Among the thousands in Vegas last week were the heads of two other associations: SNTA' Mitch Burg was pushing the value of his syndicated stations and Jonathan Block-Verk, the new president of Promax/BDA, is making better relations with stations a top priority. Also in the news: $60 burgers and long lines for coffee.

For the traditional distributor of TV shows, the benefit of the annual convention of the National Association of Television Program Executives continues to draw mixed notices with participants weighing its benefits vs. expense.

While the annual programming confab isn't what it used to be, there is still a need for this gathering place of buyers and sellers in the broadcast syndication business.

This year at NATPE, the biggest conference in television syndication, the hottest topic was syndicated online content. As broadcast growth flattens, stations are increasingly looking to their Web sites for new revenue.

Although a concerted effort was made to draw in media-buying executives to the NATPE conference this year, the attendance of media agency and TV advertisers was down substantially versus a year ago.

FremantleMedia North America is developing a contemporary version of the long-running game show, which is part of the Goodson/Todman library owned by FMNA.

Michael Eisner and others on the "Perils of the Internet" panel at NATPE agree that there will be an inevitable convergence between the creation, organization and distribution of broadband video content and the ad revenue needed to finance and reward it.

The strike by the Writer's Guild of America will drastically change the television business both in the short and long term, and some advertisers on a NATPE panel say they welcome the seismic shifts to come.

The new syndicated court half-hour from Program Partners will air on stations from groups including Fox, Sinclair, CBS, Gray, Granite, Hearst-Argyle and Tribune.

A wide-ranging panel discussion broke broadband video into three business models: user-generated content, professional productions and studio-originated productions.

The freshman talk show has been renewed By Tribune, Sinclair, Fox and other station groups for the 2008-09 season.

Word surfaced early at NATPE 08 that the syndicator was quietly holed up in the Four Seasons to do business, not paying its NATPE registration but blithely siphoning off prospective program buyers and advertising clients for its upcoming first-run court show Judge Karen.

The veteran of new media giants MTV and AOL Time Warner sees many things to like in TV stations and says that while the Internet and broadband are a significant competitor for broadcasters, they also offer great new revenue possibilities and robust promotional opportunities.

The sale gives the new syndicated show from executive producer Sam Raimi clearances in 35% of the U.S.

The key to continued success, the NBC CEO says, is to find ways for affiliates and the network to exploit new opportunities together.

Marie Osmond is signed to host a syndicated, women-oriented talk show set for a fall 2009 launch.

Station groups on board for the weather show’s fall ’08 launch include CBS, ABC, Tribune, Fox, Gannett, Cox, Hearst, Weigel, Media General, Clear Channel, Sinclair and Scripps.

The NBCU CEO warns that “inertia is our worst enemy” in dealing with the startling changes in consumer behavior driven by technology.

Court show queen Judge Judy Sheindlin has inked a new multiyear deal with CBS Television Distribution to continue with her strip, Judge Judy, and the CBS Television Stations group has renewed the top-rated court show for another two seasons, taking it through 2012.