A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM HALLMARK CHANNEL

Hallmark Channel Dominates Cable Growth in June

Driven by Original Movie Success
Hallmark Channel Is The ONLY Top Tier Cable Network
With Year-Over-Year Growth

Up Next: Christmas in July
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Today’s Premieres
PBS: America Outdoors With Baratunde Thurston at 9p, The Great Muslim Road Trip at 10p
TNT: Titans at 10p

IN THE NEWS

Universal Television has succeeded in finding a new home for “Magnum P.I.”, canceled by CBS after four seasons. NBC picked up the action drama with a two season, 20-production order. “Your love & support helped get us over the finish line, thank you & thanks to @nbc for stepping up! Time to dust off the Aloha shirt!”, tweeted series star Jay Hernandez. The show will continue to be a co-production between Universal Television and CBS Studios.

The clock has run out on “The Time Traveler’s Wife” – HBO canceled the drama after one season. “Though HBO will not be moving forward with the second season of ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife,’ it was our privilege to partner with master storytellers Steven Moffat and David Nutter,” said HBO. The series drew 203,000 viewers for its finale on June 19, down from 294,000 for its May debut.

Also getting the axe is “Why Women Kill.” Paramount+ renewed the Marc Cherry anthology series for season three in December, but reversed the decision as production was set to start. “Paramount+ has made the difficult decision not to move forward with Season 3,” said the streamer. “We would like to thank our partners at CBS Studios and Imagine Television Studios; the amazing creator and showrunner Marc Cherry; and the incredible writers, cast and crew for two memorable seasons.”

NBCUniversal is shutting down The Olympic Channel. The channel, a partnership between NBCU – which has rights to the Games through 2032 – and the international and US Olympic committees, launched in 2017. “In order to best reach our target audiences, we are reevaluating our programming distribution strategy regarding the content that currently airs on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA with our partners at the IOC and USOPC,” said statement from NBC Sports. “We will be announcing our exciting new plans for Olympic content in the fall.” The channel goes dark September 30.

The Big Ten made its mega-move official, as the Conference Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted unanimously today to admit the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California to the conference starting Aug. 2, 2024. With the move, multiple reports stated that Apple has now reentered rights talks to carry one of the league’s packages, joining the platform’s Friday MLB games as well as the new 10-year streaming deal with MLS. The Pac-12 Conference, meanwhile, authorized the Conference to explore all expansion options.

SAG-AFTRA and Netflix have extended their contract, which had been set to expire June 30, through July 31. The union will continue to negotiations with Netflix under a media blackout.

Prime Video scored rights to the Champions League in the UK, for Tuesday games from the 2024/25 season. The rights will be shared with BT. “Since 2018, we’ve seen millions of Prime members in the UK. enjoy live sport on Prime Video, and it’s that passion and energy that has led us to this exciting next step,” said Alex Green, MD of Prime Video Sport Europe. “We can’t wait to bring fans the headline fixture of European football’s most prestigious competition every Tuesday and we’ll have more details to share about our broadcast in the future.”

Right-wing channel TalkTV issued an apology for claiming that mental health charity Mind was directing funds meant to support mental health to pay the legal fees of illegal immigrants. “We didn’t offer Mind an opportunity to respond at the time and are happy to do so now,” said the new channel. “We are sorry for any confusion caused by the discussion on the show.”

In the wake of the reversal of Roe v. Wade, Google said it will delete data on visits to abortion information and clinics websites. “If our system detects that someone has visited one of these locations, we will remove these entries from the location history immediately after they have visited,” wrote Google’s Jane Fitzpatrick, SVP of core systems experiences, in a blog post.

Hallmark Channel’s Christmas in July stunt will include a sweepstakes presented by Christmas tree retailer Balsam Hill. Grand prize is a Hallmark Channel holiday-branded electric golf cart, but there will also be daily prizes through July 31.

Hugo Speer has been cut from Disney+’s reboot of “The Fully Monty” following allegations of inappropriate conduct. “An investigation was launched. Upon its completion, the decision was made to terminate his contract, with immediate effect,” said Disney+. Speer, who starred in the 1997 British film upon which the reboot is based, has denied the allegations.

Howard University will be the host of the “Disney Storytellers Fund,” launched to create opportunities for historically underrepresented students. “Across Disney’s brands, we are working to amplify underrepresented voices and untold stories,” said Jennifer Cohen, EVP Corporate Social Responsibility, The Walt Disney Company. “The Disney Storytellers Fund at Howard will help us support students and the innovation and creativity that the university has cultivated for more than 150 years. We are excited to help the next generation of Black storytellers bring their ideas to life.”

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

HBO Max has renewed “Ten Year Old Tom” for a second season. The adult animated series is produced by Work Friends, a JV between Nick Weidenfeld (“The Boondocks,” “Rick & Morty”) and Tomorrow Studios. Executive producers include Steve Dildarian, Marty Adelstein (“One Piece,” “Let the Right One In”) and Becky Clements (“Snowpiercer,” “Physical”) for Tomorrow Studios, and Weidenfeld for Work Friends. The animation will continue to be produced at ShadowMachine.

Hearst has added two reality series to its development slate. “The Fashion Pack” (wt), from Magical Elves, follows “Manhattan’s cool kids” taking over the fashion industry, while “Live Like the Kings,” from PieTown Productions, centers on former girl group Cherish.

David Arquette (“Scream”) and Elizabeth Marvel (“Homeland”) have joined the cast of Peacock’s “Mrs. Davis” in recurring roles. The series is an exploration of faith versus technology.

Raphael Saadiq has been named executive music producer for “Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur,” the animated series following 13-year-old super-genius and her 10-ton T-Rex, Devil Dinosaur.

