Monday November 28, 2022

Today’s Finale
TNT: Million Dollar Wheels at 10p

IN THE NEWS

Rupert Murdoch’s plan to combine News Corp and Fox faces concerns from News Corp’s largest shareholder after the Murdoch family. T. Rowe Price, which owns about 12 percent of News Corp, told The New York Times that a merger of the two companies would probably undervalue News Corp, and that because the Murdoch family owns a bigger share of Fox than News Corp, the family’s interests may lie more with Fox. Vincent DeAugestino, a portfolio manager overseeing T. Rowe’s investment in News Corp, said in addition to the valuation of News Corp, T. Rowe has concerns about the decline of the traditional TV business, and the potential consequences of lawsuits against Fox News by voting machine companies suing for damages exceeding 1$ billion. Also expressing opposition to the News Corp/Fox deal are Independent Franchise Partners and Irenic Capital.

Fox and NBCU networks raked in a collective $9 million in national TV advertising for the first two days of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, according to iSpot.tv estimates. The total for the same period in 2018 was $6 million. Fox networks drew $4.5 million in national TV advertising for English-language airings, while NBCUniversal TV networks/platforms collected $4.3 million for Spanish-language coverage.

Ratings-wise, Friday’s US versus England match drew 15.4 million viewers for Fox, and another 4.6 million for Telemundo Deportes Spanish-language platforms. That made it the second most-watched World Cup Group Stage Match featuring a US team in Spanish-language history, up 33% from the match against Wales.

In US football news, a ratings record was set for Fox Sports’ airing of the Thanksgiving Day game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants, which counted 42 million viewers on linear and streaming. NBC Sports also claimed bragging rights, with its New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings match-up averaging 26 million viewers in preliminary numbers across platforms, making it the second-most-watched primetime Thanksgiving Day game ever.

The premiere episode of new ABC drama “Alaska Daily” has jumped from a 0.32 Live+SD rating among A18-49 to a 3.02 in 35 days of multiplatform viewing, up 844%. In total viewers, the episode rose from 8.7 million to 12.3 million.

Forty-nine percent of consumers think advertisers are right to halt spending on Twitter in the wake of Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform, according to a survey by Pollfish. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they did not believe advertisers should discontinue their ad spend, and 24% said they weren’t sure.

Amazon has ordered a limited series based on the FTX crypto scandal. David Weil (“Hunters”) will write the pilot. Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Mike Larocca, Angela Russo-Otstot, and Scott Nemes are set to exec produce for AGBO, alongside Weil and Natalie Laine Williams.

Rehearsals for Paramount+’s revival of “Frasier” (1993-2004) begin in February, series star Kelsey Grammer told People – but they won’t include most of the show’s original cast as series regulars. That decision was made after David Hyde Pierce, who played Niles, decided not to participate. “In a very funny way, it just took us to a new place, which was what we originally wanted to do anyway, which was a ‘Frasier’ third act,” said Grammer. “It’s an entirely new life for him.”

A+E Networks UK has partnered with ZDF Studios on “U-Boat War Gamers” (wt), to premiere in the UK on Sky History in February 2023, and on The History Channel in Eastern Europe, Poland, Nordics, Middle East, South Africa, Italy and Germany next year. Produced by World Media Rights, “U-Boat War Gamers” tells the story of Gilbert Roberts, Jean Laidlaw and the Women’s Royal Navy Service (WRNS) – aka the ‘Wrens’ – as they use revolutionary war gaming tactics to defeat Admiral Karl Dönitz and his Wolf Pack fleets of U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II.

Marblemedia and Fae Pictures are in development on original, primetime political family drama series “Salt,” from creator Abdul Malik (“Transplant”). Marblemedia acquired the project earlier this year at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Series Accelerator program.

Australia’s White Spark Pictures is developing “The World’s Largest Telescopes: Beyond the Milky Way,” following the construction of the SKA telescopes, a project that has been billed as the world’s greatest-ever scientific endeavor.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Season two of Starz’ “BMF” kicks off Friday, January 6 at 8p. The season chronicles the unconventional journey to success of the Flenory brothers, who rose from the depths of poverty, navigating the war on drugs in Detroit, and became game changers in hip-hop and culture.

UK crime drama “Midsomer Murders” celebrates its 25th anniversary with a documentary on Acorn TV on December 5, followed by the premiere of a new season on December 12.

Netflix has moved up the premiere date for the first half of season four of “You.” The serial killer drama will now drop Thursday, February 9, followed by Part 2 on Thursday, March 9.

COMING UP

HBO Max special “Lizzo: Live in Concert” debuts Saturday, December 31. The concert was filmed during Lizzo’s The Special Tour earlier this month.

Canela Media’s 2022 holiday season programming includes two new original shows. “Caribe Wonderland” features Latino artists performing classic Christmas songs, and “Room Service, Holiday Edition” presents acoustic performances and interviews filmed in a hotel room.

TECH TALK

Apparently Santa is computer savvy. Curiosity Ink Media debuted Ask Santa, an AI-driven virtual experience that allows kids to engage with Santa Claus on mobile or desktop devices. Santa gets an assist from AI-powered conversational video technology from StoryFile.

GOING GLOBAL

Take Two Studios has inked a multi-year, minimum of 12 project development slate financing deal with Finnish based venture capital fund manager IPR.VC. The first project to come out of the deal is a series based on the crime novel Hildur, authored by Satu Rämö.

ITVX has commissioned Wag Entertainment to produce two new true crime shows, which will launch on ITVX and ITV1 in 2023. “In Search of Instagram’s Worst Con Artist” tells the story of Belle Gibson, the 21-year-old social influencer who claimed she cured her terminal cancer through wellness and healthy eating, while doc “The Real Fatal Attraction” chronicles the tale of a married barrister seduced by a woman online.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Who hosted the “Cheers” (1982-93) gang on the show’s season five Thanksgiving episode? Carla. Kudos to: Joe Lyons-Fox Sports/FL; Eric Dunefsky-Crossmedia/NYC; Douglas Hochstadt-Disney/NYC; Tom Dempsey-Tatari/NYC; Sandy Spiegel/Chicago; KC Cromie-Warner Bros. Discovery/Burbank; Ken Dubow-Access Entertainment/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Wendy Holmes/Denver; Adam Leston-Weigel Broadcasting/Milwaukee; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
Which reboot of a 1960s anthology series ran for its first six seasons on one network, and moved to a different network for its seventh? (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.)