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Lists an update of the major players among both the major and independent studios. Columbia/Tri-Star; Disney; Fox; Lorimar; MCA; MGM; Paramount; Warner; Cannell; Carsey-Werner; Viacom; Details.

Presents an interview with ABC Entertainment President Robert Iger. The network's drive for the under-50 set; The new ABC schedule; The absence of `Cosby' on Thursday nights; More.

Unveils CBS's plan for a second consecutive prime time ratings victory in the form of its new fall schedule, revealed on Thursday May 21, 1992, which features four new comedies and four new dramas. NBC's introduction of five-and-a-half hours of new programming; NBC's attempts to solve the puzzle of Friday nights; Criticism of CBS's victory last season; Hopes of a large win by CBS this year; Details of NBC's and CBS's fall schedules; More.

Examines ABC's fall schedule for 1992-93. Presents a day-to-day description of those shows programmed. The schedule as a very safe, easy one that will be easy to sell and draw very little negative reaction; The seven new series joining the schedule; Possible strides for ABC on Thursday night with the exit of `The Cosby Show'; The surprise omission of `Matlock' from Saturday's lineup; Other shows; Details. INSET: ABC's long-form lineup..

Reports that NBC and Fox announced their fall development slates last week which indicated that NBC's total is markedly up from last year and Fox wants to fill two more nights. NBC has 39 projects; Long-form plans outlined; 28 made-for-television movies and five miniseries; Karl Malden and Raymond Burr will reprise their roles in `The Streets of San Francisco' and `Ironside'; Danielle Steel and Jackie Collins projects; Fox has heavy emphasis on dramas; More.

Discusses how Barry Diller, chairman of Fox Inc., resigned to create or acquire his own company. Now, Rupert Murdoch will oversee day-to-day control of Fox; All other key Fox executives are expected to stay; Diller had been with Fox for seven years; The impact of Diller's departure; Some think it will have no effect at all; News operation will need a change; Chase Carey, executive VP, Fox, assumes additional duties as chief operating officer; More.

Announces that a new series from Diane English, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and David E. Kelley are in the works for CBS's fall schedule. The network will debut five new series during the summer; CBS `will be very aggressive'; `Picket Fences'; `John Bago'; `Grapevine'; `2000 Malibu Road'; `Other debuts'; Details.

Discusses the worldwide influence which the L.A. screenings have taken on, a nd applauds the increased participation from smaller markets such as Turkey. The high demand for the one-hour action/adventure genre; The traditional difficulty in selling comedies and the receptiveness which the market has had toward half-hour sitcoms; The short supply of one-hour action series; Latin America's interest; October's Mipcom in France; Lack of participation from Great Britain; More.

Highlights research compiled by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers which states that network television producers incurred total production deficits of more than $464 million for the 1991-92 season. Deficits carried by producers of hour dramas, half-hour filmed series and half-hour taped shows; Reasons for the deficit jump--ever-increasing production costs and falling license fees; More.

Discusses ABC's fall schedule, which will be released on May 12, 1992. The future of `The Wonder Years'; Changes in the Tuesday and Wednesday lineup; ABC's switch of `Home Improvements' and `Coach' from Tuesday to Wednesday night; The strength of`Roseanne' on Tuesday night; New shows that will be scheduled; The show expected to go in the post-`Roseanne' slot; Excitement over `The Jackie Thomas Show'; `The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'; Details.

Details the new series rollouts and additional episodes of existing series networks will offer as the summer programming race heats up. The increased demand for summer programming; Average flight order for summer series; The low license fees for summer shows; Problems with getting talent for summer rates; Benefits of summer programming; Series debating on ABC, CBS and NBC, including `On the Air,' `The Raven,' and `Homefires'; Original episodes on Fox; More.

Highlights the main points of Saatchi & Saatchi's annual survey of network program development and prognostications for the fall. The 1991-92 season as the first season in 15 years in which three-network shares did not decline from the previous year; Last season as the first time since the mid-80's that average three-network ratings were actually up; Saatchi's predictions of the fall lineup for ABC, NBC and CBS; More.

