| NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Talent competition Celebrity Show-Off, hosted by Mayim Bialik (The Big Bang Theory), premieres Tuesday, June 23 at 10p. The ten-episode remote series is based on Korea’s My Little Television.
TLC is adding to the 90 Day Fiance franchise with B90 Strikes Back!, premiering Monday, June 22 at 8p. “It’s always a party on social media during 90 Day franchise premieres with burning questions, plenty of shade thrown and the funniest GIFs we’ve ever seen,” said Howard Lee, President and GM of TLC. “Our Before the 90 Days couples have been anxiously awaiting their chance to respond back to the social media universe, and now is their opportunity!”
Season seven of History’s Alone kicks off Thursday, June 11 at 10p. Ten participants compete to survive 100 days in The Arctic for the biggest prize in the series’ history, $1 million.
With the World Series of Poker postponed, Poker Central’s OTT service, PokerGO, has launched a new series highlighting legendary, rarely seen WSOP footage. WSOP Classic will run through July 24, mimicking the usual WSOP tournament’s summer dates and consisting of daily, exclusive footage and gameplay from WSOP tournaments that were played from 2003 – 2010.
Law&Crime Network has launched two daily special reports covering issues from the perspectives of protestors and law enforcement officers. Justice and Peace airs at 12p, followed by Keeping the Peace at 12:30p.
ADVERTISING
Roku has launched a shopper data program for CPG marketers. Kroger Precision Marketing, the grocery store’s media solution, plans to join as the launch partner to build first-to-market targeting and attribution tools for streaming TV. A completion of the integration will give marketers access to Kroger data science for targeting and closed-loop attribution to measure campaign performance across the Roku platform, as well as tools from Roku to measure the effectiveness of linear TV. “We believe that all TV ads will be targeted and measurable,” said Alison Levin, VP of Ad Sales and Strategy, Roku. “Our new shopper data program will make it easier and more effective for CPG advertisers to shift spend to streaming and focus on value for every ad dollar spent.”
Brands have pivoted with new messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic, but how should they talk to consumers post-crisis? New GfK research, conducted within the past two weeks, shows that 55% of Americans believe that brands will need to adopt a new set of concerns and messages, while the remaining 45% feel that companies should return to pre-Coronavirus themes “as soon as possible,” so that consumers can “forget” that the COVID-19 crisis happened. GfK also found that Americans from different circumstances have different feelings about appropriate post-COVID messaging. Findings include:
* 66% of those with children under age 3 favor a return to pre-virus messaging, compared to just 34% of those who have no kids.
* 56% of people living in large urban metropolises would prefer that brands revert to earlier themes, versus 40% of those who live in small cities.
* 60% of women think brands should behave as if the post-virus world is completely different, while men are split 50-50 between forward-looking and nostalgic messaging.
Local ad management company Viamedia has launched #ChangeStartsRightHere, an initiative inviting local business owners, minorities and law enforcement to create their own 15- or 30-second on-camera spots about how they are working together in their communities, and then upload the videos to Viamedia’s custom portal. Viamedia will run approved messages as local PSAs across cable TV channels in their local community free of charge.
Nielsen and National Media announced an agreement to use Nielsen Voter Ratings for local TV measurement in key markets. National Media is subscribing to Nielsen Voter Ratings to understand the delivery of program audiences to voters as well as to voter data in Local Nielsen Media Impact, providing the company with local cross-media planning capabilities for political campaigns. National Media is a media buying agency specializing in corporate reputation, political and association campaigns.
PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Showtime Documentary Films announced Attica, a new feature-length film from documentarian Stanley Nelson (Freedom Riders). The project, detailing 1971’s five-day prison rebellion in upstate New York, is set to premiere on Showtime in 2021.
Canada’s Headspinner Productions and Showrunner/Producer Diana Moore have begun production on a series of animated shorts created by and starring YouTube star Denis Kopotun. The 2D animated series for ages 6-11 follows Denis and his cat sidekick Sir Meows A Lot. The episodes are being animated at Cartoon Conrad in Nova Scotia.
Megaphone TV signed a production development deal with 79th & York Entertainment. Megaphone TV’s polling, trivia, and social platform creates interactive storytelling moments and transactional ad campaigns with broadcast partners.
STREAMING SCOOP
Anthem Sports & Entertainment inked an agreement to launch AVOD content for AXS TV, Fight Network and IMPACT Wrestling on VOD platform Glewed TV. The streaming channels are slated to debut in 3Q20.
