Tv | featured news

Losses will mount at the Oprah Winfrey OWN network as investment is ramped up, said David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery Communications.

Alec Baldwin's addiction to the cell phone game "Words with Friends" got him booted from an American Airlines plane parked at a Los Angeles International Airport gate Tuesday afternoon, the actor's spokesman said.

Against mostly atypical competition, CBS’ regular Monday lineup dominated every half-hour in its return to originals last night after a week of repeats. ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, a huge draw among total viewers, sucks out (mostly older) audiences from the competition. As they didn’t face Dancing with originals for the first time this season, CBS’ comedies boosted their viewership. How I Met Your Mother (4.5/12 in adults 18-49, 11.7 million total viewers) was up a tenth in the demo vs. two weeks ago and drew its largest audience with a regularly scheduled episode in almost three years. (since January 12, 2009).

Ten NBC-owned television stations will team with nonprofit news outlets in an attempt to beef up their enterprise and analytical reporting.

The Material Girl will be taking the stage on football's biggest night. Madonna, who has sold more than 300 million records, will perform at halftime of the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. The NFL and NBC announced Sunday during the Detroit-New Orleans game that the Grammy Award-winning singer will highlight the show at Lucas Oil Stadium on Feb. 5.

It will be great for TV ratings, that’s for sure. A group of pole dancing advocates wants the activity, more commonly associated with dim nightclubs, recognized as an Olympic sport. The Pole Fitness Association and other pole dancing advocacy groups are circulating petitions to have vertical dance, which they compare to gymnastics, added to the London 2012 lineup.

Sources very close to Kris Humphries tell TMZ ... Kris is gunning for an annulment based on fraud because he feels "he was just slotted in the plot line of Kim Kardashian's latest headline and newest business venture."

In an unexpected twist, TVs are topping many Christmas shopping lists this year. Wal-Mart says TVs are among the top gifts people are putting on layaway at its 3,000-plus U.S. stores during the holiday season. The Westinghouse 46-inch LCD HDTV that was on sale for half off at Target for $298 was a top seller during the start to the season last weekend. And Abt Electronics already has sold out of 55-inch Samsung LED TVs that were marked down by half to $1,099.

Movie critic Roger Ebert says the public television program "Ebert Presents: At The Movies" will go on hiatus at the end of December.

The new trailer for John Carter premiered on ABC's "Good Morning America" this morning and the channel has put the trailer online as how it aired on the program. You can watch it below and we'll update the trailer when the official version comes online.