Looks at the May sweeps, which will feature a number of long-running series that will air final episodes. ABC's plans to begin its main sweeps with series-ending episodes of `Who's the Boss,' `Growing Pains,' and `MacGyver'; NBC's schedule of series-ending episodes of `The Cosby Show,' `Golden Girls,' and `Night Court'; Movies scheduled on the networks; Fox's sweeps; Michael Jackson's new video; The three-part `Married...with Children'; New shows being aired; More.

Reports that three-and-a-half years after its last attempt, Fox is returning to the late-night arena with an hour-long late-show project starring Chevy Chase which is set to debut in the fall of 1993. Show will combine comedy sketches with celebrity interviews; Deal between Fox and Chase; Chase is one of original `Saturday Night Live' crew; Work Chase did for the Smothers Brothers; Show will air Monday through Saturday; Lucie Salhany, chairman, Twentieth Television; More.

Reports that ABC and CBS announced their Saturday morning animated cartoon lineups which include some new additions and some shows that will not return. ABC's new shows `The Addams Family,' `Goof Troop' and `Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa'; Shows not returning are `Hammerman,' `Pirates of Dark Water,' and `Beatlejuice'; `The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show' returns; CBS adds takeoffs of `Fievel's American Tails' and `Disney's The Little Mermaid'; Dumped shows; More.

Reports that the era in which viewers' participation in television game shows was limited to screaming out the answer in their living rooms could be coming to an end if a series titled `Phone Tag!' catches on. Show will generate additional revenues through 900-number phone technology; Stephen J. Cannell studio; Executive producer and creator Rick Rossner; Hopes for a 13-episode commitment for a summer run; What game consists of; Phone charges per minute; More.

Discusses that economic considerations have hit the development slates at the networks. Projects overall are down for the season; Shorter pilot presentations; Networks aren't just cutting back, they are finding new ways to do things; Changes arerubbing producers the wrong way; Fox is using live workshop presentations instead of a pilot; More.

Reports Time Warner has expanded the capabilities of its Telepictures Productions to include network and cable production for all dayparts in a move which was designed to exploit the growing hunger for reality-based programming. Jim Paratore, senior vice president of Telepictures Productions, was named its president; Paratore bringing comedy and drama writers together from Lorimar Television; David Auerbach, Viacom's VP, brought in to help; More.

Reports an exclusive `Broadcasting' survey finds money paid to producers remaining flat in recent years, and dropping for first-year programming. Bill Klein, senior vice president of CBS, said projects are looked at on a show-by-show basis; Programs such as `Cheers' and `The Cosby Show' will continue to receive fees four times as much as those paid to most other series; Major producers are questioning traditional production practices; Many current practices will be overhauled; More.

Discusses how CBS's Super Bowl numbers were anything but super, and Fox lived up to its name by slipping into CBS's party and making off with a substantial number of viewers during halftime with its `In Living Color Half-time Party.' This Super Bowl was the second-lowest rated Super Bowl since 1971; Fox's halftime draw was sponsored by Doritos; Averages; More.

Discusses that with a rating point-plus lead over second-place NBC in prime time season-to-date, CBS's Winter Olympics coverage could either narrow considerably or put the network even more comfortably ahead. CBS has also scheduled some high-profile made-for-television movies and specials; `Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'; `Grass Roots'; Other miniseries; More.

Announces that just a few days after announcing plans to split the distribution of its Volume 30 movie package between broadcast stations and cable's Lifetime Television, Warner Bros. has cleared the 28-title package in more than 30 markets, representing over 40 percent of the country. Chris-Craft and Gaylord station groups; More.

Reports that although the numbers haven't been encouraging in the show's first three airings, Civil Wars's Bill Finkelstein, creator and executive producer of the ABC series, thinks the series is finding its identity and believes ensuing episodes will get stronger. Produced under the Steven Bochco Productions banner; Finkelstein's career up to now; Future hopes for the show; Details.

Tells how Fox Broadcasting Corp. has plans to test a second channel called FoxPlex next year that will time shift the fourth network's schedule, as well as possibly its affiliates' local programing. The channel will be delivered via cable; Details are still preliminary; Would give the network and its affiliates an additional revenue stream; Programing strategies; Mixed reactions.

