Tv Programs

Two weeks after a major management shake-up at NBC Universal's New York headquarters, Jeff Zucker, the company's top television executive, is considering a reorganization of the entertainment division in Burbank, three executives close to the situation said Tuesday. One scenario under consideration: elevating Jeff Gaspin over all of the company's TV content, according to two executives who asked not to be identified because the discussions were confidential.

Possibly only in Iraq could "Survivor" bring a new sense of reality to reality TV. Here, it's not called "Survivor." It's called "Playing House." But in a nation skidding toward civil war, putting Shiites, Kurds, Sunnis and Christians under a single roof to "play house" might literally end up as a contest for survival of the fittest. The creators of "Beit Beut," the name of a game that has been a staple of Iraqi childhood for as long as anyone can remember, had just the opposite in mind, though.

CBS Corp.'s Paramount Network Television named Glenn Geller senior vice president, current programming, replacing Tom Russo. Geller, formerly a programming executive with the CBS network, will oversee prime-time series at the Los Angeles-based studio. He will report to division President David Stapf.

Escalating an already heated national debate, a first-of-its-kind TV channel is set to premiere today designed specifically for babies -- an age group that the American Academy of Pediatrics says should be kept away from television altogether. The round-the-clock channel is called BabyFirstTV. For $9.99 a month, it is available initially by satellite through DirecTV and later through cable TV providers as well.

Tune in to TV Marti, and you can see anything from global news and hard-hitting documentaries to a sitcom with a bearded revolutionary wreaking havoc on a mythical island shaped a lot like Cuba. But after 16 years and nearly $200 million from U.S. taxpayers, a question nags at its critics and even some who support the pro-democracy mission of the propaganda outlet: Is anyone in Cuba watching?

TiVo Inc. today is expected to announce a service that allows its digital video recorders to save programs to iPods and PlayStation Portables, further untethering television from time and place. The new offering builds on TiVo's existing TiVo to Go feature, which enables some subscribers to transfer shows to a laptop or PC via a home network. TiVo executives said the company was responding to a proliferation of portable devices.

Comedy Cheers: The Complete Seventh Season. The Boston bar and its patrons in TV history. Paramount: four discs, 22 episodes, $39.99, Tuesday. Crank Yankers: Season 2, Volume 2. Puppets and rude phone calls. Paramount/Comedy Central: two discs, 15 episodes, includes audio calls from Jimmy Kimmel and Eminem, $26.99, Nov. 29. The Dukes of Hazzard: The Complete Fifth Season. NASCAR, the Duke cousins Vance and Coy ... and Daisy. Warner Bros.: eight discs, 22 episodes, $39.98, Dec.

The city so known for televising painstakingly long police chases, and taking heat for airing their sometimes gruesome outcomes, took it to the skies Wednesday with moment-by-moment coverage of the JetBlue airliner that circled over the ocean for three hours. In the end, the New York-bound flight landed perfectly at Los Angeles International Airport with its front wheels at a 90-degree angle.

Dale Knoop works in a suburban office complex, a long way from the Hollywood suites where network officials greenlight new TV shows. But here he was on a recent drizzly morning, listening to a pitch for a new hip-hop channel called Pure Phat. Knoop is in the vanguard of a rapidly changing medium that industry experts predict will transform the way we watch news and entertainment: mobile phone television.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., distributor of the James Bond spy movies, said Thursday that fourth-quarter profit fell 36% as film sales declined. Analysts expected a loss. Net income dropped to $38.5 million, or 16 cents a share, from $60.3 million, or 25 cents, a year earlier, Los Angeles-based MGM said. Revenue fell 17% to $453.4 million from $543.1 million. MGM, being acquired for $2.9 billion by an investor group led by Sony Corp.