Today’s Premieres
Max: MarkKim + Chef
Netflix: Mask Girl; Guns & Gulaabs
OWN: Time of Essence at 9p
Prime Video: Harlan Coben’s Shelter
The Roku Channel: Honest Renovations

Saturday’s Premiere
Food Network: Ready Jet Cook

Sunday’s Premieres
MGM+: The Winter King at 9p; San Francisco Sounds at 10p
TLC: Sister Wives at 10p

Sunday’s Finale
The Weather Channel: Deep Water Salvage at 8p

IN THE NEWS

Paramount Global has scratched plans to sell a majority stake in BET Media Group, reports The Wall Street Journal. Bidding for a stake in the group, which includes BET, VH1 and BET+, were in the $2 billion to $3 billion range – not enough to result in a meaningful deleveraging of Paramount’s balance sheet, sources told WSJ.

Eighty-five percent of 13- to 15-year-olds and 78% of 16- to 17-year-olds said they watched YouTube recently, according to a report on teen viewing behavior from Precise TV. That compares to 57% of 13-to-17-year-olds who said they watched video on demand and 43% who watched broadcast TV. The report also found ad recall is higher for YouTube, at 45% among teens, versus 20% on TikTok, 20% on broadcast TV, 18% on mobile gaming apps and 15% on ad supported TV.

Seventy percent of brands will shift about 10% of media budget into TV and film product placement, according to a study from BENLabs. Product placement in US entertainment TV shows, film and music in 2022 was estimated at $15 billion, and is projected to grow to $23.5 billion by 2026. TV has been the biggest beneficiary – 75% of product placement in the US in 2022 went to TV, 15% to film and 4% to digital, according to PQ Media.

The NATPE Global conference is returning, and its relocation from the Fontainebleau Miami Beach haunt to a downtown Miami venue is not the only change in store. In addition to an “all-star advisory” board installed ahead of the January16-18 event at the Intercontinental, the group is “committed to shaking things up and addressing key and current trends and issues across the global content business,” said Claire Macdonald, Executive Director for NATPE Global.

Entertainment reporter Chloe Melas has joined NBC News, effective August 21. Melas announced her exit from CNN – “a masterclass in journalism” – on Wednesday.

Comcast NBCUniversal and the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism will collaborate in measuring NBCUniversal’s efforts to create more access and equity in the creative economy via pilot evaluation of NBCUniversal’s Creative Impact Lab. The goal of the study is to discover the impact of paid creative apprenticeships and the value of professional mentorship. “To ensure that the Creative Impact Lab is building access and equity for future creatives and positive outcomes for its participants, it is important to engage a third party to assess its impact along the way,” said Hilary Smith EVP, Corporate Social responsibility for NBCUniversal. “We could not be more pleased to work with The USC Annenberg School’s Lear Center—one of the premier research institutions specializing in studying socio-economic and cultural impact in the entertainment sector—for this critical effort.”

STRIKE UPDATES

The trustees of the five New York City pension funds sent letters to Disney CEO Bob Iger, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish, and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts urging them to address the ongoing strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA…or else. “As long-term investors, NYCRS has long considered constructive labor management relations to be fundamental to effective human capital management and the creation of sustainable shareholder value,” wrote Comptroller Brad Lander. “Your company … risks financial and reputational harm the longer you refuse to negotiate on core issues facing writers and actors, who enjoy broad support from the public and elected officials. With such visibility and public support, your company risks backlash from consumers, investors, or other stakeholders.” It’s not just a matter of principal – the New York City retirement systems own Disney shares valued at $229.2 million, shares valued $272.7 million in Comcast and over $10 million worth of shares in Paramount.

The WGA West released a report, “The New Gatekeepers: How Disney, Amazon and Netflix Will Take Over Media,” that accuses the three companies of “anti-competitive practices” and calls for more government regulation. “Without intervention, these conglomerates will seize control of the media landscape and the streaming era’s advances for creativity and choice will be lost,” says the report. “These new gatekeepers have amassed market power through mergers and other anti-competitive practices, offering an alarming window into the future of media.”

