ABC Pushing Nightline Back for Jimmy Kimmel

In 2013, the Tonight Show and David Letterman will face new competition; ABC is moving Jimmy Kimmel Live up from midnight to 11:35 to compete head on.  Good for Jimmy Kimmel, bad for the fans of Nightline who won't be able to stay up till 12:30 am to watch their news program.  "As a consolation prize, Nightline will resume a prime-time edition Fridays at 9 staring March 1, and will expand to 30 minutes nightly."

Why January and not with the start of the Fall premieres.  You can thank the presidential election for that; political news junkies win.  Nightline performs when certain news stories emerge above the typical level of noise.   Nightline provided alternative programming on broadcast that truly differentiated from the other talk shows.  Now Kimmel will be going head to head against Leno and Letterman and news audiences will have to seek other ground from cable and online alternatives.

Will Kimmel take more from Leno or Letterman and where will the Nightline audience go?  The fight heats up January 8.

TiVo Adds Another Small Cable Operator To Its List

Can slow and steady win the race?  TiVo has announced another cable partnership, this time with GCI, the Alaska cable operator, with access to over 122,000 subscribers.  How many will upgrade and take a TiVo DVR set top box remains to be seen, although most consumers don't tend to switch out their box till something goes wrong.  So the effect on growth may prove minimal given the small base.

GCI can now be added to the list.  "In the U.S., TiVo also has agreements with Charter Communications, Suddenlink Communications, RCN and Grande Communications." Of course there is also DirecTv, but missing are the other notable names from the top cable distributors.  With a need to attract millions of cable subscribers, a GCI partnership is nice, I just wish it could move TiVo's subscriber needle more.