Dark Knight Rises

EXCLUSIVE: Feature/TV director David Slade (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) is set to direct the opening episode of Helix, Syfy’s upcoming series from from Battlestar Galactica developer/executive producer Ronald D. Moore. The project, written by Cameron Porsandeh and produced by Sony TV, is a dark thriller about a team of scientists investigating a possible disease outbreak. Moore, showrunner Steven Maeda and Lynda Obst executive produce and Porsandeh co-exec produces the series, with Slade set to executive produce the premiere episode. Production is slated to begin this summer in Montreal. In TV, Slade most recently directed the opening episode on another straight-to-series genre drama, Hannibal. He served as executive producer and directed multiple episodes of the NBC series. WME-repped Slade previously directed the pilot for NBC’s Awake and an episode of AMC’s Breaking Bad.

The broadcaster has begun to warn more than 1.5M viewers in 14 markets that its stations could disappear from Time Warner Cable and Bright House Network systems at the end of next week unless the companies reach a new retransmission consent agreement. Stations at risk include LIN TV‘s NBC, CW, and MyNetworkTV affiliates in Austin; CBS and CW stations in Buffalo, NY; NBC and CW outlets in Dayton, OH; and Fox and CW stations in Green Bay, WI. The two cable companies account for about 20.6% of LIN’s viewers, according to SNL Kagan data. LIN says on its Buffalo CBS affiliate’s website that “It costs a substantial amount of money to produce local programming, bid for top-quality programming, invest in high-definition, and make other upgrades to equipment and technology so we can deliver a superior product.” It adds in a statement that it wants “less than what Time Warner pays for many of its cable networks with far lower ratings.” But Time Warner Cable spokesman Jon Gary Herrera says that LIN is asking for a 50% rate hike, “a very steep increase from a contract negotiated two years ago.” Stations and pay TV companies typically settle retransmission consent disputes at the eleventh hour. But LIN’s stations were blacked out on Time Warner Cable for 25 days in fall 2008 when negotiations reached an impasse.