IN THE NEWS

President Trump-appointed Chairman of the FCC Ajit Pai announced he will exit the agency on January 20, when Joe Biden is sworn in. “I am grateful to President Trump for giving me the opportunity to lead the agency in 2017, to President Obama for appointing me as a Commissioner in 2012, and to Senate Majority Leader McConnell and the Senate for twice confirming me,” said Pai. “To be the first Asian-American to chair the FCC has been a particular privilege. As I often say: only in America.” While Pai’s term wouldn’t have expired until June 2021, it’s customary to step down with a change in administrations. With two Republicans and two Democrats on the panel, Pai’s departure allows the Biden administration to create a Democratic majority.

Global linear TV advertising is projected to drop 16% this year, to $155.6 billion, due to the pandemic, according to research company WARC. In a year with heavy political spend, the US market will dip 0.1%, to $54.4 billion. Digital and online video spending is expected to grow 7.9% for 2020, to $52.7 billion.

Dish Network and Nexstar Media are embroiled in a distribution dispute that could lead to Dish subscribers losing access to 164 Nexstar local broadcast channels in 115 markets if an agreement isn’t reached by tomorrow, December 2. “Since becoming the nation’s largest local station owner, Nexstar has increased its annual revenue by $1 billion a year. Now, it has set its sights on Dish customers as their next big payday,” claimed Brian Neylon, Group President of Dish TV. Nexstar said Dish is reaping the benefit of “paying significantly under market retransmission consent fees.”

Ovation is partnering with Charter Communications to recognize outstanding local arts, cultural, and educational organizations and programs in five of Charter’s Spectrum markets. The initiative is part of the arts net’s national arts advocacy platform, Stand for the Arts, which will commit $50,000 to support arts education.

Join us today at 1p ET as we applaud digital media’s champions during the Virtual Cynopsis Digital Awards featuring the Model D and Adtech awards plus the “It List” honorees and more! Will you join us? Click here to view finalists and the run-of-show, then register for free to see who wins!

Show the up-and-comers on your team how much you notice their hard work by nominating them for this year’s Rising Star Awards.

Meet this Thursday’s deadline to tell us about the Rising Stars – 35 years and under – who are showing exceptionally clever creativity, crafty thinking or going the extra mile to just get the work done. If that person is you, nominate yourself!

Nominate here by this Thursday, December 3!

Felicity Huffman (“Desperate Housewives”) makes her post-college admissions scandal acting debut as the owner of a minor-league baseball team in an untitled comedy from Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment. ABC gave the project a pilot production commitment; Zack Gottsagen (“The Peanut Butter Falcon”) co-stars.

More casting Notes: The voice cast for Netflix animated film “Back to the Outback” will include Isla Fisher, Tim Minchin, Eric Bana, Guy Pearce, Keith Urban and Wayne Knight, among others, as deadly creatures plotting an escape from an Australian zoo…Gugu Mbatha-Raw (“The Morning Show”) will star in Apple TV+ thriller series “Surface”…Jolie Hoang-Rappaport (“Watchmen”) has joined the cast of HBO Max’s “Head of the Class” reboot…Anne Heche (“The Brave”) will recur on season two of CBS’ “All Rise.”

UK’s Channel 5 and PBS Masterpiece have renewed “All Creatures Great and Small” for a second, six-part season. China’s Huanxi Media and BritBox in Australia have picked up the sophomore run.

BBC Studios has added an inclusion rider requiring that a minimum of 20% of on-screen and production team members come from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background, have experienced a disability, or come from a low-income background. “These initiatives are by no means a magic bullet and we’re also doing a lot of work on culture and education to make our teams more inclusive,” said Director of Content Ralph Lee. “The talent in front of and behind the camera will give perspectives that will shape our content, making it more authentic and universal in its depiction of our audiences — and ultimately its appeal with them.” LGBT+ talent is part of the on-screen rider, but BBC Studios Production has already exceeded the target.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

ABC’s “The Great Christmas Light Fight” is back for season eight on Wednesday, December 9 at 8p. Four families will once again face off to take holiday decorating to a new level, and win $50,000.

