Balancing Privacy With Open Justice in Britain

SERRAVAL, FRANCE â€" When £113,000 in cash, seized from criminals and stored under lock and key, was taken from a police building in Warwickshire, England, British newspapers demanded to know who had had the temerity to steal from the law.

Yet even when a man was charged with theft this month in connection with the case, the police refused to identify him. Only after an outcry from Fleet Street and from free speech campaigners, who complained that justice was taking place in secret, did the Warwickshire police relent, disclosing that the suspect was a former officer, identified as Paul Andrew Greaves.

The incident is indicative of the rising tensions between journalists and the authorities in Britain in the aftermath of an inquiry into tabloid newspaper excesses and abuses. The report, by Lord Justice Sir Brian Leveson, examined the sometimes too-cosy relationship between journalists and the police, and recommended curbs on what the police should tell reporters.

It has been a longstanding practice in Britain and many other European countries for the police to withhold the names of people who have been arrested on suspicion of committing crimes. At this stage, suspects are usually described only by things like their sex, their age or their place of residence. In some European countries, like the Netherlands, the police provide the suspect’s initials; in others, like Germany, they give out a first name and a last initial.

Despite these restrictions, the British police often used to leak or confirm suspects’ identities to journalists in off-the-record conversations. This is how the names of many of the aging celebrities who have been arrested, charged or convicted of long-ago sex offenses in recent months have found their way into the newspapers.

The Leveson report recommended putting an end to these leaks â€" apparently prompting confusion for some police forces. The authorities in Warwickshire, for example, went further, withholding the name of Mr. Greaves even after he had been charged.

Though the local police later backtracked and the British Association of Chief Police Officers recommended that people charged with a crime should be named, journalists are in an uproar.

“Open justice is a principle that goes back to the Magna Carta,” said Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, referring to the document issued by King John in 1215, guaranteeing certain liberties to subjects of the English crown. “There is a danger of encroaching on rights that were won centuries ago.”

In the United States, with a tradition of openness rooted in the First Amendment, arrests are generally a matter for the public record, available to journalists or anyone else who knows where to look. Some suspects are subjected to “perp walks,” in which they are paraded in front of the news media, eliminating any doubts about their identities.

The European reluctance to name suspects is based on a stronger regard for privacy, as well as a different pace of justice. In the United States, suspects are often arrested and charged more or less simultaneously. In Europe, people can be arrested long before any charges are filed, while a police investigation proceeds; often those who have been arrested are released without any charges.

For this reason, lawyers who represent individuals in disputes with the British media say it makes sense for the police to withhold names until suspects have actually been charged.

“It’s sort of a principle of criminal justice that it’s better for 100 guilty men to walk free then for one innocent man to be wrongly imprisoned,” said Isabel Martorell, a partner at the law firm Carter Ruck who specializes in defamation and privacy cases. “As a corollary to that, it’s probably better that innocent people are not dragged through the press.”

Innocents do get dragged through the British media with what the Leveson report described as distressing frequency. In one high-profile case, a man from Clifton, England, was subjected to weeks of unseemly speculation in the newspapers after the police arrested him â€" and let his name slip to journalists â€" in 2010 on suspicion of murdering the tenant of an apartment he owned. Another tenant in the building was later convicted of the crime.

Yet advocates of greater transparency say naming names at the time of arrest can provide benefits that extend beyond just selling more newspapers via prurient headlines.

A version of this article appeared in print on May 13, 2013, in The International Herald Tribune.

TV Networks Face Falling Ratings and New Rivals

As TV Ratings and Profits Fall, Networks Face a Cliffhanger

As the major television networks prepare to unveil their new fall lineups in New York this week, they face threats from seemingly every corner.

Chase Carey, president of News Corporation, the parent company of the Fox network.

Prime-time ratings for the Big Four broadcasters â€" ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox â€" together are dropping more precipitously than ever. Even their biggest hits, like “American Idol” and “Dancing With the Stars,” are fading fast. Advertisers are moving more cash to cable, cutting into the networks’ quarterly profits. New technologies are making it easier to skip those ads, anyway.

That’s not all: there are more outlets for programming than ever, with Netflix and Amazon and dozens of cable channels competing for actors, producers and, most important, viewers. Government regulators want to take back some of the spectrum allotted to local television stations. And start-ups like Aereo are threatening to deprive the stations of subscription revenue, causing some broadcasters to talk of options that were unthinkable a few short years ago. Some have warned they might go off the air entirely.

The many pressures bearing down on the industry are casting a shadow over this week’s upfronts, an annual tradition in New York in which the new sitcoms, dramas and reality shows are previewed at splashy, open-bar events and the networks try to capture their portion of an estimated $9 billion in advertising commitments.

