Nexstar Media Group is aiming for the heartland with News Nation, a three-hour, primetime nightly national newscast launching this summer on WGN America. “Nexstar has the largest newsgathering organization in the country, with 5,400 journalists in 110 newsrooms throughout the U.S.,” said Perry Sook, Chairman, President and CEO of Nexstar. “By aggregating our current news resources to produce News Nation, we can leverage WGN America’s strong reach across the U.S. and develop a new unbiased national news broadcast without incurring incremental operating expenses.” Nexstar acquired Tribune Media in September in a deal that brought 42 stations and WGN America to the fold. The newscast, focused on breaking news and in-depth features, not opinion, will air out of Chicago.

Overall viewership of cable networks dipped nearly 10% in 2019, according to MoffettNathanson Research, thanks mostly to the defection of younger viewers. Total day for the A18-49 demo was down an average of 15% in C3 viewing; viewership for those 50+ dipped 4%. News programming was especially hard hit, down 23% among younger viewers, versus just 1% among 50+.

The value of pirate video services accessed by pay TV and non-pay TV users will exceed $67 billion worldwide by 2023, according to a report from Parks and Associates, Video Piracy: Ecosystem, Risks and Impact. “Credential sharing falls into two categories. Most sharing is casual, with no intent to profit. But the bigger risk is from pirates that purchase large stolen consumer databases via the ‘Dark Web’ and use automation to discover penetrable end user accounts,” said Steven Hawley, contributing analyst at Parks Associates and managing director of Piracy Monitor.

Apple TV+ and director M. Night Shyamalan were slapped with a lawsuit over the streamer’s Servant series. The lawsuit, alleging the show is “a wholesale copy” of plaintiff Francesca Gregorini’s 2013 feature film, The Truth About Emanuel, seeks to shut down Servant, and collect damages.

George Cheeks, Vice Chairman of NBCUniversal Content Studios, is leaving for a senior role at ViacomCBS, reports the Wall Street Journal, possibly to succeed Joe Ianniello as head of CBS. Before joining NBCU, Cheeks spent 14 years at Viacom.

“There is little doubt that Netflix has structured itself to avoid paying tax,” said UK think tank Tax Watch in a report that alleges the company funneled up to $430 million of profits into tax havens, while receiving over $1 million in tax relief in Britain. Nothing to see here, responded Netflix. “Corporate taxation is an important and much-debated issue,” said a Netflix spokesperson. “Ultimately, it’s for governments to decide the rules when it comes to tax – and in every country in which we operate, Netflix respects those rules.”

The Tegna board is opposing the addition of hedge fund manager Soo Kim and three other candidates, citing Kim’s “track record of endorsing and executing corporate actions in favor of his own investments to the investments of other shareholders…The board is also concerned that his significant investments in and influence over other broadcasting companies would create a conflict of interest as a Tegna director.” Kim heads the Standard General hedge fund.

Have you seen the new “Sports Betting” categories included in the Cynopsis Sports Media Awards? These brand new categories (sponsored by SeventySix Capital) spotlight the incredible work that’s been done in the sports betting arena. View all categories here and be sure to enter your content, campaigns or individuals by Tuesday, January 28th. Finalists will be celebrated at the 8th Annual Cynopsis Sports Media Awards Breakfast, taking place on April 23rd in NYC.

WarnerMedia is expanding its relationship with All Elite Wrestling, extending their deal for AEW: Dynamite, a new top 20 new unscripted series, through 2023. The deal also includes another night of AEW action, with a second wrestling show going straight-to-series. “When we launched AEW one year ago, we wanted to start a revolution that would disrupt the wrestling business, but everyone said that it would take a strong weekly television partner to make AEW real in the eyes of everyone – above all, the fans,” said Tony Khan, president and CEO of AEW. “What virtually no one realized at the time was Kevin Reilly and TNT were committed to this very same movement from Day One, and their belief in us made it possible for AEW to think and act big from the start.”

Cynopsis will honor stand-out performers, innovators and emerging leaders in the media industry on February 6th from 11:45am – 2pm at Tribeca ThreeSixty in NYC. The experience of these young superstars spans research, sports, digital, content and marketing – join us in congratulating them for jobs well done.

