Ovitz’s ATG doesn’t have funds to produce shows it sold

Writing “The End” to a turbulent two-year history, Michael Ovitz‘s Artist Television Group has sent notices to its writer/producers advising them that it is shutting down and that they should seek employment deals elsewhere, the Los Angeles Times reported today. ATG has also reportedly informed the major networks that it will not be able to finance three shows that it sold to them and which are due to begin airing this fall. They include The Ellen Show starring Ellen DeGeneres, for which ATG had a 13-week commitment. “We’re taking over the production,” CBS chief Les Moonves told the Times. “It was a simple decision to keep the show going.” However The WB network said that it is canceling Lost in the USA, an ATG reality series. and will replace it with Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, from Sony’s Columbia TriStar TV.