Tonight’s Finales
ABC: The Baker and the Beauty at 9p
Food Network: Bakeaway Camp With Martha Stewart at 9p, Amy Schumer Learns to Cook at 10p
TLC 90-Day Fiance: Self-Quarantined at 9p
Travel Channel: Beyond the Unknown at 8p
WGN America: Almost Paradise at 10p

IN THE NEWS

HBO Max scored exclusive SVOD rights to CBS’s Young Sheldon, in a deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Television. Sheldon joins mothership The Big Bang Theory on the new streamer. “We now feel like our Big Bang offering is complete,” said Kevin Reilly, Chief Content Officer, HBO Max, president TNT, TBS, and TruTV. “We are so proud to be the home of this beloved franchise and the place where new and existing fans can learn about young Sheldon Cooper’s roots.”

In more HBO Max news, the platform is accelerating the release of the remaining episodes of anthology series Love Life, starring Anna Kendrick. On Thursday, June 4, episodes 4, 5 and 6 will be available to binge, and on Thursday, June 11, the final four episodes of the first season will drop. The original plan called for the release one new episode a week following its premiere with the first three episodes. “HBO Max audiences have fallen in love with Love Life. It’s wonderfully gratifying to see that fans have immediately connected to the show and we are accelerating the release of episodes to meet their demand for more,” said Sarah Aubrey, Head of Original Content, HBO Max. “We are thrilled to see Love Life emerge as one of the top performers of all content on Max.”

As protests raged over the death of George Floyd, companies voiced support in the fight against racism. On Friday, YouTube pledged $1 million to support efforts to address social injustice; on Saturday, Netflix posted a statement on Twitter: “To be silent is to be complicit. Black lives matter. We have a platform, and we have a duty to our Black members, employees, creators and talent to speak up.” Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Starz, TikTok and more followed up with additional Black Lives Matter messages, while Quibi changed its Twitter bio to, “We stand together against injustice. #BlackLivesMatter.”

Global pay-TV revenue is pacing to drop by 35%, to $57.4 billion, within five years, according to Digital TV Research, while OTT will rise 101%, to $167 billion by 2025. AVOD is forecast to grow by 120%, to $53.5 billion, while SVOD growth will be 103%, to $97.5 billion. Disney+ is expected to see the greatest growth, adding 176 million subscribers for a total of 202 million by 2025.

Comcast, Charter and ViacomCBS have entered into an agreement to take equal ownership of Blockgraph, an industry initiative and software platform designed to create a more secure way to use aggregated and anonymized data and share information. The joint venture will explore new ways of using audience data for advanced TV and premium video advertising. Blockgraph was launched in 2017 and incubated within Comcast Advertising’s technology unit, FreeWheel. The vision since its inception was to become a collaborative industry solution, with Charter and ViacomCBS as early supporters. “When we began to develop Blockgraph several years ago, we knew that the ability to apply data-driven insights to all media, including TV, in a way that protected privacy, was going to be hugely important to the future of our industry. Now, some three years later, that couldn’t be truer, and the alternative that Blockgraph offers could not be more valuable,” said Marcien Jenckes, President of Comcast Advertising. “We are thrilled to partner with ViacomCBS and Charter as we continue to roll out Blockgraph and look forward to working with new partners and customers in the months ahead as platform adoption grows.”

Quibi ordered a second season of Thanks a Million. Exec produced by Jennifer Lopez, the show has grateful public figures give $100,000 to someone who had a positive impact on their life. That person gifts half the money to someone who impacted their life, and so on.

Its upcoming season five was supposed to be the last for Netflix’s Lucifer, but series star Tom Ellis signed a deal to return for season six. Executive producers Ildy Modrovich and Joe Henderson were already onboard, along with the cast, reports Deadline. Lucifer spent its first three seasons on Fox, moving to Netflix when it was canceled.

In celebration of Pride Month, Fuse is honoring Future LGBTQ History makers who are currently using their voice to drive positive change. As part of the ongoing Fuse Future History franchise, the Future LGBTQ History Class of 2020 will include rapper and songwriter Kevin Abstract; actor and photographer Tommy Dorfman; activist Emma Gonzalez and YouTuber, model and actor Chella Man.

