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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
“Tulsa King” isn’t Sylvester Stallone’s only Paramount+ project. The streamer is launching docuseries “The Family Stallone,” starring the Oscar nominee, his wife Jennifer Flavin Stallone and daughters Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet, this spring. MTV Entertainment Studios is producing, with Benjamin Hurvitz, Jessica Zalkind and Nadim Amiry as executive producers. Julie Pizzi, Farnaz Farjam, and Jonathan Singer serve as executive producers for Bunim-Murray Productions, with Lauren Goldstein, Valana Hunn, Chris Ray, and Jason Williams as co-executive producers.
Carol Leifer (“Hacks”) and Andy Gordon (“Mad About You”) have been tapped to write a Fox comedy project, starring Patricia Heaton (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) as the disgraced former host of a lifestyle show. Heaton and David Hunt EP under their FourBoys Entertainment along with Leifer, Gordon, Adam Griffin as well as Aaron Kaplan and Melanie Frankel for Kapital Entertainment. The show is produced by Fox Entertainment Studios and Kapital Entertainment.
Dan Aykroyd will host comedic docuseries “A History of the World in Six Glasses” on FOX Nation in January 2024. The six-parter will also feature Jim Belushi, Jon Lovitz, Kevin Nealon and George Wendt, and chronicle the history of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, soda and their respective impact on the world. Developed by Play House Studios, the series was written and directed by Rob Long (“Cheers”).
“Ancient Empires,” a docu-drama focused on Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great and Cleopatra, is being shot in Morocco. The three-parter from Ample (“The Invisible Pilot”) is the latest in History Channel’s mega-doc series.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
ABC’s has moved the midseason premiere date for “Alaska Daily” from February 23 to March 2. The move allows all five remaining episodes of the Hilary Swank drama to air in a row.
The second volume of animated anthology series “Star Wars: Visions” will premiere on Disney+ on May 4. The newest volume includes nine new shorts from studios from around the globe, employing animation styles from a variety of countries and cultures.
Animated preschool series “Bossy Bear” debuts Monday, March 6 at 11a on Nickelodeon. New episodes will roll out Monday through Thursday.
All four episodes of “The Confessions of Frannie Langton” will be available on BritBox starting March 8. The period drama follows a woman’s journey from a Jamaican plantation to a mansion in Mayfair.
Docuseries “Murder of God’s Banker,” centered on the 1982 death of fugitive financier Robert Calvi, premieres internationally on February 24.
Season two of NBC’s “That’s My Jam” kicks off Tuesday, March 7 at 10p with celebrity guests Kelsea Ballerini, Julia Michaels, Jason DeRulo and Nicole Scherzinger.
COMING UP
Former White House press secretary under Donald Trump and current governor of Arkansas Sarah Huckabee Sanders will deliver the GOP response after President Biden’s State of the Union address on February 7. “I am grateful for this opportunity to address the nation and contrast the GOP’s optimistic vision for the future against the failures of President Biden and the Democrats,” Sanders said in a statement.
Shudder Valentine’s Day special “Joe Bob’s Vicious Vegas Valentine” debuts Friday, February 10. “During this year’s demented double feature, I’ll be joining in unholy matrimony two young lovers thoroughly schooled in the twisted tenets of ‘The Last Drive-In,’” said horror host Joe Bob Briggs. “And I’ll probably need an Elvis jumpsuit to do it.”
“Love in the Time of Fentanyl,” centered on Canada’s renegade safe consumption site Overdose Prevention Society, premieres on PBS’s Independent Lens on Monday, February 13 at 10p.
The one-hour pre-show for Univision’s Latin music awards show “Premio lo Nuestro” will air live from Miami-Dade Arena on February 23 at 7p, hosted by Pamela Silva and Michelle Galván, Gabriel Soto, Migbelis Castellanos, and Univision carpet veteran Raúl De Molina.
U.S. Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) will be honored with the Chairman’s Award and civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump will receive the Social Justice Impact Award during the “54th NAACP Image Awards,” airing February 25 at 8p on BET.
Documentary “For All Humankind” looks back to compare the contradictions of success and failure in the arenas of human space flight and human rights, on Sunday, February 5 at 9p on Science Channel.
