12/20/18: The countdown is on to Billions season 4 debut

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM A&E
A&E’S LIVE PD – FIRST ON TV, SECOND TO NONE: 
Television’s FIRST LIVE law enforcement franchise is still the BIGGEST, still the BEST, and still the #1 justice series in cable, among all key demos.
 
LIVE PD FRI & SAT 9/8c
A&E
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM MSNBC
2018 IS MSNBC’S BEST YEAR EVER – FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW.
MSNBC BEATS CNN BY RECORD AMOUNT.
 
And, MSNBC is the only cable news network to grow year-over-year in 2018.
 
Thanks to our viewers for recognizing the sharp journalism, clear context, and insightful analysis
delivered by a remarkable team of journalists in an unprecedented era of news.
 
This is who we are.
Source: Nielsen; 1/1/18-12/12/18, P2+, M-Su 6A-6A
 

IN THE NEWS
 
Facebook suffered another blow yesterday. The attorney general for the District of Columbia sued the social media company for failing to protect its users’ data and allowing an app developer to collect millions of users’ personal information without their permission and sell it to political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. The suit, filed by Karl Racine, pins Facebook with numerous violations of DC’s consumer protection laws including misleading users about the security of their data, failing to adequately monitor third-party apps’ use of data and keeping mum about the breach for two years. “Facebook failed to protect the privacy of its users and deceived them about who had access to their data and how it was used,” Racine said in a statement. “Facebook put users at risk of manipulation by allowing companies like Cambridge Analytica and other third-party applications to collect personal data without users’ permission.” Facebook said in a statement yesterday to The Washington Post that it is “reviewing the complaint and looks forward to continuing our discussions with attorneys general in DC and elsewhere.”
 
In still more bad news for Facebook, according to the New York Times the company gave Amazon, Spotify, Netflix and Microsoft more access to user data than Facebook had previously disclosed. According to a new report, special arrangements with these companies were discovered in internal Facebook documents that track partnerships. The deals reportedly were designed to benefit both Facebook and the other parties, with the social network gaining users and the outside companies able to tailor their products more effectively.
 
CBS is mulling the option of cutting ties with Nielsen as the companies negotiate renewing their long-term contract, set to expire December 31, in a deal worth about $100 million. According to Variety, CBS is underwhelmed by the steadily increasing rates Nielsen charges at a time when it’s difficult to accurately capture viewing across linear TV and digital platforms. In a statement, a Nielsen spokesperson said, “We expect to arrive at a mutually beneficial agreement well in advance of December 31.”
 
OWN has canceled Love Is _ after one season as exec producer Salim Akil faces allegations of domestic violence and lifting the idea for the series from a former lover. “OWN has decided not to move forward with the second season of Love Is _,” the network said yesterday.
 
Recently wrapped HGTV series Fixer Upper was the most popular among shows, movies and live events in 2018 among Sling TV’s 2.4 million subscribers, the service revealed. The Chip and Joanna Gaines show edged out, in descending order, The Big Bang Theory, Family Guy, House Hunters and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The list is a windfall for Discovery, which grabbed three of the top five spots. The most DVR’d show on the Dish Network service was Live PD, followed by The Walking Dead. The Incredibles topped Sling movie rentals, followed by Black Panther and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
 
Chelsea Peretti, comedian, writer and Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-star, will host the 2019 WGA Awards’ LA show February 17. The WGA will hold its East Coast show concurrently at the Edison Ballroom in NYC.
 
Comscore is the newest member of the Coalition of Innovative Media Measurement, marking the first new member of the organization since its recent acquisition by the Advertising Research Foundation, which opened CIMM membership to the broader industry.
 
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE
IT’S DEADLINE DAY
Uniting media’s most philanthropic teams 
The Cynopsis Social Good Awards
*ENTER BY 12/20*
 
Cynopsis is opening the call for entries for the fifth annual Cynopsis Social Good Awards, and we encourage you to show us your work as we learn from each other and look to forge new alliances. Enter before 11:59PM ET tonight to save.
 
[ 2018 WINNERS]                     [ CATEGORIES]                         [ GET STARTED]
 

PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
 
A busy day for Fox, which put into development Adapted, a multicultural comedy based on a real story from The Last O.G. co-executive producers Mary Fitzgerald, Arthur Harris and Angela Nissel, Jeff Gaspin and his Gaspin Media, Mark Kassen’s Like Minded Entertainment and 20th Century Fox TV. Fitzgerald, Harris and Nissel, who wrote the story, also will show-run. Series follows a 14-year-old boy who, after refusing to move from Las Vegas to Philadelphia so his neglectful mother can remarry yet again, convinces his African-American neighbors to adopt him… The network also gave a script plus presentation order to Lyle & Caroline, a half-hour animated comedy exec-produced by Lisa Kudrow, who also will provide voiceover, and written/exec-produced by Eric and Justin Stangel (The Late Show with David Letterman). The project, about an unexpected surrogate grandparent/grandchild bond, hails from Lionsgate and 3 Arts Entertainment.
 