“The networks are getting picked at from every direction,” said Jessica Reif Cohen, the senior media analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “This year was the tipping point,” she said, “when the television ratings really fell apart.”

The broadcast networks have managed declining viewership for years, but executives by and large said they believed that they had escaped the punishing losses that digital media exacted on the music industry and newspapers.

Now, though, they say they are not sure; even the industry’s biggest boosters concede that the business is under assault, though many express confidence that the networks will adapt. While the challenges before them are numerous, said Gary Carr, who oversees ad-buying at TargetCast, “the networks are far from dead.”

They are certainly smaller. Historically the broadcasters have had outsize cultural and civic importance in the country; their owners pledged long ago to uphold the public interest and provide news programming in exchange for valuable access to the airwaves.

These days the public has mostly forgotten about those commitments. The major network news divisions as a group have suffered hundreds of layoffs in recent years, though they have added staff members to supply news for their Web sites.

No matter how confident the Big Four networks may feel about their new seasons â€" TV executives are masters at forgetting last year’s failures and staying on message about the future â€" the stress factors are enough to make them long for the days of “I Love Lucy,” when 50 million Americans would watch the same show at the same time.

Now NBC and ABC are lucky to get five million to tune in. Goldman Sachs found last month that broadcast ratings in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic, the one most coveted by advertisers, fell by 17 percent in the winter months compared with last winter. Goldman Sachs called it “the sharpest pace on record.”

While broadcast networks were setting record lows, cable channels were setting record highs; AMC’s “The Walking Dead” and the History mini-series “The Bible” regularly beat almost all the shows on network television while they were on.

At ABC, the lowest-rated of the four broadcasters, first-quarter profit fell 40 percent compared with the same quarter last year, but the network still made $138 million. NBC, on the other hand, lost $35 million in the quarter, because of lower advertising revenues. NBC’s parent, Comcast, said the network would have fared better if its biggest hit, “The Voice,” had been on in the quarter.

Ad revenue slipped at Fox too, partly because “Idol” has lost nearly a quarter of its viewers this season, on top of a 50 percent decline over the previous five years.

Media Decoder: Equestria Girls, a My Little Pony Offshoot, in Its Movie Debut

A New Direction for a Hasbro Stalwart

A film titled “My Little Pony: Equestria Girls” will introduce Hasbro’s teenage offshoot of its popular pony brand.

Hasbro, the toy company that brought its Transformers and G.I. Joe properties to movie theaters, has set its sights on its next summer blockbuster: My Little Pony.

Equestria Girls Trailer Close Video See More Videos »

The ponies, a Hasbro staple for 30 years, have experienced a resurgence of popularity lately, thanks in part to the TV series “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.” Hoping to build on that interest, Hasbro recently revealed plans for brand extension called Equestria Girls.

The new property will get the red-carpet treatment when it premieres as a full-length animated feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June. The movie, created by Hasbro Studios, the company’s production division, will then be released in more than 200 theaters nationwide; its trailer will start appearing in theaters on Wednesday.

“We are responding to the desire by our fans to experience the brand in more ways,” said John A. Frascotti, Hasbro’s chief marketing officer. “They imagined themselves as which pony they would be or which pony they identified with the most.”

So Hasbro created Equestria Girls, a parallel world in which the My Little Pony characters were reconceived as teenage girls in high school. To maintain continuity, Hasbro retained the same creative talent, animation style and message of friendship.

“Our goal is to stay true to who those characters are,” said Meghan McCarthy, the head writer for the movie, adding that the high school setting allowed for new storytelling possibilities. “It’s new but still an extension of our mythology.”

The movie â€" titled “My Little Pony: Equestria Girls” â€" will be released on DVD later in the United States and other markets worldwide, followed by a television debut on the Hub network in the fall.

“It is a major strategic initiative for us,” Mr. Frascotti said, one that will feature toys, apparel, publishing and accessories. Multimedia components include an interactive Web site, content on YouTube and a partnership with Stardoll.com, a fashion Web site for girls.

Hasbro does not break out revenue for My Little Pony, but in its earnings statement in April, the company said its girls’ category rose 23 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, growth that was helped in part by the My Little Pony brand.

Equestria Girls offers an opportunity to build on that growth, said Michael Vogel, vice president for development at Hasbro Studios. “This is a bold new direction,” he said.

Media Decoder: Equestria Girls, a My Little Pony Offshoot, in Its Movie Debut

A New Direction for a Hasbro Stalwart

A film titled “My Little Pony: Equestria Girls” will introduce Hasbro’s teenage offshoot of its popular pony brand.

Hasbro, the toy company that brought its Transformers and G.I. Joe properties to movie theaters, has set its sights on its next summer blockbuster: My Little Pony.