Looks at the overall quality of television programs on the networks this season. Networks are blocked in some time periods competitively; Would prefer to lose less costly; Peter Tortorici of CBS says, `there doesn't have to be a parallel between cost and quality'; Ratings success; Shows that are considered quality (`Cheers' and `Murphy Brown'); A quality series has network support; New quality series; `Brooklyn Bridge' creator Gary David Goldberg; Details.

Presents an interview with Paramount's new head of TV production Kerry McCluggage in which he talks about the challenge of producing more with less. Cutting quality as an answer to runaway costs; McCluggage happy with the current crop of executives; New plans for this year; McCluggage's highest priority of finding new methods of production financing for both international and domestic markets; Beefing up the talent roster; Creating a positive environment.

Details the research commissioned and distributed by Prime Ticket Network, which allows Los Angeles area cable operators to know more about the lifestyles and purchasing habits of their subscribers than any other cable system in the country . How the research was conducted; Implications from the findings; Cost of the research; The 145 systems that received the information for free; More.

Forecasts the success of programming telenovelas and maxi-series on the major networks. NBC's ongoing talks with Miami-based Coral Pictures for a five- to six -week, five-day-a-week telenovela; Success of telenovelas in Latin American countries; Telenovelas' similarities with soap operas; Use of the genre as a new form of programming to stem network erosion to cable networks; The cost to produce telenovelas; More.

Reports that ABC affiliates were castigated by network executives for their failure to provide more clearances for `Nightline' and other network shows at the annual affiliates meeting held during the week of June 1, 1992. The network's plan to slice clutter from prime time by cutting time for public service announcements and closing credits; ABC's intention to enter the pay-per-view business and possible network-cable ownership; More.

Anticipates the release of the four major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX) schedules for the fall 1992 season. Network executives' last minute deals and strategies for rebuilding sagging nights; Scheduling on Thursday night, now that `The Cosby Show' is gone; CBS's 22-episode renewal of `Brooklyn Bridge'; CBS's four new shows in development; NBC's problems in replacing the shows which were lost this past season; The little change expected at FOX; Details.

Notes that competitors are looking at Johnny Carson's May 22, 1992 departure from `The Tonight Show' as a window of opportunity for their own late-night shows. Competitors' hopes to grab a significant piece of the daypart's growing advertising base; The twofold allure of late night advertising: low cost and attractive audience; Fox's launch of a late-night talk show with Chevy Chase in 1993; Stability of `The Arsenio Hall Show'; Other late-night shows; More.

Reports that on the heels of the release of Fox's and NBC's development slates two weeks ago, CBS and ABC made theirs known to advertisers last week. CBS crop consists of 23 projects; Network lured producers such as David Kelley (`L.A. Law'), Janis Hirsch (`Anything But Love'), others; `Scarlett,' the 8-hour adaptation of `Gone With the Wind'; ABC boasts 36 projects; More.

Reports that in an effort to calm visiting affiliates over NBC's slide out of first place in the prime time rankings and its more recent refusal to renew several key, but older-skewing series, NBC trotted out an impressive list of May sweeps programs and impressed the group with its fall projects. Warren Littlefield, president, NBC entertainment; NBC without `Matlock,' `In the Heat of the Night,' and `Golden Girls'; Other projects; West Coast prime time shift; More.

Reports that after six years with `L.A. Law,' David E. Kelley, executive producer, is striking out on his own as the creator and executive producer of `Picket Fences' for CBS. Production began on March 9; Show is set in the fictional small town of Rome, Wis.; The show will kick off with a 2-hour movie; Kelley remains a consultant to `L.A. Law'; More.

Reports that Reeves Entertainment is producing seven series pilots for fall-schedule consideration, with three slated for ABC, three for CBS, and one for Nickelodeon. `Beauty' starring Karen Allen and directed by former `Thirtysomething' star KenOlin; `Charing Cross'; `Graham,' a half-hour comedy featuring Griffin Dunne as the `David Lettermen of kids' shows hosts'; More.

States that Fox Broadcasting and MTV have teamed up to present `A Concert for Life,' a multi-star show to raise money and awareness to combat the spread of AIDS. The concert is set for April 20 at London's Wembley Stadium; The event will serve as a tribute to Freddie Mercury, former lead singer of the group Queen, who died of AIDS last year; When the concert will air on Fox and MTV; All profits will be donated; More.

