Eric Garcetti
Eric Garcetti is reaching out to Hollywood. (Associated Press / June 24, 2013)
After the coffee. Before seeing how "Under the Dome" did in the ratings.


CBS' 'Under the Dome'
"Under the Dome," a series that launches June 24 on CBS, is based on Stephen King's bestselling novel about a small town that is suddenly and inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world by a transparent dome. (CBS)

The Skinny: I've been watching some pilots lately. I like FX's "The Bridge" and surprisingly enjoyed Fox's "Sleepy Hollow," which normally wouldn't be my cup of tea. Tuesday's headlines include the continuing shakeups at Warner Bros. and how the next mayor of Los Angeles is trying to work more closely with Hollywood.
Amazon
Miami topped Amazon's first ranking of cities by music purchases per capita. (Screenshot from Amazon's vinyl record store)

The beat keeps rockin' in Miami
The heart of rock 'n' roll may be in Cleveland, but Miami, Fla., residents have purchased more music per capita fromAmazon.com Inc. than any other major U.S. city in the last year, the online retail giant said Tuesday.
Pulling together sales of MP3s, CDs and vinyl records, the Seattle company said Miami also has remarkably diverse music tastes.
Miami customers bought more Latin, dance and heavy metal music than any other city. It also topped sales rankings for children's music.  
Pittsburgh customers bought more rock music than any other city, and ranked No. 2 overall. No. 3-ranking Orlando, Fla., the epicenter of the 1990s boy-band boom, had the most pop purchases per customer. 
Salt Lake City and St. Louis rounded out the top five overall in Amazon's first-ever ranking. 
The only California city in the top 20 was Berkeley at No. 16, which accounted for more jazz sales than anywhere else. Los Angeles did not rank in the top 20. 
Amazon's list is based on a per-capita assessment of sales in of the 100 most heavily populated cities between April 1, 2012, and March 31, 2013.
Here's the top 20 list:
  1. Miami
  2. Pittsburgh
  3. Orlando, Fla.
  4. Salt Lake City
  5. St. Louis
  6. Cincinnati
  7. Seattle
  8. Ann Arbor, Mich.
  9. Richmond, Va.
  10. Atlanta
  11. Cambridge, Mass.
  12. Columbia, S.C.
  13. Knoxville, Tenn.
  14. Dayton, Ohio
  15. Rochester, N.Y.
  16. Berkeley
  17. Vancouver, Wash.
  18. Alexandria, Va.
  19. Portland, Ore.
  20. Bellevue, Wash.

Paula Deen
The controversy over Paula Deen's use of the N-word has her trending on Twitter. (Associated Press)
Daily Dose: Food Network is running as fast as it can from Paula Deen after the cooking show host acknowledged using racial epithets in jokes in the past. But not too long ago the network was working on a new show for her. Although Deen's ratings had fallen lately, she was still a force at the network and her son has a popular show on Food Network's sister outlet, the Cooking Channel.


'Mako Mermaids,' spin-off of 'H2O,' comes exclusively to Netflix
"Mako Mermaids," a spin-off of the Australian teen drama "H2O: Just Add Water," is coming exclusively to Netflix this summer. It stars Lucy Fry, left, Ivy Latimer and Amy Ruffle as a trio of mermaids charged with protecting Mako Island.(JMSP/Screen Queensland/Screen Australia Licensed by ZDF Enterprises GmbH)
Netflix the new Nic?
Netflix is doubling down on exclusive programming for children, adding '"Mako Mermaids," a spin-off of the popular Australian teen drama about mermaids "H2O: Just Add Water."
"Mako Mermaids" is set to premiere July 26 on Netflix, returning viewers to the fictional Mako Island, where the three teenage girls entered a magical cave and underwent their transformation in the original series. The seemingly improbable premise of "H2O" connected with teens around the world -- the series was distributed in more than 120 countries. 
The show's popularity on Netflix prompted the streaming service to strike a deal with Jonathan M. Shiff Productions for exclusive rights to the distribute the 26-episode spin-off series, "Mako Mermaids," in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Nordics.
"We are thrilled to be the exclusive home of 'Mako Mermaids' in all Netflix territories," Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said in a statement. "'H2O' hit an amazing chord with teens around the world who love the clever mixture of action, comedy and romance."
The new show centers on three mermaids who are assigned the task of protecting Mako Island, only to encounter 16-year-old Zac, who also forms a connection with the island and develops a tail and special marine abilities.
This builds on a slew of other exclusive content deals for Netflix, which last week reached a multi-year deal with DreamWorks Animation to produce more than 300 hours of original programming for it. It is vying for young viewers with rival Amazon.com, which reached a deal this month for exclusive online rights to Viacom's shows for preschoolers.

