Today’s Premieres
Disney+: Mia in the Multiverse
Hulu: Extraordinary
ID: Homicide Hunter: American Detective at 10p
Kanal D: El Pecado del Amor at 8:20p
Netflix: Against the Ropes; Love Never Lies: Poland

IN THE NEWS

The Justice Department and a group of eight state sued Google on Tuesday, seeking to break up its online advertising business. In the agency’s first antitrust lawsuit against a tech giant under President Biden, Google is accused of “engaging in a systematic campaign to seize control of the wide swath of high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers and brokers to facilitate digital advertising.” The lawsuit asks for Google to be forced to sell its suite of ad technology products and cease engaging in allegedly anticompetitive practices.

Rupert Murdoch has called off his proposal to recombine News Corp. and Fox Corp., citing concerns that a merger “is not optimal for the shareholders” of either company right now. In October, the companies formed a committee to explore a deal.

CBS renewed “The Neighborhood” for a sixth season. “’The Neighborhood’ has become a hit by not only delivering laughs but by telling stories of cultural impact,” said CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach. “From gentrification to Black Lives Matter, to addiction and pregnancy loss, the incredible writers and this amazing cast push boundaries and endlessly entertain us.” The series is CBS’s second longest-running comedy, after “Young Sheldon.”

Disney’s upfront presentation this year will take place May 16 at NYC’s recently renovated Javits Center. The event was held last year at Basketball City, and for years pre-Covid at Lincoln Center. Jimmy Kimmel will return as emcee.

Chris Stapleton will sing the national anthem at this year’s Super Bowl and Babyface will belt out “America the Beautiful, while “Abbott Elementary” star Sheryl Lee Ralph is set to perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” As previously announced, Rihanna will star in the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show on February 12.

Facing elevated ticking fees as approval for Standard General’s $8.6 billion acquisition of Tegna drags on, Standard General founding partner Soohyung Kim told reporters, “We’re optimistic and obviously would prefer economically to get this done during the current ticking fee that’s in place today.” Fees started once the deal passed the nine-month mark, and will increase again on February 22. Short one FCC commissioner, the deal faces a split vote, along with increased opposition and an administration slow to approve big mergers.

After Netflix picked up Sundance Film Festival relationship drama “Fair Play” for a reported $20 million, Apple followed suit, paying about the same amount for Dublin-set Sundance hit “Flora and Son.”

2022 Best of the Best & Rising Star Awards

TUNE IN ON FEBRUARY 16th!

Best of the Best finalists and Rising Star honorees are out NOW! But that’s not even the best news of all: registration for our virtual awards ceremony is now live! Celebrate with us on February 16th at 1 PM EST! To view the full nominee list and register today, click the link below:

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

“Malcolm in the Middle” star Frankie Muniz has partnered with NEO Studios (“Life After”) to develop and produce “Frankie in the Fastlane” (wt), a docuseries tracking Muniz’s pursuit to achieve his life-long dream of racing NASCAR.

Medical drama “Wolf” nabbed a pilot order from NBC. The show, from writer/producer Michael Grassi, producer/director Lee Toland Krieger, and EP Greg Berlanti, centers on a larger-than-life neurosurgeon and his team of interns.

Vice TV ordered a series based on the Super70sSports Twitter feed. “Super Maximum Retro Show,” launching Tuesday, March 7 at 10p, comes from Jimmy Kimmel’s Kimmelot and ITV America.

Entertainment One has closed a two-year exclusive first look television and new media deal with JuVee Productions, the production company of actress and film producer Viola Davis and film producer Julius Tennon. “Viola and Julius’ powerhouse partnership has impacted audiences worldwide with their raw and authentic storytelling. Their vision for creating bold, provocative, and character driven stories was clear to me when we met and after the success of our collaboration for ‘The Woman King,’ we are thrilled to continue our relationship with Viola, Julius, and the team at Juvee Productions,” said Michael Lombardo, eOne’s President of Global Television.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

“Frozen Planet II” premieres Saturday, January 28 at 8p on BBC America and AMC+. The natural history series follows wildlife dramas playing out in the world’s coldest regions.

Docuseries “The 12th Victim,” shedding new light on an infamous 1958 murder case, debuts Friday, February 17 at 8p.

Apple TV+ has acquired “Drops of God” from Legendary. The eight-part, French/Japanese series follows a girl whose father left her an extraordinary wine collection.

SPORTS ROUNDUP

The PGA Tour announced two new agreements aimed at enhancing monitoring capabilities as part of an expanded PGA Tour Integrity Program. A new partnership with U.S. Integrity, paired with an extension of the TOUR’s existing relationship with Genius Sports, will provide the organization with monitoring services through 2024. The PGA TOUR Integrity Program covers all facets of competition and operations on the Tours overseen by the PGA Tour, including players and their support teams, all tournament staff and volunteers, all PGA TOUR employees and the PGA TOUR Policy Board.

