Jimmy Fallon takes over The Tonight Show in Spring 2014, iconic show moves to New York City NBC Release: Jay Leno, longtime host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” announced today that he will wrap up what will be 22 years of headlining the iconic late-night show in Spring 2014. NBC also announced today that Jimmy Fallon, now host of NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” will transition into new hosting duties on “The Tonight Show” franchise after Leno concludes his successful run. As part of the transition, “The Tonight Show” will be returning to its original home in 30 Rock in New York and will be executive-produced by Emmy Award winner Lorne Michaels (“Saturday Night Live,” “30 Rock”).
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Jimmy Fallon takes over The Tonight Show in Spring 2014, iconic show moves to New York City

NBC Release: Jay Leno, longtime host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” announced today that he will wrap up what will be 22 years of headlining the iconic late-night show in Spring 2014. NBC also announced today that Jimmy Fallon, now host of NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” will transition into new hosting duties on “The Tonight Show” franchise after Leno concludes his successful run.

As part of the transition, “The Tonight Show” will be returning to its original home in 30 Rock in New York and will be executive-produced by Emmy Award winner Lorne Michaels (“Saturday Night Live,” “30 Rock”).

Norwegian public television plans to broadcast a burning fireplace for 12 straight hours from Friday evening, with firewood specialists providing color commentary, expert advice and a bit of cultural tutoring. “We’ll talk about the very nerdy subjects like burning, slicing and stacking the wood, but we’ll also have cultural segments with music and poems,” Rune Moeklebust, a producer for state broadcaster NRK. “It will be very slow but noble television.” READ ON: Norway plans 12-hour prime-time TV show of a fireplace
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Norwegian public television plans to broadcast a burning fireplace for 12 straight hours from Friday evening, with firewood specialists providing color commentary, expert advice and a bit of cultural tutoring.

“We’ll talk about the very nerdy subjects like burning, slicing and stacking the wood, but we’ll also have cultural segments with music and poems,” Rune Moeklebust, a producer for state broadcaster NRK.

“It will be very slow but noble television.”

READ ON: Norway plans 12-hour prime-time TV show of a fireplace

Poor password security allowed hackers to broadcast a bogus warning on TV networks that the United States was under attack by zombies, broadcasters said, and one expert in the technology said the emergency channel they broke into remained vulnerable. The attacks on Monday on a handful of stations prompted the government to order broadcasters to change passwords for the equipment that authorities use to instantly push out emergency broadcasts through what is known as the Emergency Alert System, or EAS. The FCC would not comment on the attacks, but in an urgent advisory sent to television stations on Tuesday the agency said: “All EAS participants are required to take immediate action.” READ ON: Broadcasters blame zombie hack on easy passwords
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Poor password security allowed hackers to broadcast a bogus warning on TV networks that the United States was under attack by zombies, broadcasters said, and one expert in the technology said the emergency channel they broke into remained vulnerable.

The attacks on Monday on a handful of stations prompted the government to order broadcasters to change passwords for the equipment that authorities use to instantly push out emergency broadcasts through what is known as the Emergency Alert System, or EAS.

The FCC would not comment on the attacks, but in an urgent advisory sent to television stations on Tuesday the agency said: “All EAS participants are required to take immediate action.”

READ ON: Broadcasters blame zombie hack on easy passwords

Al Gore said on Tuesday that tough competition from major U.S. television networks forced him to sell Current TV, a struggling progressive cable channel, to Al Jazeera, and he praised the Arabic news broadcaster’s coverage of climate change. Gore, a former vice president who won a Nobel Peace Prize for raising awareness about the problems with climate change, said on NBC’s “Today” show that he was proud of the channel and had never thought of it as simply a monetary investment. “As an independent network … we found it difficult to compete in this age of conglomerates,” he said. Earlier this month, Qatar-based Al Jazeera announced it was buying Current TV, a move that could enable it to better compete with American news networks like CNN, MSNBC and Fox. READ ON: Al Gore says tough competition forced sale of Current TV
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Al Gore said on Tuesday that tough competition from major U.S. television networks forced him to sell Current TV, a struggling progressive cable channel, to Al Jazeera, and he praised the Arabic news broadcaster’s coverage of climate change.