STXalternative, a division of Robert Simonds’ STX Entertainment, signed a first-look development and production deal with Tracey Edmonds company Edmonds Entertainment. The deal will see Edmonds co-producing and co-developing scripted and unscripted content. First project is previously announced Games Divas Play, which will air on BET in 2019.
 
TV One announced production is underway in NYC on new series Cleo Speaks, which will highlight personal stories and voices of influential women of color. The series is slated to premiere on the new lifestyles and entertainment net Cleo TV in February. Featured Cleo Speaks participants include Tamika Mallory, activist; Dana Chanel, founder, Sprinkle of Jesus; April Reign, activist/creator #OscarsSoWhite; and Mahisha Dellinger, CEO/founder, Curls Beauty Brands. Series is produced by Ruby Red, with Gina Holland and Martine Charles as executive producers.
 
Boat Rocker Media is combining its content, distribution and brands teams under Boat Rocker Studios, which will be headed by Jon Rutherford as managing director while maintaining his role as the company’s president of rights. Boat Rocker recently closed the acquisition of U.S.-based Matador Content and earlier this year acquired Fremantle’s Kids & Family division as well as a majority stake in Insight Productions.
 
 
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
 
Telemundo Deportes will premiere season 2 of Que Momento (What a Moment) December 23 at 11p on Telemundo. The new season debuts with an in-depth look at three-time former welterweight world champ Antonio Margarito.
 
Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel and World Fishing Network are ringing in the new year with original premieres and new eps from returning series across all three networks beginning Monday, December 31. New fare includes the premiere of Booger Bottom on Outdoor Channel on Monday, January 7, at 7p and Dropped: Land of the Living Skies on Monday, February 4, at 7:30p.
 
CMT dropped a trailer for the new season of Music City, which debuts Thursday, January 3, at 10p and follows a group of young adults chasing success, fame and romance in Nashville. Season 2 will feature a breakup, a wedding, a cutthroat Miss USA competition, unexpected friendships and new and explosive rivalries.
 
Project Blue Book, from exec producer Robert Zemeckis based on true events, bows on History on January 8 at 10p.
 
AXS TV will debut the second season of music countdown series The Top Ten Revealed on Sunday, January 13, at 8:30p with the episode “Roller Rink Tunes.”
 
CW series Roswell, New Mexico premieres Tuesday, January 15, at 9p.
 
Love, chaos and uncertainty abound in TLC’s returning series Sister Wives and Seeking Sister Wife beginning January 20 at 8p with some familiar families and two new additions.
 
Paranormal investigators Amy Bruni and Adam Berry return for the third season of Kindred Spirits, premiering on Travel Channel on Thursday, January 24, at 10p.
 
The midseason return of The Walking Dead season 9 premieres Sunday, February 10, at 9p on AMC. The second half of the season finds survivors new and old and new continuing to deal with the impact of events that took place during the six years that have passed.
 
The fourth season of Showtime’s drama Billions, one of the network’s most-watched series, will drop Sunday, March 17, at 9p.
 
Orion Television’s relationship court TV shows Lauren Lake’s Paternity Court and Couples Court with the Cutlers has been renewed for the 2019-20 season in more than 100 markets, including NY, LA, DC and Chicago. This will mark the seventh season for Lauren Lake’s Paternity Court and the third season for Couples Court with the Cutlers.
 
 
COMING UP
 
Jennifer Lopez: The Ride, a doc about the 2018 MTV Video Vanguard recipient, premieres on the network tomorrow (December 21) at 3p. Lopez’s upcoming romantic comedy Second Act will be her 34th film.
 
Time flies. The 50th ep of Starz original series Outlander will premiere this Sunday, December 23, at 8p.
 
IFC will stage an all-day Die Hard Christmas marathon on Tuesday, December 25, featuring Die Hard, Die Hard with a Vengeance and Live Free or Die Hard airing all day long in succession beginning at 3p.
 
Jennifer Lopez and Bebe Rexha joined the lineup of artists performing on NBC’s New Year’s Eve, airing Monday, December 31, from 10-11p.
 
The film Our Faith in Action will be featured on Eternal Word Television Network on Sunday, January 6, at 3:30p. Movie is based on the TV series Our Faith in Action: Today’s Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
 
 
DIGITAL DATA
 
Snapchat unleashed new feature Lens Challenges, which enables users around the globe to participate in competitions with other users who create and send “Snaps” that use a lens tied to a song, dance and/or event. Challenges is intended to “inspire creativity, self-expression, and community for Snapchatters and Lens Creators alike,” the company said in a statement.
 
Comedy Central will accompany the special James Davis: Live From The Town, which debuts Friday, January 11, at 11p, with a digital album and linear and digital companion custom content.
 
Cable provider Charter Communications is making a strategic investment in Blade, the tech company specializing in cloud-gaming. Blade’s Shadow platform launched in the U.S. earlier this year.
 
