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Wednesday January 13, 2021

Today’s Finales
Bravo: “The Real Housewives of Orange County” at 9p
Nat Geo: “Trafficked” at 9p

IN THE NEWS

Univision plans to dive into the streaming pool with PrendeTV (“turn on”), targeting the US Hispanic audience with free, Spanish-language programming. Set to debut in the first quarter, the service will feature premium and exclusive content, including curated Spanish-language series, movies and more. “PrendeTV is unlike anything our audience has access to today and will completely change the landscape for video streaming in Spanish-language media in the United States,” said Univision CEO Wade Davis. “We are focused on bringing new ways for our advertisers to reach the US Hispanic audience and, importantly, PrendeTV will be a critical part of our strategy to grow the scope of our business partnerships with our key distributors.”

Connected TV accounts for 18% of advertising spend, according to new data from The Trade Desk, which projects a 27% rise in cord-cutting for 2021 – up from 15% in 2020. Nearly 60% of advertisers reported they are making less traditional TV upfront buys in 2021. Just 30% of US consumers cite live sports as a reason to keep a cable TV subscription, down from 60% nine months ago, with almost 39% of sports viewers streaming live sports content.

NBC Sports has cut ties with NHL analyst Mike Milbury, who was suspended in August for “insensitive” comments he made about women on-air. “We are grateful to Mike for all of his contributions to our coverage for 14 years,” NBC Sports said in a statement. “But he will not be returning to our NHL announce team. We wish him well.”

OWN’s hit Tyler Perry series “The Haves and the Have Nots” will end with its current season eight. “’The Haves and the Have Nots’ was the first scripted drama we aired on OWN, and to say it took off from the first day it hit the air is an understatement,” said Oprah Winfrey. “It’s all due to one man’s creativity and very vivid imagination, a man I refer to as my ‘big little brother,’ Tyler Perry.” The final batch of eight episodes start airing in May.

Ovation TV acquired US broadcast rights for season two of “Riviera,” which has Will Arnett, Juliet Stevenson and Poppy Delevingne joining the cast. The second season of the Sky original will air on Ovation in May 2021.

Golden opportunity: The Hollywood Foreign Press Association named Satchel and Jackson Lee, children of filmmaker Spike Lee with producer Tonya Lewis Lee, as the 2021 Golden Globe Ambassadors. The two will assist with duties during the 78th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony and work to raise awareness around a philanthropic cause of their choosing. Hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, the awards are slated to air on NBC Sunday, February 28 at 8p.

Join us on Thursday, February 25 for our virtual celebration of the industry’s Best of the Best.

Finalists will be announced later next week!

NBC placed three series orders: Comedies “American Auto,” from Jason Spitzer (“Superstore”) and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment, and “Grand Crew,” from “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” team Phil Augusta Jackson and Dan Goor, and drama “La Brea,” from David Applebaum and Keshet Studios. All will be produced by Universal Television. “Our driving force has always been to seek out talented storytellers who have a strong point of view,” said Lisa Katz, President of Scripted Content. “While these shows are very different thematically , what they have in common is a unique voice, excellent world building, and compelling storytelling.”

Procedural “Acts of Crime” landed a pilot pickup from ABC. Sam Esmail (“Mr. Robot”) is writing, directing and producing the project, from UCP and ABC Signature.

Landmark Studio Group (“Willy’s Wonderland”), a Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, company, announced the development of a new Crackle Plus original series, “Inside the Black Box,” created by acting coach Tracey Moore, Joe Morton (“Scandal”), Rachel Weintraub (“The View”), and David Kolin. The series will focus on BIPOC artists reflecting on how their skin tones influenced their journey to success.

Hasbro and Beau Willimon and Jordan Tappis’ Westward, with Entertainment One, are taking a chance on a scripted TV adaptation of the board game Risk. Willimon (“House of Cards”) will write and oversee production of the series. Hasbro acquired eOne in 2019.

“Smoakland,” centered on the visionary of a cannabis company, has been put in development at Freeform. The project comes from writer Jewel Coronel (“The Chi”), Zahir McGhee (“Scandal”), Yara Shahidi (“grown-ish”) and Kari Shahidi’s 7th Sun Productions, and ABC Signature.

