Nbc, Fox | featured news

English Premier League soccer games will move to NBC from Fox and ESPN next year under a new deal announced Sunday night.

CBS, NBC and Fox will face Dish in court starting Monday over its commercial-skipping feature AutoHop, which works on TV network programs recorded on DVRs.

Against a rousing football game on NBC, Fox’s broadcast of the Primetime Emmy Awards attracted an average of only 12.5 million people — the trophy show’s smallest audience since its famously disastrous 2008 broadcast on ABC. Last year’s Emmy show bagged about 1 million more viewers than Sunday’s, according to early reports (final national stats won’t be in until Tuesday morning).

Broadcasters took a big step toward eliminating free TV shows on the Web after they blocked access to their programming online this month to enforce their demands to be paid. Recent actions by Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS in two separate fee disputes suggest that after a few years of experimenting with free, ad-supported viewing, broadcasters believe they can make more money from cable TV providers if they hold back some programming online.

On a night of big finales on NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX, it was the two-hour "Grey's Anatomy" season-ender that ruled. But once again, ABC's already cancelled "FlashForward" delivered low enough ratings to help CBS split the night.

As a joint venture between Disney, Fox and NBC Universal, Hulu is best known for its free and extensive library of TV shows and movies.

It’s been rumored for a while now that Hulu intends to launch a subscription service. The NBC/FOX/ABC online video website already has built up an audience with its impressive TV library and alien ad campaigns, but the networks have been looking to turn Hulu into a significant profit generator.