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Today’s Premieres
BET+: The Ms. Pat Show
Lifetime: Married at First Sight UK at 9p
Magnolia: Barnwood Builders at 9p
Netflix: Outer Banks
Peacock: Bel-Air
Sundance Now: Black Snow

Today’s Finales
PBS: La Otra Mirada at 9p
WE tv: Kold x Windy at 10p

IN THE NEWS

Seventy percent of viewers who pay for live and streaming VOD services subscribe to 4 VOD streaming services, according to a new tune-in report from DirecTV that looks at how consumers determine when, where and what to tune into amid content overload. Insights include:
· 75% of respondents said seeing an ad for a show on TV makes them more likely to watch.
· 78% said seeing a show featured on the home screen of their streaming service will influence them to watch the next episode.
· 1-in-3 advertisers consider addressable advertising across linear and streaming to be a must-buy and nearly 9-in-10 are satisfied with the results from these campaigns.

RTO isn’t coming easily to many employees accustomed to WFH. In the latest example, a Slack channel was created by Amazon staffers to share their concerns over the company mandate that they be back in the office at least three days a week starting May 1, and a petition objecting to the move has drawn over 5000 signatures, according to CNBC. This comes the week after over 2300 Disney employees signed a petition asking Disney CEO Bob Iger to reconsider his mandate that workers return to the office four days a week starting March 1.

The WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers have set March 20 as the date to start negotiations on new contract. “The AMPTP is fully committed to reaching a fair and reasonable deal that brings strength and stability to the industry,” said the trade association in a statement. The current contract expires May 1.

Ever wonder what viewers are doing during endless awards show thank you speeches? Eighty-seven percent say they multitask with their mobile phone or alternative devices while watching awards shows, with 50% stating they shop on these devices while watching, according to a new study from LG Ad Solutions. Additional findings include:
* 95% of viewers watching award shows are likely to remember brands that sponsor.
* 60% of viewers plan to stream at least one awards show in 2023, with 89% of viewers planning to spend the same or more time watching awards shows compared to 2022.
* 71% are planning to watch these awards shows live in real-time as did in 2022.
* A combined 81% spend time playing games (40%) and browsing social media (41%) while watching.

Winners during night two of the NAACP Awards included “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” and “Lizzo’s Big Grrrls,” with hosting honors handed to Jennifer Hudson (“The Jennifer Hudson Show”) and Tabitha Brown (“Tab Time”).

Add NPR to the companies turning to layoffs to deal with concerns over the global economy. Wrote NPR CEO John Lansing in a memo to staff, “Our financial outlook has darkened considerably in recent weeks….The cuts we have already made to our budget will not be enough.” NPR is expected to lay off 10% of its employees.

RENEWALS & CANCELLATIONS

Hallmark Channel has ordered an eleventh season of “When Calls the Heart,” way ahead of the drama’s season ten debut on July 30. The drama ranked as this year’s most-watched original scripted series on ad-supported cable in Households (2.4 million) and among W18+ (2.2 million) and Total Viewers (2.9 million).

“The Rig” has made it to season two on Prime Video, with original cast members Martin Compston (“Line of Duty”), Iain Glen (“Game of Thrones”) and Emily Hampshire (“Schitt’s Creek”) onboard. The supernatural thriller begins shooting in Edinburgh, Scotland later this year.

HBO Max has canceled “South Side.” “For three seasons, this beloved series balanced cutting, hyperlocal social commentary about life on the South Side of Chicago with silly, sometimes zany humor,” said an HBO Max spokesperson. “The result was a wholly unique, ambitious, and fearless comedy that could speak to everyone living the American dream.” The comedy premiered on Comedy Central, moving to HBO Max for season two.

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Netflix docuseries “Quarterback” follows the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, Minnesota Vikings’ Kirk Cousins and Atlanta Falcons’ Marcus Mariota over the course of the 2022 season. Set to premiere this summer, the show comes from NFL Films, Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions and Mahomes’ 2PM Productions. “I’m excited for fans to get an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at an unforgettable season for the entire Chiefs organization and for my family,” said Mahomes. “From welcoming home a new baby in the middle of the season to welcoming the Lombardi trophy back to Kansas City, our crew was there for it all. This new Netflix series will show the time, preparation and balance that it takes to be an NFL quarterback and perform on the biggest stage.”

Digital platform MundoNow announced the appointment of Venezuelan journalist Carlos Moreno as Senior Executive Producer. In addition to covering breaking news that affects the Hispanic community, Moreno will spearhead content creation around two platform verticals: “MundoMejor,” an original series of inspirational stories, and MundoPride, an LGBTQ+ bilingual news and culture portal.

The producing team for “Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off” won for Outstanding Sports Program and the producing team for “Sesame Street” was presented with the award for Outstanding Children’s Program at the PGA Awards East Coast celebration, the first in a week’s worth of bi-coastal events.