Joel M. Gonzales, executive director of Latino arts advocacy group Nosotros, and philanthropist Amber Butaud are teaming for the launch of a production company, Untold Content Group. “The primary directive for Untold Content Group is to work with a diverse range of rising and established storytellers to develop a slate of universally appealing content that inspire, enlighten and enrich the lives of the audience,” said Gonzales.

AGC Studios has launched a subsidiary company, AGC Unwritten, in order to bring the indie studio’s unscripted and non-fiction output under one umbrella. The new company will be led by industry veteran Joel Zimmer, who joins as President of AGC Unwritten.

Channel 4 has commissioned Wonderhood Studios to produce a three-part series following surgical oncologists as they employ ground-breaking new technology to try to save or prolong the lives of their patients.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Here’s what’s cooking at Nat Geo: The network puts chefs’ skills to the test in new series “Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted Showdown” and “World of Flavor with Big Moe Cason,” premiering Monday, July 25 at 8p and 10p, respectively.

Season seven of A&E’s “60 Days In” launches Thursday, August 18 at 9p. For the first time in series history, seven formerly incarcerated citizens will voluntarily go behind bars at the Henry County Jail in McDonough, Georgia to help pinpoint problems. At 10p is the premiere of new slammer series “Inmate to Roommate,” chronicling the stories of six ex-convicts as they are released from prison and move in with people they barely know.

Snap’s first Canadian Snap Original, “Reclaim[ed]”, explores Indigenous culture from a Gen Z point of view, starting Tuesday, July 12.

“Star Trek: Prodigy” makes its weekly debut on Nickelodeon on Friday, July 8 at 8p. The animated series follows a group of lawless teens who discover a derelict Starfleet ship.

STREAMING

FC Barcelona and Spotify’s partnership kicked off July 1, making the audio streaming platform the club’s Main Partner and Official Audio Streaming Partner. As part of the agreement, the Swedish company also becomes the Title Partner to the stadium.

UFC Fight Pass announced the launch of UFC Fight Pass Podcast Central, anchored by UFC Unfiltered, the MMA podcast hosted by Matt Serra and comedian Jim Norton. The series will be joined a collection of shows featuring personalities such as UFC play-by-play announcer Jon Anik; UFC announcer Brendan Fitzgerald; veteran voice of European MMA John Gooden; and long-time MMA analyst TJ De Santis.

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RATINGS

Netflix’s “Stranger Things” hit a record for US streaming in a single week,according to Nielsen, with 7.2 billion minutes of streaming the week of May 30.

2022’s second quarter saw ESPN notch its best viewership in prime time since 2014, landing an average of 1.64 million people for a rise of 22% over last year. For the overall audience, ESPN was up 4% to an average of 612,000, tops since 2016. Programming was led by ESPN’s NBA game telecasts, which grew 83% over 21, as well as NHL offerings which were 89% higher than the 2021 schedule. WNBA games were up 15%, the WNBA Draft was up 20%, PGA Championship Golf coverage was up 12%, and the five Formula One races on ESPN were up 11%.

Food Network wrapped June ranked as the #1 non-news/sports cable network in Total Day among P25-54 and as the #1 overall cable network in Weekend ITK (Sat-Sun 7a-1p) among W25-54. Food Network’s Q2 Prime L3 ratings finished up +5% and up +6% among both P18+ and W18+ respectively and ranked as the #3 non-news/sports cable network among P/W 25-54, P/W 18-49, and W18+ in Total Day.

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Thursday, June 30
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Press Your Luck 2.64 (0.4), Press Your Luck 2.31 (0.3), Press Your Luck 1.97 (0.3)
CBS: Young Sheldon 3.24 (0.3), United States of Al 2.48 (0.2), Ghosts 2.53 (0.2), B Positive 2.05 (0.2), Bull 2.20 (0.2)
CW: Walker 0l36 (0.0), The Flash 0.22 (0.0)
FOX: MasterChef Encore 1.17 (0.2), Don’t Forget the Lyrics 1.15 (0.2)
NBC: Law & Order 2.62 (0.3), Law & Order: SVU 2.58 (0.3), Law & Order: Organized Crime 1.91 (0.,2)
Telemundo: La Casa de los Famosos 1.16 (0.3), Amore Valiente 0.89 (0.2), Infiel: Historia de un Engano 0.95 (0.3)
Univision: La Mexicana y el Guero 1.22 (0.3), Mi Fortuna es Amarte 1.85 (0.6), Mujer de Nadie 1.33 (0.4)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Rockerdale Studios, the disabled-led content production company, has appointed Alex Martin as its first Head of Development. Martin was previously Head of Development at Mighty Productions.

Wild Card Creative Group has hired Justin King-Hall as SVP, Creative Director for the Wild Card Editorial Division.

RTR Media has made four promotions: Samantha Jackson, from VP to Senior Vice President of Production; Liz Kerrigan, from VP to Senior Vice President of Current Programming; Lara Shaw, from Senior Director of Content to Vice President of Content; and Ryan Grantham Smith, from Director to Vice President of Post Production.

This Day in History
1994 – Amazon.com was founded.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What did Shawn and Christian attach to a dead gangster’s body to ensure it would never be discovered on “Nip/Tuck” (2003-2010)? Ham (so alligators would devour it). Kudos to: Andy Ehlen-Grady Britton/Portland, OR; David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista, CA; Susan Nessanbaum-Golberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; Heather Allen-WWE Corporation/Stamford, CT; Frank Fleming-FETV/NYC

Today’s Trivia Question
Which series focused on a high school student who was 46? (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