Equestria Girls Trailer Close Video See More Videos »

The ponies, a Hasbro staple for 30 years, have experienced a resurgence of popularity lately, thanks in part to the TV series “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.” Hoping to build on that interest, Hasbro recently revealed plans for brand extension called Equestria Girls.

The new property will get the red-carpet treatment when it premieres as a full-length animated feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June. The movie, created by Hasbro Studios, the company’s production division, will then be released in more than 200 theaters nationwide; its trailer will start appearing in theaters on Wednesday.

“We are responding to the desire by our fans to experience the brand in more ways,” said John A. Frascotti, Hasbro’s chief marketing officer. “They imagined themselves as which pony they would be or which pony they identified with the most.”

So Hasbro created Equestria Girls, a parallel world in which the My Little Pony characters were reconceived as teenage girls in high school. To maintain continuity, Hasbro retained the same creative talent, animation style and message of friendship.

“Our goal is to stay true to who those characters are,” said Meghan McCarthy, the head writer for the movie, adding that the high school setting allowed for new storytelling possibilities. “It’s new but still an extension of our mythology.”

The movie â€" titled “My Little Pony: Equestria Girls” â€" will be released on DVD later in the United States and other markets worldwide, followed by a television debut on the Hub network in the fall.

“It is a major strategic initiative for us,” Mr. Frascotti said, one that will feature toys, apparel, publishing and accessories. Multimedia components include an interactive Web site, content on YouTube and a partnership with Stardoll.com, a fashion Web site for girls.

Hasbro does not break out revenue for My Little Pony, but in its earnings statement in April, the company said its girls’ category rose 23 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, growth that was helped in part by the My Little Pony brand.

Equestria Girls offers an opportunity to build on that growth, said Michael Vogel, vice president for development at Hasbro Studios. “This is a bold new direction,” he said.

Media Decoder: Equestria Girls, a My Little Pony Offshoot, in Its Movie Debut

A New Direction for a Hasbro Stalwart

A film titled “My Little Pony: Equestria Girls” will introduce Hasbro’s teenage offshoot of its popular pony brand.

Hasbro, the toy company that brought its Transformers and G.I. Joe properties to movie theaters, has set its sights on its next summer blockbuster: My Little Pony.

Equestria Girls Trailer Close Video See More Videos »

The ponies, a Hasbro staple for 30 years, have experienced a resurgence of popularity lately, thanks in part to the TV series “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.” Hoping to build on that interest, Hasbro recently revealed plans for brand extension called Equestria Girls.

The new property will get the red-carpet treatment when it premieres as a full-length animated feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June. The movie, created by Hasbro Studios, the company’s production division, will then be released in more than 200 theaters nationwide; its trailer will start appearing in theaters on Wednesday.

“We are responding to the desire by our fans to experience the brand in more ways,” said John A. Frascotti, Hasbro’s chief marketing officer. “They imagined themselves as which pony they would be or which pony they identified with the most.”

So Hasbro created Equestria Girls, a parallel world in which the My Little Pony characters were reconceived as teenage girls in high school. To maintain continuity, Hasbro retained the same creative talent, animation style and message of friendship.

“Our goal is to stay true to who those characters are,” said Meghan McCarthy, the head writer for the movie, adding that the high school setting allowed for new storytelling possibilities. “It’s new but still an extension of our mythology.”

The movie â€" titled “My Little Pony: Equestria Girls” â€" will be released on DVD later in the United States and other markets worldwide, followed by a television debut on the Hub network in the fall.

“It is a major strategic initiative for us,” Mr. Frascotti said, one that will feature toys, apparel, publishing and accessories. Multimedia components include an interactive Web site, content on YouTube and a partnership with Stardoll.com, a fashion Web site for girls.

Hasbro does not break out revenue for My Little Pony, but in its earnings statement in April, the company said its girls’ category rose 23 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, growth that was helped in part by the My Little Pony brand.

Equestria Girls offers an opportunity to build on that growth, said Michael Vogel, vice president for development at Hasbro Studios. “This is a bold new direction,” he said.

On Par: For Rhonda Glenn, a Career of Giving a Voice to Women’s Golf

Giving Voice to Women’s Game

SUMMERFIELD, Fla. â€" When Rhonda Glenn was 18 in 1965, she helped with publicity for the L.P.G.A.’s Louise Suggs Invitational in Delray Beach, Fla. She was an amateur at that event and was paired in the first round with Mickey Wright and Betsy Rawls, who went on to become Hall of Famers.

Rhonda Glenn, right, at a U.S.G.A. meeting in 2010. Glenn, who wrote “The Illustrated History of Women’s Golf,” published in 1991, retired last week.

“At these tournaments, I’d see these women chasing their dreams, and there was a certain nobility to that,” Glenn said. “That’s when I decided to become a journalist, because I didn’t want their stories to be lost.”