NBA Finals
Dwyane Wade, left, LeBron James and Chris Bosh led the Miami Heat to victory over the San Antonio Spurs in an NBA Finals that drew a diverse viewing audience. (David Santiago / Associated Press )

TV audience for NBA Finals was more diverse than a decade ago, reflecting changes in America and in the world.

As the NBA's popularity has increased around the world over the last decade, its TV viewership in the United States has become more diverse, according to Nielsen.
Whereas the audience for the 2003 NBA finals was 63% white, only 52% of the viewers for this year's finals were white.
The seven-game series this month between the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heatwhich generated strong ratings for ABC, drew more Latino viewers than previous NBA Finals.
Viewership among Latinos increased 31% compared with last year, and their share of the total audience has grown too.
Latinos made up 16% of NBA Finals viewers this year, compared with 13% a decade ago. 
In the last decade, African Americans have increased their share of the TV viewing audience. African Americans made up 34% of viewers this year compared with 27% in 2003.
However, compared with 2012's five-game series between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder, African American viewership fell by two percentage points. 

Jeff Robinov Horizontal - H 2013
Getty Images
Jeff Robinov

Jeff Rubinoff, the ousted Warner Bros. film chief has limited options as the studio's botched executive shuffle signals challenges ahead.

A hands-on guy. New Warner Bros. Chief Executive Kevin Tsujihara is wasting no time overhauling how Hollywood's biggest movie and television studio operates. On Monday, he unveiled a new management structure for Warner Bros.' movie unit in the wake of Jeff Robinov's departure. As he did with the television unit after Bruce Rosenblum left, Tsujihara named several presidents who will all report to him. Unlike his predecessor Barry Meyer, who preferred to have a few direct reports who were given lots of latitude, Tsujihara is reducing executive layers and will be more involved in the day-to-day decision-making. More on Tsujihara's approach and what Robinov's next move may be from the Los Angeles TimesWall Street JournalNew York TimesHollywood Reporter and Variety.


Making the rounds. Legendary Entertainment, the production company headed by Thomas Tull whose longtime deal with Warner Bros. is ending soon, continues to shop itself around town. Odds are unlikely Tull will stay with Warner Bros. and speculation is centering on Universal. However,Sony and even Lionsgate are in the running. The latest from Deadline Hollywood and the Hollywood Reporter.


Extending an olive branch. Los Angeles Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti wants to try to slow the exodus of film production from the city. Garcetti has been meeting with show biz big wigs and has indicated he would like to create a role for an industry advocate at City Hall. The Los Angeles Times on how Garcetti is trying to work with Hollywood in contrast to his soon-to-be predecessor Antonio Villaraigosa
Garcetti-Hollywood
Los Angeles Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti advocates strengthening California’s tax credits for location filming to make them more competitive with other states. Above, work on a scene from the MTV series "Teen Wolf" being filmed in Northridge(Kirk McCoy, Los Angeles Times / December 10, 2012)