COMING UP

Netflix dropped a sizzle reel on films coming out in 2021, with the streamer planning new movies every week. Among the highlights: First-time director Halle Berry starring as a former MMA fighter in “Bruised”; a Black western, “The Harder They Fall,” starring Regina King, Zaxie Beetz and Idris Elba; and Benedict Cumberbath, Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons in “The Power of the Dog,” directed by Jane Campion.

Changing the channel: Theresa Caputo moves to discovery+ from TLC for a new season of “Long Island Medium: There In Spirit,” premiering on the new streaming service Friday, Febuary 5. The season features celebrity readings from stars including Rosario Dawson, Meghan Trainor, Carmen Electra, Garcelle Beauvais, Howie Dorough, Whitney Thore and Darcey and Stacey Silva, among others.

Freestyle Digital Media landed rights to “Afro-Latinx Revolution: Puerto Rico,” a documentary from Natasha S. Alford, VP of Digital Content & Senior Correspondent, theGrio. In the film, Alford explores the complexities of Black identity for Afro-Puerto Rican residents, as well as racial discrimination and economic inequality.

Spectrum is celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day for TV customers with an On Demand collection of movies highlighting African American cinema, including the late Chadwick Boseman’s portrayals of baseball great Jackie Robinson in “42” and the first Black Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in “Marshall.” Movies are available in the Spectrum On Demand portal under the category “MLK Day.”

TV One honors Martin Luther King Jr. Day with the premiere of “Unsung Presents: Music & The Movement” on Monday, January 18 at 8p. The special remembers artists and songs that have provided a soundtrack to the fight for justice and equality.

“Temptation Island” is back for season three on USA Network on Tuesday, February 16 at 10p, with four couples ready to put their relationships to the test.

Charles Payne will host “The Future of Capitalism” today, January 13 at 2p, during Fox Business Network’s “Making Money with Charles Payne.” The virtual town hall will focus on the incoming administration’s economic policies and the impact potential new regulations will have on the free market.

A new reality show from a TikTok star is on the way from ViacomCBS studio Awesomeness. “Noah Beck Tries Things,” which follows Beck after his move to LA to be a full-time content creator, launches Friday, January 22 at 7a on AwesomenessTV’s digital platforms.

Lifetime set premiere dates for its Winter 2021 Ripped from the Headlines true crime slate, airing Saturdays from February 13-March 13. Kicking things off: “Death Saved My Life,” starring Meagan Good (“If Not Now, When?”), followed on February 20 by “The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother’s Hunt for Justice,” starring Kim Delaney (“NYPD Blue”).

Nat Geo’s Heartland Docs, DVM returns Saturday, January 30 at 10p, with a veterinarian couple tending to all manner of ailing creatures.

TV5Monde USA, in partnership with UniFrance, will offer 8 US premieres on TV5Monde’s Cinema On Demand platform starting Friday, January 15. Selected from feature and short films showcased in the MyFrenchFilmFestival, all films are subtitled in English and available through April 15.

STREAMING

Despite the dominance of Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu and Disney+, smaller players are seeing the biggest growth, with 75% of young viewers spending more time with lesser known free connected TV options, according to Team Whistle research service Whistle Wise. Findings include:
* Biggest YoY gainers among 13 to 36-year-olds in the study were Xumo (+25%), Stirr (+22%), Tubi (+19%) and Samsung TV Plus (+17%).
* 85% of respondents turn to streaming platforms to find content they can’t find on other platforms/switch across streaming services to find the content they’re looking for.
* 81% usually watch content on streaming platforms in the background while doing other things.

AT&T is phasing out skinny bundle AT&T Now, and merging it with AT&T TV. Existing customers will still have access to the service for now, but it won’t be available to new customers. AT&T Now launched in 2016 as DirecTV Now, and rebranded in 2019.

fuboTV is making a bigger wager on betting. The streamer has executed a binding letter of intent to acquire sports betting and interactive gaming company Vigtory, with plans to launch a sportsbook before the end of the year. “We believe online sports wagering is a highly complementary business to our sports-first live TV streaming platform,” said David Gandler, co-founder and CEO, fuboTV. “We don’t see wagering as simply an add-on product to fuboTV. Instead, we believe there is a real flywheel opportunity with streaming video content and interactivity…. We not only expect sports wagering to become a new line of business and source of revenue, but we also expect that it will increase user engagement on fuboTV resulting in higher ad monetization, better subscriber retention and reduced subscriber acquisition costs.”

AMC Networks streaming service UMC has rebranded to ALLBLK, a plan first announced last month. The service offers original series, network TV, nostalgic Black cinema and independent films.