[HONOREES] [AWARD FINALISTS] [GET TICKETS]

TBS greenlit Lost Resort, it was announced at the TCA tour. Unscripted series follows a group of people at a three-week Costa Rican retreat. “Lost Resort is an inside look at the exclusive, explosive and often hilariously experimental world of self-help retreats,” said Corie Henson, EVP and head of unscripted programming for TBS, TNT and truTV. “Wait until you see the lengths people will go in their quest for happiness.”

TBS also ordered two more seasons of American Dad!. Said co-creator and co-showrunner Matt Weitzman of the animated comedy, which moved from Fox to TBS in 2014, “After these next two seasons, we will have over 300 episodes. Thus proving that whatever American Dad! lacks in quality, we make up for in quantity.”

Endemol Shine Boomdog inked development deals with Fran Hevia (Se Rentan Cuartos), Alex Fernandez (LOL), Michelle Rodriguez (LOL, Me Caigo de Risa), Ricardo O’Farrill (LOL) and El Diablito (Se Busca Comediante, LOL) to develop new series that Boomdog’s team will be taking to buyers this winter. New series in development include Mananas Magicas, a sketch comedy show headlined by Fran Hevia, Alex Fernandez and Michelle Rodriguez, Janguea y Rapea, a music and comedy show with Ricardo O’Farrill, and Me Lleva el Diablo, a comedy transformation reality series hosted by El Diablito.

Latino Public Broadcasting announced its 2019 funding recipients. This year’s awardees include twelve documentary projects and three digital shorts; ten of the funded projects are produced and/or directed by women. “Stories about our border crisis are particularly noteworthy this year as well as films that go beyond the lower 48, with a fascinating look at Latinos in Alaska and an up-to-the minute report on the health care crisis in Puerto Rico,” said Sandie Viquez Pedlow, Executive Director of Latino Public Broadcasting.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Animal Planet’s The Aquarium is back for season two on Sunday, February 9 at 8p. This season, the series follows the stories of a moray eel moving from one habitat to another, a giant sea turtle named Tank who needs to learn healthier eating habits, and baby fantail rays Bacon and Tomato. Camera crews also follow Georgia Aquarium biologists under the nighttime waves, to film a rarely witnessed event: the spawning of critically endangered corals.

The 40th season of CBS’s Survivor will feature 20 past winners competing for a $2 million prize. The “Winners at War” edition “unites the most memorable, heroic and celebrated champions from the past two decades in the biggest battle in the show’s history,” said the network. Games begin Wednesday, February 12; retrospective special Survivor at 40: Greatest Moments and Players airs February 5.

Mark Ruffalo, star of HBO’s limited series adaptation of the 1998 novel I Know This Much Is True, said at TCA that there was a six-week break between shooting the twin characters he plays. “We didn’t want it to be like, I run and put a wig on and then do the same scene I just did,” the actor explained. Instead, he used the hiatus to pack on 30 pounds to portray the twin brother who suffered from mental illness. “These medications, these mood stabilizers and anti-psychotics, a lot of people put on weight … It was important for us to have these guys really, really be two different people,” he told reporters.

The two-hour season premiere of Discovery’s Expedition Unknown on Wednesday, February 5 at 8p will be followed by the debut of a new series, Expedition X, where Unknown host Josh Gates will be joined by Phil Torres and Jessica Chobot to investigate reports of supernatural encounters and extraterrestrial phenomena.

Outcry, a five-part docu-series exploring the controversial conviction of a high school football star for sexual assault, premieres on Showtime Friday, April 3 at 9p. The show will have its world premiere at the South by Southwest Conference.

It’s Personal with Amy Hoggart makes its debut on truTV on Wednesday, February 26 at 10p. Docu-style comedy series exec produced by Samantha Bee has self-proclaimed “empath and really nice person” Hoggart attempting to untangle people’s issues.

In more truTV news, announced at TCA: Hot Ones: The Game Show, based on the Hot Ones web series, premieres Tuesday, February 18 at 10p, and Tacoma FD returns for season two on Thursday, March 26 at 10p. The net also ordered Tirdy Works, an unscripted sitcom focused on a small town with a new business – arts and crafts made out of moose poop.

Season four of Insecure will premiere Sunday, April 12 on HBO. The season will see “the fallout of what happens when turning 30,” said creator and star Issa Rae at TCA.

Adult Swim’s Beef House, from Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim (Tim and Eric Awesome Show) will focus on five men living under one roof. The comedy, slated to premiere later this year, is produced by Heidecker and Wareheim’s Abso Lutely Productions.