Glenn, 67, retired last week after nearly 50 years as a journalist and an employee of the United States Golf Association. Her desire to document the strokes, triumphs and challenges of players often far from public view shaped her career as a writer-historian.

Glenn literally wrote the book on women’s golf, the landmark work “The Illustrated History of Women’s Golf,” published in 1991.

“It’s hard to get a feeling about the players without writers or to know the game without writers,” said Judy Bell, the first woman to be president of the U.S.G.A. “Rhonda has given women’s golf a written perspective we didn’t have and a consistent voice because she made it a priority.”

Glenn also wrote Bell’s biography, “Breaking the Mold,” in 2002. It documented Bell’s life as a leader in women’s amateur golf, in business and as head of golf’s most powerful body in America.

Glenn was also a top amateur golfer who began playing at 6. She practiced at a Palm Beach par-3 course, where she watched Wright and Hank Aaron hit golf balls. She won the Florida high school state championship twice.

By the time she was paired with Wright at an L.P.G.A. event, Glenn had a single-digit handicap. She also had a growing collection of index cards featuring statistics of top players.

She was still a freckle-faced teenager when she landed her first job in Florida as a radio announcer and sports director. Carrying a big tape recorder, she snagged interviews with the future Hall of Famers Louise Suggs, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

“I wasn’t afraid,” said Glenn, who went to Palm Beach Junior College as she explored journalism. “What was important was the interview.”

Glenn worked as a newspaper reporter in Texas and as a television broadcaster in the 1970s at WAVY in coastal Virginia. In 1978, she started working as a golf commentator for ABC.

In 1981, she became the first female sportscaster at ESPN. Her shift was 7 p.m. to 4 a.m., with live “SportsCenter” shows at midnight and at 3 a.m.

“I remember Chris Berman saying, ‘Rhonda, it’s midnight in San Francisco and they’re glued to this stuff,’ ” she said.

By then, she had started working on “The Illustrated History of Women’s Golf.” It took her 10 years and much of her own money to finish. The project began on a typewriter and concluded on a word processor.

On a visit to the U.S.G.A.’s museum and library in Far Hills, N.J., Janet Seagle, then curator and librarian, pulled Glenn aside and gave her the idea to begin her research.

“Janet said, ‘We need a book on the history of women’s golf, and you should write it,’ ” Glenn said.

Seagle also encouraged Glenn to produce an illustrated history of women’s golf and offered to locate and secure the photographs for the book. In addition, Seagle helped set up interviews for Glenn with many of the game’s historic figures, including Glenna Collett Vare, a winner of six United States Women’s Amateur championship titles.

“For so many years, the history of the women’s game was treated as a sideshow, as a curiosity, by even the most celebrated historians of the game,” said Rand Jerris, the U.S.G.A. senior managing director for public services. “Without her passion, focus and drive, many of these stories might well have gone untold and a great segment of the game’s history might have been lost.”

On Par: For Rhonda Glenn, a Career of Giving a Voice to Women’s Golf

Giving Voice to Women’s Game

SUMMERFIELD, Fla. â€" When Rhonda Glenn was 18 in 1965, she helped with publicity for the L.P.G.A.’s Louise Suggs Invitational in Delray Beach, Fla. She was an amateur at that event and was paired in the first round with Mickey Wright and Betsy Rawls, who went on to become Hall of Famers.

Rhonda Glenn, right, at a U.S.G.A. meeting in 2010. Glenn, who wrote “The Illustrated History of Women’s Golf,” published in 1991, retired last week.

“At these tournaments, I’d see these women chasing their dreams, and there was a certain nobility to that,” Glenn said. “That’s when I decided to become a journalist, because I didn’t want their stories to be lost.”

Glenn, 67, retired last week after nearly 50 years as a journalist and an employee of the United States Golf Association. Her desire to document the strokes, triumphs and challenges of players often far from public view shaped her career as a writer-historian.

Glenn literally wrote the book on women’s golf, the landmark work “The Illustrated History of Women’s Golf,” published in 1991.

“It’s hard to get a feeling about the players without writers or to know the game without writers,” said Judy Bell, the first woman to be president of the U.S.G.A. “Rhonda has given women’s golf a written perspective we didn’t have and a consistent voice because she made it a priority.”

Glenn also wrote Bell’s biography, “Breaking the Mold,” in 2002. It documented Bell’s life as a leader in women’s amateur golf, in business and as head of golf’s most powerful body in America.

Glenn was also a top amateur golfer who began playing at 6. She practiced at a Palm Beach par-3 course, where she watched Wright and Hank Aaron hit golf balls. She won the Florida high school state championship twice.

