EchoStar Delays CBS Injunction
Brady Out, Danza In at Buena Vista
Perez Promoted at Telemundo
Littleton, Colo.—EchoStar backed off its request for an injunction to keep carrying CBS as part of a broader fight with Viacom. EchoStar had sought a temporary restraining order Wednesday in a San Francisco federal court to prevent Viacom from pulling retransmission consent for its CBS stations if the DBS company drops Viacom's MTV Networks. EchoStar's MTVN carriage deal expired Dec. 31, but Viacom temporarily extended it as the companies negotiated in part to wrap the cable network and station rights together. When EchoStar continued to threaten to drop MTV, Nickelodeon and other cable nets, Viacom said the company would lose the CBS O&Os as well. After going to court, EchoStar consented to a one-week delay to keep negotiating.
Los Angeles—Buena Vista won't renew The Wayne Brady Show for a third syndicated season. The show will remain in production through the rest of the year, with original episodes running through the end of the season. Wayne Brady launched in national syndication in September, after spending a year in a slow rollout on the ABC-owned stations. It averaged its best ratings ever in the week ended Dec. 28, hitting a 1.3 national household rating, according to Nielsen. Next season, the ABC-owned stations will pick up new offering The Tony Danza Show.
New York—Enrique Perez, VP/GM of Telemundo's WNJU(TV) Newark, N.J., has been named senior VP of sales for the Telemundo station group, overseeing national and local spot sales for the group's 15 TVs. He will be succeeded at the station by Executive VP, Programming and Production, Manuel Martinez. Both will report to Ibra Morales, president of the Telemundo station group, which is now a part of parent NBC's TV Stations Division.