A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM HALLMARK CHANNEL

Hallmark Channel Reigns as THE Holiday Leader
#1 Most Watched Network
for the Week with W25-54
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Plus, #1 Across ALL Key Demos
HHs, A25-54, W18-49, P2+, P18+ & W18+

Holiday Programming that Wins!
Often Imitated, Never Duplicated
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Today’s Premieres
Disney+: Donna Hay Christmas
Fuse: Upcycle Nation at 10p
Kanal D: Romance a la Vuelta
Netflix: Killer Sally; The Final Score

Today’s Finale
Food Network: Guy’s Ultimate Game Night at 9p

IN THE NEWS

Nextstar laid off 30-40 employees at The CW on Tuesday, part of an overhaul in the wake of Nextstar’s majority acquisition of the network. Other changes since the deal closed October 3 was the exit of CEO Mark Pedowitz, and the cancellation of scripted series including “DC’s Stargirl” and “Nancy Drew.”

Verified Twitter users are going to have to pay up for their blue checkmarks – but apparently not as much as they might have. “Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bull***t. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” posted Musk on Tuesday. This came following outrage over reports that Twitter was going to charge verified users $20/month. (“If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron!” posted author Stephen King.) Musk said features that will roll out with the new plan include fewer ads, priority in replies, mentions and search, and the ability to post longer videos than the current limit.

Only 8% of pay-TV subscribers would definitely cancel service if their favorite live sport moved exclusively to streaming, according to research from Aluma. Among pay-TV subscribers that selected professional football as their favorite TV sport, 11% said they would cancel service if a full season of games moved exclusively to a streaming service. This compares with 8% of those who favor watching professional baseball and 7% of those who favor watching professional basketball. Which isn’t to say MVPDs should drop live sports. “That’s missing the point altogether,” said Michael Greeson, Founder and Director of Research at Aluma. “The data only indicates that the role of live sports in reducing churn may not be as strong as we’ve long believed. That said, there is a point at which the exorbitant fees MVPDs pay to license sports are no longer worth the cost.”

Fox Corp. beat analysts’ expectations in its first fiscal first quarter, reporting adjusted net income of $1.21 per share, versus Wall Street’s forecast of $1.12. The cable network programming division reported revenue of $1.43 billion, up 1%. In the television division, which includes stations and the flagship broadcast network, ad revenue rose 11%. “These results demonstrate the continued strength of our established businesses along with the momentum across our digital portfolio,” said CEO Lachlan Murdoch. “It is a strong start to what promises to be a notable fiscal year of prominent scheduled events across the company underscoring the importance of our live and event programming to viewers.”

As far as discussions about a possible merger between Fox Corp. and News Corp., Murdoch didn’t get into the subject during an earnings call, but spoke more broadly about the importance of scale. “We continue to look at M&A and be very disciplined,” he said. “But we do look at the importance of scale, particularly over the next couple of years when opportunities will emerge.”

“Dangerous Liaisons” is headed for a sophomore run at Starz, ahead of its season one premiere on November 6. “‘Dangerous Liaisons’ is addictive, provocative and beautifully rendered,” said Kathryn Busby, President, Original Programming at STARZ. “This prelude to the famed 18th century novel illuminates pre-revolution Paris at its most decadent. We are confident that by the end of season one viewers will be craving more scheming and seduction.”

NATAS announced the nominations for the first annual Children’s & Family Emmy Awards, which will be presented on Saturday, December 10 (Creative Arts) and Sunday, December 11 in LA. The Children’s & Family awards are the first standalone expansion of the Emmy Award competition since 1979.

Don’t forget to give Santa the QR code: Disney+ is testing a new way to strengthen its engagement with subscribers – give them first dibs on merch on shopDisney. For a limited time, Disney+ subscribers can scan QR codes to purchase items before the general public. “Special access to this curated collection of merchandise for the upcoming holiday season is the latest example of the many ways we experiment with how to improve the user experience on Disney+, which includes enhancing the benefits of being a subscriber,” said Alisa Bowen, President of Disney+.

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PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Netflix is diving deeper into natural history content, with orders for six series in the genre. “Our Universe” (premiering November 22) and “Life on Our Planet” will be narrated by Morgan Freeman, and David Attenborough’s “Our Planet” has been renewed for a second season, alongside orders for “Our Oceans,” “Our Living World” and “Our Water World.”

ABC has greenlit unscripted comedy series “The Prank Panel,” with Johnny Knoxville (“Jackass”), Eric André (“The Eric André Show”) and Gabourey Sidibe (“Precious”) serving as mentors and saboteurs for pranksters. The show is produced by Kimmelot and ITV America; executive producers include Matt Silverstein and Dave Jeser; Jimmy Kimmel and Scott Lonker for Kimmelot; Knoxville and André; and Jordana Hochman, Bernie Schaeffer, and Vin Rubino for ITV America.

Skiing champ Lindsey Vonn has inked a first look deal with CBS Studios through her Apres Productions. Vonn and partner Claire Abbe will develop content across platforms.

