Television Industry United States

"The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest" has all the earmarks of an ambitious feature film project: Two years of marketing fanfare, what some characterize as serious budget overruns, a promotional push valued at more than $40 million, and a thick skein of tie-ins with fast-food, cereal, snack and toy makers aimed at piquing the curiosities of kids throughout the world.

Westinghouse/CBS will launch its first cable channel by March, drawing on programming from the entertainment, news and sports divisions of its television networks and from its TV stations and affiliates. Named for CBS' eye-shaped logo, the channel, called Eye on People, will have a biographical bent, focusing on historical and contemporary personalities both in and out of the news.

As if his own brain were as cryonically frozen as that of his final protagonist, famed British dramatist Dennis Potter resonates posthumously in "Karaoke" and "Cold Lazarus," the two provocative TV works that he outraced death to complete. Set in contemporary London, the first is about a seriously ill TV writer who thinks he's seeing fictional characters from his latest screenplay in his daily life and hearing them speak his lines.

Already veterans of the late-night booking wars, Hollywood publicists are now facing a potential skirmish in the early evening, as "Entertainment Tonight" takes steps to protect its turf from newcomer "Access Hollywood." "Entertainment Tonight" has outlasted numerous like-themed competitors in its 15 seasons.

Politicians are adept at kicking the media. But television should kick itself for granting the GOP a panoramic strip of free air time this week to celebrate Bob Dole during the Republican National Convention in San Diego. Just as it should for doing the same thing for Democrats when they seek to Bubbafy and propagandize America at their own coming presidential rally in Chicago. Let both parties have their fun and play their games--in private.

It pretty much came down to "Dragnet" vs. "NYPD Blue." Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, defended the moral lessons and downplayed the sometimes steamy visuals of the latter, while Ralph Reed, executive director of the Christian Coalition, waxed nostalgically about the straight-arrow style and on-screen propriety of the former. "I think 'NYPD Blue' is the finest-crafted show on television," Valenti said.

Year after year, television folks sanctimoniously assail the false idol of censorship and instead preach the gospel of viewers vetoing programs via the "off" switch. Now--Amen!--the industry's true believers are being forced to put their money where their liturgy is.

The passage of a federal telecommunications reform bill mandating a V-chip in every new TV set presents the broadcast networks with a serious challenge to their public image. Television executives believe the measure violates their companies' free-speech rights and are considering challenging it in court.

After years of tortuous legislative battles and high-powered industry lobbying, Congress on Thursday gave final approval to a historic measure to overhaul the nation's telecommunications laws. The bill, which President Clinton is expected to sign, is designed to spur competition among local and long-distance telephone companies, cable operators and otherproviders of communications services.

Congress on Thursday passed a sweeping measure to rewrite the nation's telecommunications laws. The bill will have a major and immediate impact on the communications industry, though the fallout for consumers will be more gradual. Q: Why are legislators and industry officials so enthusiastic about the telecom reform bill?