Byron Allen’s syndicated comedy game show “Funny You Should Ask” is having its first “Comedy All-Star Week” the week of February 6. Among the celebs are Allen himself, as well as Howie Mandel, Tiffany Haddish, Billy Gardell, Whitney Cummings, Adam Carolla, Natasha Leggero and more.
Stand-up special “Josh Johnson: Up Here Killing Myself” premieres Friday, February 17 on Peacock. Johnson transforms an hour of talk therapy about his relationships with money, his father, and a stalker, into an hour of stand-up and a comedic exploration of Black mental health and self-discovery.
STREAMING
General Motors and Netflix are teaming to encourage a broader knowledge and acceptance of electric vehicles, including a Super Bowl spot featuring Will Ferrell, who appeared in GM’s Super Bowl campaign last year. The ad will run in the second quarter of the game during the last ad of the first commercial break. Ferrell will appear in plots for shows including “Squid Game,” “Stranger Things” and “Queer Eye.” Post-game, Netlix is committing to including at least one EV in every Netflix-produced film and series.
Atmosphere has struck an exclusive content partnership with streaming and community-driven entertainment company TMB (Trusted Media Brands) to bring its library of content, including The Pet Collective and Weather Spy, exclusively to Atmosphere. “TMB’s content is some of the most compelling content online and plays spectacularly in businesses,” said Blake Sabatinelli, COO at Atmosphere. “We are elated to become the exclusive out-of-home destination for high-quality programming like FailArmy and People Are Awesome, and to provide TMB with their largest out-of-home audience yet.”
TECH TALK
OpenAI, creators of ChatGPT, released in November, is launching a commercial version of the chatbot, ChatGPT Plus, for $20/month. The San Francisco-based company will continue to offer a free version of the service, available to only a limited number of people during peak hours. “We love our free users and will continue to offer free access to ChatGPT,” said ChatGTP in a blog post announcing the new service. “By offering this subscription pricing, we will be able to help support free access availability to as many people as possible.”
DoubleVerify announced the discovery of “BeatSting,” the first large-scale ad impression fraud scheme to target audio inventory. BeatSting is part of a bigger family of server-side ad insertion fraud schemes that emerged in 2019 and initially targeted CTV inventory. In this specific iteration, fraudsters begin by spoofing residential IP addresses and audio apps. At the same time, they also set up fake SSAI servers to falsify audio ad requests, making the inventory attractive to advertisers. “Fraud always follows the money, and increasingly that money is flowing to digital audio, a rapidly emerging channel where digital advertising standards are still evolving,” said Mark Zagorski, CEO at DoubleVerify. “CTV continues to experience this phenomenon and, increasingly, audio is quietly becoming a new channel of interest and attack.”
Meta posted lower 4Q22 profit, with earnings of $4.65 billion, or $1.76 per share, down 55% from $10.29 billion, or $3.67 per share, a year earlier, versus expected earnings of $2.26 per share. A dip in the advertising market and competition in the space were blamed for the tech giant’s third consecutive quarter of revenue decline. But revenue fell 4% to $32.17 billion, while analysts had forecast $31.55 billion, and the company announced a $40 billion stock buyback, spurring a rise in the stock price.
Apple reported revenue of $117.2 billion, down 5% from the year-ago quarter, versus a forecast of $121.1 billion, pointing a “challenging environment” during the quarter. Revenue in the company’s Services unit, which includes streaming offerings, hit a record $20.8 billion during the quarter.
With a boost from offerings like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” and “Thursday Night Football,” Amazon bucked the trend of missed forecasts with a 9% rise in revenue, to $149 billion. Sales in web services division AWS rose 20% year-over-year, to $21.4 billion.
SPORTS ROUNDUP
MLB Network has been dropped from YouTube TV. “With spring training about to start, we regret that YouTube TV has been unwilling to negotiate a fair carriage agreement,” said MLB Network in a statement. “MLB Network has offered terms consistent with what close to 300 other U.S. providers have agreed to for distribution.” A YouTube TV spokesperson called MLB a “long-standing and important partner,” and said conversations will continue.
Bud Light returns to the Super Bowl with a new campaign and the debut of its latest Super Bowl commercial, “Hold,” featuring celebrity couple Miles and Keleigh Teller that encourages fans to “choose enjoyment.” The spot signals a new era for the Bud Light brand as it looks to reach fans 21+ in new ways. “Forty-one years ago, Bud Light was created to be an easy-drinking beer; that is how we were born,” said Alissa Heinerscheid, VP of Marketing for Bud Light. “We have turned that unique truth into our new platform – Bud Light is ‘Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy’, and we look forward to bringing this message to life for consumers at Super Bowl and beyond.”
