Aikman signs with Fox Sports team
It's official: Troy Aikman is joining Fox Sports. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, his former NFL teammate Daryl "Moose" Johnston and veteran play-by-play announcer Dick Stockton will be Fox's number-two NFL broadcast team next season.
Both Aikman and Johnston, who also just signed with Fox Sports, will handle analysis chores. Aikman has worked on Fox Sports Net telecasts of NFL Europe League games in the past two seasons, and Johnston served as an NFL analyst for CBS Sports last season.
CBS wins delayed April 9-15 week
A Survivor-strong CBS topped the networks in both total viewers and adults 18-49, for the week of April 9-15, according to Nielsen Media Research, which worked out the kinks in its computer system.
CBS logged 12.4 million viewers for the period, followed by ABC at 9.8 million, which was boosted by strong outings by new entry My Wife and Kids, and NBC (8.1 million), still backed by a strong Thursday lineup.
Too bad NBC's The Weakest Link couldn't be counted for the ratings week: The network landed in fourth place in adults 18-49 (3.2), behind leader CBS (4.1), Fox (3.5) and ABC (3.3).
Fox, which came in first in adults 18-34 (3.8 rating/13 share) for the 19th time this season, could crow about the continued muscle of Boot Camp, which was the highest-rated program on Tuesday night in adults 18-49 and adults 18-34.
TNN gets Mad TV
TNN has picked up the off-net cable rights to Warner Bros.-distributed sketch comedy Mad TV. Currently in its sixth season on Fox, Mad TV includes a mix of satirical skits on movies, TV, music and politics.
This month, Fox ordered two more seasons of the series, which has featured such guests as Jennifer Love Hewitt, Carmen Electra and Susan Sarandon.
No financial terms were disclosed, but sources say the network shelled out $1.5 million an episode for off-net cable rights to CSI: Crime Scene Investigations.
TV Land acquires Love Boat, Lucy
TV Land, which turns five this month, passed the 60 million-subscriber mark, with 60.2 million cable and satellite subscribers.
To satisfy this beefed-up viewership, the network unveiled new programming acquisitions, including The Love Boat, premiering in June, and I Love Lucy, launching Oct. 15, the same date the series debuted on CBS 50 years ago.
Also, Taxi will roll into TV Land in November, and The Rockford Files will unspool in January 2002. An Aug. 1 installment of its biography series Inside TV Land will profile Get Smart. In the future, Inside TV will take a look at how show ideas get pitched and the presence of African-Americans in television.
To promote its upcoming lineup and fifth anniversary, TV Land created a rap video to begin airing in May, starring The Odd Couple's Tony Randall and The A-Team's Mr. T.
