WWE EVP of Talent on rumors of FCW’s closing: “FCW is not closing”

Following the March19th broadcast of World Wrestling Entertainment’s flagship television show, Monday Night Raw, a story was spread across the internet stating that WWE’s development territory, the Tampa-based Florida Championship Wrestling was the be closing in three weeks time.

The story also claimed that WWE had notified Bright House Networks, which aired its television show that it will no longer be doing business with Bright House. Although the Bright House story was true, FCW’s closing was not.

WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent, Paul Levesque, also known by his ring name “Triple H” spoke to WWE.com on the rumors. Paul stated that the rumors are “…absolutely not true. FCW is not closing”.

Triple H on how the rumor started and how it spread like wildfire across the internet: “I don’t know how the rumor started but I believe it’s a situation where the ‘dirt sheets’ (Pro-wrestling news websites)want to believe they have the scoop on everything.

On how FCW is to be revamped: “If anything, we are in the process of ramping up our entire developmental system. It’s the lifeblood of our company. It’s what feeds our future and in no way are we going to close it down.” ….“WWE’s developmental system is being revamped, not shut down. If anything, it’s going to get bigger and better than ever. WWE Developmental cultivates the future talent of WWE. By no means is it going to get smaller or shut down.”

On if FCW is to relocate out of Tampa, and its TV tapings are to be held at: “There are plans in the works, but nothing definitive I can discuss right now,”… “Shortly after WrestleMania, there will be a major announcement about our developmental system.”

I happened to be one of the idiots who believed this to be true, especially after reading stories on Bleacher Report and other sites. When I started seeing people on Twitter responding, I read a Bleacher Report article and would later sent this tweet:

@Andy_Salcedo

News of FCW’s closing was a slap in the face. Regardless of that, good luck to all involved.

If there was a better line of communication between wrestling organisations and online wrestling news writers, we wouldn’t be so quick to fall for a false story.

NFL suspends Saints coordinator, head coach; Tebow-mania New York-bound

It has been announced Wednesday that the NFL is suspending former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams indefinitely and Saints head coach Sean Payton for one year because of the team’s bounty program.

The league also is suspending Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis for the 2012 season’s first eight regular-season games, and Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt for the first six regular-season games, the NFL said in a news release.

In addition, the Saints will be fined $500,000 and forfeit their second-round selections in the 2012 and 2013 NFL drafts, the league said.
Investigation and its findings.

After an investigation conducted by the NFL’s security department, the league announced on March 2nd that 22 to 27 of the Saints’ defensive players maintained a “pay for performance” program that included “bounty” payments administered by then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams during the 2009 (the year the Saints won the Super Bowl), 2010 and 2011 seasons.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated, “The payments here are particularly troubling because they involved not just payments for ‘performance,’ but also for injuring opposing players.”

The report also found that head coach Sean Payton was aware of the allegations but failed to stop the program. The league also said that Mickey Loomis, the Saints’ general manager, was directed to end the program by owner Tom Benson, but didn’t.

“Tebow-mania gets GangGreen“

Following Peyton Manning‘s move to Denver to replace Tim Tebow as head QB for the Denver Broncos, it was also announced that The New York Jets have traded a fourth-round pick to acquire Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, therefore moving Tebow-mania to the NY/NJ Sports market.

NBCNewYork.com is reporting that Tebow will mainly serve as a backup and/or a Wildcat role for current QB Mark Sanchez who was resigned to a three-year extension, a $40.5 million deal with $20.5 million guaranteed. The Jets were originally considered to be a long shot in the Tebow race but word among the Jets that Tebow would be a boom for the locker room and also a valid replacement for Brad Smith in an offensive role. Smith was traded to the Buffalo Bills.

New York State Amber Alert has been issued for 3-year-old Ferrari Tiesto Stojka

A New York State Amber Alert has been issued for 3-year-old Ferrari Tiesto Stojka.

The child abduction happened at the corner of Ocean Parkway and Avenue P, in Brooklyn, NY at about 3:30PM on Friday.

