Cable Channel

Viacom 's Nickelodeon has struck a deal to sell its programming to Hulu Plus, the subscription arm of the online video platform Hulu. Starting today, recent episodes of Nickelodeon shows such as "iCarly" and "SpongeBob SquarePants" and its much-anticipated new version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" will be available to Hulu Plus subscribers. The episodes will be available three weeks after airing on Nickelodeon. The move has some analysts shaking their heads, who point to Nickelodeon's willingness to sell its programming to Netflix as playing a part in the cable network's ratings decline during the past year.

Major League Baseball hit a grand slam with its new TV rights deals. Under the terms of its freshly signed eight-year agreements, Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN, News Corp.'s Fox and Time Warner Inc.'s TBS will pay a combined $12.4 billion--about twice as much as what baseball received for television rights in previous contracts. "This is a remarkable day for baseball," Major League Baseball commissioner Allan "Bud" Selig said in a conference call Tuesday. The new contracts take effect at the start of the 2014 season and run through 2021.

Tyler Perry's new exclusive deal to create programming for Oprah Winfrey's OWN means he is shelving his ambitions to launch his own cable network. Perry had been toying with the idea of creating his own network and even had talks with Lionsgate and One Equity Partners, the co-owners of the TV Guide Channel. The plan under discussion would have had TV Guide becoming a platform for Perry and there was even a name - Tyler TV - being floated. However, that plan is now off the table, people close to the matter said.

After the coffee. Before putting the dirty tuxedo back into the closet. The Skinny: By the time I got out home from HBO's Emmy party (rough life, I know), it was way past midnight and I'm typing this at 5:30 a.m., so I hope the editors catch what I'm sure are many typos. Monday's headlines include all the winners and not-winners (why be mean and say losers?) at the Emmys, a review of the weekend box office and a profile of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman. Daily Dose: The WWE may not have a cable channel yet, but it has struck a deal to put its content on Hulu.

After years of on-again, off-again negotiations, Time Warner Cable has finally struck a deal with the National Football League to carry the NFL Network and its sister channel called RedZone. The cable giant, which has 12 million subscribers, many of whom reside in New York and Los Angeles, was the last big pay-TV distributor not carrying the channels. Under the terms of the deal, the NFL Network will be placed on Time Warner Cable's most widely distributed programming package.

The last new episode of "I Love Lucy" was broadcast over 50 years ago, but the classic sitcom is still a cash cow for CBS. Speaking at Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference in New York on Thursday, CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said "I Love Lucy" is still delivering about $20 million in revenue. Reruns of the show still run on a regular basis on the cable channel TV Land.  During much of the interview, Moonves stressed the value of CBS' new and old content, particularly as new platforms such as Netflix and Amazon are spending heavily for product.

Don't look for Showtime to offer an over-the-top alternative anytime soon. Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves, said, "We like the eco-system as it is now. " Showtime is a unit of CBS. Going over-the-top is media industry lingo for offering a cable channel via broadband on an individual basis. As more people gobble up content through digital platforms such as Netflix, there is continuing speculation that down the road pay-cable channels such as HBO and Showtime will move to that model.

Are there enough John Cena and Triple H fans to justify the launch of a WWE pay cable channel? That's what WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and the rest of the executive team are going to be wrestling with for the next few months. More than three years ago, McMahon unveiled plans to create a WWE cable channel that would capitalize on the company's vast library as well as feature new programming. But since then there have been lots of fits and starts and delays but no channel and little about it coming out of the WWE. Wall Street is eager to see movement because WWE has been telling investors it thinks having its own distribution platform could be a game changer for the company.

"The Transformers," "Hunger Games," "The Avengers" and "Paranormal Activity" are headed to Amazon.com. Pay cable channel Epix has signed a digital distribution deal with the online retail giant, ending speculation that it might continue its current exclusive arrangement with Netflix.  Under the partnership that launched Tuesday, new movies from Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer will be available to consumers who subscribe to Amazon Prime, which provides unlimited two-day shipping for products and streaming of 25,000 movies and television episodes on digital devices.

Time Warner Cable found an unusual way to land programming for its regional sports channel in Southern California. College football and basketball games from San Diego State, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and Fresno State will appear Time Warner Cable SportsNet, which launches in October and is already home to the Lakers and the Galaxy. To get the rights, Time Warner Cable had to do a little wheeling and dealing with CBS. According to people familiar with the matter, CBS Sports Network, a cable channel that focuses primarily on college sports, agreed to swap the rights to the games in return for greater distribution on Time Warner Cable systems.