Thursday August 18, 2022

IN THE NEWS

Diamond Sports Group, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, announced its direct-to-consumer streaming service, Bally Sports+, will officially launch across all 19 Bally Sports regional sports network brands on September 26. “Today is a significant step for the RSN industry as we offer local sports fans across our Bally Sports footprint a new way to watch their hometown teams,” said Chris Ripley, CEO, Sinclair Broadcast Group. “We view Bally Sports+ as a great complement to the incredible value our distribution partners provide our linear networks; and with both models, we are uniquely positioned to help our team partners grow their fan bases for years to come.”

Netflix has dug up “The Mole,” for a reimagined version of the Belgian competition format that will have twelve players working together to make money – except one of them is sabotaging the effort. ABC aired version of the competition from 2001-08. Eureka Productions (“Holey Moley”) is producing.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Oscar winner and Goop founder, has joined the 14th season of ABC’s “Shark Tank” as a guest shark. The business show returns Friday, September 23 with a live episode.

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Cynopsis Media is proud to be hosting the annual Top Women in Media Awards, a ceremony that brings together and honors all of the best senior-level women in the categories of entertainment, tech, and sports. Tables are still available but filling up fast, so register now and mark your calendars for October 11th- it’s a night you won’t want to miss!

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BBC and Showtime have ordered thriller series “The Woman in the Wall,” starring Ruth Wilson (“The Affair”) and Daryl McCormack (“Peaky Blinders”) and inspired by the Catholic Church’s notorious Magdalene Laundries in Ireland. Wilson will also executive produce with series creator Joe Murtagh (“Calm With Horses”) and Harry Wootliff (“True Things”), who will direct multiple episodes.

Food Network and HGTV have wrapped production on four holiday features that include cameos from network talent. All four titles are slated to premiere Friday, November 11 on discovery+. Food Network tapped Bobby Flay and Duff Goldman for two new scripted holiday titles, “One Delicious Christmas” and “A Gingerbread Christmas,” respectively. HGTV’s first foray into scripted holiday offerings showcases “Love it or List It” host Hilary Farr in “Designing Christmas” and “Home Town’s” Ben and Erin Napier in “A Christmas Open House.”

Orange Comet, an NFT creative media and Web3 experience company, is teaming with Sir Anthony Hopkins for the launch of NFT series “The Eternal Collection.” The series conceptualizes an interpretation of the character archetypes Hopkins has portrayed over his career, with an NFT collection immortalizing his interpretations of The Jester, The Lover, The Rebel, The Hero and more.

CASTING

The role of Jonathan Kent on season three of CW’s “Superman & Lois” is being recast. “Jordan Elsass has notified the Studio that he will not be returning to ‘Superman & Lois’ for Season 3 due to personal reasons,” said Warner Bros. Television in a statement.

Country music stars Shania Twain, Martina McBride, Little Big Town and Tanya Tucker are set to guest-star throughout the season of Fox family drama “Monarch,” starring Susan Sarandon and Trace Adkins. The series kicks off on Sunday, September11 after the NFL doubleheader.

More casting notes: Simone Kessell has joined the season two cast of Showtime’s “Yellowjackets,” as adult Lottie Matthews. Courtney Eaton, who plays teen Lottie, has been upped to series regular…Kirby Howell-Baptiste will star opposite Colin Farrell in Apple TV+ series “Sugar.”

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

“Pictionary,” hosted by Jerry O’Connell, makes its national debut on September 12. The syndicated daytime series, based on Mattel’s board game, had a successful test run last summer.

“Tales from the Explorer’s Club,” hosted by adventurer Josh Gates, take viewers inside the headquarters of the world-famous Explorers Club to relive the journeys of adventurers who have pushed the boundaries of human possibility. The series will profile the accomplishments of real-life action heroes including Ernest Shackleton, Gertrude Bell, Sir Edmund Hillary, Jim Lovell, and Chuck Yeager among others, starting Wednesday, August 31 at 9p.

Season three of Hulu’s “Ramy” premieres Friday, September 30. The series follows first-generation, Egyptian-American Ramy Hassan (Youssef) and his family as they navigate spirituality in their politically-divided New Jersey neighborhood.

Sinclair Broadcast Group’s “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson” will return for its eighth season on September 11. The 30-minute, weekly program airs on Sinclair television stations nationwide on Sunday mornings, or on-demand for free with the STIRR app, and features topics ranging from immigration to government waste, national security concerns and whistleblower reports on government abuse and misdeeds.

Oxygen’s true crime series “Cold Justice” returns with six new episodes beginning Saturday, September 3 at 8p. The series will celebrate its 100thepisode in two parts on Oct. 1 and 8.