The child, Ferrari Tiesto Stojka is a White male, approximately 3 years old with brown hair and brown eyes. He is approximately 3 feet and weighs about 40 pounds. Ferrari was last seen wearing white shirt, white shorts and a Yankees hat.

The suspect, Jacob Laslo is a White male, approximately 33 years old with blonde hair and blue eyes. He is approximately 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs about 180 pounds. The suspect was last seen wearing a white t shirt and blue jeans.

The suspect was last seen traveling on foot.

Suspect is non-custodial father of child and has not seen child for two years.

Suspect assaulted the mother of the child, and then abducted the child and fled on foot in Brooklyn.

Suspect resides in New Jersey but last known to be in Manhattan.

Anyone with any information on this abduction is asked to call the New York City Police Department at (866)NYS-AMBER /697-2623 or dial911 to provide information on a report or sighting.

Six Months on, WPIX tumbles as WNYW grows at 10

On October 11th 2010, WPIX-TV, the New York City CW station (known on air as PIX11)altered their 10 pm newscast to make it look less like a traditional newscast and their graphics look like more or less like some app on an I-phone.

My October 15th 2010 article explaining my views against the change in newscast because many viewers-like myself- lost another traditional 10pm newscast since WWOR-TV moved the news to 11pm and My October 28th 2010 article featured responses from people who replied to the original article in anger over the changes.

Well, now it has been official, despite all the positive comments that WPIX has gotten over this “innovation”—the “innovation” actually caused a dip in viewership.

Despite this format being carried in other Tribune owned CW stations(albeit with some variations) In New York the format has failed to catch on with the main demographics that advertisers cater to—the 25 to 54 year old demo or the “money demo” as called by people in the TV business.

As explained in the comments sections of both my articles that were published on my own New York-centric blog “The City and My Life” and the “Andy’s Cue” column for Asnycnow Radio, people have absolved themselves form watching PIX News at Ten until the old newscast is returned.

The people—particularly the 25-54 year old group (which is also the key demo of readers for Asnycnow Radio and The City & My Life) have been leaving WPIX in droves to the ONLY other 10 pm newscast in town—WNYW Fox 5 (which originally started their 10pm newscast before anyone else did in the country) and WNYW has seen a slow but steady growth among the 25-54 year old group.

According to Nielsen, Ratings for WPIX among the highly coveted 25-54 age group, which WPIX was trailing WNYW by just 1.16(NYW) to 1.10 (PIX) in October 2010, saw the gap between viewership widen to 1.35 (NYW) to 0.92 (PIX) in December 2010 and then 1.96 (NYW) to 0.84 (PIX) in March 2011.

A commenter, Harold Silverburg originally praise WPIX GM Bill Carrey over the format change in the comments section of The City & My Life:

“If Jim[Watkins] and Kaity[Tong] (the former 10pm news team) were so beloved, where were all the viewers? Congrats to [WPIX GM]Bill Carey for having the guts to make a format change that provided a spark of energy that viewers will get to like in time. Watch the ratings climb.”

Well, Harold and WPIX management got it wrong.

This is not good news for WPIX management, The Tribune Co., currently having financial issues and this is not making it better for them—public relations or otherwise.

WPIX’s image has been tarnished in the city based on management quarrels. WPIX currently has lawsuits pending over charges of ageism (ending one’s employment over one’s age) and one of its reporters, Vince DeMentri was terminated with the station over a public spat and Chris Burrows, who was hired to be the face of the 4-6am edition of “PIX Morning News” (by Tribune’s VP of news Steve Charlier) was transferred to WPIX’s sister station KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles after ratings fail to grow under his stewardship.

A WPIX spokesperson pointed out to the New York Post that WNYW’s lead-in “American Idol” draws much higher ratings that reruns of CW programming airing on WPIX.

That is true, but “American Idol” was not on WNYW airwaves in December and WNYW still drew in higher numbers than WPIX compared to two months earlier when they were almost neck and neck.

WPIX also ran into some trouble as well when Tribune hired longtime friend to WPIX GM Bill Carey– former KYW CBS 3 anchor Larry Mendte as a commentator following his termination from KYW after allegedly hacking into former co-anchor Alycia Lane’s e-mail.

