Saturday’s Premiere
Oxygen: License to Kill at 7p

Sunday’s Premieres
Adult Swim: YOLO: Crystal Fantasy at midnight
History: Apocalypse Earth at 9p
Lifetime: Surviving Jeffrey Epstein at 8p
PBS: Endeavour on Masterpiece at 9p
Showtime: We Hunt Together at 10p

Sunday’s Finales
HBO: Perry Mason at 9p
TLC: sMothered at 10p
TNT: Alienist: Angel of Darkness at 10p

IN THE NEWS

In a restructuring at NBCUniversal, Frances Berwick will lead the company’s Entertainment Business unit, and Mark Strauss will head Direct to Consumer. Berwick had overseen NBCU’s Lifestyle networks, while Strauss oversaw the launch of Peacock. A new Entertainment Programming unit will have content groups responsible for scripted programming, late night and alternative; the search for an exec to lead it is underway. Chairman of NBC Entertainment Paul Telegdy, who was being investigated over allegations of professional misconduct, is leaving the company, which is continuing its investigation into the culture at the network.

“We have an unparalleled portfolio that is now in an even stronger position to drive growth for the business. With the power of NBC and the broadcast model, coupled with the strong cable entertainment brands and the new addition of Peacock, we have massive scale and a deep library of valuable content that can live across platforms,” said Mark Lazarus, Chairman of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “We are incredibly fortunate to have some of the most talented executives in the industry leading the charge and I am confident that we are poised to win in this competitive landscape.”

ViacomCBS domestic streaming and video revenue rose 25%, to $489 million in the second quarter, with US pay streaming subscribers hitting 16.2 million, up 74%. Total ad revenue fell 27% versus 2Q19, due to the health crisis. “Despite the impact of COVID-19 on revenue in the quarter, we’re successfully managing through the effects of the pandemic, reaffirming the strength of our combined operations,” said CEO Bob Bakish. “Our results underscored our strong progress delivering on our value-creation initiatives, including integration cost synergies, expanded and new distribution agreements, as well as the rapid acceleration of our streaming business, where we achieved record users and revenue in free and pay while building toward the relaunch of our diversified super service.”

Gray Television revenue for the second quarter dropped to $451 million, from $508 million in 2Q19. Local advertising was down 28% and national advertising slid 36%, but political advertising revenue was up 320%. Retrans revenue was also up, from $201 million to $220 million. “The extent to which some of the effects of the COVID-19 crisis continues to impact our business depends on numerous evolving factors; we believe, however, that some of our programming and production activities are beginning to rebound,” said the company. “Despite the adverse developments, we have experienced significant increases in viewership of our local newscasts and related digital assets.” Gray said it did not access any stimulus or relief grants or loans during the first half of 2020.

Fox Corp. non-production staffers who have been working remotely won’t be hopping on the subway anytime soon. “The rising rates of positive cases in areas where we have a significant presence coupled with evolving restrictions and best practices around the country are impacting and postponing our planned companywide return to work efforts this fall,” said CEO Lachlan Murdoch in a note to employees Thursday. “We are evaluating several longer-term work arrangements and will have more to share as our plans progress.” Fox said it will continue covering medical insurance premiums in Fox plans through December.

The events of spring 2020 have led to a call for change throughout America, the media industry included. “Let’s use this opportunity to work together and achieve a positive change,” says Entertainment Studios’ Byron Allen. But what steps need to be taken? Allen and TheGrio’s Natasha Alford will take part in a candid discussion on August 27 about what players in the media space must do to build a healthier, more inclusive community. You don’t want to miss this – register for free here.

The Creative Arts Emmys ceremony will stretch over five nights, starting Monday, September 14. The first four nights the presentation will run on Emmys.com, moving on Saturday to FXX. ABC’s live, Jimmy Kimmel-hosted virtual ceremony will air on Sunday.

PBS landed the most nominations for the 41st annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards, with 48. CNN was second, with 30 nods, and HBO grabbed 27. Vice News Tonight, canceled on HBO then revived on ViceTV, led the program pack with 18 nominations.

CANCEL CULTURE

Hulu canceled High Fidelity after one season. The series, starring and executive produced by Zoë Kravitz (Big Little Lies), was based on the 1995 Nick Hornsby novel.