An open letter from the Motion Picture & Television Fund asks for donations for below-the-line crews impacted by the industry strikes. “Members of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have been very generous in stepping up to support their own members, but as a community we are not doing enough to support the tens of thousands of crew members and others who live paycheck to paycheck and depend on this industry for their livelihood,” writes MPTF President and CEO Bob Beitcher. “They have become the forgotten casualties during these strikes, overlooked by the media. Let’s face it, actors and writers make better subjects for strike stories; and now crew members are not getting the philanthropic support they’ve earned and deserve.”

Cynopsis BIG TV Conference

SELLING FAST!

Tickets to this year’s BIG TV Conference, taking place on September 27-28 at the Hotel Edison in NYC, are going quickly – do you have your seat yet?

REGISTER NOW

PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Amblin Entertainment and Boardwalk Pictures have teamed for “Encounters.” The docuseries about aliens, told from the perspectives of people who experienced them, drops on Netflix on Wednesday, September 27.

Producer Cindy Cederlund and Stephanie Corneliussen (“Mr. Robot”) have launched Soullanders Entertainment. The LA-based production company has six projects in development, including thriller series “Rogue” with Artist International Group.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Limited series “Fellow Travelers” debuts Friday, October 27 on Paramount+ with Showtime, ahead of its Showtime premiere on October 29 at 9p. The drama stars Matt Bomer (“The Boys in the Band”) as a politician who starts a romance with a religious young man in McCarthy-era Washington.

WE tv’s “Love After Lockup” is back for a new season on Friday, September 15 at 9p. This season follows seven new couples, and five from “Love During Lockup.”

FX announced its full fall slate, including the return of “American Horror Story” on Wednesday, September 20 at 10p on FX; documentary feature “The New York Times Presents: How to Fix a Pageant” on Friday, September 29 at 10p on FX; “American Horror Stories” on Thursday, October 26 on Hulu; “A Murder at the End of the World” Tuesday, November 14 (moved from its original premiere date, August 29, due to the strikes) on Hulu; and season five of “Fargo” on Tuesday, November 21 at 10p on FX. These dates join the previously announced second season of the “Welcome to Wrexham,” premiering Tuesday, September 12 on FX.

Season three of “Chucky” is headed to Syfy and USA Network. “I’m here to announce to you dips**ts- that Season 3 of my show, Chucky, will return on October 4. And I will not rest until every single one of you f***ers watch it,” says the murderous doll in a video.

All eight episodes of horror comedy “”Pinches Momias” drop Friday, September 1 on ViX. The series follows a group of teenagers who become their town’s only hope to survive, when its renowned mummies come back from the dead

LMN has set the debut date for three-part movie series event “As Luck Would Have It,” starring Jackée Harry (“Days of Our Lives”) as a retired professor turned amateur sleuth who uses her background in criminology to help solve murders. Produced earlier this year, the three movies debut Thursdays at 8p beginning August 31.

Docuseries “One Shot: Overtime,” following the lives of the next generation of basketball stars, premieres Tuesday, September 5 on Prime Video.

Season two of Allblk’s “A La Carte” launches Thursday, September 14. The dating dramedy follows LA twentysomethings.

COMING UP

“Explorer: Lost in the Arctic” premieres Thursday, August 24 at 10p on Nat Geo. The special follows the mystery of Sir John Franklin, who set off from England in 1845 with two ships and 129 men in an attempt to be the first to navigate the Northwest Passage, but the ships vanished without a trace.

Hallmark Media is joining the scripted podcast space with “Crimson Hearts Collide,” a romance-mystery series spun from the company’s Mahogany content initiative. The podcast series produced by AYR Media will premiere episodes 1-2 on Thursday, August 24.

CarbonTV is holding a Flavors of the Wild marathon, presented by Regenerative Pastures. The marathon will include an array of cooking shows highlighting the importance of sustainable agriculture and the farm-to-table movement.

TECH TALK

IAS introduced an end-to-end campaign activation process within Google’s campaign management system, Campaign Manager 360. The automation feature enables marketers to automatically create and launch campaigns and wrap tags within Campaign Manager 360, while incorporating IAS’s media quality measurement solutions. With this new integration, marketers are able to reduce workflow inconsistencies by accessing Campaign Manager 360 data in IAS Signal directly.

