Free Republic

Ratings for the Academy Awards telecast in the nation's biggest television markets are up 7 percent over last year. The Nielsen company said Monday that New York, Kansas City, Mo., and Chicago were the strongest markets for Sunday's telecast, where "12 Years a Slave" won the Academy Award for best picture. Nielsen's estimate for how many people actually watched the show was expected later Monday. The Oscars are frequently the second most-watched television program of the year after the Super Bowl, with viewership topping 40 million people last year.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday morning that actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway will host the 83rd annual Oscar telecast Feb. 27 on ABC -- a move that certainly seems designed to help the academy achieve its long-held goal of attracting a younger viewing audience. The 32-year-old Franco is currently receiving rave reviews for his work in Danny Boyle's "127 Hours" and the 28-year-old Hathaway, currently starring in the new romantic drama "Love & Other Drugs," earned a best actress nomination for 2008's "Rachel Getting Married." "James Franco and Anne Hathaway personify the next generation...

Viacom networks MTV, BET and CMT are giving an hour of free air time to President Obama less than three weeks before the midterm elections. The so-called “A Conversation with President Obama” will be live and commercial-free on six Viacom networks at 4 p.m. on Thursday. The networks will not give equal time to a Republican before the election, according to a spokeswoman. MTV denies that the Obama hour of TV is political, despite the timing, weeks before the midterm elections.

New Delhi, May 2: The Indian cricket fan would want to forget the just-concluded World Cup as a nightmare but the double whammy of the national team’s shocking exit and atrocious TV coverage would leave bitter memories for a long, long time. Former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh, who was in India during the World Cup, gave vent to his disgust by stating that the telecast in India was "unwatchable". "It is annoying, ridiculous and an insult to the game to see an advertisement being squeezed in just because the bowler has not reached the top of his run-up," the...