)

The most powerful man in the free world will start talking in a few minutes. But I'm not there.

Instead, I'm changing NBC Sports Specials for 4th Quarter for my NBC clients.

Tomorrow, at least the AE's I support will be better off.

The rest of the country? I'm not so sure.

NBC Changes Sunday Yet, Yet Again

Posted: 07/06/2010 04:02:40 PM
Air Date: 08/15/2010 Sunday
Start Time: 10:00:00 PM [ET]
Show Name: LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Duration: 01:00:00
Type: New Booking
Message: LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT is booked 8/15 and 9/5. Please note: This booking overrides all previously issued bookings, formats, and details. Please see individual air date for updated information. Posted: 07/06/2010 04:01:32 PM

Air Date: 08/15/2010 Sunday
Start Time: 09:00:00 PM [ET]
Show Name: LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
Duration: 01:00:00
Type: New Booking
Message: LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT is booked 8/15 & 9/5. Please note: This booking overrides all previously issued bookings, formats, and details. Please see individual air date for updated information.

---------------------------------------------

Sundays were last changed 3 business days ago.

As mentioned previously, this website will soon become password protected. So, if you're not a RDRx client, become one or find another source for these endless changes. Best of luck!

New York Times: NBC Program Scheduling "Inexplicable"

July 2, 2010, 4:00 pm
In U.S., Wimbledon Works on NBC Time
By RICHARD SANDOMIR

NBC’s tape-delaying of Wimbledon semifinals matches remains one of the most perplexing practices in television sports.

It is NBC’s contractual right do it but the All-England Club should have negotiated it out of the network’s deal long ago. For as long as NBC has pursued the policy, as if it were acceptable, it has been an anti-fan practice.

With the ability to stream the match live online, and with ESPN and the Tennis Channel as cable partners, NBC’s delaying tactics in 2010 is more inexplicable than ever.

NBC’s contract runs through next year and can be extended for two more at the club’s option. Note to club: do not renew or extend NBC’s deal unless the network guarantees that it will, if necessary, pre-empt any of the programming, including the lucrative “Today” show and “Ellen,” that runs instead of live tennis.

On Friday, ESPN2’s coverage of Tomas Berdych’s semifinal victory over Novak Djokovic ended at 10:28 a.m. eastern. Then, the network had to vamp until noon because it did not have the right to show the second semifinal.

The Rafael Nadal-Andy Murray match began at 10:55 a.m., but neither NBC nor ESPN2 viewers could see it. The void lasted until noon, when NBC’s broadcast window began.

By the time NBC came on the air, Nadal had won the first set, and the second was well under way. But in NBC Time it had not started. The network came on the air and spent six minutes in a taped (of course!) preview of the match; it showed fans entering the gates of the club, drinking Champagne and awaiting the start of the match on Henman Hill, all of it hours ago.

We saw the players warm up. We heard the announcers discuss the forthcoming match.

Then, the match began, in NBC Time, eastern time zone, at 12:06 p.m., 71 minutes after it began on Planet Earth. It was streamed, on delay, of course, on nbcsports.com.

What makes NBC’s plausibly-live Wimbledon even more nettlesome is that its broadcast window begins at noon in all time zones — delaying the start button of NBC’s recording by at least another hour depending on the time zone you live in.

On their way out the door @ 30 Rock..

Posted: 07/02/2010 02:19:48 PM
Air Date: 08/08/2010 Sunday
Start Time: 07:00:00 PM [ET]
Show Name: NBC SPORTS SPECIALS
Duration: 01:00:00
Type: Format Correction
Message: EA SPORTS MADDEN NFL 10 PIGSKIN PRO-AM: Format tab NOW reflects the 2 units added to hour #1 of Sunday Prime when the NFL Pre-Season game was booked. (note: this correction was previously sent 6/23; format tab was not reflecting the change; change has been re-entered and is now correct).

----------------------------------------

And unless EA Sports is paying big bucks to promote LAST year's video game, my guess is the name is wrong, too.

Sorry, WLBT!

I had planned to take today off, my first vacation day since 2008.

But NBC has made more changes since last night, and I've tried to update WLBT, but the Raycom VPN is not working properly. I've contacted ODI and Raycom, but I have a feeling this won't be fixed today as so many people DID take today off.

So, we're both hosed. :) You have bad info, and I don't get a vacation day.

2:10pm Edit: It's a lot more complicated than we thought... but bless Mr. Stabler's heart! We're still trying.

Surprise! Love Bites "later"; Apprentice Moves to Thursdays This Fall

Message: Apprentice joins the NBC fall schedule Thursdays at 10 this September. Love Bites will join the schedule later in the fall.

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – July 1, 2010 – NBC will debut the newly revised edition of its previously announced “The Apprentice” series on Thursdays (10-11 p.m. ET) beginning this Fall.
NBC and Donald Trump want to put America back to work -- and after a long wait, the boardroom will be open again for candidates who have lost their jobs as the network showcases an updated version of the popular original alternative series “The Apprentice,” with Trump returning to preside.
“Love Bites,” the hour-long romantic comedy anthology series that was previously scheduled for Thursdays (10-11 p.m. ET) beginning this Fall, will premiere later during the 2010-11 season.


"Everyone at the network loves 'Love Bites,' but for a number of reasons, it now makes sense to showcase the comedic anthology series a little later in the new season," said Mitch Metcalf, Executive Vice President, Program Planning & Scheduling, NBC Entertainment. "We're extremely fortunate to have a potent show such as the new and contemporary version of Donald Trump's 'The Apprentice' ready to step into the slot and keep our Thursday lineup moving forward from a position of strength."

Oh, and here's a paragraph from this morning's Cynopsis, indicating this program change had been long planned...

NBC decided to take its new hour-long romantic comedy Love Bites off the schedule for this fall, replacing it in the 10p Thursday time slot with Donald Trump's The Apprentice. Several issues befell the comedic anthology series recently as showrunner Cindy Chupack asked to depart the series; previously actress Jordana Spiro left the show because she was contractually obligated to remain on the TBS comedy My Boys; and the character played by actress Becky Newton must be reworked as she played a virgin in the pilot episode though in real life she is now pregnant. The Apprentice will air for 13 weeks and NBC may opt to launch Love Bites in or before January 2011. Production on Love Bites had not yet begun and will not start for several more weeks as executive producers work out all the extenuating issues. NBC continues to stick to the 13-episode order for Love Bites, produced by Universal Media Studios and Working Title Television.

Raycom's VPN is down due to their quarterly reset. I've asked the few people working today in Bham to contact Raycom to allow us to access their stations.

No RD or RDRx? Your NBC Inventory is Probably Wrong Now

Seven hours before the "go to" website FutonCritic first reported massive NBC prime summer schedule changes last night, NothingButChange readers saw it here. (See below)

In addition, all RDRx NBC clients came to work this morning with totally updated inventory, audience estimates, and a Master Planner saved as Avail based on the new schedule for 3rd Quarter. Premiere clients will find a copy of the Master Planner saved to their desktops when they arrive.