Today’s Premieres
Apple TV+: Still Up
Netflix: Song of the Bandits
Peacock: The Continental: From the World of John Wick
Showtime: Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court at 8p

Today’s Finale
A&E: Witness to Murder: Digital Evidence at 10p

Saturday’s Premieres
Disney: Big City Greens at 8p
HGTV: What’s Wrong with That House? at 10a

Sunday’s Premieres
Cooking Channel: Yum and Yummer at 9:30p
Food Network: Outrageous Pumpkins at 10p
Fox: Krapopolis at 8p

IN THE NEWS

Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as chairman of the board of Fox Corporation and News Corp. His son, Lachlan Murdoch, will become the chair of News Corp. and continue as executive chair and CEO of Fox Corporation. “On behalf of the FOX and News Corp boards of directors, leadership teams, and all the shareholders who have benefited from his hard work, I congratulate my father on his remarkable 70-year career,” said Lachlan Murdoch. “We thank him for his vision, his pioneering spirit, his steadfast determination, and the enduring legacy he leaves to the companies he founded and countless people he has impacted.”

Not that the 92-year-old media mogul expects to go quietly. “In my new role, I can guarantee you that I will be involved every day in the contest of ideas,” he wrote in a letter to employees. “Our companies are communities, and I will be an active member of our community. I will be watching our broadcasts with a critical eye, reading our newspapers and websites and books with much interest, and reaching out to you with thoughts, ideas, and advice.” Murdoch’s move is effective as of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of each company in mid-November, after which he will serve as Chairman Emeritus of each company.

ESPN (74%), ESPN 2 (67%) and Disney Channel (66%) were the top ranked basic networks on being a “must have” cable network among viewers in the 2023 Beta Basic Network Evaluation Study. Very close behind were Discovery Channel, ID and Nickelodeon (all with 65%), and Nat Geo, History, Weather Channel and Food Network (with 64% each).

Scripps News has hired Catie Beck as a national investigative correspondent. Beck previously worked as a national correspondent for NBC News.

STRIKE UPDATES

Bargaining talks between WGA negotiators and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, along with WBD CEO David Zaslav, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and NBCUniversal studio chairman Donna Langley, went well enough on Wednesday to lead to another meeting on Thursday. The WGA went on strike on May 2.

ABC is making plans to postpone season 32 “Dancing With the Stars,” as contestants face pressure from striking unions. WGA picketers at “DWTS” rehearsals prompted Matt Walsh (“Veep”) to bow out of the competition until an agreement is reached. While the show’s performers were cleared to work on the “DWTS” by SAG-AFTRA rules, the show employs one WGA writer, who reportedly would not have worked during the strike. The season was set to premiere on September 28 on ABC and Disney+.

Seth MacFarlane donated $5 million to The Entertainment Community Fund, on top of the $1 million he had already donated to the group assisting workers affected by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The donation kicks of a $10 million initiative. “We’ll need at least $10 million to continue helping people in the coming weeks,” said Annette Bening, the Fund’s Chair of the Board. “Seth’s gift is an incredible contribution to help us be able to do that, and we hope others join in as well.”

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

The CW dived into true crime with an order for “Crime Nation,” a ten-part true crime series from former ABC News President James Goldston. Produced by Candle True Stories, the production arm of Candle Media set up by Goldston, the series will follow ripped-from-the-headlines stories.

NBC is extending its “America’s Got Talent” franchise with “AGT: Fantasy League,” premiering in 2024. Similar to a fantasy sports draft, judges will each choose a roster of their favorite acts from “Got Talent” franchises around the world, pre-selected by America in an initial vote. Mel B returns to the “AGT” judges’ desk alongside executive producer Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel. Terry Crews will be back as host.

HBO announced the start of production on its new original series, “Como Agua Para Chocolate,” based on Laura Esquivel’s 1989 novel and adapted into one of the most successful Latin American films in the world. The production will be filmed in Mexico under the direction of fiction series directors Julian de Tavira and Ana Lorena Perez Rios.

33 & West has expanded its comedy roster with the additions of comedians Masood Boomgaard, Tyler Fischer and Jimmy Dore.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Music reality series “Serenata de las Estrellas” starts streaming Friday, October 13 on The Roku Channel. In the first episode, a dedicated church janitor receives a surprise performance by “La Bamba” band Los Lobos.

The premiere date for Paramount+ Australia spinoff “NCIS: Sydney” has moved from Monday, November 13 at 10p to Tuesday, November 14 at 8p on CBS. The shift comes after ABC added simulcast “Monday Night Football” to its fall slate.