By the time she was paired with Wright at an L.P.G.A. event, Glenn had a single-digit handicap. She also had a growing collection of index cards featuring statistics of top players.

She was still a freckle-faced teenager when she landed her first job in Florida as a radio announcer and sports director. Carrying a big tape recorder, she snagged interviews with the future Hall of Famers Louise Suggs, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

“I wasn’t afraid,” said Glenn, who went to Palm Beach Junior College as she explored journalism. “What was important was the interview.”

Glenn worked as a newspaper reporter in Texas and as a television broadcaster in the 1970s at WAVY in coastal Virginia. In 1978, she started working as a golf commentator for ABC.

In 1981, she became the first female sportscaster at ESPN. Her shift was 7 p.m. to 4 a.m., with live “SportsCenter” shows at midnight and at 3 a.m.

“I remember Chris Berman saying, ‘Rhonda, it’s midnight in San Francisco and they’re glued to this stuff,’ ” she said.

By then, she had started working on “The Illustrated History of Women’s Golf.” It took her 10 years and much of her own money to finish. The project began on a typewriter and concluded on a word processor.

On a visit to the U.S.G.A.’s museum and library in Far Hills, N.J., Janet Seagle, then curator and librarian, pulled Glenn aside and gave her the idea to begin her research.

“Janet said, ‘We need a book on the history of women’s golf, and you should write it,’ ” Glenn said.

Seagle also encouraged Glenn to produce an illustrated history of women’s golf and offered to locate and secure the photographs for the book. In addition, Seagle helped set up interviews for Glenn with many of the game’s historic figures, including Glenna Collett Vare, a winner of six United States Women’s Amateur championship titles.

“For so many years, the history of the women’s game was treated as a sideshow, as a curiosity, by even the most celebrated historians of the game,” said Rand Jerris, the U.S.G.A. senior managing director for public services. “Without her passion, focus and drive, many of these stories might well have gone untold and a great segment of the game’s history might have been lost.”

On Par: For Rhonda Glenn, a Career of Giving a Voice to Women’s Golf

Giving Voice to Women’s Game

SUMMERFIELD, Fla. â€" When Rhonda Glenn was 18 in 1965, she helped with publicity for the L.P.G.A.’s Louise Suggs Invitational in Delray Beach, Fla. She was an amateur at that event and was paired in the first round with Mickey Wright and Betsy Rawls, who went on to become Hall of Famers.

Rhonda Glenn, right, at a U.S.G.A. meeting in 2010. Glenn, who wrote “The Illustrated History of Women’s Golf,” published in 1991, retired last week.

“At these tournaments, I’d see these women chasing their dreams, and there was a certain nobility to that,” Glenn said. “That’s when I decided to become a journalist, because I didn’t want their stories to be lost.”

Glenn, 67, retired last week after nearly 50 years as a journalist and an employee of the United States Golf Association. Her desire to document the strokes, triumphs and challenges of players often far from public view shaped her career as a writer-historian.

Glenn literally wrote the book on women’s golf, the landmark work “The Illustrated History of Women’s Golf,” published in 1991.

“It’s hard to get a feeling about the players without writers or to know the game without writers,” said Judy Bell, the first woman to be president of the U.S.G.A. “Rhonda has given women’s golf a written perspective we didn’t have and a consistent voice because she made it a priority.”

Glenn also wrote Bell’s biography, “Breaking the Mold,” in 2002. It documented Bell’s life as a leader in women’s amateur golf, in business and as head of golf’s most powerful body in America.

Glenn was also a top amateur golfer who began playing at 6. She practiced at a Palm Beach par-3 course, where she watched Wright and Hank Aaron hit golf balls. She won the Florida high school state championship twice.

By the time she was paired with Wright at an L.P.G.A. event, Glenn had a single-digit handicap. She also had a growing collection of index cards featuring statistics of top players.

She was still a freckle-faced teenager when she landed her first job in Florida as a radio announcer and sports director. Carrying a big tape recorder, she snagged interviews with the future Hall of Famers Louise Suggs, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

“I wasn’t afraid,” said Glenn, who went to Palm Beach Junior College as she explored journalism. “What was important was the interview.”

Glenn worked as a newspaper reporter in Texas and as a television broadcaster in the 1970s at WAVY in coastal Virginia. In 1978, she started working as a golf commentator for ABC.

In 1981, she became the first female sportscaster at ESPN. Her shift was 7 p.m. to 4 a.m., with live “SportsCenter” shows at midnight and at 3 a.m.

“I remember Chris Berman saying, ‘Rhonda, it’s midnight in San Francisco and they’re glued to this stuff,’ ” she said.

By then, she had started working on “The Illustrated History of Women’s Golf.” It took her 10 years and much of her own money to finish. The project began on a typewriter and concluded on a word processor.

