Disney|ABC entered into a development holding agreement with Tamron Hall (Today, Deadline: Crime with Tamron Hall), aimed a creating a daytime talk show, hosted by Hall, for syndication. “My new partners appreciate and respect the relationship I’ve built with my audience and know that if we create television worth watching, they’ll join us for the ride,” said Hall. “I’m so grateful and excited for this next chapter.”
 
CBS nabbed the U.S. format rights to Love Island from ITV Studios and Motion Content Group. The season four finale of the UK dating reality show ranked as the most-watched program ever on ITV2, with almost half of adult viewers under 34 turning in. CBS’s version will be produced by ITV Entertainment.
 
Nancy Han (CBS This Morning) is joining Facebook Watch daily news show NowThis Morning, set to launch in September, as Executive Producer. Han is currently building out a team, including producers and technical crew. “NowThis truly pioneered social, mobile news, and I couldn’t be more excited to help lead the brand’s next evolution into daily morning news programming,” said Han. “As media consumption continues to shift, NowThis is uniquely positioned to be the news organization of the future.”
 
Adult Swim ordered two new animated series. Surreal anthology comedy The Shivering Truth, a series of loosely-linked emotional parables, will premiere later in 2018. Fifteen-minute comedy fantasy Tigtone arrives in 2019.
 
OWN renewed Queen Sugar for a fourth season, ahead of the 90-minute season three finale airing Wednesday, August 22 at 10p. Co-executive producer Anthony Sparks will serve as showrunner/executive producer for season four, in line with creator Ava DuVernay’s intention of providing showrunner opportunities to those who have never before held the position.
 
Insight TV and Monster Energy continue their storytelling partnership with Born To, a 13-episode series life-affirming short films featuring athletes, produced by Velocity and set to launch later this year on Insight TV channels and Insight.TV. Insight TV also announced 10-part surf show, Chasing Monsters, will debut in September.
 
Divorcing hosts haven’t hurt HGTV’s Flop or Flop. With viewership up 18% for season seven versus six, the netpicked up Flip of Flop for an eighth season; Tarek and Christina Moussa remain onboard as flippers. “HGTV fans have followed Tarek and Christina through scores of house flips and supported their personal journey for years,” said Allison Page, president HGTV and Food Network.  “We’re eager to see how they continue to run their flipping business, co-parent their children and start new chapters in their professional and personal lives.” 
 
Football docu-series Last Chance U will be back on Netflix for season four. The show returns to Independence, Kansas, where football coach Jason Brown believes his team has a chance to capture the school’s first conference in 30 years.
 
 

Season two of Nickelodeon’s I Am Frankie arrives Monday, September 10 at 8p. Live-action show tells the story of an experimental android who looks like a human girl. Ahead of the debut, Nick will air a one-hour I Am Frankie special on Saturday, August 11 at 8p.
 
Velocity’s third most-watched series, Iron Resurrection, returns for season three with back-to-back episodes on Tuesday, September 4 at 9p and 10p.
 
Pamela Smart: An American Murder Mystery premieres on ID Sunday, August 19 at 9p. Three-part special event focused on the 1990 murder of Pamela Smart’s husband includes an exclusive interview with the defendant herself.
 
Refinery29 and Facebook are partnering for Facebook Watch nightly panel show After After Party, hosted by comedian Sonia Denis. “After After Party is a new form of nightly entertainment, and an unique opportunity for Refinery29 to bring viewers out of the weeds of the daily headlines and look at the big picture through an inclusive and comedic lens brought together by the wildly talented Sonia Denis,” said Amy Emmerich, chief content officer for Refinery29. Series premieres Monday, August 13 at 9p.
 
 

CompulseOTT, a division of Sinclair Broadcast Group, will offer advertisers spots on OTT platforms like Roku, AppleTV and streaming sticks. Sinclair said CompulseOTT will provide granular targeting from over 100 leading third-party data providers, allowing advertisers in local DMA’s to target beyond basic demographics, using validated daily reporting on over 20 different key OTT metrics. The platform already has over 500 OTT advertisers “and is expanding rapidly into targeting with larger multi-DMA ad campaigns,” said Ryan Moore, VP of digital sales.
 