Season eight of Shahs of Sunset debuts on Bravo on Sunday, February 9 at 9p. Sara Jeihooni joins the crew this time around.

TLC announced the series premiere of Dragnificent!, featuring drag queens as they sprinkle their glitz on people eager for a mega- makeover. The queens help each person reveal the best version of themselves, inside and out, starting in April, 2020.

Disney+ offered a first look at at Stargirl, an offbeat coming-of-age story based on the best-selling young adult novel about an unassuming high schooler who finds himself drawn to the free-spirited new girl, played by America’s Got Talent winner Grace VanderWaal. Stargirl starts streaming March 13; for the trailer, go here.

Bravo launched a new Vanderpump Rules Snapchat series, featuring the most notable and buzzy moments from each episode.

No one can throw a party like the tv industry… Be a part of the action on February 6th in NYC alongside these media game-changers at the inaugural Cynopsis Best Of The Best Awards Featuring Media’s Rising Stars. **Register by today to save $100/seat**

COMING UP

The Weather Channel will air a second installment of 2020: Race to Save the Planet, its primetime special featuring conversations with 2020 presidential candidates, politicians, scientists, experts and communities in crisis, with a specific focus on environmental justice, on Saturday, February 1.

Not anxious enough about November 2020? HBO will air new documentary Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America’s Elections this March. The film examines the security of US election technology, revealing how unprotected our voting systems are.

On a lighter note, a new, musical one-hour Arthur special premieres on PBS Kids on Monday, January 20. The Rhythm and Roots of Arthur takes the elephant back to the family farm for his Great-Grand Uncle Theo’s 85th birthday.

The Nomads, based on the true story about a female African-American teacher who joins forces with a male Caucasian colleague to develop a men’s rugby team in an inner-city school in North Philadelphia, makes its TV premiere on Bounce on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 20 at 9p.

Parrot Analytics will honor David Crane and Marta Kauffman, co-creators of Friends, with the Global Iconic Award at the 2nd Annual Global Demand TV Awards taking place on January 21 during the NATPE. The award honors the most in-demand shows of 2019, based on empirical global TV demand data.

Whitney Houston, Depeche Mode, the Doobie Brothers, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G. and T. Rex will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Ceremony will be broadcast live, May 2 on HBO.

The Women in Comedy Festival is back for year eleven on Thursday, May 7 through Sunday, May 10 throughout the Greater Boston area. The four-day festival, sponsored by HBO, brings together more than 150 performers and artists to celebrate and showcase women in comedy. “More than ever, we need to hear from female comics, writers, and directors,” said Kelly Edwards, HBO’s SVP of Talent Development. “The Women in Comedy Festival gives them a tremendous platform to be heard.”

NBC will televise The Road to F9: Fast & Furious Fan Fest on Friday, January 31, at 9p. The hourlong special hosted by Tyrese Gibson and Maria Menounos celebrates Universal Pictures’ upcoming ninth chapter in the Fast & Furious series.

TECH NEWS

Verizon Media has launched a “privacy-focused” search engine, OneSearch, offering no cookie tracking, data-storing or data-sharing with advertisers. “OneSearch doesn’t use your search habits or profile data to filter or optimize search results,” said the company. “OneSearch gives you a wider, deeper range of results without bias.” Its Advanced Privacy Mode encrypts search items and search URL, masking users’ search intent from third parties.

Vibenomics, a provider of streaming audio experience solutions and the industry’s first audio out-of-home programmatic advertising marketplace, has joined DPAA. The company enables location-based businesses to create and control their background musical vibe. “Vibenomics is a welcome partner that helps fulfill our promise of ‘digital out-of-home everything’ by offering brands a unique opportunity to speak directly to target audiences at the point-of-sale through background audio advertising, which has been shown to have a positive impact on how much time consumers spend in a store, what they buy and how much they spend,” said Barry Frey, DPAA President & CEO.

STREAMING SNIPPETS

With the Food Network Kitchen app, fans stream live cooking classes with two-way interaction, allowing users to communicate in real-time with Food Network’s culinary experts. Highlights for the week of January 19 include: Jet Tila on Monday, January 20; Katie Lee on Tuesday, January 21; Michael Symon on Thursday, January 23; and Jet Tila and Geoffrey Zakarian on Saturday, January 25.