Gore, a former vice president who won a Nobel Peace Prize for raising awareness about the problems with climate change, said on NBC’s “Today” show that he was proud of the channel and had never thought of it as simply a monetary investment.

“As an independent network … we found it difficult to compete in this age of conglomerates,” he said.

Earlier this month, Qatar-based Al Jazeera announced it was buying Current TV, a move that could enable it to better compete with American news networks like CNN, MSNBC and Fox.

READ ON: Al Gore says tough competition forced sale of Current TV

NBC on Sunday announced more record audiences for its prime-time TV coverage of the London Olympics, even as the Twitterverse erupted in complaints about the U.S. network’s online streaming efforts and delays in broadcasting key competitions. Contributions to the Twitter hashtags #NBCfail and #NBCsucks surged on Sunday, with many posters complaining about the quality of NBCUniversal’s online platform, which promised to show every sporting contest live for those unwilling to wait hours for the network’s main primetime coverage of the day’s events. “you suck! I can’t stream anything because your website is broken. It even verified directtv account, just to tease me. #NBCFail” read a posting to #NBCfail on Sunday by Twitter user Beth Hodgson. Others complained about the plethora of ads interrupting NBC’s coverage across multiple broadcast and cable outlets, and commentary by some of the NBC anchors. “Finally got @nbcolympics live stream working online only to find it full of ads & streaming issues,” Cindy Gallop said on Twitter. READ ON: Record viewers, online complaints for Olympics broadcaster NBC
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NBC on Sunday announced more record audiences for its prime-time TV coverage of the London Olympics, even as the Twitterverse erupted in complaints about the U.S. network’s online streaming efforts and delays in broadcasting key competitions.

Contributions to the Twitter hashtags #NBCfail and #NBCsucks surged on Sunday, with many posters complaining about the quality of NBCUniversal’s online platform, which promised to show every sporting contest live for those unwilling to wait hours for the network’s main primetime coverage of the day’s events.

“you suck! I can’t stream anything because your website is broken. It even verified directtv account, just to tease me. #NBCFail” read a posting to #NBCfail on Sunday by Twitter user Beth Hodgson.

Others complained about the plethora of ads interrupting NBC’s coverage across multiple broadcast and cable outlets, and commentary by some of the NBC anchors.

“Finally got @nbcolympics live stream working online only to find it full of ads & streaming issues,” Cindy Gallop said on Twitter.

READ ON: Record viewers, online complaints for Olympics broadcaster NBC

A new startup is embracing the openness of mobile and Internet platforms and developing Ouya, a $99 gaming console for the television with software and hardware that is designed to be hacked. The device will include a controller with a touch pad and a free software development kit. “The current console market is closed, it’s expensive to develop and it’s expensive to buy games,” Julie Uhrman, a former executive at video game website IGN, said. “And we really wanted to turn that idea on its head by creating an open game console where it was inexpensive and affordable for gamers both on console side and game side.”  The team hopes Ouya will bring innovation to the good old video game console by attracting “indie” or independent game developers and makers of Triple-A game titles in a bid to capture the imagination of casual and core gamers alike. Moreover, all the games will be free-to-try. That means developers can pick any plan to monetize their offerings like micro-transactions through sales of virtual goods or subscriptions, as long the gamer can try the game at first for free. MEDIAFILE: Meet Ouya, the $99 gaming console designed to be hacked
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A new startup is embracing the openness of mobile and Internet platforms and developing Ouya, a $99 gaming console for the television with software and hardware that is designed to be hacked. The device will include a controller with a touch pad and a free software development kit.

“The current console market is closed, it’s expensive to develop and it’s expensive to buy games,” Julie Uhrman, a former executive at video game website IGN, said. “And we really wanted to turn that idea on its head by creating an open game console where it was inexpensive and affordable for gamers both on console side and game side.” 