First-quarter U.S. advertising spending flat at $30 billion

U.S. advertising spending during the first quarter of 2013 was flat compared to the year-earlier period, reflecting television network ratings woes and caution amid mixed signals on the economy.
Marketers during the January-March period spent $30.2 billion, according to a quarterly advertising analysis released Tuesday by Kantar Media. That represented a decline of less than 1% compared to the first quarter of 2012.
Spending was surpressed, in large part, because the major broadcast TV networks, including Fox, NBC and ABC, were suffering from falling ratings. NBC went through a prolonged first-quarter dry spell, and ratings for Fox's once-mighty "American Idol" tumbled 20%.
Spanish-language television was the top performer as advertisers raced to embrace Latino consumers.
Spending for Spanish-language TV jumped 13.5% for the period, which marked the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, according to Kantar's analysis.  The segment is dominated by two major players: Univision Communications Inc. and NBCUniversal's Telemundo.
Overall spending for network TV was down 5.2%, Kantar found.  Ad buys for syndicated TV shows slipped 1%.
Spending for cable television commercials increased 5.2%, boosted by NCAA basketball tournament games and larger appetites for commercial time by restaurants and carmakers.
Local newspaper advertising declined 3.3% while national newspapers dropped 9.2%. Kantar said the lower amount was because of reductions in spending by financial services firms and Hollywood movie studios, which trimmed their print budgets.
Spending on billboards increased 4.3%, the 11th consecutive quarter of year-over-year increases. Retail and restaurants led the way.
“It has been a lackluster start for 2013," Jon Swallen, chief research officer at Kantar Media North America, said in a statement.  He noted the flat year-over-year results were in part because of tough comparisons with 2012, which was fueled by political spending and the London Olympics.
Results have not been compiled for the second quarter, which ends this weekend.
“Data from the early second quarter are mixed, suggesting marketers are still being cautious and conservative with ad budgets," Swallen said. "However, there are some bright spots, including healthy growth for Hispanic media and outdoor."


Brian Roberts
Comcast Corp. CEO Brian Roberts speaks this month at the Cable Show trade show in Washington. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press / June 11, 2013)


Comcast should root for Aereo's legality

Comcast Corp. says Aereo, a company that distributes broadcast programming on the Web, violates its copyrights, but according to often-contrarian analyst Richard Greenfield of BTIG, the cable giant is fighting the tech firm at its own peril.
Comcast has argued that the Web TV company distributes its content without permission, which hurts its broadcaster, NBC Universal. CBS, Fox and ABC have all made similar legal arguments.
But Aereo could help Comcast's pay-TV business, Greenfield said in a note to clients Monday. Pay-TV distributors such as Comcast periodically negotiate retransmission costs with broadcasters, and broadcasters can threaten to "go dark" on Comcast's service.
With Aereo as a legally sanctioned service, Comcast could offer it as an alternative way for customers to get broadcasters' programming. That would give Comcast an advantage in the negotiations, Greenfield said.
"Comcast should be openly rooting for Aereo’s legality," Greenfield wrote, "since the benefit of increased leverage for its cable system business in retransmission consent negotiations far outweighs the risks to the one broadcast network owned by Comcast’s NBC division."
Aereo, which uses antennas to capture broadcast signals and deliver them to users, first launched last year in New York and is expanding to 22 markets in the coming months.
Owners of broadcast companies including Comcast, CBS Corp., News Corp. and Walt Disney Co. have sued Aereo. The legal dispute is ongoing.
In April, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York upheld a lower court's rulingthat Aereo's service does not infringe on copyrights.
Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts took to CNBC last month to criticize the decision. "They are going to see a lot of legal challenges because there is certainly a strong belief by a number of companies that it is not legal, that is taking someone’s property and redistributing it without their consent," he said.



New song. Judy McGrath, a longtime top executive at MTV, is joining Sony Music to head a new entertainment in the unit, according to the New York Post. McGrath, who left MTV parent Viacom in a management restructuring, has dubbed her new project: "Astronauts Wanted: No Experience Necessary."


Making it pay. CBS' "Under the Dome," which made its debut last night, is an example of a new economics model for TV. With ratings on the decline, networks and producers are finding ways to milk every new revenue stream possible. And in some cases it is starting to pay off. Vulture looks at how CBS is making "Under the Dome" pay.



Inside the Los Angeles Times: Roland Emmerich is in his comfort zone with "White House Down." Playing a zombie isn't as easy as it looks.

Director Roland Emmerich appears on the set of Columbia Pictures' "White House Down," (MCT)
Director Roland Emmerich appears on the set of Columbia Pictures’ “White House Down,” (MCT)



Follow Joe Flint on Twitter. My bark is worse than my bite. @JBFlint