Visual effects and animation studio DNEG announced the acquisition of various production and post-production services assets, including a film and TV production studio complex comprising eight soundstages, from its parent company, Prime Focus Limited. The transaction positions DNEG as an integrated production services provider.

NewsNation has signed Jorge Ventura as a national correspondent based in Atlanta. Ventura will cover breaking news around the Southeastern region of the country. Previously, Ventura served as a lead correspondent for The Daily Caller.

Casting notes: Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“Ahsoka”) has joined the cast of Showtime drama “A Gentleman in Moscow,” opposite Ewan McGregor….Whoopi Goldberg will guest star on an upcoming episode of ABC’s “The Conners.”…Wade Allain-Marcus (“Insecure”) landed a recurring role on Netflix’s “Eric,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch….Chuku Modu will reprise the role of Dr. Jared Kalu on ABC’s “The Good Doctor.”…Melissa George (“Heartbeat”) scored the female lead in ABC pilot “The Hurt Unit” opposite Ben McKenzie.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Reba McEntire is set to serve as a Mega Mentor in season 23 of NBC’s “The Voice.” McEntire joins coaches Chance the Rapper, Kelly Clarkson, Niall Horan and Blake Shelton to help the artists who have made it through the Battle Rounds. It’s not McEntire’s first time at this rodeo – the country music star served as an advisor to Team Blake during the show’s inaugural season. “The Voice” returns Monday, March 6 at 8p.

Homes in major disrepair are rescued in the new HGTV series “Renovation 911, launching Tuesday, March 28 at 9p. The premiere follows the rebuilding of a family’s kitchen destroyed by a fire. In more HGTV news, the season premiere of the net’s “Houses With History” has been moved from March 7 to Saturday, April 8 at 9p.

Season two of Paramount+’s “Queen of the Universe” kicks off Friday, March 31, following drag queens from different countries as they compete in musical performances.

How Swede it is: Viaplay, the Nordic region’s producer of original content, has launched its direct-to-consumer streaming service in the US. Viaplay produces psychologically penetrating series and films from the Nordic region, a genre known as Nordic Noir.

Limited series “Waco: The Aftermath” starts streaming for Showtime subscribers on Friday, April 14 ahead of its linear debut on Sunday, April 16 at 10. The five-parter – originally produced for Paramount+ – follows the fallout of the 1993 Waco disaster, and trials of the surviving members of the Branch Davidian sect.

COMING UP

Bebe Rexha will be the headline performer for “Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2023,” airing live on Saturday, March 4 at 7p. Rexha will hit the KCA stage to belt out her single, “I’m Good (Blue).”

“Atlas of a Changing Earth,” a documentary telling the story about how a revolution in map-making is shedding new light on the dynamics of climate change, premieres today, February 23 on MagellanTV.

STREAMING

BritBox International announced that it has reached three million total subscribers across the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. This represents over 15% subscriber growth during the past year across all of the BBC and ITV joint venture streaming service’s markets, notes the streamer. BritBox International had previously announced subscriber milestones of 1m in March 2020, 2m in July 2021, and 2.6m in March 2022.

Cinedigm has acquired North American rights to the horror film “Pensive,” with plans to release the bloody slasher on its horror streaming platform, Screambox, which is powered by Bloody Disgusting, later this year.

Canadian French-language SVOD service Club illico inked a pay-one licensing agreement with Paramount Global Content Distribution to stream new films from Paramount Pictures’ slate after their release.

Samsung TV is offering three new channels: The Price Is Right, circa Bob Barker; cooking destination Jamie Oliver; and Divorce Court.

TECH TALK

Kochava, the real-time data solutions company for omni-channel attribution and measurement, has agreed to terms for the acquisition of app marketing technology company Machine Advertising. The deal enables Kochava to enhance the company’s measurement solutions with Machine’s Always-on Incremental Measurement (AIM) product and continue to increase its footprint in the EMEA region. “Machine’s product focus to deliver always-on incrementality measurement aligns perfectly with our own objectives to add instant value to our clients,” said Charles Manning, Founder and CEO of Kochava.

Data clean room software company Habu has struck a partnership with Databricks that brings native integration to each company’s platform. The collaboration harnesses Habu’s multi-cloud data clean room orchestration capabilities within the Databricks Lakehouse enabling companies to make business decisions more quickly and at scale.