The team hopes Ouya will bring innovation to the good old video game console by attracting “indie” or independent game developers and makers of Triple-A game titles in a bid to capture the imagination of casual and core gamers alike.

Moreover, all the games will be free-to-try. That means developers can pick any plan to monetize their offerings like micro-transactions through sales of virtual goods or subscriptions, as long the gamer can try the game at first for free.

MEDIAFILE: Meet Ouya, the $99 gaming console designed to be hacked

Al Gore’s Current TV has bigger problems to deal with than a potential lawsuit from fired news anchor Keith Olbermann - namely not getting kicked off Time Warner Cable for low ratings. According to three sources with knowledge of the situation, Time Warner Cable Inc’s carriage agreement with Current TV stipulates that, if the left-leaning political news network fails to meet a minimum threshold for overall viewers in a given quarter, financial penalties such as Current TV being required to increase marketing and promotion spending on the cable operator’s systems are triggered. If Current TV misses the audience benchmark in two consecutive quarters, another clause is triggered that would allow Time Warner Cable to drop the channel. The condition was built into the most recent distribution pact between the two parties, which was signed in 2010. If it was not for Olbermann’s show, which averaged a total of 177,000 viewers per night, Current TV likely would have missed Time Warner Cable’s viewership benchmark, said one of the sources. EXCLUSIVE: Low ratings could end cable deal for Current TV
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Al Gore’s Current TV has bigger problems to deal with than a potential lawsuit from fired news anchor Keith Olbermann - namely not getting kicked off Time Warner Cable for low ratings.

According to three sources with knowledge of the situation, Time Warner Cable Inc’s carriage agreement with Current TV stipulates that, if the left-leaning political news network fails to meet a minimum threshold for overall viewers in a given quarter, financial penalties such as Current TV being required to increase marketing and promotion spending on the cable operator’s systems are triggered.

If Current TV misses the audience benchmark in two consecutive quarters, another clause is triggered that would allow Time Warner Cable to drop the channel. The condition was built into the most recent distribution pact between the two parties, which was signed in 2010.

If it was not for Olbermann’s show, which averaged a total of 177,000 viewers per night, Current TV likely would have missed Time Warner Cable’s viewership benchmark, said one of the sources.

EXCLUSIVE: Low ratings could end cable deal for Current TV

Congressional members and Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart receive threatening letters

Three members of Congress have received threatening mail containing a suspicious powder later found to be harmless and law enforcement officials on Wednesday warned that more may be coming.

Another U.S. law enforcement official said letters sent to television personalities Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert threatened biological attacks on U.S. senators.

Other letters to a number of news organizations and postmarked Oregon warned that 100 letters had been sent to the Washington or home-state offices of U.S. senators and that 10 of those contained a deadly pathogen, a law enforcement source said.

Read more of this story filed by Richard Cowan, Thomas Ferraro, Michelle Nichols and Mark Hosenball

Story developing | Follow @Reuters on Twitter
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Story developing | Follow @Reuters on Twitter

Apple Inc. is in talks with Canada’s two biggest telecom companies about becoming partners in the launch of iTV, a device combining features of the wildly popular iPad tablet with those of a television set, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. Rogers Communications and BCE, parent of Bell Canada, are already testing the device in their labs, Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper reported, citing an unnamed source. Cupertino-based Apple has neither confirmed nor denied speculation that it was working on iTV, which the industry believes would involve a new device enabling a user to buy and view licensed content, along the lines of the iTunes model. Read more: Apple in talks on iTV with Canada telecoms
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Apple Inc. is in talks with Canada’s two biggest telecom companies about becoming partners in the launch of iTV, a device combining features of the wildly popular iPad tablet with those of a television set, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Rogers Communications and BCE, parent of Bell Canada, are already testing the device in their labs, Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper reported, citing an unnamed source.

Cupertino-based Apple has neither confirmed nor denied speculation that it was working on iTV, which the industry believes would involve a new device enabling a user to buy and view licensed content, along the lines of the iTunes model.

Read more: Apple in talks on iTV with Canada telecoms