Travel Channel’s “Expedition Bigfoot” team is one step closer to finding the big guy, as they reevaluate their algorithm to respond to the uptick in sightings in a special premiering Sunday, January 3 at 8p. Season two launches immediately afterward, at 9p, with new clues and patterns that could lead to the discovery of the legendary beasts.

HBO Max unscripted series “12 Dates of Christmas” offers some twists on the dating genre, following three singles on their journey to find someone to bring home for the holidays. Jilly Pearce, EVP of Objective Media Group America and executive producer of the show, offers insights on how producers “shook up the snow globe” to create a unique holiday offering, in Cynsiders.

COMING UP

“Doctor Who” returns Friday, January 1 on BBC America with a holiday special, “Revolution of the Daleks.” Dame Harriet Walter (“Killing Eve”) will be making her “Doctor Who” debut for the special, alongside Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (“The Trial of Christine Keeler”).

Comedian and “Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood Jr. will host “31 More Days of Being Home for the Holidays,” a month-long programming block of holiday-themed episodes, weekend movie marathons and new comedy specials. Wood will star in interstitial sketches complementing “31 Days” programming on Comedy Central, with additional content rolling out on social and digital platforms throughout the month.

Saddle up! Season five of “The Real Housewives of Dallas” debuts Tuesday, January 5 at 9p on Bravo. New housewife and physician Tiffany Moon joins the drama this time around.

ABC will simulcast two of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” games: the Buffalo at San Francisco game on December 7, and Buffalo’s matchup with New England on December 28, both airing at 8p. ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” commentator team of Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Louis Riddick, Lisa Salters and John Parry will call both games.

TECH TALK

Cable broadband usage of Zoom on Thanksgiving Day saw a year-over-year 45% jump, according to OpenVault, likely boosted by the platform removing usage limits for the holiday, as well as stay-at-homers. An analysis of data collected by OpenVault shows that average broadband consumption per subscriber was 15.59 GB on Thanksgiving Day, 2020, compared to 10.77 GB on the holiday in 2019. The figure represented increases of 9.7% above usage on the previous Thursday, November 19; and 15% above usage for the previous eight Thursdays.

STREAMING SNIPPETS

Amazon Prime Video and Twitch will stream the Saturday, December 26 NFL game between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers. Amazon has a digital-rights deal with the NFL that includes one late-season NFL game per season that won’t air on a national TV. “We’re ready to deliver the gift of football for Prime members this holiday season with a week-long slate of original content and in-depth analysis on Prime Video and Twitch, culminating in back-to-back days of live NFL action on Dec. 25 and 26,” said Marie Donoghue, VP of global sports video at Amazon.

Cinedigm has added over 1,000 hours of programming to its library, aimed at capturing a share of the $1.2 billion projected streaming holiday ad spending this season. “Our team has worked over the last few months to fill our library with quality content that will resonate with both streaming platforms and audiences alike,” said Yolanda Macias, EVP, Cinedigm Entertainment Group. “We expect these acquisitions will excite and attract new viewers while taking advantage of vastly increased consumption during the calendar 4th quarter, the strongest period of the year.”

AVOD VUit, launched in September by Syncbak, has added The Washington Post as a streaming partner, providing discussions on pressing issues of the day produced by Washington Post Live. A dedicated Washington Post Live streaming channel will simulcast the news organization’s live programming while also providing viewers access to current and past interviews on an on demand basis.

GOING GLOBAL

UK-based production company Three Arrows Media has been acquired by media group Wonderborn Studios. Three Arrows Media was founded in 2015 by David Hallam and Jon Hancock, who will remain with the company.

Filmlance has acquired the television rights from Politiken Literary Agency to the Jana Kippo trilogy from Swedish author, Karin Smirnoff. The series of best-selling novels is set to be developed into a new Swedish drama with international potential.

Japan’s Nippon TV will be taking part in this year’s ATF Online, offering its new scripted format, “A Girl of 35.” The drama series is currently airing on Nippon TV.

Nat Geo Kids has acquired season three and renewed seasons one and two of “Dino Dana” for its feeds across Latin America. In addition, the feature length film “Dino Dana The Movie” was licensed to Nat Geo Kids and will premier in Latin America including on Disney+.

