Today’s Premieres
Apple TV+: The Changeling
Netflix: Burning Body; Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series; Selling the OC; Spy Ops; A Time Called You
Prime Video: All or Nothing: The National Team in Qatar

Today’s Finales
A&E: Women on Death Row at 10p
WE tv: Love After Lockup at 9p

Sunday’s Premieres
AMC: The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon at 9p; Ride With Norman Reedus at 10:30p
CW: The Chosen at 8p
Fox: The Masked Singer at 8p
Showtime: Dreaming Whilst Black at 10p

IN THE NEWS

Australian dramedy “Bump” got the heave-ho from The CW. Five episodes of the series have aired this summer; the remainder will be available digitally. The network also moved “FBoy Island” from Thursdays to Mondays this fall, in a swap with Canadian comedies “Son of a Critch,” “Run the Burbs” and “Children Ruin Everything” and British comedy “Everyone else Burns,” which relocate from Thursdays to Mondays.

It appeared from Charter CEO Chris Winfrey’s remarks at the Goldman Sachs investor conference that not much progress has been made in the Charter/Disney carriage dispute. “If I had anything material to highlight, I would,” he said. “So that should tell you something.” Nevertheless, “We all have a sense of urgency to resolve it quickly because our customers are stuck in the middle,” said Winfrey. “These are not just our customers, these are Disney customers as well and so we have a responsibility to try to solve it quickly.”

Meanwhile, Disney put out a statement about the stalemate that has put a crimp in the plans of sports viewers. “As the US Open reaches the men’s and women’s finals, and fans gear up for a weekend of college football and the opening of the NFL season, it’s unfortunate that Charter decided to abandon their consumers by denying them access to our great programming,” said Disney. “The question for Charter is clear: Do you care about your subscribers and what they’re telling you they want – or not?”

Payments for media buys to digital media are growing increasingly late, and in many cases, underpaid, according to OAREX Capital Markets’ semi-annual “Digital Media & Advertising Payments Report.” Late payments increased in the first half of this year, and OAREX projects the trend will continue into the near future due to recessionary effects and pressures on demand-side cash flow.

The Senate confirmed a third Democratic commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission. Anna Gomez, a telecommunications attorney, was nominated by Biden last May, after Gigi Sohn withdrew her nomination for the job.

NBC responded to an article in Rolling Stone that alleged a toxic work environment on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” The article did not include employees who spoke on the record, but reported on “passive aggressive” notes to staff, and employees walking on eggshells. “As in any workplace, we have had employees raise issues; those have been investigated and action has been taken where appropriate,” said a statement from the network. “As is always the case, we encourage employees who feel they have experienced or observed behavior inconsistent with our policies to report their concerns so that we may address them accordingly.”

FOX News is doubling down on Mark Levin. Starting September 16, Levin’s “Life, Liberty & Levin” will air on Saturdays at 8p in addition to its regular Sunday 8p timeslot. Additional weekend programming changes will be announced at a later date.

Jen Psaki, host of MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki,” has been handed the Mondays-at-8p timeslot currently filled by rotating hosts in addition to her Sunday show. Psaki starts the weekday job on September 25. Chris Hayes will continue on “All In with Chris Hayes” Tuesdays-Fridays.

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

As the writers’ strike continues, Warner Bros. Television is suspending its remaining overall deals, including with top talent like Greg Berlanti Productions and Kaling International. Studios have already suspended numerous deals with other creators.

Sean Perry’s 2500 Media has signed an unscripted deal with Pilgrim Media and a first-look scripted deal with Lionsgate Television. “When I looked around at ways to super charge my new company 2500 Media and deliver high quality production at a reasonable cost, it was clear that locking arms with Lionsgate and Pilgrim was the best and fastest way to accomplish our goals,” said Perry. “When you see what Kevin Beggs, Sandra Stern and their team have accomplished across Lionsgate Television and my good friend Craig Piligian has built with Pilgrim, it was a no brainer to dive in fully with them.”