On a visit to the U.S.G.A.’s museum and library in Far Hills, N.J., Janet Seagle, then curator and librarian, pulled Glenn aside and gave her the idea to begin her research.

“Janet said, ‘We need a book on the history of women’s golf, and you should write it,’ ” Glenn said.

Seagle also encouraged Glenn to produce an illustrated history of women’s golf and offered to locate and secure the photographs for the book. In addition, Seagle helped set up interviews for Glenn with many of the game’s historic figures, including Glenna Collett Vare, a winner of six United States Women’s Amateur championship titles.

“For so many years, the history of the women’s game was treated as a sideshow, as a curiosity, by even the most celebrated historians of the game,” said Rand Jerris, the U.S.G.A. senior managing director for public services. “Without her passion, focus and drive, many of these stories might well have gone untold and a great segment of the game’s history might have been lost.”

NBC Looks to Past Stars for Prime-Time Turnaround

Looking for what has been an elusive turnaround in prime time, NBC announced an aggressive new schedule Sunday, crowded with new shows and familiar names both in front of and behind the camera.

The network will try to rebuild its once-formidable Thursday night comedy lineup behind two of its stars from the past â€" Sean Hayes and Michael J. Fox. And it will try to use the strength of its hit singing competition, “The Voice,” to introduce a new drama on Mondays and new comedies on Tuesdays in the second half of the season.

NBC plans to introduce a record 17 new series in the season, aiming to keep fresh programming on the air as much as possible year-round. In all, the network will add six new comedies, eight new dramas and three new reality shows.

The schedule, announced by NBC’s chairman of entertainment, Robert Greenblatt, amounts to a full-scale effort to reconstruct NBC’s schedule with every night of the week affected, except Sundays in the fall, which will still be devoted to the network’s strongest asset, N.F.L. football.

Perhaps the most crucial changes come on Thursday, where NBC loses the only true hit comedy it has developed over the past decade, “The Office.” NBC will introduce three new comedies on that night, with the new series starring Mr. Hayes (‘Will and Grace”) getting the central spot at 9 p.m. That show, “Sean Saves the World” is about a gay divorced father trying to raise a teenage daughter.

It will be followed by Mr. Fox’s return in a show named after him, in which he plays a father coping with his family and Parkinson’s disease.

The other new Thursday night comedy is “Welcome to the Family,” about a couple who have to meld their quarrelsome families. NBC will lead off the night with the return of “Parks and Recreation” at 8 and end it with the drama “Parenthood,” a positive story for NBC this year and now getting the once-prime drama spot on the network.

But the drama NBC clearly has highest hopes for is “The Blacklist,” which stars James Spader as a most-wanted criminal who agrees to help the authorities track top criminals, but only with the help of a new, obscure F.B.I. agent. It will enjoy the 10 p.m. Monday slot, following “The Voice.”

The previous occupant of that time period, “Revolution,” posted some early good ratings. Now it will try to survive on its own on Wednesdays at 8.

NBC also is going for horror on Friday by adding to its successful “Grimm” series with a limited run of “Dracula,” starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

NBC FALL SEASON 2013:

MONDAY 8-10 p.m. - “The Voice”; 10-11 p.m. - “The Blacklist”

TUESDAY 8-9 p.m. - “The Biggest Loser” (new day and time); 9-10 p.m. - “The Voice” (new time); 10-11 p.m. - “Chicago Fire” (new day and time)

WEDNESDAY 8-9 p.m. - “Revolution” (new day and time); 9-10 p.m. - ”Law & Order: SVU”; 10-11 p.m. - “Ironside”

THURSDAY 8-8:30 p.m. - “Parks and Recreation” (new time); 8:30-9 p.m. - “Welcome to the Family”; 9-9:30 p.m. - “Sean Saves the World”; 9:30-10 p.m. - “The Michael J. Fox Show”; 10-11 p.m. - “Parenthood” (new day and time)

FRIDAY 8-9 p.m. - “Dateline NBC”; 9-10 p.m. - “Grimm”; 10-11 p.m. - “Dracula”

SATURDAY Encore programming

SUNDAY 7-8:15 p.m. - “Football Night in America”; 8:15-11:30 p.m. - “NBC Sunday Night Football”

NBC MIDSEASON 2013-14 SCHEDULE

MONDAY 8-10 p.m. - “The Voice”; 10-11 p.m. - “The Blacklist”

TUESDAY 8-9 p.m. - “The Voice”; 9-9:30 p.m. - “About A Boy”; 9:30-10 p.m. - “The Family Guide”; 10-11 p.m. - “Chicago Fire”

WEDNESDAY 8-9 p.m. - “Revolution”; 9-10 p.m. - ”Law & Order: SVU”; 10-11 p.m. - “Ironside”