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“The Undoing” is pacing to become Sky Atlantic’s highest-rated US series, after the HBO drama’s premiere was watched by 2.8 million viewers in its first 28 days. The first three episodes are averaging 2.5 million.

Food Network’s “Holiday Baking Championship” on Monday, November 23 tied for its highest-rated episode of the season with a 1.1 Live+3 rating for P25-54 and 1.5 among W25-54, +18% versus year ago, and ranking as the #2 non-news/non-sports cable program in its timeslot among P25-54 and W25-54. “Christmas Cookie Challenge” notched its highest-rated premiere since 2018, posting a .7 P25-54, .9 W25-54 Live+3 Rating, +15% versus year ago and ranking as the #1 non-news/non-sports cable program in its timeslot in the demos.

Nielsen’s Top 10 Streaming Shows the Week of November 26
Program, # of Episodes, Minutes (Millions)
The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix), 7, 1850
The Office (Netflix), 192, 1046
The Mandalorian (Disney+), 9, 1032
Schitts Creek (Netflix), 80, 963
Holidate (Netflix), 1, 654
Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix), 361, 624
Criminal Minds (Netflix), 277, 620
NCIS (Netflix), 353, 552
The Haunting of Bly Manor (Netflix), 9, 535
Great British BakingShow (Netflix), 63, 530
Source: Nielsen SVOD Content Ratings (Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix), Nielsen National TV Panel, US Viewing through Television

Shareablee Top 10 Streaming Shows for the week of November 23
Program, Platform, Total Actions, Total Content, Actions per Content, Fans & Followers
Julie and the Phantoms (Netflix), 1M, 7, 144,962, 684K
The Mandalorian (Disney+), 838K, 14, 59,840, 1.7M
The Crown (Netflix), 652K, 17, 38,350, 1.5M
Boruto (Crunchyroll), 578K, 19, 30,418, 1.7M
Umbrella Academy (Netflix), 564K, 3, 188,018, 4M
Netflix is a Joke (YouTube), 363K, 38, 9,543, 2.2M
The Grand Tour (Amazon Prime), 343K, 6, 57,110, 5.7M
Black Clover on Funimation (Funimation), 294K, 14, 20,972, 774K
Lucifer (Netflix), 217K, 6, 36,115, 6.9M
The Boys (Amazon Prime) 185K, 10, 18,515, 1.2M

Shareablee Top 10 Shows for the week of November 23
Program, Network, Total Actions, Total Content, Actions per Content, Fans & Followers
The Late Late Show with James Corden (CBS), 8.7M, 86, 100,792, 7.9M
American Music Awards (ABC), 4.2M, 304, 13,794, 5.4M
Ellen Degeneres (Warner Bros, Syndicated), 2.6M, 49, 52,745, 204M
Good Morning America (ABC), 2.5M, 906, 2,706, 14.1M
Hannity (Fox News), 1.9M, 179, 10,531, 10.3M
Today Show (NBC), 1.9M, 936, 1,988, 13.7M
Entertainment Tonight (CBS), 1.6M, 533, 2,985, 9.2M
Dancing with the Stars (ABC), 1.3M, 81, 15,828, 9.2M
The Daily Show (Comedy Central), 1.1M, 57, 19,432, 27.1M
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS), 949K, 123, 7,714,

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Nielsen Holdings named Jamie Moldafsky as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. Moldafsky was most recently CMO and EVP at Wells Fargo.

fuboTV has appointed Mike Berkley to the role of Chief Product Officer. Berkley has developed new products and businesses for Spotify, Viacom, Comcast and, most recently, Axios, in addition to founding two tech startups.

AMC Networks announced Aisha Thomas-Petit has joined the company as its first Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer. Thomas-Petit joins AMC Networks from ADP, where she was most recently the Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Corporate Social Responsibility.

Jasmine Johnson has joined Stoopid Buddy Studios as Head of Studio. Johnson was previously a feature animation production executive at Netflix.

Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
The premiere of which short-lived sitcom was delayed when the star had to be recast because the series he was on was unexpectedly renewed, and the co-star was killed in a car crash? “It’s Not Easy” (1983). Kudos to: Lorrie Shilling/El Segundo, CA

Today’s Trivia Question
In which Hallmark Channel Christmas movie did Ernest Borgnine play a retired actor? (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.)