 

Content studio Gunpowder & Sky is launching Dustx, described as a “destination for mind-expanding science fiction that explores the future of humanity through the lens of science and technology” – on Roku devices starting August 18. Dustx kicks off with over 20 films, 30 series and 200 short films.
 
Axios and HBO struck a deal that calls for the digital news startup to produce a series of specials for HBO starting with the midterm elections. Matthew O’Neill (Baghdad ER) and Perry Peltz (Warning: This Drug May Kill You) will direct and produce, working with Axios journalists to cover hot topics in business, politics and technology.
 
Responding to concerns from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, Apple said in an August 7 letter that iPhones don’t listen in on users’ conversations, “except to recognize the clear, unambiguous audio trigger, ‘Hey Siri.’” Nor do iPhones secretly record conversations, added Apple: “The customer is not our product, and our business model does not depend on vast amounts of personally identifiable information to enrich targeted profiles marketed to advertisers.”
 
Imposters posing as legitimate rights holders like Disney are asking Google to remove hundreds of thousands, or more, of URLs, reports Torrentfreak. The goal appears to be to downrank competitors. Many are targeted at Russian domains and apparently sent from Russia, said Torrentfreak.
 
This year, Tinder is expected to double the $400 million in revenue it generated in 2017, reported Match Group CFO Gary Swidler during an earnings call. Tinder added 300,000 subscribers in 2Q18, for about 3.8 million in all, and introduced a premium $14.99/month service last year. With a profit margin reported in the past of over 40 percent, that could mean $320 million or more in profit.
 
Bureau of Magic announced the expansion of its animated action-adventure comedy, Lost in Oz, into the educational space with a series of live-action S.T.E.M educational shorts for the Amazon in the Community program.
 
Video creation platform Wotchit is partnering with Newsflare to bring Wotchit users in North and South America access to Newsflare’s video content.
 
Esports coaching platform Gamer Sensei has acquired dedicated League of Legends coaching web site, LeagueCoaching.gg. Through the acquisition, Gamer Sensei’s collection of League of Legends-specific coaches will grow, providing gamers with more coaches to choose from, while also giving existing LeagueCoaching.gg customers access to the Gamer Sensei platform.
 
The esports business is exploding – are you in the game? For news, updates, and insights, check out the Cynopsis Esports resource center here.
 
Disney’s Movies Anywhere service now counts Microsoft Movies and TV as a partner, joining Amazone Prime Video, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Vudu and FandangoNow. Since the app’s launch nine months ago, Movies Anywhere users have stored over 135 million movies.
 
 
Rakuten Viki, the fan community and OTT platform for Asian TV and movies, is expanding its Soompi brand to include fashion and beauty with the launch of a new content vertical, Style by Soompi, and affiliated branded content and social shopping initiatives. Acquired by Rakuten Viki in 2015, Soompi an audience that now includes more than 23 million per month. 
 
 

One-time senior Trump aide/The Apprentice contestant Omarosa Manigault Newman will appear on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, August 12 for her first televised interview about her tell-all book, “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House.” Manigault Newman, who served as assistant to the president and director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison, will also appear on NBC’s Today the following day.
 
Documentary film Crime + Punishment, examining the country’s most powerful police departments, lands on Hulu Friday, August 24.
 
MTV has added Travis Scott and Post Malone to the lineup of performers at the VMAs, airing live from Radio City Music Hall on Monday, August 20 at 9p.
 
One-hour documentary 3 Seconds Behind the Wheel, tracking the behavior of distracted drivers, premieres on public stations beginning October 1 (check local listings).
 
 

Friends alum David Shwimmer will recur in a season two arc on NBC revival Will & Grace as Grace’s (Debra Messing) new love interest….Mark Tallman (Rise) will recur on season 20 of NBC’s Law & Order: SVU as the chief of detectives….Mena Massoud (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan) landed a series regular role on Hulu drama pilot Reprisal.
 
 

Endemol Shine Group announced the first Latin American deal for new culinary competition format Family Food Fight. Endemol Shine Latino will make a local Argentinian adaptation for Telefe.
 
The UK’s ITV is working on a revival of long-running game show Play Your Cards Right, based on Card Sharks, reports Deadline. Alan Carr (Chatty Man) will host the pilot.

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