National Geographic ventures to the top of Mount Everest with two new specials on Tuesday, June 30. At 9p, Lost on Everest investigates what happened to two explorers who disappeared during the first attempt at the summit in 1924, followed by Expedition Everest, which tracks scientists installing the world’s highest weather station.

The mobile phone is becoming an entertainment commodity,
and providers who don’t adopt a mobile-first strategy
will fall behind as the streaming wars continue to inspire a fierce battle.

Don’t get left behind. Get educated.

Disney+ renewed scripted series Diary of a Future President for a second season. From CBS Television Studios and I Can and I Will Productions, the show is executive produced by Gina Rodriguez along with creator Ilana Peña (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Keith Heisler and Molly Breeskin, and follows the adventures of a middle schooler on her journey to become the future president of the United States.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Ted Lasso, a comedy from Jason Sudekis and Bill Lawrence, launches on Apple TV+ Friday, August 14. Sudekis plays Ted Lasso, a small-time college football coach from Kansas hired to coach a professional soccer team in England, despite having no experience coaching soccer.

Season 13 of Canadian family drama Heartland premieres on UPtv on Thursday, June 4 at 8p. Following each new episode, the network will air Hudson, set in the world of Heartland.

AXS TV acquired all three seasons of Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour. The reality series is set to join AXS TV’s Thursday night summer lineup, starting July 2 at 9p.

STREAMING SCOOP

While time spent streaming has spiked since the pandemic struck, a client report from a Barclays analyst suggests AVOD services might want to review their assumptions – in particular, how ad-lite versions will appeal to consumers. “As consumers become more comfortable with a la carte streaming subscriptions, expectations associated with such subscriptions are likely to be very different from legacy media services across different forms, audio, video and print,” wrote Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar. “While it is a bit premature to extrapolate present trends into perpetuity…we do believe newer services will need to think more carefully about their brand identities and consumer experience when choosing a monetization model. Just creating a hybrid model to provide a lower price point is unlikely to drive greater subscriber scale in itself. In addition, not every ad supported digital service is likely to be equally well positioned to monetize digitally distributed media.”

CASTING

Cush Jumbo, who originated the role of Lucca on The Good Wife, then took it to CBS All Access’ The Good Fight, is leaving the spin-off – but could be back for at least a piece of season five. Said series creators Robert and Michelle King, “We’ve loved every moment of working with Cush for the last five years and everyone in The Good Fight universe will miss her terribly. Given the pandemic-forced premature ending of Season 4, it’s our hope that Cush will be able to return when we resume filming Season 5 in order to give Lucca a proper send-off.”

GOING GLOBAL

SAT.1 in Germany has recommissioned cooking competition The Taste, produced by Redseven Entertainment, for an eighth season. It’s the first time Redseven has gone into full production on a studio series since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

WarnerMedia has confirmed that a first wave of at least 15 HBO Max Originals will land on HBO GO and channels in Asia in 2020. Most shows will be available first on HBO GO, such as The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo and Love Life, where three episodes of each already dropped on May 27. Premiere dates for other titles and those across HBO, Warner TV, Cartoon Network and Boomerang channels are still to be confirmed.

Register for this conference and take a close look at an unprecedented year in collegiate sports with Pac-12, see visions for the future of esports with Riot Games, check out professional leagues’ new approach to competitive play with Athletes Unlimited and NBC Sports Group, learn from New Balance’s take on positive brand messaging, glimpse the future of the Olympics with the USOC and more.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
On which post-Newhart sitcom did Tom Poston and Julia Duffy both have series regular roles? Grace Under Fire (1993-1998). Kudos to: Andrew Goldman-Fathom Events/NYC, Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton, FL, Susan Nessanbaum-Golderg-M and S Entertainment/LA, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA, Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA/Burbank

Today’s Trivia Question
Who played Andy’s wife in The New Andy Griffith Show (1971)? (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.)