News Bullets

• CSI: New York star Hill Harper (Dr Sheldon Hawkes) is in North Carolina Friday and Saturday, visiting Livingstone College as part of the United Negro College Fund's Empower Me Tour. The national tour visits historically black colleges and universities, aiming to empower and inspire young people. (Source)

• CSI creator Anthony Zuiker will deliver a keynote speech at the NewTeeVee Live conference on November 13. Zuiker will discuss cross-platform storytelling.

• I AM PWD (Inclusion in the Arts & Media of People With Disabilities) is a campaign lobbying for equality and accurate representation for people with disabilities in the media and entertainment industry. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's Robert David Hall (Dr Al Robbins) is the national chair of the PWD Tri-Union Committee, and he has been instrumental in the campaign. On January 1, 2009, I AM PWD will unveil its 2009 action plan to begin the public awareness phase of the campaign. (Source: Brand Republic)

• CBS is the only network achieving strong ratings to start the season, according to AzBiz.com. All three CSI series, as well as New York's lead-in Criminal Minds, have decent ratings despite the lingering effect of the writers strike. CSI: Miami also showed big gains when DVR viewings were counted.

• iTunes has started offering high definition downloads of popular primetime shows like the CSI series. The HD downloads cost $2.99 (regular downloads are $1.99), and iTunes is offering series from all four major networks.

• Casting spoiler alert:

  Ausiello has announced that Kristin Cavallari (Laguna Beach) has been cast as an "up-and-coming handbag designer who presumably finds herself involved in a criminal investigation in an early '09 episode" of CSI: NY. According to CSI Files sources, the actress is likely to show up in the show's eleventh episode, tentatively titled "Berried Alive".

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