Apple TV+ ordered German dark comedy “Where’s Wanda?”, produced by UFA Fiction. The series follow a couple who take matters into their own hands when police can’t find their missing daughter. It’s the streamer’s first German project.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

“Lawmen: Bass Reeves” makes its debut on Paramount+ with two episodes on Sunday, November 5. The anthology series stars executive producer David Oyelowo, Lauren E. Banks, Demi Singleton, Forrest Goodluck, Barry Pepper, Donald Sutherland, and Dennis Quaid.

“Goosebumps,” inspired by the R.L. Stine bestsellers, will launch with a five-episode drop as part of Disney+’s “Hallowstream” and Hulu’s “Huluween” celebrations, with subsequent new episodes streaming weekly. The series’ first two episodes will also air on Freeform on October 13, as part of the net’s “31 Nights of Halloween” stunt.

Maximum Effort Channel original “The Syd + TP Show,” an unscripted comedy starring WNBA’s Sydney “Syd” Colson and Theresa “TP” Plaisance, is set to premiere Monday, September 18 at 9p. Maximum Effort Channel is partnership between Fubo and Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort.

Warner Bros. Unscripted Television has collaborated with iHeartPodcasts for “Six Degrees with Kevin Bacon.” In celebration of International Day of Charity, the podcast will encourage listeners to make a difference in the world.

“Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson” returns for season nine on Sunday, September 10. The weekly 30-minute program airs on Sinclair television stations nationwide on Sunday mornings.

FOX Nation will debut “The Killer Interview with Piers Morgan” on Tuesday, September 12. The eight-episode series spotlights contested murder cases while giving the convicted killers a chance to plead their innocence. Episode one, focused on Karl Karlsen, will also air on FOX News Channel, on Sunday, September 17 at 10p.

“Opening Statements with Julie Grant” premieres Monday, September 11, airing weekdays from 8a-9a on Court TV. The legal analysis and reporting show will lead into the network’s “Court TV LIVE” trial coverage.

TVMonaco, concurrent with its launch this month, has begun supplying TV5Monde with original content, starting with news programs on TV5Monde USA. “L’actu” airs weekdays at 2:30p, and “Best of la Matinale” airs weekends at 6:30a.

COMING UP

“The Warrant: Breaker’s Law” premieres Sunday, October 1 at 8p on INSP. The film, a sequel to “The Warrant,” stars Dermot Mulroney (“My Best Friend’s Wedding”), Bruce Boxleitner (“The Gambler”) and Amy Hargreaves (“Homeland”).

HBO Original comedy special “Sam Jay: Salute me or Shoot Met” debuts Saturday, September 23 at 10p. “Sam is an incredible talent who achieves that delicate balance between being brutally honest and insanely funny,” said Nina Rosenstein, EVP Late Night & Specials Programming. “She’s a daring performer and a gifted writer who evokes such a natural effortlessness onstage that it feels like you’re having a conversation with a close (and really funny) friend.”

“The 36th Hispanic Heritage Awards” air Friday, September 29 at 9p. The celebration is part of PBS’s Hispanic Heritage Month slate.

“Animals Up Close with Bertie Gregory” captures humpback whales interrupting a rare killer whale hunting a seal off the coast of Antarctica. The show starts streaming Wednesday, September 13 on Disney+.

Peacock is holding a pop-up experience for “The Continental: From The World of John Wick,” a prequel series exploring the origins behind the hotel-for-assassins in the John Wick universe in 1970’s Manhattan. Attendees of The Continental: From The World of John Wick, at 82 Beaver Street in NYC’s Financial District, will be treated to an evening of decadent cocktails and interactive storylines with in-world characters and photo ops, with “a killer twist.” The experience opens to the public on September 21.

TECH TALK

Amazon Web Services is launching an AWS for Media & Entertainment solution area focused on monetization. Through a combination of purpose-built AWS services and Partner offerings, AWS monetization solutions for M&E aims to enable customers to simplify their advertising, licensing, subscription and marketing technology strategies, increase revenue across viewing platforms, and build deeper, more personalized relationships with audiences.