Spirits Network, the streaming channel with an integrated shopping experience, is launching its first podcast, Make Mine Neat, hosted by the net’s Chief Curator Flavien Desoblin, and spirits enthusiast Ethan Kelley. First up: Whisky’s Dirty Little Secret.
Fox News Media and SiriusXM have expanded their partnership. As a part of the new agreement, all of Fox News Podcasts’ original programming is now available to Pandora’s monthly users across all tiers of the service. Additionally, the platform’s daily news digest, The FOX News Rundown, now airs weekday mornings on SiriusXM’s Patriot Channel 125.
Eighty percent of TV homes have at least one connected TV device, according to Leichtman Research Group, up from 74% in 2018 and 57% in 2015. Roku and Amazon Fire top the field, with about 40 million each. Leichtman reports 40% of adults in US TV households watch video on a TV via a connected device daily, versus 29% in 2018 and 12% in 2015.
TECH TALK
Video software provider Synamedia announced its collaboration with Amazon Web Services to accelerate the adoption of cloud TV services. “AWS is becoming increasingly important as more of our customers choose our end-to-end cloud TV solutions running on the AWS cloud platform,” said Nick Thexton, CTO at Synamedia. “As traditional pay-TV providers add IP services and transform their businesses, they need partners with proven experience in delivering broadcast-quality video to any device.”
COMING UP
BET will commemorate the life of George Floyd by broadcasting his funeral service in its entirety from Houston, TX. Anchored by BET News’ Marc Lamont Hill, commercial-free, live coverage of “BET Remembers: George Floyd” will air today, June 9 at 11a on BET, BET Her, BET.com, and BET’s YouTube Channel and Facebook page.
A special episode of Tamron Hall airing Friday, June 12 will include conversations with young Americans protesting in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. “Hear Us Now” will also highlight how different races can support each other.
One-hour ID special The Murder of George Floyd: A Nation Responds features a panel of law enforcement, press, activists and crusaders discussing police violence and law enforcement reform tonight, June 9 at 8p. “Our country is witnessing a historic and much-needed outcry for change, and we have the privilege, and indeed, the duty to move the conversation forward,” said Henry Schleiff Group President of Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, American Heroes Channel and Destination America. “It was our goal to have the leaders who are driving that conversation, meet for a discussion that will not only enlighten but inspire action.”
Travel Channel is hosting four one-hour quarantine watch parties with the net’s supernatural stars, starting Thursday, June 11 at 10p with The Holzer Files: Decrypted. The following Thursdays feature Destination Fear: Behind the Screams; Kindred Spirits: Back From the Dead; and Ghost Brothers: Haunted House Party.
CJC Television Network is broadcasting a marathon of The Carl Jackson Podcast, on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 21 at 2p. Guests include actor and producer Jazmine Lewis, singer Mario Winans, Bishop Greg Davis, and Dalon Collins, formerly of Kirk Franklin and the Family.
Cozi TV will be airing a “Leslie Jordan After Dark” special the week of Monday, June 15 during the usual Will & Grace timeslot at 1a. Two episodes each night will feature guest star Leslie Jordan as Will & Grace’s outrageous socialite Beverley Leslie.
Documentary Welcome to Chechnya debuts on HBO Tuesday, June 30a t 10p. The film focuses on the work of a group of activists in the Russian republic who are combating the country’s deadly anti-LGBTQ torture campaign.
AXS TV is presenting a special acoustic performance by Grammy-winning artist/performer Norah Jones, as part its At Home And Social music series on Monday, June 15 at 8p.
The winners of the “Latinos Stand-Up!” comedy competition, Mark Viera and Alex Carabaño, star in stand-up comedy special Entre Nos: The Winners, debuting Friday, June 19 at 9:30p on HBO platforms.
Universal’s You Should Have Left, a haunted house thriller starring Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried, will skip theaters and be released on VOD platforms on June 19.
GOING GLOBAL
Big Brother is returning to the Netherlands, the country where the show started, with original broadcaster RTL after 14 years off air. This deal marks the seventh comeback for Big Brother in the last 12 months with returns for the original format in Portugal, Finland, Poland, Greece, Germany and Australia.
Electric Entertainment and Arrowstorm Entertainment are set to resume production in Serbia for the third season of the fantasy-adventure series The Outpost this month. Production was halted at the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in mid-March.
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