Advertising spend on CTV during a one-month span reached $1 billion in June, according to data from ad intelligence provider Vivvix. The data includes advertising dollars spent by advertisers across streaming platforms including Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+, Pluto, Discovery+, Max, Tubi, Roku, and as of May of this year, Disney+. “This milestone validates the projections on CTV’s ascendency from experimental to a ‘table stakes’ medium,” said Andrew Feigenson, CEO of Vivvix. “It’s where viewers are increasingly spending their time, and in order to be competitive, brands must play ball on those fields, and understand what competitors are doing on these platforms. The data really informs brands where the white space is within the video journey as well. We noticed, for example, a dearth of pet brands advertising on Disney+ in June. That signals a real opportunity.”

Microsoft is prohibiting anyone from reverse engineering or harvesting data from its AI software to train or improve other models. The change can be found in a new clause titled “AI Services” in Microsoft’s terms of service and does not apply to enterprise users.

Vistar Media, provider of programmatic technology for DOOH, announced the launch of its Vistar Academy certification program, “Accelerate: Foundations of Digital Out-of-Home.” “The Accelerate certification program provides advertising practitioners with a comprehensive curriculum covering the fundamentals and benefits of DOOH advertising, as well as key innovations brought about by programmatic technology,” said Leslie Lee, SVP of Marketing at Vistar Media. “With interactive training, reviews of essential tools, valuable tips and best practices, participants gain the confidence and skills to manage programmatic DOOH campaigns, and to effectively plan for DOOH as part of omnichannel campaign strategies.”

Brightcove released an enhanced ability within its Video Cloud platform that allows customers to create audience segments based on video engagement data. The two new enhancements include Audience Sync, which allows customers to connect and sync to marketing integrations (like MAPs/CRMs) directly in Video Cloud for more streamlined access; and Segment Sync, which pulls video engagement data to form target audience groups that can sync with Audience Sync for more effective marketing and communications campaigns.

SPORTS ROUNDUP

Bankrupt Diamond Sports Group is suing parent company Sinclair for allegedly charging “exorbitant” management fees of over $100 million a year and funneling over $900 million to help finance its acquisition from The Walt Disney Company in 2019. The lawsuit was filed last month but wasn’t made public until Wednesday. Sinclair responded Diamond’s claims were without merit and that it would vigorously defend itself.

The Association of Pickleball Players and Pickleball Superstore, the online pickleball products and equipment retailer, have joined forces for an agreement that names the Pickleball Superstore as the official E-Commerce Partner of the APP and operator of the APP’s online retail offering, scheduled to launch soon. This agreement and designation gives the APP an equity position in the Pickleball Superstore business.

GOING GLOBAL

Moonbug announced that it will bring Moonbug IPs, including “Oddbods,” “Blippi,” “Little Baby Bum” and more, to Amazon Prime Video, providing access for audiences across the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Turkey and Portugal.

Cynopsis Best of the Best & Rising Star Awards

You won’t want to miss this

The Best of the Best & Rising Star Awards, held in conjunction with the upcoming 8th annual BIG TV Conference, is a one-of-a-kind celebration honoring standout performers, campaigns and companies across the TV and media industry. Sound like the kind of people you’d like to meet?

REGISTER HERE

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Plimsoll Productions has promoted James Smith to Head of Adventure. Smith will helm Plimsoll’s portfolio of adventure programming, reporting directly to Martha Holmes, Chief Creative Officer of Natural History and Science for Plimsoll Productions.

Zoe Friend has been named EVP of Consumer Insights at NBCUniversal. Previously, Friend served as Head of Custom Research at MarketCast.

This Day in History
1930 – Eastern Airlines began passenger service.

Friday Fact
Pope Francis used to be a nightclub bouncer.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Which spin-off of a spin-off sitcom premiered in 1991? “Nurses.” Kudos to: William Anthony King-NBCUniversal/Englewood Cliffs, NJ; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Andrew Goldman-CamNova TV/NYC; Austin Cassidy-Smarter Living Media/Wilmington, DE

Today’s Trivia Question
Which 1970s drama was launched from the TV movie “Senior Year”? (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