Online video platform SendtoNews has entered an agreement to add Newsy digital video content to its library, making it available to over 1,800 digital publishers. “Helping content partners like Newsy reach new audiences has always been a strategic priority for SendtoNews,” says Matthew Watson, CEO, SendtoNews. “Newsy’s content delivers amazing quality for our publishing partners and drives engagement and retention of their audiences.”

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has awarded Southern California Public Radio a two-year grant of $500,000 to advance the growth of LAist Studios, SCPR’s podcast development and production division, and its mission of addressing the content needs of young and underserved audiences. “Since day one, our mission has been to create innovative on-demand audio that is representative of our amazing city,” said Kristen Muller, Chief Content Officer of SCPR.

TECH TALK

Advanced advertising company OpenAP announced the launch of its new supply-side platform that provides advertisers access to available linear inventory from TV publishers. Built on APIs, OpenAP’s SSP provides approved buyside tools the ability to access and retrieve available inventory from national TV publishers including AMC Networks, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal, Univision and ViacomCBS, with inventory coming soon from A+E Networks and The Weather Channel. Once integrated, buyers log into their existing systems to plan and buy media through an automated workflow using standardized information on audiences and inventory avails. “By enabling this new way to buy alongside agency planning capabilities, we are ultimately fueling a more vibrant ecosystem for advanced advertising,” said David Levy, CEO, OpenAP.

NBCUniversal sees big potential for shoppable CTV content. The company’s digital shoppable videos have interaction rates of 20-30%, meaning “consumers like this kind of environment,” said Brian Norris, SVP, Direct-to-Sale and Commerce Partnerships/Ad Sales for NBCU, during a panel at CES. In fact, 78% of viewers are less likely to change the channel when they are engaging with a particular product, said Norris.

Video software provider Synamedia announced that its security and watermarking solutions are now integrated with Akamain, the intelligent edge platform for securing and delivering digital experiences. Synamedia’s solutions now detect and disrupt pirate streams in real time over the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform and redirect viewers to legitimate services. “When illegal streams are disrupted, particularly during live sports, viewers tend to give up on pirated streams and switch to legal services,” said Yael Fainaro, SVP, Security at Synamedia “Akamai’s platform is used by many of our pay-TV and OTT customers and this integration will strengthen their ability to combat piracy at speed and scale.”

During a CES presentation, Nielsen announced the launch of Theatrical Video On-Demand, a measurement service that caters to viewing of movie releases that are directly available to consumers to rent or purchase on demand through streaming/MVPD platforms. “As this unprecedented pandemic continues to influence consumer behavior, perhaps even through a prolonged state of recovery waves, being able to measure and help clients appropriately monetize new revenue streams has never been more crucial,” said Scott N. Brown, GM Audience Measurement, Nielsen. “A bigger question might be what will audiences do following any recovery, how the behavior adopted during stay-at-home orders might influence habits when consumers have the ability to go back to theaters to enjoy that experience and how content creators will leverage data to make the best decisions regarding distribution platforms in the future.”

GOING GLOBAL

Qwest TV and Samsung Australia are teaming to add Qwest’s three music-focused channels – Qwest TV Jazz & Beyond, Qwest TV Classical, and Qwest TV Mix – to all models of Samsung TV Plus. Co-founded by Quincy Jones, the premium music-related video service will appear as a featured channel on the Samsung Smart TV platform.

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Coverage of the NFL’s Super Wild Card Weekend on CBS and Nickelodeon scored an average 30.65 million viewers across both networks. Sunday’s telecast on Nickelodeon was the network’s most-watched program among total viewers in nearly four years, delivering 2.06 million viewers (P2+), up +245% versus the comparable window a year ago.

Part one of HBO docu-series “Tiger” drew 639,000 total viewers across platforms on Sunday, the best performance for an HBO Sports documentary since 2018. The two-parter focuses on the rise, fall and rise of golf phenom Tiger Woods.

On Saturday night, Univision’s live coverage of Liga MX delivered an average audience of 897,000 Total Viewers 2+, 474,000 A18-49 and 196,000 A18-34.