COMING UP

Paramount Media Networks and MTV Entertainment Studios announced the first-of-its-kind Paramount Music Showcase, slated to take place this Fall 2022 in NYC. Curated by the Paramount Music, Creative and Production teams in partnership with Paramount’s Office of Global Inclusion, the showcase will highlight the talents of emerging music artists from underrepresented communities. Three artists will have the opportunity to perform for influential figures in the music and media business. “We are thrilled to provide a platform and opportunity to amplify fresh, diverse voices that resonate with our global audience,” said Bruce Gillmer, President of Music, Music Talent, Programming & Events, Paramount and Chief Content Officer, Music, Paramount+. “Fostering and helping to develop the next generation of talent and creators has always been embedded into the Paramount culture.”

In more music news, Paramount will join forces with Foo Fighters and the Hawkins Family for The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert, celebrating the life of the late drummer. The show streams live September 3 from London’s Wembley Stadium across Paramount+, Pluto TV (internationally) and MTV Brand YouTube Channels. CBS will broadcast highlights from the tribute at 10p, and MTV will air a one-hour special on September 3 and 4.

The seventh Crunchyroll Anime Awards will take place in Japan for the first time ever on March 4, 2023. The event will be streamed on Crunchyroll’s social channels.

Turner Classic Movies highlights immigrants’ perceptions of the US and what it means to be American through the lens of the American movies they watched when they were young. In “The Idea of America,” nine immigrants will join TCM Primetime Host Ben Mankiewicz to discuss the movies that shaped their idea of the US before they moved here. The three-parter begins Friday, Sept. 9, at 8p.

STREAMING

Vice World News is launching a channel on Twitch. A twice-weekly live show will premiere August 23, streaming Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11a. “Our audience is young, plugged-in, and doesn’t always access news in a traditional way, so it’s a natural fit for us to take our global reporting to Twitch,” said Katie Drummond, SVP of Global News and Global Editor-in-Chief.

Firstlight Media announced its collaboration with Google Cloud has led to developments including:
· Personalized FAST channels running on Google Cloud and ready for scalable CTV monetization via pre-integration with Google Ad Manager across client, and server side environments.’
· Analytics dashboards built on a proprietary, unified data model, bringing together user engagement, content performance, and quality of experience metrics to help drive the business.
· Linear streaming through HLS and DASH on Google Cloud Media CDN, with an early version of low latency streaming using the LL-DASH protocol.
“As we’ve plunged more deeply into our R&D collaboration with Google Cloud, two things have stood out,” said Juan Martin, CTO and Co-Founder of Firstlight Media. “First, our innovation velocity has dramatically increased with Google Cloud, which will be transformational for the media industry. Second, a tight integration with leading CTV focused services like Google Ad Manager and Google Cloud Media CDN will have a direct impact on the bottom lines of OTT providers.”

TECH TALK

Most companies are paying more than they have to for their media supply chain, noted ANA CEO Bob Liodice in a statement released with the Association of National Advertisers’ report, “The CMO’s Guide To Programmatic Transparency.” “This is due to factors such as the rapid development of programmatic ad buying, a lack of transparency, the overlap of many providers and services, and the complexity of the process itself,” said Liodice. A guide to help marketers reduce their programmatic costs includes the following recommendations:
· Gather all existing bills associated with the media supply chain
· Break down the expenses to the most granular level possible, aligning the bill items to the programmatic cost items
· Reach out to suppliers to understand the line items that are not broken down to a granular level
· Create a process to get access to this data on an ongoing basis
· Make formal requests for the data that is not broken down
· Prioritize the things that can be addressed first, such as agency and platform fees
· Establish a process for tracking all progress.

Ad management company Mediavine announced its integration with The Trade Desk’s OpenPath via a direct server to server OpenRTB connection. “OpenPath represents another route for our advertiser clients to connect with our publisher partners to ensure they have transparent and objective access to the best available digital advertising inventory,” said Will Doherty, VP of Inventory Development, The Trade Desk. “We are firm believers in offering the most direct paths possible, and this server-to-server integration will create a more efficient connection to Mediavine’s inventory and preserve the free flow of premium media on the open internet.”

SPORTS

The NBA released its complete game slate as well as schedules for its broadcast partners for the 2022-23 regular season, tipping off on Oct. 18 and running through April 9, 2023. The 2023 NBA Play-In Tournament then spans April 11 –April 14, followed by the start of the 2023 NBA Playoffs on April 15. Game 1 of the 2023 NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV is scheduled to be played on Thursday, June 1.

ESPN and ABC will combine to nationally televise 100 NBA regular season games during the 2022-2023 campaign and include games across Christmas Day, NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC, ABC Sunday Showcase, opening week on ESPN and more. ESPN’s 2022-23 NBA game coverage tips off with a doubleheader on Oct. 19. Overall, the regular season will feature 18 appearances by the Golden State Warriors as well as 16 by the Celtics and Lakers.

