NEW ORLEANS - Former Vice President Al Gore and entrepreneur Joel Hyatt launched a cable television network Tuesday by buying Newsworld International from Vivendi Universal Entertainment for an undisclosed sum.

Kory Davidson and Jason Podany didn’t believe it when they received a phone call from the producers of “Cupcake Wars,” a cable television show on the Food Network. “Originally, we thought it was a crank call, so we hung up,” Davidson said with a laugh. “But they called us back and reassured us of who they were.” Davidson and Podany own Sweet Daddy Cupcakes in Arrowhead Towne Center in Glendale. Several months ago, they went to Los Angeles to film an episode of the series, which will debut on Tuesday (10 p.m., Cox Ch. 46).

NEW YORK - Chris Matthews refused to be drawn in to a debate last week when fellow MSNBC host Joe Scarborough talked on "Morning Joe" about whether President-elect Obama had fumbled the appointment of Rahm Emanuel as his White House chief of staff.

NEW YORK - News Corp. announced Wednesday it would launch a new mini-network called My Network TV that will supply prime-time programming for the 10 local TV stations the company owns that were left without programming after UPN announced it would close.

NEW YORK - Four top cable TV providers announced a long-awaited deal to deliver their own cell phone services through Sprint Nextel Corp., creating a "quadruple play" of voice, video, Internet and wireless products for a new battle against telephone companies that are adding TV to their arsenals.

I love TV. Before my son was born, fall would find me setting my DVR to tape every new show. Now that my 2-year-old drastically limits my TV time, I'm looking long and hard at my satellite TV bill. There must be a better way to watch my favorite shows here and there -- and not on my computer. I'm rather partial to my HDTV and Surround Sound.

NEW YORK - A federal judge has ruled against Cablevision Systems Corp.'s experiment with network digital video recorders, siding with Hollywood studios who said the devices would have violated copyright law.

NEW YORK - ABC News will broadcast five hours of live primary coverage on Super Tuesday as voters in nearly half the country go to the polls next week.

NEW YORK - For the cable news networks, it's a conflict designed for the split screen. The Senate confirmation hearings for John Roberts as the nation's chief justice opened Monday as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina continued to dominate the news.

NEW YORK - With millions of Americans tuning in today to see who's elected president, anxious TV executives were depending on new systems to avoid the spectacular failure of their blown calls four years ago.

November 2, 2004

David Cramer, a baseball fan living in Gilbert, is disappointed the season is about to open without his cable provider carrying the MLB Network. But what irks Cramer even more is how Cox Communications never seemed to know when his neighborhood would be provided the opportunity to watch wall-to-wall baseball.

NEW YORK - Patrick Swayze is going back to work. The "Dirty Dancing" actor, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier this year, will begin shooting his new A&E series "The Beast" in Chicago this summer, the cable network announced Monday.

CHICAGO — Many questions remain for cable TV viewers nationwide even after Fox and Time Warner Cable settled their noisy spat with a New Year's Day agreement. The deal was good news for more than 6 million Time Warner customers in the short term: College bowl and National Football League games, "American Idol" and a host of other popular Fox programs in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Orlando, Fla., and other markets are appearing on their screens as usual.

There have been a controversial brochure, illegal campaign signs, objections from MasterCard International and missed financial reporting deadlines.

PHILADELPHIA — For far too long, cable customers fumed as they waited in vain for the cable guy to show up. When he did come, sometimes it took multiple visits to fix outages. Some customers grappled with billing mistakes that took months to resolve. And cable prices went up every year.

NEW YORK - Television networks rapidly shifted focus and personnel away from the Republican national convention to Gulf Coast communities in the path of Hurricane Gustav on Sunday, wondering how much of their political planning will be for naught.

NEW YORK - Rupert Murdoch has entered a dark horse in high-stakes races before, and won. On Monday, the News Corp. media titan trots out the Fox Business Network.

April 8, 2005

NEW YORK - The United Church of Christ complained Wednesday that CBS and NBC have rejected a 30-second ad for the denomination that portrays other churches as exclusionary to gays and lesbians.

LOS ANGELES — "Mad Men" is on the brink of making Emmy drama series history, Lena Dunham's comedy "Girls" is the buzz du jour, and both are on cable. As Thursday's nominations proved, the gap between cable and the broadcast networks is stunningly wide and only getting wider.

Q: What are your suggestions for alternatives to cable and satellite television services? -- Peter

In a cable TV world where a host’s ability often seems measured in volume, who better to hire than John McEnroe?

Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen said he expects the conference to launch its own cable television network in an attempt to raise its national profile and close an alarming financial gap between the Pac-10 and other major conferences.