THURSDAY 8-8:30 p.m. - “Parks and Recreation”; 8:30-9 p.m. - “Welcome to the Family”; 9-9:30 p.m. - “Sean Saves the World”; 9:30-10 p.m. - “The Michael J. Fox Show”; 10-11 p.m. - “Parenthood”

FRIDAY 8-9 p.m. - “Dateline NBC”; 9-10 p.m. - “Grimm”; 10-11 p.m. - “Crossbones”

SATURDAY 8-10 p.m. - Encore and specials programming; 10-11 p.m. - “Saturday Night Live” (encore)

SUNDAY 7-8 p.m. - “Dateline NBC”; 8-9 p.m. - “American Dream Builders”; 9-10 p.m. - “Believe”; 10-11 p.m. - “Crisis”

ABC to Let App Users Live Stream Local Programming

This week ABC will quietly revolutionize its app for iPhones and iPads with a button called “live.” Users around New York and Philadelphia will be able to live stream all the programming from ABC’s local stations there, the first time that any major broadcaster has turned on such a technology.

The functionality will be featured at ABC’s upfront presentation for advertisers on Tuesday. It is, among other things, an attempt to keep up with the rapidly changing expectations of television viewers.

It also reflects the increasing role that subscriber fees play in the broadcasting business: the live stream will be available only to paying subscribers of cable and satellite providers, even though the stations’ signals are available free over the public airwaves.

ABC, a unit of the Walt Disney Company, said the live stream would be available in the other six cities where it owns stations sometime this summer. It is also in talks with the companies that own ABC’s more than 200 affiliates to make the “live” button work in their markets. ABC finished the first of its affiliate deals, with Hearst Television, on Sunday afternoon; it said the live streams would work in Hearst’s 13 markets, including Boston and Pittsburgh, in the coming months.

The mobile app may prod the other broadcasters to follow ABC, much as they did seven years ago after the network started to stream full episodes of shows the morning after their TV premieres. ABC had originally planned to introduce a live-streaming feature for its apps in 2014, but decided to speed up that process this year.

“We keep a very close eye on consumer demand,” said Anne Sweeney, the co-chairwoman of the Disney/ABC Television Group, which includes the broadcast network. “We watch how people are behaving with their devices, and we really felt that we needed to move faster.”

Internally the project was code-named Project Acela, a reference to the high-speed train between Boston and Washington. A team led by Albert Cheng, Ms. Sweeney’s executive vice president for digital media, was given a deadline of May 14, the date of the ABC upfront. While Apple devices came first, other phones and tablets will be supported in the coming months, Mr. Cheng said.

The live-stream functionality comes at a time when ABC and its broadcast rivals are trying to keep the attention of audiences that are increasingly turning to cable channels and Internet streaming services like Netflix.

It gives ABC another talking point about how it is adapting to audience preferences; in this case, viewers will be able to carry “Good Morning America” with them as they move around the house in the morning, or tune into a weekend basketball game while out with friends. The live stream will work anywhere in a local market, the same way an old-fashioned TV antenna would.

During a demonstration of the app in her New York office on Friday, Ms. Sweeney said she was struck by how personalized television becomes when it is live streamed to a person’s phone.

The app is also an implicit rebuttal to Aereo, the start-up backed by Barry Diller that is being sued by major station owners for streaming their signals to paying subscribers in New York. Ms. Sweeney reiterated her view that Aereo is illegal but said the plans for the app’s live-stream feature predated the service.

The app, to be named Watch ABC, in line with Disney’s existing Watch Disney and Watch ESPN apps, will allow users to watch ABC shows on demand, like the network’s previous app had. In the future, ABC will withhold its most recent TV episodes from the free versions of Hulu and ABC.com, further limiting access to paying subscribers of cable and satellite providers only.

The mobile live stream will not carry the same ads as the television broadcast; instead, it will include the same sorts of digital ads as on ABC.com. This is in part because the Nielsen Company is not able to measure mobile viewing of live television yet.

“What you see here is the same live programming,” Mr. Cheng said as he used the app, “but what we are doing during the commercial break is actually inserting new ads into the stream.”

News From the Advertising Industry

Accounts

¶Audi of America, Herndon, Va., part of Volkswagen, selected Huge, Brooklyn, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, to handle its social media account. Spending was not disclosed. AKQA, part of WPP, remains the lead digital agency for the Audi brand. Audi also works with other agencies for assignments like advertising, media services and public relations.

People

¶Paul Renner joined Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners, New York, part of MDC Partners, in a new post, as executive creative director leading the creative efforts on the agency’s BMW account. He had been creative lead at another MDC agency in New York, Anomaly, working on ads for Budweiser beer.

