MUMBAI: US broadcaster CBS has sued ABC over its new reality TV show, "The Glass House?.

CBS has said that ABC?s show is a "carbon copy" of ?Big Brother? and employs 19 former producers and staff from that show. The federal lawsuit seeks an injunction barring ABC from continuing its work or airing ?The Glass House?, a show that will film and allow viewers to vote off contestants living together in a house.

Reports though indicate that CBS will have to prove that ABC is infringing on a unique idea.

CBS? lawsuit states "In copying ?Big Brother,? defendants have had an unprecedented and troubling degree of access to CBS?s copyrightable expression, as well as CBS?s protected trade secrets and other confidential and proprietary information related to the behind-the-scenes development, filming and production of ?Big Brother".

ABC, though, said that there are obvious differences between the two shows.

MUMBAI: Gearing up for their upfront presentations, leading television networks NBC and Fox have added seven new series to the 2012-13 primetime schedule.

NBC, while renewing Dick Wolf?s Law & Order: SVU, has offered the producer a new drama Chicago Fire. It has also ordered Jimmy Fallon?s comedy pickup Guys With Kids. Also picked up were the comedies Guys with Kids, Go On, Save Me, The New Normal, 1600 Penn and Animal Practice.

Fox has tied-in three comedies including It?s Messy from Universal Television, 20th Century Fox?s Ben & Kate and The Goodwin Games. It has also picked up two dramas, The Mob Doctor and The Following from Sony Pictures TV and Warner Bros.

Fox is also sticking to 20th Century Fox Television?s Touch despite low viewership while axing Alcatraz and The Finder to make room for the dramas.

NBC and Fox are scheduled to showcase their lineups at upfront presentations in New York on Monday.

Meanwhile, AETN Group-owned A&E, History, Lifetime, Lifetime Movie Network, H2 and BIO has decided not to reveal its lineup during upfront presentation. CBS, ABC and Warner Bros. Entertainment-CBS Corporation JV CW Network are yet to form their own development slates.

Early indications from industry experts suggest that the big four broadcasters will see an increase in upfront revenue of between 2 per cent to 4 per cent for the 2012-13 TV season.

The big four plus the CW network should collect between $9.0 billion and $9.2 billion during the upfront season, according to Steve Lanzano, chief executive of TVB, a trade body for TV broadcasters.

MUMBAI: US broadcaster CBS has renewed 18 series for the 2012-2013 broadcast season.

The renewals include four comedies, nine dramas, three reality series and two newsmagazines. The returning shows encompass every night of the week and every hour.

The renewed comedies include the multi-year pickups of ?How I Met Your Mother? and ?The Big Bang Theory?; ?2 Broke Girls? and ?Mike And Molly?.

Also in comedy, CBS and Warner Bros. Television are in preliminary discussions regarding future seasons for ?Two and a Half Men?.

Renewed dramas are ?NCIS?, ?NCIS: Los Angeles?, ?Hawaii Five-0?, ?Criminal Minds?, ?CSI: Crime Scene Investigation?, ?Person Of Interest?, The Mentalist?, ?Blue Bloods? and ?The Good Wife?.

Among the Network?s returning reality series are ?The Amazing Race?, ?Undercover Boss? and ?Survivor?.

News magazines ?60 Minutes? and ?48 Hours Mystery? will also return in the fall. CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler said, ?This large-scale renewal is testimony to the strength, stability and success of a deep and diverse roster of top-rated programming. It positions us for continued success next season and certainly creates an environment that will give our new shows the best possible chance to succeed.?

MUMBAI: US broadcaster CBS has ordered two more editions of ?I Get That A Lot?, a hidden camera special in which celebrities work in everyday jobs and try to convince customers they aren?t who they appear to be. Participants will be announced at a later date.

The show features celebrities tricking everyday citizens in a case of supposed "mistaken identity." Working ordinary jobs, these celebrities confuse customers who can?t decide if it?s the actual celebrity or an astonishing look-alike.

As these celebrity jesters continue to deny their true identities, various reactions from their customers elicit
exasperated and hilarious responses.

Previous celebrities who have appeared include Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, Rachael Ray, Gene Simmons, Tony Hawk, Pamela Anderson, Jerry Springer, Pauley Perrette, Apolo Ohno, Julie Chen, Ty Pennington, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Wayne Brady, Tim Gunn, Nick Jonas, Wynonna Judd, Jay Mohr, Martha Stewart, Heidi Klum, Jeff Probst, Ice-T, LeAnn Rimes and Mario Lopez.

MUMBAI: Reality TV producer Mark Burnett has teamed up with technology company ACTV8.ME, to usher in a whole new world of audience participation and integration with television. Now, anyone with an iPhone, iPad, or Android device will be able to interact, socialise, consume, share and participate in real time, all while watching his or her favorite TV shows.

Burnett‘s successes include Survivor (currently in its 23rd season) airing on CBS; The Voice, which starts its second season in February 2012 on NBC; The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice on NBC, Shark Tank on ABC. He also produced the 2011 Emmy Awards; the 2010 and 2011 People‘s Choice Awards; and the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, which aired this past weekend. Since 2007, Burnett has also served as the executive producer for the MTV Movie Awards.

In making the deal with ACTV8, Burnett explains, "It has always been my dream to create a deeper and more engaging relationship with the audiences of our shows. ACTV8 enables us to give the audience exactly what they want: interactivity, metadata, behind the scenes views, scoops and insights, social relevance and connectivity. Today‘s audience brings a whole new set of expectations from the shows they connect to and embrace. ACTV8 allows our content to take a much more important and relevant position for consumption within the changing lifestyles of our viewers. This breakthrough technology serves to foster a world of New Era TV Networks."

ACTV8 delivers what it calls a "complete global media integration platform." The platform synchronizes a user‘s mobile device or tablet to any live or recorded video broadcast and not only provides rich interactive content to the user‘s device related to the programming, but also feeds viral hooks into Facebook and Twitter. With its proprietary technology, ACTV8 has married broadcast and cable television to the two largest social media platforms on the planet, and then made this all interactive, thus creating the ultimate ?ber-platform. Their powerful technology enables ACTV8 to deliver a host of program enhancements, line extensions, quizzes, trivia, gaming and sales experiences in conjunction with any TV programming.

ACTV8 founder/CEO Brian Shuster explains, "ACTV8 represents an altogether new model for digital media creation, interaction and distribution. ACTV8 creates a world where viewers won‘t skip branded messages and integration, because ACTV8 unlocks their value for consumers. We are working with the largest brands in the world to enrich their connection to the consumer and establish new relationships between their brands and their audiences."