Season two of Disney+’s “The Santa Clauses” will debut with a two-episode premiere on Wednesday, November 8, followed by new episodes weekly. In the series’ sophomore season, the Calvin family is back at the North Pole, as Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) continues his role as Santa Claus after his retirement plans were thwarted when he failed to find a worthy successor.

Also coming back for a second season is Peacock reality show “The Traitors.” Alan Cummings will return as host, with a cast of reality stars from shows like “Big Brother,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” “Love Island USA” and more.

Season two of PBS’ “Next at the Kennedy Center” launches Friday, October 13 at 9p with “Robert Glasper’s Black Radio.” The one-hour specials will spotlight contemporary and diverse artists and their contributions across art forms, genres and backgrounds.

“Doom Patrol” continues its fourth and final season with two new episodes Thursday, October 12 on Max. One new episode will follow weekly through November 9.

COMING UP

“The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney’s 100th Anniversary Celebration!” will feature Kelly Ripa and sneak peeks of upcoming Disney projects. The special will also include the world broadcast premieres of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ new animated short film, “Once Upon a Studio,” and “Encanto,” on Sunday, October 15 at 8p.

NewsNation special “The Chosen Phenomenon” is set to debut Sunday, September 24 at 9p. The hour-long program will look at how “The Chosen,” which airs on Nexstar sib The CW and documents the life of Jesus Christ, became a surprise hit.

FOX Business Network and FOX News Channel will offer live special live programming surrounding its Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday, September 27, including a special edition of “Hannity” at 11p.

Rewind TV’s “Oktoberfirst with Drew Carey” marathon kicks off Sunday, October 1 at 6a, offering a day of “The Drew Carey Show” episodes.

Documentary film “The Ringleader: The Case of the Bling Ring,” directed by filmmaker Erin Lee Carr (“I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth V. Michelle Carter”) debuts Sunday, October 1 at 9p HBO. The film tells the story of a group of teens who broke into Hollywood homes.

TECH TALK

Members of the Authors Guild are suing OpenAI, alleging “flagrant and harmful infringements of plaintiffs’ registered copyrights” and “systematic theft on a mass scale.” John Grisham, George R.R. Martin and Jonathan Franzen are among 17 complainants. “It is imperative that we stop this theft in its tracks or we will destroy our incredible literary culture, which feeds many other creative industries in the US,” Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger said in a statement. “Great books are generally written by those who spend their careers and, indeed, their lives, learning and perfecting their crafts. To preserve our literature, authors must have the ability to control if and how their works are used by generative AI.”

Meanwhile, companies like YouTube are leaning into AI. At its Made on YouTube event, the company introduced tools like GAI-image generator for backgrounds Dream Screen, which offers AI solutions for the Shorts platform. So, what about the dangers of AI? “There might be challenges around technology like this,” acknowledged YouTube CEO Neal Mohan during a Q&A. “Our rules of the road apply, our enforcement rules apply. All of the technology we’ve been investing in for many years to make sure we live up to our responsibility as a global platform will apply here.”

Microsoft is adding “your everyday AI companion” Copilot to it advertising platform. Intended as a real-time intelligence assistant to help reach advertising goals, Copilot will work as an app or reveal itself when needed with a right click. “We will continue to add capabilities and connections to Copilot across to our most-used applications over time in service of our vision to have one experience that works across your whole life,” said the company in a blog post.

The second quarter of 2023 was the second highest in volume in the history of OOH, based on figures released by the Out of Home Advertising Association of America. Digital OOH, which accounted for over 33% of sales, increased 12.9% from a year ago. Five of the top 10 product industries increased in volume, led by Public Transportation, Hotels & Resorts (+35.3); Local Services & Amusements (+6.0%), Schools, Camps, & Seminars (+3.3%), and Government, Politics and Organizations (+0.8%), continuing the same trend seen in 1Q23 for heightened consumer demand for real-life experiences.

Synacor announced Cloud ID Passkey Connect, a managed service that helps streaming content companies and service providers deploy secure, passwordless authentication for online content. The service can immediately be integrated into existing authentication solutions. “For years, efforts have focused on trying to make password-based access easier when really the only way to make the problem go away is to get rid of passwords themselves,” said Jeff Bak, SVP of Product at Synac Cloud ID. “Passkey Connect eliminates fallout from lost, forgotten, stolen and shared passwords and the burden to create, manage and remember an ever-expanding portfolio of passwords so consumers can finally enjoy streaming content anytime, anywhere with zero effort.”