The CW yanked Taskmaster after one airing of back-to-back episodes on Sunday averaged 0.1 among A18-49 and 432,000 viewers in Live+SD Nielsens. The British comedy game show will be replaced in the time slot, for now, by reruns of Supernatural.

New York-based entertainment news programs E! News and Pop of the Morning and celeb showcase In the Room have been canceled by E!, victims of financial fallout due to the COVID-19 crisis. While Pop of the Morning and In the Room were newcomers launched in NYC, E! News premiered back in 1991, and was moved from LA to New York a year ago, with a time slot change of 7p to 7a. E!’s studio production will be centralized in LA, as NBCUniversal restructures its operations.

Celebrate the 2020 Cynopsis Digital “It List” Honorees at the 8th Annual Cynopsis Digital Awards, taking place at a virtual awards event this November.

There’s still time to enter! Nominate someone to the “It List.”
Get started, here.

Amazon Studios unscripted series The Pack explores the bond between dogs and their human companions. Hosted by Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn and canine co-host Lucy, the Amazon Original series debuts later this year on Amazon Prime Video in over 200 countries and territories.

A reboot of 1992 film A League of Their Own has been picked up to series at Amazon Studios. Co-creator are Abbi Jacobson (Broad City), who also stars and Will Graham (Mozart in the Jungle). “There’s no crying in baseball, or at Prime Video,” said Vernon Sanders, Co-Head of Television, Amazon Studios. “Will and Abbi have taken a classic movie, reimagining it for a new generation with new characters and their own fresh, modern vision on a timeless story of big dreams, friendship, love, and, of course, baseball.” The series comes from Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television in association with Field Trip Productions.

Amazon Studios also announced a first-look deal with Grammy winner Lizzo for television projects. “I can’t wait to get started and share my vision with the world,” said the “Truth Hurts” singer.

LeVar Burton (Roots) is set to direct Lou Reda Productions limited series Two-Front War, offering first-person accounts from African-American veterans, activists, journalists, students and civilians at the forefront of a two-pronged war for freedom abroad and at home. “I have looked long and hard to find a subject that inspires me to want to bring my voice to the field of documentary filmmaking,” said Burton. “Both the Vietnam War and the movement for Civil Rights in America, are events that not only dominated my childhood and adolescence, they have gone a long way towards shaping the man and the storyteller I am today.”

We at Cynopsis know you and your team are producing some incredible work and we want everyone to hear about it. Which is why we’re calling on you to enter the Cynopsis Digital Model D Awards. The submission process is simple, but hurry – the deadline is coming up on Tuesday (the 11th). Click here to view categories.

MiMO Studio, in partnership with former NBA star Baron Davis and his company, UWish, announced the launch of MiMO Sports, a content creation and production division dedicated to creating sports-themed content that inspires positive family values and diverse storytelling. MiMO Studio will produce a wide range of content, from real life stories to sports themed scripted content under the umbrella, “Heroes of the Game.” Davis will serve as an executive producer and creative consultant as well as join MiMO’s Board of Advisors. The announcement was made by MiMO Founder and CEO and former President of Nickelodeon, Cyma Zarghami.

Painless Productions announced a co-production partnership with Dan Pearson and his Dan 4 Entertainment. Under the deal, Painless will work with Pearson to develop and produce premium unscripted programming with a focus on social justice, organized crime and unique subculture programming, as well as African American led celebrity formats.

ABC handed a production commitment to an intitled drama about an estranged former female hip-hop group from the 90s that finds itself back in the public eye. The series comes from Zahir McGhee (Stumptown), producer Sabrina Wind and ABC Studios.

Bread and Butter Content Studio has signed an attachment agreement with Antwan Patton aka Big Boi, part of the rap group Outkast. Said BNB owner and founder Steak Shapiro, “We could not be more excited to be working with an iconic personality like Big Boi. He shares our passion for culinary, great storytelling and having a heckuva lot of fun.” Big Boi’s Gotta Eat focuses on unique food culture.