Paramount+’s Super Bowl ad has “Tulsa King” star Sylvester Stallone scaling a giant stone version of his own face, as Paramount stars Dora the Explorer, Star Trek’s Captain Pike, Lower Decks’ Beckett Mariner, and 911!’s Lieutenant Dangle watch from base camp below. The ad was created by agency partner Droga5 and is the latest iteration in the Mountain of Entertainment campaign series that kicked off two years ago at Super Bowl LV.
NBC Sports Next, the technology and innovation division of NBC Sports, will be the presenting sponsor of The Sports Technology Awards’ first U.S. event in NYC on May 18. The awards recognize the best tech-led innovations in sports around the world. The gala ceremony, which is moving from London, is being renamed “The Sports Technology Awards 2023, presented in association with NBC Sports Next.”
Intersport is hosting Hoops House at the Bayou Music Center in downtown Houston as part of college basketball’s national championship weekend. The State Farm College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships will air live on ESPN2 on Thursday, March 30, and the High School Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships will take place on Friday, March 31, and air on CBS on Sunday, April 2.
Sportradar announced the launch of Insight Tech Services, a suite of AI-led solutions for in-house use by sportsbook operators to optimize the performance of their trading, risk management and marketing functions. Insight Tech Services is a complement to Sportradar’s Managed Trading Services, allowing the sports technology company to support sportsbook, regardless of their operational preference.
GOING GLOBAL
Ukrainian studio FILM.UA announced that SVT (Sweden), NRK (Norway) and YLE (Finland) have jointly commissioned new anthology series, “Those Who Stayed,” co-developed by FILM.UA and Red Arrow Studios International. The six-part anthology series is inspired by the true stories of Ukrainians who decided to stay in Kyiv, following the beginning of the Russian invasion.
ITV is launching the ITV Academy to address current and future skills gaps. ITV’s Sonny Hanley has been appointed as its inaugural Director.
France’s APC Kids and TeamTO have joined forces on the new action-adventure comedy series “Jade Armor.” The partnership will see APC Kids distribute the series worldwide, excluding the Americas and China.
Viaccess-Orca, provider of data-driven, end-to-end solutions for the delivery, security, and monetization of advanced TV and video content services, and Broadpeak, provider of content delivery network and video streaming solutions for content providers and pay-TV operators, are teaming to provide Israel’s Cellcom with an end-to-end solution offering super-low latency for live sports streaming over OTT STBs.
All3Media International has concluded a new deal with pay TV broadcaster MultiChoice, as the flagship channel M-Net acquires a package of content featuring 40+ hours of premium scripted and non-scripted series. Headlining the non-scripted titles secured by M-Net (DStv Channel 101) is “Highlife,” Optomen Television’s reality series following a generation of young, influential, trailblazing West African Brits living in London.
Off The Fence has bolstered its slate with a new series from London and Los Angeles-based Dash Pictures. “Billy and Dom Eat the World” follows actors Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan (“The Lord of the Rings”) as they embark on a global food adventure that takes them to six locations in each one-hour episode.
“Still Standing,” distributed by Armoza Formats, has been commissioned for a 9th season in Italy. The game show has now been acquired in Spain, Greece and South Africa. The Spanish rights were taken by Gestmusic Enedemol Spain, who previously produced the show for 10 years in Spain. In South Africa, prodco The TVSMITHS has acquired the local rights, while Silverline Productions holds the rights in Greece.
Prime Video has teamed with Séries Plus, a specialty channel owned by Canadian media company Corus Entertainment, for a new season of mystery drama “Nuit Blanche.” The second season begins production this summer with Quebec’s Pixcom. At launch, season Two of Nuit Blanche will be exclusively available on Prime Video and later on television with Séries Plus in Canada. Season One will also be available on Prime Video.
Globo and Côte Ouest have entered a new content strategy partnership for more than 50 English and French speaking African countries. The agreement provides for the distribution of Globo’s major hit titles, such as “Pantanal,” “A Woman’s Fate” and “Under Pressure.”
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