Channel 4 has commissioned Angel Eye Media to produce a six-hour series taking a look behind the scenes of the UAE’s oldest real estate brokerage. “Made in Dubai” (wt) follows the bosses and staff at Better Homes, as they use their charm and business savvy to sell opulent abodes.

Station 6 Productions has struck a co-production partnership with the recently formed Timestamp Media, a production company focused on premium factual. Under the deal, Station 6 and Timestamp will develop and produce a slate of originals that leverages their expertise in the history space.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Prime Video’s “Three Pines” premieres December 2 with two episodes. The drama, adapted from Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series, stars Alfred Molina (“Spider-Man: No Way Home”).

Season two of “Your Honor” starts streaming Friday, January 13, with a linear launch January 15 at 9p on Showtime. The first season ranks as Showtime’s top debut season ever.

Paramount+’s “Mayor of Kingstown” is back for season two on Sunday, January 15. The drama follows a family of power brokers in Michigan, where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry.

COMING UP

In HGTV’s “Flip or Flop: The Final Flip,” exes Tarek El Moussa and Christina Hall will take on one last project. Simultaneously, they’ll look back at the important house flipping lessons learned, the craziest issues encountered and the SoCal renovations completed together over 10 seasons of “Flip or Flop.” The special airs Thursday, December 1 at 8p.

Stormzy, GAYLE, OneRepublic, Kalush Orchestra, SPINALL, Äyanna and Nasty C have been added to the performance lineup for the “MTV EMAs” 2022. The show will broadcast live from the PSD Bank Dome in Düsseldorf, Germany on Sunday, November 13.

SPORTS

Hockey Fights Cancer, a joint initiative of the NHL and the National Hockey League Players’ Association, is underway. The month-long initiative will feature Club activations, special events, observances, and stories from people around the hockey community. To date, donations have provided the equivalent of more than 500,000 nights in lodges, transportation equaling more than 600,000 rides, and funding to support a 24/7 helpline for patients and caregivers.

Strat-O-Matic and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum announced the planned February 2023 release of digital collectibles in the form of NFTs honoring several Hall of Fame Negro Leagues players, in partnership with Fanaply, the eco-conscious NFT solution provider. Each NFT will feature a short audio commentary on a player’s legacy, contribution to baseball and their lasting impact.

Former NFL and college football head coach Herm Edwards is rejoining ESPN as a football analyst. Edwards spent nearly a decade at ESPN from 2009-17. In his new role, Edwards will contribute to ESPN’s NFL and college football coverage across a variety of shows and platforms.

TECH TALK

YouTube is rolling out Primetime Channels, a third-party hub for streaming subscriptions that enables users to sign up, browse and watch TV shows, movies and sports from Showtime, AMC+, Paramount+, ViX+ and more than 30 other services, directly on YouTube. “This new feature gives us the opportunity to expand our presence on YouTube, broadening our reach and giving consumers even more choice when it comes to streaming the best in entertainment,” said Jeff Shultz, Paramount Streaming’s Chief Strategy Officer and Business Development Officer.

“Squid Game” is on track to bring in more than $2 billion to Netflix through 2027, according to Parrot Analytics’ new Content Valuation measurement system. “Content Valuation will help global entertainment leaders help sort through the uncertainty facing the industry — determining whether or not to acquire or produce a title, where it should be released and whether to go theatrical or not, the overall value contribution of a title to an existing library, the value of an entire library, determining projected value across multiple seasons for a TV show or the value of a film to a streamer five years after the fact, just to name a few,” said Parrot Analytics CEO Wared Seger.

Digital intelligence company Similarweb announced a new collaboration with data and analytics platform EDO to produce a scaled solution for CTV measurement. EDO will receive internet activity data from Similarweb hourly and match and measure lift in digital behaviors with the over half a billion impressions per day EDO observes across all of linear and streaming TV. “Convergent TV measurement continues to be a core focus of conversation across our client base, especially as the streaming industry continues to rapidly expand,” said Sam Bloom, CEO at Camelot Strategic Marketing & Media. “Our clients – who are modern marketers at mid-sized companies to giant corporations – like Experian, TurboTax and Michael’s, have long asked for more granular insights into their streaming ad performance. EDO and Similarweb’s new solution will help us achieve this goal while driving greater performance from streaming investments.”

STREAMING

Haystack News has launched its 2022 Midterms Elections channel, with coverage of races at the local and national levels. The channel features stories from newsrooms in all of the most closely watched states this year including Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia and more. The channel will also feature live coverage on Election Night.

Hearst Television’s free streaming service, Very Local, is now available on VIZIO. “The addition of the VIZIO platform marks a major step in the growth of our distribution for Very Local’s programming,” said Andrew Fitzgerald, SVP, Streaming Video Services, at Hearst Television.

Ahead of the debut of The Roku Channel’s “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” on November 4, Roku has kicked off its first 360 activation with partner T-Mobile. The campaign includes both on and off platform activations such as tagged tune in reminders, premium video positioning within the movie, tagged vignettes with Al Yankovic, and positioning with the launch of the Music Hub within The Roku Channel.