The Commission on Presidential Debates declined President Trump’s request to add a fourth debate to the schedule. Rudy Giuliani had written to the commission to push for a fourth event, in September, citing to early mail-in voting as the reason. “While more people will likely vote by mail in 2020, the debate schedule has been and will be highly publicized,” the commission said. “Any voter who wishes to watch one or more debates before voting will be well aware of that opportunity.”

COMING UP

Bryan and Sarah Baeumier, stars of HGTV’s Renovation Island, go back in time to show viewers how they built their business, in Renovation, Inc., launching Sunday, August 30 at 8p. The series is a rebrand of 2016 Canadian series, Bryan Inc.

HBO limited series The Undoing, postponed from May 10 because of the pandemic, will now debut Sunday, October 25 at 9p. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant star in the drama, created and written for television by David E. Kelley.

Keke Palmer, co-host of recently canceled morning show Strahan, Sara & Keke, already has another job lined up: The Hustlers star will host the MTV Video Awards on Sunday, August 20 at 8p.

MTV’s Ghosted: Love Gone Missing is back Wednesday, September 2 at 9p with its first virtual season. Internet sleuthing skills are put to the test as people sheltering in place seek ways to rekindle connections or get closure.

Special shark-themed episodes of Josh Gates Tonight will air on Discovery Sunday, August 30-Thursday August 13 at 11p, following the net’s Shark Week programming. Adventurer Gates will be joined (virtually) by celebrity guests, shark experts …and shark puppet, Rick Chomp.

Discovery’s 100 Days Wild follows people who move 200 miles from civilization to establish a self-sustaining economy before winter sets in. Launch date: Friday, August 21 at 9p.

Ponysitter’s Club, following the lives of kids at Rescue Ranch, kicks off on Discovery Family on Saturday, September 5 at 2p.

Wild Card: The Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth charts the rise and fall of sports radio personality Craig Carton, whose gambling addiction and illicit ticket-brokering business brought his career to a halt in 2017. The documentary film premieres Wednesday, October 7 at 9p on HBO.

STREAMING SCOOP

ViacomCBS Networks International is launching a premium streaming service internationally, aimed at all ages and “competitively priced.” The new SVOD service will offer exclusive premieres of new Showtime series and CBS All Access originals, along with movies from Paramount Pictures and premieres and box sets from Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount Network, and originals from ViacomCBS International Studios in some markets. Rollout is slated to begin in early 2021.

The Rich Eisen show is moving from NBCSN to Peacock on Monday, October 5. “The show’s sports and pop culture relevance make it a great fit for Peacock,” said Rick Cordella, EVP and Chief Revenue Officer for Peacock. “We’re excited to start the football season with The Rich Eisen Show across NBCUniversal platforms.”

Roku reported 43 million active accounts, up 41% versus the same period last year. The company had a 2Q20 jump of 42% in revenue, to $356.1 million, handily beating analysts’ estimates of $315.4 million. While the company acknowledged it will be well into 2021 before the TV ad business recovers from COVID-19 losses, “As more and more households turned to streaming in the second quarter, our ad business experienced continued growth at a time when the broader advertising sector is expected to decline,” said Scott Rosenberg, SVP and GM of the Roku Platform.

TEGNA’s True Crime Network has launched on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and via mobile and table apps on iOS and Android operating systems, with Roku coming later this month. “The app is free, setting it apart from other true crime OTT streaming apps that require a subscription fee or cable login,” said Brian Weiss, President and GM of True Crime Network.

AMC Networks’ streaming services Sundance Now and Acorn TV acquired exclusive rights to New Zealand drama series One Lane Bridge from all3media international. Sundance Now will feature the exclusive US and Canadian premieres, while Acorn TV will air the UK and Latin American premieres.

MAVTV Motorsports Network’s new, free streaming channel, MAVTV Select, has been added to Plex. The channel broadcasts motorsports and auto racing events.

