Is there a company which offers access to a database of TV shows and
corresponding data such as cast, cost, production team and budget,
Nielsen ratings and so on? I am interested in a centralized
database with access via an API such that it can be integrated into
another program offering added value on top of the data.

Hello hagen-ga, 

Thank you very much for requesting that I post my comments as the
official answer to your question.
 
TV Tome has a wealth of TV Show information. 
 
"TV Tome has over 1,400 complete guides covering almost all the
current shows and many of your favorite classics. There's also an
additional 2,700+ guides that are partially complete or under
development."
 
(..) 
 
"TV Tome is more than just a collection of episode guides. The site
also features over 160,000 people associated with TV. Actors, writers,
directors and producers can all be found here. With each person is at
least a partial list of their credits and many have biographies and
additional information."
 
TV Tome 
http://www.tvtome.com/ 

 
Best regards,
Bobbie7

Good place to start is the internet movie database (http://imdb.com). 
They also have a service (IMDbPro) which may be more useful for your
application idea.

Hello hagen-ga,

TV Tome has a wealth of TV Show information.

"TV Tome has over 1,400 complete guides covering almost all the
current shows and many of your favorite classics. There's also an
additional 2,700+ guides that are partially complete or under
development."

(..)

"TV Tome is more than just a collection of episode guides. The site
also features over 160,000 people associated with TV. Actors, writers,
directors and producers can all be found here. With each person is at
least a partial list of their credits and many have biographies and
additional information."

TV Tome
http://www.tvtome.com/

If this information meets your needs I will gladly post this as the
official answer to your question.


Bobbie7-ga

Big industry database:  BASELINE, aka HOLLYWOOD PRO, aka (new name)
BASELINE FT.   www.baselineft.com   You can subscribe or you can
purchase by document.

IMDB and baselineft seem to be the only two providers of such data in
the required form. TV Tome doesn't seem to offer an external interface
(not web driven).

So I would like to split it threeways:
opiate:   $6
bobbie7:  $6
cryptica: $8
since I believe baselineft is the most serious b2b solution for my
purposes.

Thank you so much, hagen-ga, but no $$$ for me.  I'm not a Google
researcher -- I'm a geek! And opiate-ga probably isn't one either. 
You can tell "civialians" who comment because our names show up in in
black font.  The only people who get fees are your official Google
researchers, whose names show up in blue text that you can click on. 
In this case it is the esteemed Bobbie7-ga.

Hagen,

Cryptica is correct in stating that, among the three people who helped
you, the only official Google Answers Researcher (and thus the only
individual who can receive compensation) is Bobbie7. You can tell a
Researcher from a non-Researcher by noting the manner in which a
screen name is displayed. Only Researchers' names are highlighed in
blue, and are "clickable." Clicking on a Researcher's name will take
you to that person's profile, where you can view the questions he or
she has answered in the past.

If you would like to pay Bobbie for her work, one way that this can be
achieved is for you to reprice your question to the amount that you
feel is appropriate, and ask Bobbie to post her remarks as an official
answer.

To reprice your question, just click the grey button near the top of
your screen that says "Edit Question Parameters" and proceed from
there.

Bobbie7, if could you please post your comment as the official answer,
I will close the question.

Thanks