The UK has a way to go before catching up to the US when it comes to Super Bowl enthusiasm. Despite a concerted effort by the NFL to build a fan base in the UK, only 23% in that country watch the Super Bowl regularly, as compared to 60% in the US. According to Kantar, while 85% in the US watch the Super Bowl live on broadcast TV, only 50% in the UK do so. But of those that do watch in the UK, 76% think commercials are a big part of the experience, with 32% in the UK saying they pay attention to Super Bowl commercials because they are funnier or more entertaining than traditional ads.

Final Nielsen numbers for the Fox NFL Super Wild Card Weekend include 33.21 million viewers for the Giants vs. Vikings, and 27.46 million for the 49ers vs. Seahawks. The weekend featured the most-watched game on Saturday and the most-watched game of the weekend on Sunday.

Anthem Sports & Entertainment’s Game+ will be the official Canadian broadcaster of Major League Pickleball. The first broadcast will be on Saturday, January 28.

TECH TALK

IAB released its annual State of Data report, highlighting how privacy-preserving technologies such as Data Clean Rooms are being managed and activated. Highlights include:
? 64% of companies leveraging privacy-preserving technology are using DCRs.
? Respondents cited time-frames of months to up to two years to get up and running with the technology.
? Nearly two thirds (62%) of users spent a minimum of $200K on the technology in 2022, with a quarter (23%) spending upwards of $500K.
“So far, most companies are using DCRs for privacy controls, matching data for collaboration, and data activation,” said Jeffrey Bustos, Vice President, Measurement, Addressability & Data, IAB. “But that only scratches the surface of what’s possible.”

Microsoft announced a multi-year investment in OpenAI, the third deal in its partnership with the artificial intelligence company. Microsoft’s new investment will “advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a blog post.

StackAdapt struck a partnership with Broadsign that strengthens the OOH inventory available on StackAdapt’s multi-channel digital advertising platform. The integration of Broadsign’s global SSP with StackAdapt’s multi-channel digital advertising platform enables media buyers to weave global digital out-of-home ads spanning roadside, retail, transit, and beyond into cohesive programmatic multi-channel campaigns. “Demand for out-of-home advertising has risen sharply in recent years and continues to grow as more marketers double down on brand-building investments amidst the current economic climate,” said Lina Wangfang, Senior Director of Inventory, StackAdapt. “Out-of-home plays well with mobile, social, and CTV, and we expect this integration will help drive new growth here at StackAdapt, and fuel the continued evolution of multi-channel.”

Fyllo, a platform providing data-driven marketing and regulatory solutions, announced the launch of Hypertail PMP, a solution that helps advertisers contextually reach their target audiences through the unique set of websites related to their lifestyles. “Keyword targeting on major websites only paints a vague, and sometimes misleading, picture of a brand’s target consumer at a higher cost,” said Chad Bronstein, Founder and CEO at Fyllo. “Hypertail PMP’s ability to build semantic topics identifying hyper-engaged enthusiasts on niche sites more precisely connects the brand directly to their target audience at a lower cost, allowing for greater scalability and significantly improved performance.”

Lotame introduced Spherical, a data platform designed to help marketers and media owners drive the most value from both known and unknown first-party data for customer engagement and acquisition in a privacy-first world. Spherical will enable interoperability and data portability across brand and media owner tech stacks, extending first-party data living in data warehouses or customer data platforms into the madtech ecosystem. CDPs integrated with Lotame at the launch of Spherical include BlueConic, Meiro, mParticle, Rudderstack, Salesforce, Simon Data, Tealium and Treasure Data. Lotame plans to expand support to additional CDPs on an ongoing basis.

STREAMING

“That ’90s Show” drew 41.1 million hours of viewing its first three days on the service, enough to land at number five on Netflix’s Top 10 list of English-language series for the week of January 16. Season two of “Ginny & Georgia” remained at the top of the list, with 87.4 million hours viewed during its third week.

Steve Rotfeld Productions is expanding its FAST channel with new launches of Xploration Station. Currently available on Local Now, the 24-hour FAST channel will also soon be available on several additional platforms including the TCL Channel, Free Movies Plus, Stremium, Xiaomi TV+, and RewardedTV.

Where can you stream Oscar nominees for Best Picture? JustWatch compiled a list:
All Quiet on the Western Front: Netflix | Netflix Basic with Ads
The Banshees of Inisherin: HBO Max | HBO Max Amazon Channel | DIRECTV
Elvis: HBO Max | HBO Max Amazon Channel | DIRECTV
Everything Everywhere All at Once: Showtime Amazon Channel | Showtime Roku Premium Channel | Showtime | DIRECTV | Paramount+ Showtime
The Fabelmans: For sale
Tar: For sale or rent
Top Gun: Maverick: FuboTV | Paramount Plus | Paramount+ Amazon Channel | MGM Plus Amazon Channel | MGM Plus Roku Premium Channel | DIRECTV | MGM Plus
Triangle of Sadness: For sale or rent
Avatar: The Way of Water and Women Talking can only be found in theaters.