TelevisaUnivision and New ProdCo Marciano Media Group have partnered to bring the upper-preschool animated series “Reggaetoons” to ViX. “We’re doubling down on our commitment to offering in-language, in-culture entertaining content for kids of all ages and the whole family,” said Bilai Joa Silar, SVP of OTT Content at TelevisaUnivision.

GOING GLOBAL

Prime Video members in Australia can now access BritBox via an add-on subscription. “This launch builds on our existing and successful North American partnership with Prime Video, and we are excited to be expanding our collaboration into Australia,” said Reemah Sakaan, CEO BritBox International.

A+E Networks CEE has premiered “The Mystery Of Dacian Gold,” the first local commission on History Channel in Romania, following the company’s strategy to bring more premium local content to the region. The hybrid docu-reality program features recreations, and magical stories.

ComediHa! Distribution announced WildBrain as the exclusive international distributor of “LOL ComediHa!” for FAST and AVOD platforms. WildBrain will hold exclusive distribution rights worldwide (excluding YouTube, Canada and Italy).

Banijay Asia is partnering with Keshet to option scripted formats in the latter’s content library, with the ambition of adapting them for Indian viewers.

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RATINGS

The second game of the World Series drew 10.993 million viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox Sports, ranking as the most-watched telecast of the day. On Fox, the broadcast averaged 10.789 million viewers, up 3% over last year and up 17% over 2020.

CBS Sports scored the most-watched NFL On CBS singleheader of the season, with Sunday’s coverage averaging 16.126 million viewers, up +12% versus last year’s comparable singleheader. Additionally, Paramount+ recorded year-over-year double-digit growth in households, minutes and Average Minute Audience.

The top three courtroom strips saw syndication’s strongest gains in the week ending October 23, despite competition from MLB playoff games. “Judge Judy” (4.1 Live+SD national Nielsen) was up 8% from the week before, while “Hot Bench” had a new season high of 1.3, up 8%. “People’s Court” rose 14%, to 0.8.

Across its 14 Nielsen-rated markets, Spectrum News recorded month-over-month viewership growth of 6% in October, averaging over 2.2 million daily viewing households across its linear and digital platforms.

For the month of October in total day, Fox News delivered 1.5 million viewers, 206,000 among A25-54 demo and 124,000 among A18-49 demo. In primetime, FNC netted 2.3 million viewers, 295,000 in the 25-54 demo and 180,000 in A18-49. The network secured the top 13 programs in cable news with viewers and the top 15 cable news programs in the 25-54 demo.

Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas is the gift that keeps on giving. With three new holiday movies this past weekend, Hallmark Channel was the most-watched entertainment cable network of the week among Households, W18+, W25-54 and Total Viewers.

Nielsen Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of October 17 ranked in order by HH Rtg
Jeopardy! (CMV) 5.2 AA
Family Feud (CMV) 4.8 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CMV) 4.8 AA
Judge Judy (CMV) 4.1 AA
Inside Edition (CMV) 2.2 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CMV) 2.0 AA
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 1.9 AA
Live With Kelly and Ryan (DAD) 1.6 AA
Dr. Phil (CMV) 1.4 AA
Hot Bench (AT) 1.3 AA

Broadcast Nielsen Ratings for Monday, October 31
Show, P2+ 000s, (A18-49)
ABC: Bachelor in Paradise 2.31 (0.5), The Good Doctor 3.31 (0.3)
CBS: The Neighborhood 3.80 (0.3), Bob Hearts Abishola 3.23 (0.2), NCIS 3.81 (0.2), NCIS: Hawai’i 3.22 (0.2)
CW: World’s Funniest Animals 0.65 (0.0), 13 Scariest Movies 0.44 (0.1)
FOX: 9-1-1 1.85 (0.3), The Cleaning Lady 1.05 (0.2)
NBC: The Voice 6.26 (0.6), Quantum Leap 2.33 (0.3)
Telemundo: Exatlon Estados Unidos 0.84 (0.2), La Reina del Sur 0.85 (0.3), El Fuego del Destino 0.67 (0.2)
Univision: Vencer la Ausencia 1.17 (0.3), Ricos Tambien Lloran 1.57 (0.5), La Madrastra 1.21 (0.4)
Source: Nielsen live + same day time period averages

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Nexstar has appointed Beth Feldman, partner in Beyond PR Group, as SVP of network communications at The CW. Feldman replaces Paul Hewitt.

The CW has also named Rebekah Dopp as EVP of Distribution, Strategy and Affiliate Relations. Dopp was previously Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Brand and Reputation at Google.

Rick Cordella has been named President, Programming for NBC Sports and Peacock Sports. Cordella rejoins NBC Sports after three years on Peacock’s executive leadership team.

This Day in History
1936 – The BBC began the first regular high-definition TV broadcast service.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
The lead actress in which 1960s sitcom won Emmy Awards for each of the two years of her show’s run on two different networks? Hope Lange won for “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” (1968-70). Kudos to: Andrew Goldman-Grooveee/NYC; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Garber-Loyola Marymount University/Playa Vista, CA

Today’s Trivia Question
Which drama focused on a doctor who is visited by his late ex-wife? (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