Discusses how all four executives from the four networks detailed how their networks are turning to more presentations rather than full-length pilots and in Fox's case, more live workshop-type presentations. Discussions on whether it is wise to make cuts in the development area; Some projects may be hurt by the cutbacks; Pilots are used for more than just development; Are the advertisers being shown enough; More.

Announces that the American Federation of Television Actors & Radio Artists and the Screen Actors Guild came to a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for a new three-year film and network television prime-time contract. The new agreement will replace the current pact; All representatives of all three organizations were close-mouthed; SAG to take jurisdiction over the Screens Extras Guild; More.

Announces that 10 months after launching `Crimetime After Primetime', the adult action adventure series in the 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. time slot, CBS's numbers keep growing while the network looks for the perfect blend of shows. New series to debut; Low budget series; Ratings; More.

Announces that NBC has agreed to several guidelines proposed by the Caucus for Producers, Writers, and Directors. Guidelines; Costs; Provisions; NSS pocketpiece; More.

Reports how Fox may have found a way to give its sixth night of prime time programming--set to debut this summer--a running start by working with Aaron Spelling Productions and developing `Melrose Place.' The new show is a spin-off of the successful `Beverly Hills, 90210'; One-hour show is created by Darren Star, who created `Beverly Hills, 90210'; Show centers around young adults out of college living on their own for the first time in Los Angeles; More.

Announces that Mitani Corp. a communications and computer products company in Japan, has co-founded Mudia Corp. with an initial investment of $60 million. Teaming with Tom Hulett & Associates; Will seek co-production and co-distribution; `The Magic Star Awards Show'; Boxing matches to be broadcast; More.

Announces that John Miller, NBC-TV's executive vice president for advertising and promotion and daytime and children's programs, said there would be a new weekday daytime show. Half-hour talk-magazine focusing on health issues; Hosted by Dr. Dean Edell; More.

Announces that although the NATPE organization has seen steady growth in thepast few years from international attendees to its annual convention, the overseas contingent visiting New Orleans this year will be diminished from last year by about 25 percent. Expansion abroad anticipated; More.

Announces that Delta Burke, late of CBS's `Designing Women,' has hooked up with ABC, where the network has signed the actress to star in a half hour comedy series that could debut as early as next fall. Barry Kemp of `Coach' will serve as co-executive producer; `On The Air' will open later this year; `Anything but Love' to be cancelled; More.

Announces that the press gathered in Los Angeles for the annual presentation hears about USA's `Quantum Leap,' HBO's Gary Shandling series, and Showtime's Oliver Stone documentary. VH-1 will have two new original series and three pilot specials;T NN is in its 10th year; Ed Turner; More.

Tells how the Corporation for Public Broadcasting-PBS Program Challenge Fund has given a $2 million grant to `The West,' a 10-hour series that reunites the production team that produced `The Civil War' series. Announcement made by Don Marbury, director, CPB Television Program Fund; Project set to air in 1996; Reunites Ken Burns, Stephen Ives and Geoffrey Ward, the creative principals of `The Civil War'; Announcement of other grants; Details.

Looks at how Fox announced plans to ambush CBS's Winter Olympics with the `Fox Summer Games,' a week-long theme of summer-oriented programs. Comments from Peter Chernin, president, Fox Entertainment; Description of the program; Fox also plans to debut four new series beginning in March; Fox News Service; Other issues; Details.

Presents highlights of the most hotly contested November sweeps in history. NBC outdistanced second-place CBS by three-tenths of a rating point and came out six-tenths of a rating point ahead of third-place ABC. NBC winning its seventh consecutive November sweeps; CBS did mark its seventh weekly ratings win of the 11-week-old season with the help of `E.T. the Extra Terrestrial'; Details.

Highlights a Western Cable Show panel that looked at current trends in programming and what the future may hold for cable programming. William Rosendahl, vice president, operations, Century Southwest Cable TV Inc. Panel members include: Tim Robertson, The Family Channel's president; Bob Johnson, president, Black Entertainment Television (BET); Others; Where they hope to see their business expand in the next 10 years; Current cable programming; More.