TV Time’s Shows on the Rise for the week of January 4
Lupin (Netflix) – 100%
History of Swear Words (Netflix) – 99.9%
Call Me Kat (FOX) – 99.8%
Sam (TF1) – 97%
The Promise (TF1) – 96.8%
The Bachelor (ABC) – 95.9%
JLC Family (TRX) – 94.3%
Convent Mysteries (Rai 1) – 93.6%
The One That Looms (Telecinco) – 90.9%
Doc In Your Hands (Rai 1) – 86.7%
Methodology: Every week, millions of viewers around the world use TV Time to track their favorite series. “Shows on the Rise” is calculated by determining the week-over-week growth in episodes watched for a given program.

TV Time’s Binge Report for the Week of January 4
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix) – 3.84%
Bridgerton (Netflix) – 3.52%
Cobra Kai (Netflix) – 2.51%
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) – 1.65%
Lupin (Netflix) – 1.44%
Attack on Titan (NHK) – 1.40%
Modern Family (ABC) – 1.40%
The Office (NBC) – 1.33%
One Piece (Fuji TV) – 1.24%
Friends (NBC) – 1.08%
The weekly Binge Report ranks shows with the most binge sessions. A binge session is when four or more episodes of a show are watched and tracked in the TV Time within a given day

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, January 11
Show, P2+ millions, (A18-49)
ABC: The Bachelor 4.74 (1.17), The Good Doctor 4.06 (0.57)
CBS: The Neighborhood 4.13 (0.63), Bob Hearts Abishola 3.37 (0.43), All Rise 2.58 (0.28), Bull 2.97 (0.29)
CW: All American Stories 0.38 (0.08), Penn & Teller: Fool Us 0.43 (0.08)
FOX: 9-1-1 2.31 (0.43), 9-1-1: Lone Star 2.18 (0.39)
NBC: Ellen’s Game of Games 3.14 (0.56), The Wall 2.84 (0.53), The Weakest Link 2.50 (0.53)
Telemundo: Domo del Dinero 0.77 (0.2), Todo Por Mi Hija 1.45 (0.4), Falsa Identidad 0.91 (0.3)
Univ Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Tara Brown has been promoted to Senior Director of Media Relations at INSP Television Network. Brown joined INSP nine years ago and has “consistently moved the needle to position and promote the network,” said Melissa Thornton, VP of Corporate Communications.

Jason Klarman has been named President of streaming service Fox Nation, retaining his role as EVP of Marketing for Fox News Media. Klarman, part of the original team that launched Fox News Channel in 1996, rejoined Fox News Media in 2018.

Whip Media has appointed Sherry Brennan as EVP and GM of its licensing technology division. Brennan previously focused on the distribution of content at Fox Networks.

Jhamal Robinson has joined Netflix as VP of Production Management for the US and Canada. Robinson was most recently SVP of Production Management for Discovery Networks.

Univision announced changes to the executive leadership team: Pierluigi Gazzolo has been appointed to the newly created role of President of Univision Communications Inc. and Chief Transformation Officer; Luis Silberwasser has been appointed to the newly created role of President of the Univision Television Networks Group; and Donna Speciale has been named President of Advertising Sales and Marketing. Promotions include Friday Abernethy to EVP of Content Distribution and Partnerships; Adam Shippee to the newly created role of EVP, Corporate Development, Strategy and Transformation; and Amy Tenbrink to EVP & Associate General Counsel, Revenue/Business Development.

NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises appointed Ezequiel Fonseca Zas to the newly created role of SVP of revenue strategy and distribution, and Malu Carmona-Botana to the new position of VP of content monetization. Fonseca Zas was most recently GM of Streaming Platforms and SVP of Mobile Partnerships at ViacomCBS International; Carmona-Botana comes from A+E Networks, where she was Director of Content Distribution Strategy.

Nathan Brown has been named General Manager, Ellen Digital Ventures, a joint venture between Ellen DeGeneres and Warner Bros. Brown was co-founder and CEO of AR/VR content, research, at Tomorrow Never Knows.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which sitcom followed fictional football team, the California Bulls? “1st & Ten” (1984-91). Kudos to: Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC, Ken Nice-TeamPeople/Falls Church, VA, Austin Kennedy-Meridian Interactive/Jacksonville, FL, Rick Dascher-WarnerMedia Studios/Atlanta, Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank, John Kukla-KDFW/Dallas, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA, Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA, Barb Throm-Stealth Creative/Saint Louis, MO, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA/Burbank

Today’s Trivia Question
Which sitcom, cancelled after 13 episodes, featured appearances by Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Asner, Betty White, John Ritter and Maureen McCormick in guest roles during its short run? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four answers per time zone.)