SPORTS ROUNDUP

Sixty-five percent of households will watch March Madness, according to data from Effectv, the ad sales division of Comcast Cable. Highlights, taken from 2022 insights, include:
· Households watch an average of 9.25 hours of March Madness programming over the course of the tournament.
· March Madness ads reach 245% more households per commercial than the average program.
· Streaming viewership on networks airing the tournament increased 86% during the course of the game.
· 67% of businesses tune into the games during the first and second rounds of the tournament.
· 41% of March Madness viewing is done with another person.
· 50% of households reached by March Madness programming are incremental to the campaign.
· Advertisers that include March Madness in their campaigns receive as much as 87% greater reach than those that do not.
· March Madness programming is 55% more likely to be viewed by light TV viewing audiences.
“We wanted to dig deeper than the typical viewing stats to see if there were unique advantages from advertising within March Madness,” said Travis Flood, Executive Director of Insights, Comcast Advertising. “This annual and highly anticipated season brings so many critical factors together: There is the live, engaged, big screen viewing aspect, combined with tremendous incremental reach, a passionate audience, the possibility of reaching new viewers, and so much more, and we’re looking forward to what this upcoming March Madness season will bring.”

The PGA TOUR, LPGA Tour and Grant Thornton are teaming for a new mixed-team Challenge Season event that will see LPGA Tour and PGA TOUR players compete together in a co-sanctioned tournament. The Grant Thornton Invitational is set to debut December 4-10, 2023, at Tiburón Golf Club and The Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón. The event will allow players from the PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour to compete for an equal prize and visibility.

Evolution Championship Series (Evo), the fighting game tournament, will return to Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino for the second consecutive year with a slate of both new and returning fighting games as well as select finals to again be held at Michelob ULTRA Arena. Street Fighter 6 will be making its Evo debut this year after its launch this summer.

Prime Video and ONE Championship return for their second fight card of 2023, featuring an MMA World Championship rematch at “ONE Fight Night 7: Lineker vs. Andrade II” on Prime Video on Friday, February 24 at 8p.

USA Lacrosse has formed a multi-year licensing partnership with CAA Sports Licensing. CAA Sports Licensing will assist USA Lacrosse in licensing the commercial use of its brand in connection with the design, manufacture, production, sale, distribution, marketing, promotion, and advertising of branded products and services, over the next two years.

Underdog Fantasy Sports, the paid fantasy sports company, has launched Gil’s Arena, a basketball themed show hosted by former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas and ‘King of NBA Twitter’ Josiah Johnson. The show will air live three days a week (Tuesday – Thursday), 11:30a, from Gilbert’s basement in Woodland Hills, CA.

GOING GLOBAL

Hat Trick International announced the first sales for “Payback,” from HTM Television. The crime thriller is a co-production with BritBox International. Britbox will serve as the show’s exclusive home in the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Nordic territories.

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RATINGS

Basic Cable Top 10 for the week of February 13
Network, P2+ AA (000s)
Primetime
Fox News 2183
TNT 1595
MSNBC 1171
HTGV 904
ESPN 838
History 769
Hallmark Channel 763
INSP 675
USA 669
TBS 664
Total Day
Fox News 1446
MSNBC 727
HGTV 472
ESPN 467
CNN 461
TNT 443
Hallmark Channel 417
INSP 385
Food Network 378
ID 357
Source: Nielsen

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday February 20
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: The Bachelor 2.79 (0.5), Company You Keep 1.43 (0.2)
CBS: The Neighborhood 4.09 (0.4), Bob Hearts Abishola 3.37 (0.3), NCKS 4.09 (0.2), NCIS: Hawai’i 3.08 (0.2)
CW: All American 0.67 (0.2), All American: Homecoming 0.44 (0.1)
ION: FBI 1.08 (0.1), FBI 1.00 (0.2), FBI 0.96 (0.1)
FOX: Fantasy Island 1.94 (0.2), Alert: MPU 2.01 (0.3)
NBC: America’s Got Talent All-Stars 5.09 (0.5), Magnum P.I. 1.99 (0.2),
Telemundo: La Casa de Los Famosos 1.28 (0.3), El Señor de Los Cielos 1.42 (0.5), Amor y Traición 1.01 (0.3)
Univision: Vencer la Ausencia 1.71 (0.5), Mi Camino es Amarte 1.58 (0.4), Cabo 1.41 (0.4)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Pankaj Gupta has joined Quickplay as Head of Solutions Engineering, APAC and MVPD. Gupta was previously Director, Solution Consulting for Synamedia Asia.

Norwegian scripted company, Rubicon TV has appointed Lars Gudmestad as Executive Producer, effective in April. Prior to this appointment he worked at Feelgood and Fantefilm as a writer and development producer.

This Day in History
1896 – The Tootsie Roll was introduced.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which sitcom was renewed for a 22-episode second season in 2001, but shut down production after just 19 episodes in 2002 due to low ratings? “Nikki.” Kudos to: Andrew Goldman-Grooveee/NYC; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Greg West-WATC TV/Atlanta; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Susan Nessanbaum Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank

Today’s Trivia Question
In the backdoor pilot for “Who’s the Boss?” spinoff “Living Dolls” (1989), who originated the role Halle Berry played in the eventual series? 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