GOING GLOBAL

Gordon Ramsay will star in BBC One competition format Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars. “The future of our food industry has never been more exciting,” said Ramsay. “I can’t wait to search across the country unearthing some of Britain’s most entrepreneurial talent.” Ramsay is exec producing with Lisa Edwards and Sharon Powers for Studio Ramsay.

STX (Hustlers) and Amazon Prime Video inked a new output deal that gives Amazon exclusive rights to STX’s movies in France, and Pay-1 SVOD rights in the UK and Italy.

UK-based distributor DCD Rights has pre-sold its new factual entertainment series Disasters Engineered, a.k.a. Deadly Engineering to Discovery in the UK & Eire – who premiere the series this month – and to DR in Denmark.

Banijay Rights announced a multi-season deal with RTL Hungary for its reality format, Survivor.

Woodcut Media and TCB Media Rights announced that season two of Combat Ships has been greenlit and commissioned by Smithsonian Channel or the US and UK.

PPI Releasing’s three newly-launched syndicated series willl return for the 2020-21 season: Intervention, SSN Sports and Forensic Factor.

PODCAST POST

Gunpowder & Sky sci-fi brand Dust and nonprofit Xprize have partnered for the second season of Dust’s podcast, Seat 14C, based on Xprize’s science fiction anthology of short stories. Voice actors include Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey), Danny Trejo (Sons Of Anarchy), Alfred Molina (Magnolia), Keith David (Armageddon), Reid Scott (Veep) and Suzy Nakamura (Dr. Ken).

WE tv’s Love After Lockup: Life After Lockup drew more than 1.2 million total viewers for its January 10 episode in Nielsen Live +3 ratings. WE tv saw ratings growth across all key demos in 2019, including increases of 7% among total viewers, 5% among W18-49, 6% among W25-54, 3% among A18-49, and 4% among A25-54 in Live +3 compared to 2018.

The midseason return of NBC’s This Is Us on Tuesday drew 6.64 million viewers and 1.4 among A18-49, Tuesday’s top-rated scripted program. ABC’s Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time had a winning 1.9 rating and 13.51 million viewers.

Live + Same Day Viewers AA (millions): Tuesday, January 14
Time period averages
Source: Nielsen Live+SD
CBS: 8.36 million
NCIS 10.12, FBI 9.32, FBI: Most Wanted 8.57, FBI: Most Wanted 6.51
ABC: 6.23 million
Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time 13.55, mixed-ish 3.68, black-ish 2.43 Emergence 2.13
NBC: 5.28 million
Ellen’s Game of Games 4.23, This Is Us 6.71, New Amsterdam 4.98
FOX: 3.02 million
The Resident. 3.91, Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back 2.12
UNIVISION: 1.78 million
Ringo 1.83, Amor Eterno 1.85, El Dragon 1.66
CW: 1.38 million
Arrow 1.41, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow 1.35
TELEMUNDO: 0.92 million
Decisiones: Unos Gana, Otros Pierden 0.73, La Dona 0.95, Al Senor de los Cielos 1.08
Tuesday A18-49 Ratings
NBC 1.1/6, ABC 1.0/4., CBS 0.9/4, FOX 0.6/3, UNI 0.6/3, CW 0.5/3TELE 0.3/1,

EXECUTIVE MOVES

David Rawlinson will join Nielsen’s Global Connect business as CEO. Rawlinson, president of the global online business at industrial supply company Grainger, has been a member of the Nielsen board for the past three years; he assumes the CEO role February 3.

The Jim Henson Company has expanded the responsibilities of Anna Moorefield, VP, Global Distribution, to head all content distribution strategies for the Company across all platforms.

Michael Champion will take on the role of President at Creatively Classic Activities and Books, and Regan Holroyd will serve as the company’s Chief Administrative Officer.

Extreme Reach Solutions hired Gilbert Galvan as Director of Residuals.

Answer to our last Trivia Question
Why did Reed receive the Medal of Valor in the last episode of Adam-12 (1965-1975)? He saved Malloy’s life. Kudos to: John Kukla-KDFW Fox 4/Dallas, Rev. Mark Wajda/Lakeland, FL, Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC, Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA, Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank, David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista, CA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank

Today’s Trivia Question
What was the first series created by Stephen J. Cannell? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: A limit of four correct answers from each time zone will be selected.).