STREAMING

CTV content has a +13% higher attention index and a +74% higher co-viewing incidence than linear television content, according to a survey from LG Ad Solutions in partnership with TVision. Eighty-eight percent of respondents co-view streaming television, and they report being more likely to pay attention to both content and ads when doing so: 67% of respondents pay the same or more attention to programming when co-viewing while 54% pay the same or more attention to the advertising content. The study also found an inverse relationship between attention and ad duration – attention is at its highest on the first exposure to a CTV ad, but gradually declines as exposure frequency increases. “This data indicates that on average, streaming TV viewers are more likely to be watching with other people than linear TV viewers,” said Tony Marlow, Chief Marketing Officer, LG Ad Solutions. “Interestingly, this research also indicates that people tend to pay more attention to the screen when co-viewing. This could mean that streaming may be a much more shared experience than previously realized and that this helps drive a higher level of attention for content and ads.”

Local Now is expanding its partnership with NBCUniversal, adding 11 NBC local news FAST channel, as well as six regional and national Telemundo FAST channels, and two NBC entertainment FAST channels – American Crimes and NBC LX Home.

FilmRise is expanding its content offerings on Samsung TV Plus to include additional FAST/AVOD channels in the US and Canada. The deal includes over 600 hours of new programming, including 19 TV series and over 120 films. Some of the new properties include reality series “Cheaters”; Lorne Michaels’ digital creator comedy sketches series “Above Average”; and “Women Behind Bars,” an in-depth look at the life of women incarcerated in an American jail.

London-based Sandbox Group is expanding its adult gaming portfolio with a new subscription app. FOCUS is targets the 40+ segment, with games designed to help stimulate five core cognitive areas and improves attention, reasoning, coordination, memory and visuospatial skills.

SPORTS ROUNDUP

Tinder is the top Music & Entertainment sponsor, according to SponsorUnited’s Technology Marketing Partnerships Report 2023. The dating app is followed by Spotify, Amazon Music Unlimited, TikTok, and Bumble. For the Sports category, EA Sports is the most active technology brand with the most sponsorships, thanks to its officially licensed sports games such as the Madden NFL series. Socios.com is second, followed by Extreme Networks, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). In other findings, sport leagues account for nearly $300 million in spend. The NBA led leagues in tech partnerships, which accounted for 7.4% of its total team sponsorship revenue, followed by the NFL with 6.1%, MLB with 4.4%, and the NHL with 3%.

TNT signed NHL studio team Wayne Gretsky, Paul Billonnette, Anson Carter and Henrik Lundqvist to multi-year contract extensions, and added NHL goalie Brian Boucher as an analyst. TNT’s first games its 62-game schedule air October 11.

NBC Sports Next is introducing its newest GolfPass instruction series. “The Next Shot,” hosted by GolfPass coach Nathalie Sheehan, will teach creative drills and highlight key teaching elements.

As Primer Impacto gears up to celebrate its 30th anniversary on February 14, anchors Pamela Silva and Michelle Galván will mark the milestone by throwing the first pitch at the baseball game between the Miami Marlins and the Milwaukee Brewers on September 24, hosted at the Miami Marlins LoanDepot Park. In addition, Univision will host a meet and greet Primer Impacto anchors and Alejandro Berry, Borja Voces, Jomari Goyso, Ricardo Arambarri, Roger Borges,Tony Dandrades, Vicky Van, among other network personalities.

ONE Championship struck an agreement with DirecTV for Business to carry monthly Friday night primetime martial arts events commercially in bars and restaurants across the US. DirecTV for Business will provide live ONE Fight Night events to both national chains and independently owned establishments.

Registration is now open for the fourth annual EA Sports Madden NFL 24 x HBCU Tournament, an event designed for students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities that have a passion for gaming and football. The tournament aims to maintain the tradition of providing students at HBCUs a chance to compete and to explore the business of sports through practical learning and job shadowing experiences.

GOING GLOBAL

WildBrain is launching new original kids’ series “Jonny Jetboys,” from Keith Chapman (“PAW Patrol”), at MIPJunior and MIPCOM 2023. WildBrain’s slate for the market will also include two additional new originals: the CG-animated preschool show “Caillou” and the new version of comedy series “Johnny Test.”

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This Day in History
1862 – Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, threatening to free all enslaved people in the rebel southern states if those states failed to re-join the Union.

Friday Fact
In all but 11 of his 142 films, John Wayne played the leading part.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
What nickname does Maeve’s mother call her in “Sex Education” (2019-)? Froggy or Frogface. Kudos to: Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista, CA

Today’s Trivia Question
On “Sesame Street” (1969-), Who is Abby Cadabby’s mother? (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