Alycia Lane has since resurfaced as a reported for NBC’s Los Angeles affiliate KNBC Channel 4.

Also, The New York Post reported that, When Lane issued a lawsuit to Mendte,WPIX shipped him over to Libya for an exclusive interview with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. Mendte accompanied Former Pennsylvania Rep. Curt Weldon, who has a long history with Qaddafi to try an broker a truce.

Skeptics inside the station told The Post that they believed Mendte wanted to go to Libya so he could rebuild HIS reputation before he face charges on ruining Lane’s reputation.

“This is a station that fires people left and right,and they’ll pay for a Libya Trip”- WPIX Insider tell the New York Post (03/12/11)

So now Six months after the changed at PIX, not only have they lost viewership at 10pm but also lost to “Good Day New York” due to the presenter shuffle.

Now, WPIX still has time to undo their mistake and return the old 10pm newscast. They don’t have to do it immediately, they should phase in the old newscast back on air before the change in viewership is permanent.

With American Idol now the main lead-in plus many strong FOX programming serving strong lead-in, WNYW is now dominating the 10pm news market and WNYW had it right since 1967—If it Ain’t Broke, Dont fix it!—something that WPIX is now learning the hard way.

Hypothetically, Can Aljazeera English survive on US Airwaves?

Hello, everyone, this is my first TV Live Viewpoint article and the following article on Aljazeera English is written based on a hypothetical situation.

That hypothetical situation being– When Aljazeera English does hit the US Airwaves in major TV Markets ( ie, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc..)- can it survive against the major players in the US cable news/opinion channels?

First of all, I understand that Aljazeera English does air in some cities of the US via PBS stations, Link TV, regional cable companies,  and MKZ Worldview ( with Washington DC being the most prominent) and can be seen online via internet stream on their website, LinkTV website  and on Livestation.com.

Second of all,  due to the evergoing crisis in Egypt, Aljazeera English is currently having its “CNN effect” or “CNN moment”- in which that Aljazeera English is now becoming the go-to place for continous news on Egypt, despite their news bureaus beign closed down and reporters beign detained.

And Third of all, Aljazeera English – or AJE for short- has a very infamous big brother- Aljazeera Arabic- which was built from the ashes of the original BBC Arabic channel which lasted from 1994 to 1996- which automatically has the effect of US viewers calling it a terrorist mouthpiece channel.

Let’s begin this hypothetical situation by saying that after AJE’s highly praised- and criticized- Egypt coverage, AJE is finally accepted by American viewers and AJE finally airs in all( or most) of the major markets in the US, that Americans now value AJE for what it is- a global news channel- and not for what they have been calling it- a terrorist mouthpiece or a propaganda/ smear campaign channel.

Now there’s the question- now that AJE finally airs in the US, can it regularly bring in viewers or will it have to undergo a format/programming change to make it more americanized?

Sure, the BBC, has been the number one foreign news source that Americans go to due to their easy accessibility to the American public, BBC World Service radio airs overnight on most NPR- affiliated and privately-owned public radio stations. Selections of BBC World News’ newscasts airs on PBS stations across the country and on the PBS World channel but can AJE be the next BBC- well known for their international coverage?

The American news market is a highly competitive market- one of the most in the world- and to many, the market seems over-crowded.

It is no longer the same when CNN and CNN2 ( today know as CNN Headline News and HLN) launched in 1980 and 1982 when they were the only people around the dial- Fox News Channel and the MSNBC channel ( a collaboration of NBC Universal and Microsoft) and now people no longer seem to want hard or straightforward news anymore.

According to the Nielsen rating system, Fox News Channel regularly beats all of its competitors- including HLN which switched to a more tabloidish feel but is more fast-paced and CNN is regularly left in the dust by MSNBC and even its sister HLN.

Aljazeera English will not fall under most basic cable packages and will be in the extended cable packages so even if AJE does make it to cable will anyone watch it?

In the tough times people are facing these days, and will people buy the extended cable package or satellite TV coverage for Aljzeera English?