IAB Annual Leadership Summit, Jan 22-24, Marco Island, FL

It Starts Here Every Year at ALM: a vision for the industry, an opportunity uncovered, a path forward, a new connection. Help set the agenda for the industry in the coming year – and catch a little sunshine – in Marco Island this January. You’ll hear from the industry’s brightest thought leaders, including Alex Rodriguez, Greg Lyons of PepsiCo Beverages North America, Erin Egan of Meta, and more.

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Tuesday November 29, 2022

IN THE NEWS

Amid economic instability, Bob Iger confirmed that Disney’s hiring freeze is still in effect. During a Disney town hall, the recently-reappointed Disney CEO said, “There is a lot to do quickly,” and affirmed that rumors of a deal with Apple are “pure speculation.”

A BBC journalist was beaten and arrested by police in China during an anti-COVID Zero protest. Edward Lawrence, a senior journalist and camera operator in the China bureau, was arrested in Shanghai on Sunday night. Without an official explanation or apology from Chinese authorities, a spokesperson for BBC News said, “It is very worrying that one of our journalists was attacked in this way whilst carrying out his duties.”

Richard Lewis confirmed his return to “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” For the show’s 12th season, Lewis tweeted, “I’m back shooting Curb! I’m a lucky cat to be with my oldest pal who just so happens to be a genius. Don’t tell him I called him that or he’ll mock me to my grave.”

“Squid Game” Golden Globe winner Oh Yeong-su was accused of sexual misconduct. After being indicted for allegedly touching a woman inappropriately in 2017, Yeong-su said, “I apologized because [the person] said she wouldn’t make a fuss about it but it doesn’t mean that I admit [to] the charges.” The 78-year-old Korean actor has since backed out of a local production of “Love Letters” and the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism pledged to remove all public service advertisements with Yeong-su.

The jury in the Danny Masterson case resumed after a postponement from Covid. The court is currently deadlocked on three counts of forcible rape by the “That ‘70s Show” star, who faces up to 45 years in state prison if found guilty on all three counts.

The Addams Family will be under the microscope in season 2 of “Wednesday.” Co-showrunner Miles Millar said that the first season “just touched the surface” with the characters in Tim Burton’s Netflix series starring Jenna Ortega as Wednesday, Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia and Luis Guzmán as Gomez. Ahead of the show’s season 2 renewal, Millar said they “definitely want to feature the family as [they] did this season in a couple of episodes.”

Food Network and the NFL will kick off a new series. In a first-time partnership, “NFL Tailgate Takedown” will spotlight tailgate chefs in a six-episode primetime event. Hosted by Sunny Anderson and New England Patriots Hall-of-Famer Vince Wilfork, the series will premiere on January 4 at 9p on Food Network and discovery+.

Studiocanal backed an adaptation of Hugo Pratt’s “Corto Maltese” with Frank Miller. Miller will serve as the creator, writer and executive producer of the six-episode series, in conjunction with Canal+.

Fremantle struck a deal with Danish broadcaster TV 2 to co-commission “The Lost Ones.” The competition series will show a group of people stranded in a remote location, where they have to survive until rescued with only basic food, essential equipment and a radio.

Penske Media Corporation acquired television festival parent company ATX TV. The live festival joins SXSW and Life Is Beautiful, as the company expands its in-person portfolio.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

“The Trail” moves ahead to season 2. Outdoor Channel’s original series will say goodbye to the Miller family as Laramy and Seven survive a 30-day trek in the Western Rockies, and is set to premiere in July 2023.

Drama series “BMF” will return on January 6. “Black Mafia Family” chronicles the Flenory brothers and their influence on hip-hop and culture, with new episodes to debut on STARZ every Friday.

Leonard Cohen’s 1973 Yom Kippur War tour will be made into a series. “Shtisel” creator Yehonatan Indursky, Keshet International and Sixty-Six Media will create the limited TV drama series based on New York Times columnist Matti Freidman’s bestselling novel “Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai,” beginning production in 2024.

STREAMING

MyOutdoorTV launched on Vizio. The network’s list of features includes “HuntStream” and “AnglerStream” – two ad-free streaming channels that highlight hunting and fishing content.

SPORTS

The first week of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 scored record consumption for Telemundo and Peacock. Viewership for the competition event averaged a total audience delivery of 2.57 million viewers, up 24% versus 2018 through the first stages. The Argentina-Mexico game on Saturday was the most-watched group stage match in Spanish-language history, with an average of 8.9 million viewers, followed by Brazil-Serbia, Mexico-Poland and England-USA. This year’s event is now the most-streamed World Cup on record.

Warner Bros. Discovery acquired non-exclusive rights to the 2023 World Athletics Championships. The company struck a deal with World Athletics rights-holders Eurovision Sport and ESPN to broadcast the nine-day event on Eurosport 1, Eurosport 2, the Eurosport app and discovery+ to more than 45 countries. Trojan Paillot, Warner Bros. Discovery vice president of sports rights acquisitions and syndication, said, “Our ambition is to tell the stories around the world’s greatest athletes all year round.”

Tiger Woods withdrew from the Hero World Challenge, but will still host. The news from the Masters winner tweeted that foot problems due to plantar fasciitis were “making it difficult to walk.” The competition would have marked Woods’ return to the competitive sport since the Open at St. Andrews in July, his first major tournament since a car crash last year.

TECH TALK

Elon Musk accused Apple of withholding Twitter from the App Store. The platform’s CEO and owner claimed that Apple has stopped advertising on Twitter, and pointed out that App Store boss Phil Schiller recently deleted his Twitter account, prompting his tweet: “Do they hate free speech in America?”

The Twitter Storm keeps Swirling: Elon Musk’s tweet of “Pepe the Frog” received disapproval and continued distrust of the platform. The cartoon image first circulated the Internet as an innocent comic before turning into a hate symbol of the alt-right, representing racism, anti-Semitism and pro-Nazi sentiment. This May, white supremacists tried to “reclaim Pepe” in 2015. The Anti-Defamation League was quick to respond; Oren Segal, ADL vice president of the Center on Extremism, said, “There are so many different variations of the Pepe the Frog meme…and while this one is not overtly hateful on its own — and context is always key — the fact that he posted it at this time of increasing hate on his platform is an indication that he’s not really serious about addressing this issue.” Musk also tweeted a photo of his bedside table, including two guns, and shared a fake CNN headline.

CASTING

Jordan Gonzalez will return as a regular in season 2 of “Pretty Little Liars: Summer School.” The actor of Ash Romero in “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” will star as a transgender student in the HBO Max series, as the first transmasculine character in the spinoff.

GOING GLOBAL

Alba Flores of “Money Heist” will star in “Ulterior.” Upgrade Productions and Morena Films partnered on the eight-part Spanish-language series, with Flores and Pedro Uriol executive producing.

Banijay will develop a Black Forest thriller. Starring Hélène de Fougerolles, Gregory Fitoussi and Tcheky Karyo, the French series was commissioned by TF1 and will be co-produced by Banijay Studios France, Fiction’Air, Belga Productions and RTBF.

Answer to Our Last 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? “The Outer Limits” (1995-2002) moved from Showtime to Syfy. Kudos to: Andrew Goldman-Grooveee, LLC/NYC, Dan Whitford-WTTW Chicago/Chicago, Ted Linhart-NBCU/NYC, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA

Today’s Trivia Question
What was the name of the shipwrecked boat in “Gilligan’s Island” (1964-1967)? 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.)