Turner Sports’ NBA lineup offers up a 65-game schedule during the upcoming season, including a Opening Night doubleheader, a Martin Luther King Jr. Day doubleheader. Overall, TNT will televise doubleheaders on 18 Tuesdays, 13 Thursdays and MLK Monday.

NBA TV will televise 107 live games during the 2022-23 regular season, starting with a 2022 Kia NBA Tip-Off doubleheader on Oct. 22. NBA TV will present a pair of games played outside the U.S. and Canada, starting with The NBA Mexico City Game 2022 which will feature the Heat and Butler against the Spurs and Johnson in Mexico City on Dec. 17 at 5p as well as The NBA Paris Game 2023 between the Bulls and Pistons on Jan. 19 at 3p.

ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown is adding Robert Griffin III to the cast, where he joins Booger McFarland and Steve Young as the weekly show’s main analysts. Monday Night Countdown will welcome back Suzy Kolber for her sixth year as the host of the show alongside senior NFL insider Adam Schefter.

The LPGA Tour and Outlyr announced that Ascendant National Title is teaming up with Volunteers of America in a new multi-year partnership to serve as co-title sponsors for the LPGA Tour’s annual event held outside Dallas, beginning in 2022. The Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America will take place Sept. 26-Oct. 2. The championship will feature a field of 132 of the world’s best female professional golfers vying for a share of the $1.7 million purse, a $200,000 increase from the previous $1.5 million.

Reminder: Entry rate increasing 8/26

Cynopsis Media is proud to put together a fantastic awards ceremony honoring innovative executives in digital media, along with leaders of online video content and advertising. With more categories than ever before, including, “Outstanding Progress in Measuring Diverse Audiences” and “Best New Tool for Capturing First-Party Data,” we look to expand and recognize untapped groups like never before. With rates due to increase by $100 on 8/26, why wait?

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ABC’s “The View” was the season’s top daytime talker, with an average 2.411 million total viewers. Syndicated “Dr. Phil” was a close second, with 2.405 million viewers.

The debut of MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight,” the successor to “The Rachel Maddow Show,” drew an estimated 2 million viewers on Tuesday. Maddow, who still hosts the hour on Mondays, averages 2.75 million, but Wagner’s premiere bested 866,000 for CNN. Fox News’ “Hannity” topped the timeslot with 3.1 million.

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Tuesday, August 16
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Celebrity Wheel of Fortune 3.26 (0.5), Generation Gap 1.97 (0.4), Celebrity Family Feud 1.56 (0.3)
CBS: FBI 3.57 (0.3), FBI: International 3.25 (0.3), FBI: Most Wanted 2.88 (0.2)
CW: Leonardo 0.54 (0.0), Devils 0.28 (0.0)
FOX: So You Think You Can Dance 0.66 (0.1), Fantasy Island 0.60 (0.1)
NBC: America’s Got Talent 6.44 (0.7), Password 3.97 (0.4)
Telemundo: Top Chef VIP 0.87 (0.2), Amor Valiente 0.81 (0.2), Infiel: Historia de un Engaño 0.95 (0.3)
Univision: La Mexicana y el Güero 1.00 (0.3), La Herencia un Legado de Amor 1.22 (0.4), Mujer de Nadie 10.5 (0.3)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

OpenVault has promoted Keith Broach to Executive Vice President, Global Sales, with responsibility for accelerating global adoption of the company’s SaaS-based broadband technology solutions.

Great Pacific Media made two promotions. Lindsay Macadam is moving up to Executive Vice President of GPM from the role of Senior Vice President of Content & Business Development. Elevated to Vice President, Creative, Todd Serotiuk previously served as Executive Producer and showrunner on “Heavy Rescue: 401.”

Josh Sapan, former CEO of AMC Networks, has joined the Executives in Residence program at Columbia University. The program provides MBA students with access to C-level executives.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What was the first show to air in UPN? “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995-2001). Kudos to: Alex Petrilli-Nielsen/San Francisco; Ken DuBow-Access Entertainment/LA; Andy Ehlen-Grady Britton/Portland, OR; Adam Leston-Weigel Broadcasting/Milwaukee; Charlie Conner-KOKI/Tulsa, OK; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX; Lewis Cosby/Knoxville; Peter Steckelman-Tennis Channel/Santa Monica, CA; Greg West-WATC TV/Atlanta; John Kukla-KDFW/Dallas; Roger Furman-Sports Marketing Communications/Greentown, PA; Sandy Spiegel/Chicago; Aaron Paquette-Accelerate SG/Fort Worth, TX; Pete Hazell-Warner Bros. Discovery/London; Austin Cassidy-Meridian Interactive/Wilmington, DE; Sheila Green/Crunchyroll

Today’s Trivia Question
Which sci-fi sitcom centered on a garbage collection crew in outer space? (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.)