TECH TALK

Illegal piracy subscription services in the United States have grown into a billion-dollar industry, according to a report from Digital Citizens Alliance and NAGRA. The “Money for Nothing” report outlines an elaborate ecosystem:
* An estimated 9 million fixed broadband subscribers in the US use a pirate subscription IPTV service. They get these services from at least 3,500 US-facing storefront websites, social media pages, and stores within online marketplaces that sell services.
* The overall piracy industry is in fact much larger when the sale of pirate streaming devices used to receive the content and ad-financed piracy are included.Because the providers of these services pay nothing for the programming that makes up their core product, they operate with estimated profit margins that range from 56%(“Retailers”) to 85% (“Wholesalers”).
* The ecosystem also depends upon legitimate players, including hosting services, payment processors, and social media. The extent to which these legitimate players are aware of their role is a subject of debate.“
* When it comes to piracy, the scope of the risk to consumers, small businesses and others is in direct proportion to the size of the industry, which is why we need to stop the reach and depth of this ecosystem before it grows even bigger,” said Digital Citizens Alliance Executive Director Tom Galvin. “This report underscores how outdated laws and a lack of focus and enforcement has let thieves, hackers, and scammers create a major criminal enterprise.”

Mediaocean has expanded its European operations with the acquisition of Symsys, the Dutch media management software provider. The deal expands Mediaocean’s global presence and will integrate media planning and digital media buy management to its existing production, creative, and bill-pay applications in the Dutch market. “The acquisition of Symsys is another key step in Mediaocean’s continued expansion in Europe and worldwide, servicing global marketers, agencies, sellers and the wider advertising community.” said Bill Wise, CEO, Mediaocean. “Incorporating the Symsys team and platform will helps Mediaocean deliver our modern system of record for omnichannel advertising across geographies.”

Survata, the intelligence platform for brand campaigns, announced the launch of an enhanced suite of CTV measurement capabilities, including a new Targeting Verification technology and expanded scale of the Survata Digital Network. Targeting Verification confirms the percentage of a campaign that reaches a specific behavioral and/or demographic segment across CTV, linear and digital video channels. “CTV is now in the position digital was in ten years ago. Marketers are turning to it with increasing frequency, and they’re asking for proof that their investments are paying off,” said Survata CEO Chris Kelly. “They are tired of flying blind, so are demanding proof their CTV ads reached the right people and drove those people down the brand funnel. And they want this measurement on all CTV campaigns, not just their largest ones.”

Massively.ai is launching a product built off its Conversational Marketing platform – MAT by Massively, which aims to empower businesses to build and deploy custom AI Chatbot solutions without coding. The new product launches with a bot-development toolkit, and is accessible even for those with no programming experience. “Since 2014, we have continuously broken new ground enabling businesses to have meaningful conversations with their customers,” said Russell Ward, CEO of Massively. “Messaging is now an essential medium for meaningful personal relationships between brands and individuals.” For more advanced users, MAT by Massively allows businesses to integrate external data sources that can deliver dynamic, customized, up-to-date answers on topics such as inventory availability or order status, as well as store preferences and response data for enhanced conversations.

CASTING

Bobby Cannavale (Homecoming) has joined Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers, based on the Liane Moriarty novel. He joins Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy as a series regular….Valeria Mahaffey (Dead to Me) has been cast in ABC procedural thriller Big Sky.

GOING GLOBAL

Banijay Rights announced that the BBC has commissioned John Preston to write Stonehouse, a three-part drama about the MP of the same name who faked his own death.

China’s UYoung has acquired six family films from Magic Light Pictures for its educational UKids app and SVOD service: The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child, Room on the Broom, Stick Man, The Highway Rat and Zog.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Magical Elves has promoted Dan Murphy to Chief Operating Officer. He succeeds Casey Kriley, who was named co-CEO alongside Jo Sharon last year.

Joanna Zwickel has been tapped to serve as Head of Development at One Foot Forward, a new premium content division of MY Entertainment. Zwickel was previously VP of TV development at MRC Studios.

This Day in History
1959 – Explorer 6 transmitted the first TV photo of Earth from space.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which Three’s Company spin-off launched in 1984? Three’s a Crowd (1984-85). Kudos to: Austin Cassidy-Nectarine Media/Jacksonville, FL, Rachel Crain-Nickelodeon/NYC, Bruce Abbott Jr.-WNEP-TV/PA, James Maxim-Disney Ad Sales/NYC, Dan Whitford-WTTW/Chicago, Cherie Wall-Sandbox Entertainment/Nashville, John Kukla-KDFW/Dallas, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA, Darren Wadyko-Wadyko Media/LA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
Which 1970s series focused on a crime-solving attorney and her con man father? (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.)