BROADCAST/CABLE

BROADCAST/CABLE

Showtime has made final an exclusive deal with Summit Entertainment to bring 42 films released by Summit between 2008 and 2012 to the pay-cable channel’s programming slate. The centerpiece of the deal is “Twilight,” the wildly popular book-turned-movie about romantic vampires. Variety (12/4)

MTV’s finale episode of Paris Hilton’s My New BFF Tuesday night at 10p nabbed the highest rating of the season among P12-34 with a delivery of 1.8. (Cynopsis 12/5)

On the heels of announcing its premiere date, ABC decided to only order nine episodes, including the pilot, of midseason drama Cupid instead of 13 episodes, per THR/Live Feed. ABC also reduced the orders for new dramas Castle and The Unusuals to 10 episodes each, including the pilots. In further ABC news, the premiere date of its new reality series Homeland Security USA is scheduled for January 6 at 8p. The series, formerly titled Border Security will replace an hour-long According to Jim on this night. (Cynopsis 12/5)

As a reminder, Jeremy Piven played Cupid in the original.  Click the image below for a trailer of the show.

Viacom announced it is eliminating 850 employees or 7% of its workforce and initiating a salary freeze for senior staff. These moves are expected to save the company between $200 million and $250 million next year. The cuts will affect all divisions such as MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Comedy Central, Spike TV, TV Land, Paramount Pictures, Neopets, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, BET among others. (Cynopsis 12/5)

The growth of video on the Web will not diminish the appetite of people watching on TV, they’ll just view content on both platforms, according to research from ESPN. Artie Bulgrin, ESPN’s chief research executive, referred to this additional viewing as “new markets of time.” MediaPost Communications (12/4)

Magna’s On-Demand Quarterly report indicates that 44% of U.S. television households will have some kind of digital video recorder by 2014, which will increase total viewing, but erode viewing impressions across the board. “While DVRs will continue to disproportionately impact younger target audiences and network prime time, the aging of our society and the gradually eroding importance of network prime time will likely render such targets incrementally less important in the years ahead,” said Brian Wieser, director of industry analysis for Magna. TVWeek.com (12/4)