Synamedia unveiled updates to its Synamedia Iris advertising platform. With the addition of programmatic support to its direct sold capability, customers will have access to a single, unified ad platform that reaches consumers on any screen. A partnership with the supply side platform Index Exchange connects Synamedia Iris customers with global advertisers.

STREAMING

David Zaslav is ready to bundle up. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs conference, the Warner Bros. Discovery CEO acknowledged the need for the industry to create a better consumer experience and said WBD has had discussions with other companies about creating more value for consumers. “Some of this disruption… may activate a quicker transition to things, like some of us in the content business bundling together,” he said.

Paramount CEO Bob Bakish was also at the Goldman Sachs conference, where he said the recent price increase for Paramount+ With Showtime is not a one-off. “This isn’t our only price increase. Whether we do that in ’25, or we do that in ’24, we’ll see,” said Bakish. “Early days, as we evaluate the cost impact of the price increase, but we believe there’s a lot of room to run there.”

SPORTS ROUNDUP

NFL analyst Mina Kimes signed a new deal that keeps her at ESPN. Kimes also has deals with Meadowlark Media and with Omaha Productions, founded by Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, which will house her podcast.

CNBC’s “Game Plan” premieres Saturday, September 9 at 3p. The special features content from discussions from the July 25 “Game Plan Summit” event that featured executives and professional athletes and discussions about investment opportunities in sports, the future of sports leadership, the business of live sports and the intersection of sports and entertainment.

The National Football League, the National Football League Players Association and StatusPRO, a sports technology and gaming company, announced NFL PRO ERA II, the successor to NFL PRO ERA, the first-ever NFL and NFLPA-licensed virtual reality simulation game. This latest release includes new features including additional multiplayer gameplay so players can interact and compete across the world. NFL PRO ERA II launches September 21.

The Portuguese Football Federation (Federação Portuguesa de Futebol, FPF) is using Pixellot to execute the federation’s long-term digital transformation plan. Pixellot will provide an end-to-end solution for production, live streaming and analysis across five leagues and at their National Training Center. The partnership kicks off with Pixellot deployment to cover 1,000+ matches per season.

GLOBAL

101 Films International confirmed sales for action spy-thriller “Dark Asset.” The film has been picked up by Saban Films for North America, ANZ and Benelux, for theatrical and digital release on September 22. Further sales have been secured with Meteor Film, Germany;101 Films , UK; M-Net (MultiChoice Group), South Africa; Daro, Eastern Europe/CIS; and MultiVisionnaire in Taiwan.

French animation production and distribution company Dandelooo has secured an SVOD deal for “The Treehouse Stories” (La Cabane à Histoires) with streaming service France Channel.

NHK World Premium has chosen the Toronto-based live television app toober to distribute its Japanese-language news, sports, and entertainment programming to viewers outside Japan. toober, the live TV app designed to connect viewers to specialty television from around the world, will bring NHK’s NWP content to audiences in 13 countries beginning in October.

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EXECUTIVE MOVES

Critical Content appointed Katie Hash as SVP of Development, promoted Matthew Pickel to SVP of Development and Current and named Ryan Lash as Director of Development.

Keshet International has appointed sales executive Adi Brukner to the position of Sales Manager (Asia, Africa, and SE Europe) and international sales and co-production executive Elena Antonini to the role of VP of Sales (Iberia and Latam).

Datonics has appointed Rob Finora to the newly created position of Chief Revenue Officer. Finora was most recently Chief Revenue Officer at ShareThis.

Jacqueline Baranov has been named VP of Consulting for Advertiser Perceptions. Baranov joins from MediaRadar.

This Day in History
1974 – President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon.

Friday Fact
Nomophobia is the fear of not having a mobile phone.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What year was the first televised tennis match? Wimbledon was televised in 1937. Kudos to: Larry Hutchings/Pismo Beach, CA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank

Today’s Trivia Question
Which Super Bowl game was simulcast on two broadcast networks? (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