'Bioshock,' which became one of last year's biggest console games, is making the expected move to the big screen with Gore Verbinski on board to direct, according to Variety || The last two seasons of 'Lost' will now be 17 hours each instead of 16 hours to make p for time lost because of the Writers Guild of America strike, says The Hollywood Reporter || Common, a rap artist, has decided to take a turn to acting and has been granted a role on 'Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins,' according to Variety || For the first time, SciFi Channel will rerun episodes of the 1987-94 series 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' joining 'Charmed' and 'Mork & Mindy' on the cable outlet, Variety reports || 'Star Trek: The Experience' may be running out of steam. Cedar Fair, which owns the Las Vegas attraction, says there are no plans to renew its contract with CBS Corp., which could close the event next year, TrekToday reports || 'Bioshock,' which became one of last year's biggest console games, is making the expected move to the big screen with Gore Verbinski on board to direct, according to Variety || The last two seasons of 'Lost' will now be 17 hours each instead of 16 hours to make p for time lost because of the Writers Guild of America strike, says The Hollywood Reporter || Common, a rap artist, has decided to take a turn to acting and has been granted a role on 'Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins,' according to Variety || For the first time, SciFi Channel will rerun episodes of the 1987-94 series 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' joining 'Charmed' and 'Mork & Mindy' on the cable outlet, Variety reports || 'Star Trek: The Experience' may be running out of steam. Cedar Fair, which owns the Las Vegas attraction, says there are no plans to renew its contract with CBS Corp., which could close the event next year, TrekToday reports ||

TV Guide Guarantees Ratings Boost For NBC

By MICHAEL HINMAN
Source: TV Week
May-05-2008

TV Guide covers television, so why not act like television?

In an unprecedented move, the popular entertainment magazine has guaranteed ratings increases for some of NBC Universal's programming when it's promoted on the TV Guide Network, TVGuide's Web site, TV Guide's interactive programming guides, and the magazine itself.

Details of the advertising and promotional agreement were not released, but TV Week described it as being a "multi-million dollar deal."

The bold guarantee already seems to have some backing. Apparently, NBC shows that were promoted at the beginning of the year through TV Guide properties like "American Gladiators" and "Lipstick Jungle" were higher than when they weren't being promoted by those properties.

While it hasn't affected genre shows just yet, TV Guide is pushing hard its impact on television viewership, recently sharing a survey they conducted that shows ratings in homes monitored by Nielsen Media Research were 20 percent higher for shows that advertised with the magazine.

The guarantees come at what are some interesting times for TV Guide. Gemstar-TV Guide International's acquisition by Macrovision was approved last week by shareholders, and some of the magazine's senior editors have already been replaced. The magazine has been eroding subscribers and advertisers over the years, and Macrovision is working to turn that around.

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