COMING UP

Ahead of Black History Month, The Africa Channel will offer sneak peek at new original reality series “African Royale” on Monday, January 30 at 9p. The show, which follows a Nigerian heiress’ journey as she navigates a life and career while carving out an identity as both an African and an American in Black America, will repeat Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 9p throughout February.

BritBox is delivering the 76th EE FAFTA Film Awards to BritBox to audiences in the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway, streaming live from London on Sunday, February 19.

Fox Nation special “The MisEducation of America 2: Live Summit” airs Thursday, January 26 at 7p. During the forum, experts will examine issues facing today’s education system.

GOING GLOBAL

Abacus Media Rights and Night Train Media will launch pre-sales for factual series “Conquistadors: The Rise and Fall” to buyers at Realscreen and Content Americas this month.

Merck Foundation has launched its first TV program, “Our Africa by Merck Foundation,” to address social and health issues through African fashion and art. Issues include diabetes, child marriage, female education and more.

Banijay Rights announced the sale of historical drama “Marie Antoinette” to Antenna Plus (Ant1+) in Greece, Ceska Televize in the Czech Republic, DIRECTV in Latin America and Canada’s national public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada for CBC Gem (English) and ICI Télé and ICI Tou.tv (French). RTÉ in Ireland, Sky Italia, Radio & Television Slovakia – RTVS and Viaplay across all Nordic and Baltic countries and the Netherlands have also acquired the drama.

Red Arrow Studios International has picked up the global distribution rights to World War II dramedy “While The Men Are Away,” which has been commissioned by SBS in Australia. The series is being produced by Australian production company Arcadia.

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RATINGS

Basic Cable Top 10 for the week of January 10
Network, P2+ AA (000s)
Primetime
ESPN 2481
Fox News 1996
MSNBC 943
Hallmark Channel 885
HGTV 872
History 742
TNT 730
INSP 698
TBS 656
TLC 654
Total Day
Fox News 1387
ESPN 825
MSNBC 629
HGTV 495
Hallmark Channel 455
CNN 417
INSP 392
ID 371
USA 363
History 356
Source: Nielsen

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, January 23
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: The Bachelor 2.96 (0.7), The Good Doctor 3.29 (0.3)
CBS: The Neighborhood 6.41 (0.7), Bob Hearts Abishola 5.84 (0.5), NCIS 7.54 (0.5), NCIS: Hawai’i 5.27 (0.4)
FOX: Fantasy Island 2.04 (0.2), Alert 2.00 (0.3)
ION: FBI 1.03 (0.1), FBI 0.83 (0.1), FBI 0.81 (0.1)
NBC: America’s Got Talent All-Stars 4.91 (0.6), Quantum Leap 1.46 (0.3)
Telemundo: La Casa de los Famosos 1.36 (0.4), El Señor de los Cielos 1.38 (0.57), Amor y Traición 0.84 (0.3)
Univision: Vencer la Ausencia 1.44 (0.4), Mi Camino es Amarte 1.59 (0.5), Cabo 1.50 (0.5)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

A year after being hired as chief marketing officer for the Scripps Networks division, Keisha Taylor Starr has been named chief marketing officer for The E.W. Scripps Company, a newly created position.

A+E Networks has named Deborah K. Bradley as EVP of Global Content Sales. Bradley comes to A+E Networks from The Amherst Group, a financial advisory firm.

24i, the video streaming company, has promoted David Brown to Chief Technology Officer.

IN MEMORIAM

Lloyd N. Morrisett, cofounder of Children’s Television Workshop, has died at age 93. “Without Lloyd Morrisett, there would be no Sesame Street,” said the series’ co-founder, Joan Ganz Cooney. “It was he who first came up with the notion of using television to teach preschoolers basic skills, such as letters and numbers. He was a trusted partner and loyal friend to me for over fifty years, and he will be sorely missed.”

This Day in History
1924 – The first Winter Olympic Games opened, in Chamonix, France.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which TV series did Rue binge-watch in season 1 of “Euphoria” (2019-)? “Love Island.” Kudos to: Ken DuBow-Access Entertainment/LA; David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista, CA; Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton, FL; Cory Angerthal-AMC Networks/NYC; Zoe Zelkowitz-Google/NYC; Heather Allen-WWE Corp./Stamford, CT

Today’s Trivia Question
On “The Addams Family” (1964-66), what was the name of Wednesday’s lizard? (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.)

Cynopsis Team