Miscellany

¶The former soccer star Pelé was signed to serve as a “brand ambassador” for Volkswagen during the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, both of which will be held in his native Brazil. Financial terms were not disclosed. MediaCom Sport, part of the MediaCom division of GroupM, owned by WPP, helped to negotiate the agreement, along with Legends 10, the agency that represents Pelé.

¶Fjord, London, a design consultancy, agreed to be acquired by Accenture, New York. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Seth Meyers to Succeed Fallon on ‘Late Night’

Seth Meyers to Succeed Fallon on NBC’s ‘Late Night’

Seth Meyers will be the next host of NBC’s “Late Night,” the network announced Sunday.

Mr. Meyers, the longtime head writer on “Saturday Night Live” and host of its “Weekend Update” segment, will succeed Jimmy Fallon, who is moving up one hour to take over NBC’s “Tonight Show.”

NBC made the appointment, which had been widely expected, one day before Mr. Meyers was to be introduced to advertisers at NBC’s presentation of its new programming lineup at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan.

The assignment will keep Mr. Meyers under the production leadership of Lorne Michaels, who will continue to serve as executive producer of “Late Night” as well as serving in the same position on Mr. Fallon’s “Tonight Show” as it moves to New York. (And of course, he will remain in charge of “SNL.”)

In an interview before taking the stage on Saturday’s edition of “SNL,” Mr. Meyers said, “Working at ‘SNL’ requires 100 percent of your mental capacity â€" on easy weeks. And so I had not really spent a lot of time thinking about what I was going to do next. Obviously I can’t quit Lorne. So this seems like a pretty good deal that I have an opportunity to keep working with him.”

Both hosts are expected to start their new shows around the time of NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics from Russia next February. Mr. Meyers will stay on “SNL” through the fall season before he starts his preparation â€" most likely in January â€" to take over on “Late Night.”

Mr. Michaels said, “The thing that’s staggering to me is that since 1982 there have been only three hosts, and Seth will be the fourth. And when you look at the company, it’s all pretty good company.”

Mr. Meyers will be the next in a line that includes David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and Mr. Fallon.

“I am aware of the history,” Mr. Meyers said. “Each chapter of my life has sort of been spent enjoying each of the guys who had the job. Letterman was sort of my first introduction to late-night television. And Conan was all through college and postcollege years. Jimmy, obviously, I think, does it as well as anyone could ever do it.”

Mr. Michaels said there was “complete agreement” at NBC on the choice of Mr. Meyers. “The only name that kept coming up was Seth.” He said of Mr. Meyers, “I think he radiates intelligence. He has a background as a performer and a writer. And because I think he doesn’t like to copy anyone, I think he will find a way to make the show different and distinct and not a mirror of “The Tonight Show.”

No decisions have been made yet about whether the format of the show will change in any substantial way, Mr. Meyers said - not even whether there will be a house band.

“I don’t want to make any broad pronouncements about how the show is going to be, whether it’s going to be the same or different,” Mr. Meyers said. “But I have to draw on my background in improvisational comedy and sketch comedy and stand-up comedy and try to find some mix of that.”

One move Mr. Michaels is making to smooth the transition is keeping Mike Shoemaker as the day-to-day producer of “Late Night” as he has been under Mr. Fallon. “He and Seth are friends,” Mr. Michaels said. “He comes from ‘SNL.’ We will make sure that the show has all the people on it who are the best people we can put on the field.”

The connections to “Saturday Night Live” on NBC’s late-night lineup will never have been more pervasive. Mr. Fallon was a performer on the show and anchored the “Weekend Update” segment, like Mr. Meyers.

The “Late Night” show will remain in New York even with “Tonight” moving back to the city. With “SNL,” all three shows will be housed in studios in NBC’s headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. That will keep them all close to Mr. Michaels, who will now be in charge of all of NBC’s important late-night franchises.

“It’s all in the same building,” he said. “ ‘Saturday Night Live’ will be more than the majority of my time, as it always has been. Both other shows will be run by people who know what they’re doing, and who I obviously believe in; and we all have a shorthand.”

Mr. Meyers said one thing he would like to bring with him from his “Update” segments is what he called “a two-shot with talented, funny people.” These are his interviews with comedy guests who stop by the anchor desk. “A company of writer-performer hybrids who can come on and do stuff on the show,” was how he described the idea. “We’re in the very early stages of thinking about all this, but that’s very interesting to me.”

Though his selection had seemed all but inevitable, given his skills and his association with Mr. Michaels, Mr. Meyers said he found the idea of separating from “SNL” a bit difficult to embrace.

“It always seemed like a logical next move,” Mr. Meyers said. “It was just competing with the very emotional idea of leaving a place I have been for a very long time. But if you are going to do that, it seems like you might as well just move a hallway or two.”