Digital Media Rights announced its five OTT channels—Yuyu TV, Midnight Pulp, AsianCrush, Cocoro and KMTV—are available via Samsung Smart TVs.
 
 
SHORT FORM
 
Fiction Riot launched subscription-based short-form platform Ficto with an initial 20-episode series in production and slated to debut early next year. The new venture is headed by former agent Mike Esola. Three Ficto original series, based on upcoming feature films, will be released in advance of theatrical releases: Can You Keep A Secret, Hush, Hush and Project Xtraction, an original Chinese production starring Jackie Chan and John Cena. Each series runs 30 minutes and comprises three to five eps that are five to seven minutes in length. Fun fact: Ficto is one of the first streaming services to pay royalties using blockchain in order to create transparency of payment for all parties.
 
 
KIDS NEWS
 
Gigantosaurus, a new CGI animated dinosaur adventure series for preschoolers from Cyber Group Studios, will roar onto Disney Channel Friday, January 18, at 9a. Series introduces kids to Rocky, Bill, Tiny and Mazu, four inquisitive young dinosaur friends on a quest to solve the mystery of the biggest, fiercest dinosaur of all.
 
 
CASTING
 
Alexandra Breckenridge (This Is Us, The Walking Dead), Martin Henderson (Grey’s Anatomy, Miracles From Heaven), Tim Matheson (The Affair, The Good Fight) and Annette O’Toole (Smallville, Marvel’s The Punisher) lead the cast of Netflix series Virgin RiverColin O’Donoghue (Once Upon A Time) landed the titular role in Dolly Parton’s Heartstings: JJ Sneed, an ep of Netflix’s upcoming anthology series. Willa Fitzgerald (Scream: The TV Series), David Denman (13 Hours), Mac Davis and Vanessa Rubio (Cobra Kai) round out the cast… Evan Roderick (Arrow) has been cast opposite Kaya Scodelario in Netflix drama Spinning Out.
 
 
GOING GLOBAL
 
Corus network Global is cranking up the heat in Canada with a red-hot lineup of premieres and returning hits, including the premiere of Dwayne Johnson’s competition series The Titan Games and new comedy spinoff series Schooled. Global will also air new eps of New Amsterdam and FBI on Tuesday nights and return crime thriller The Blacklist, family comedy Man With A Plan and Big Brother: Celebrity.  
 
 
SOCIAL GOOD
 
The NBCUniversal Foundation, in partnership with NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, is bringing back in 11 communities “Project Innovation,” a grant challenge that will award nearly $2.5 million next year to local nonprofit organizations addressing issues through solutions in the areas of storytelling, community engagement, culture of inclusion and youth education. Application period opens January 11 and closes February 15.
 
Hulu’s Stream for a Cause campaign is supporting the American Library Assn. Through December 31, each time viewers stream one of Hulu’s 10 holiday scenics, such as Puppies Crash Christmas, A Sap Story and The Snowman, Hulu will contribute to ALA up to a total donation of $100,000.
 
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE
FINALISTS ANNOUNCED!
Cynopsis is thrilled to announce the finalists for our 2019 Short Form Video Festival! Winners will be announced at the second annual industry event, taking place on Wednesday, March 6 at the SVA Theatre in NYC. The festival will also feature panels offering best practices in business and advertising in the short form space as well as opportunities to network with creators, buyers, distributors, brands and more.
 

RATINGS
 
WE tv’s Love After Lockup continues to grow viewership. The second ep of season 2 delivered a series high in total viewers and week-to-week growth across all key demos. Compared to the prior week’s season premiere, the Friday, December 14, ep grew by 16% among Total Viewers, 14% among W18-49, 8% among W25-54 and 7% among A25-54 in Nielsen Live+3 ratings.

Live + Same Day Viewers AA (millions): Tuesday, December 18, 2018, time period averages
Source: NTI, Galaxy as dated Live+SD
NBC: 8.95 million
The Voice 7.19, The Voice 9.84,
ABC: 2.72 million
The Connors 4.57, The Kids Are Alright 3.06, black-ish 2.39, Splitting Up Together 1.96, The Rookie 2.17 
CBS: 5.74 million
NCIS 7.08, FBI 5.55, NCIS: New Orleans 4.58
FOX: 1.38 million
The Gifted 1.73, Lethal Weapon 1.02
CW: 1 million
Greatest Holiday Commercials Countdown 1.26, Greatest Holiday Video Countdown 0.69
Telemundo .88 million
La Sultana 0.90, Falsa Identidad 0.93, Senora Acero 0.73
Univision: .90 million
Jesus .94, Mi Marido Tiene Mas Familia .90, Amar a Muerte .88

Tuesday A18-49 Rating: ABC .5/2, FOX .3/1, NBC 1.6/7, CBS .6/3, CW .2/1, TELE .4/2, UNI .4/2
 
 
EXECUTIVE MOVES
 
You.i TV, provider of software tools for cross-platform app development, named Simon Leadlay to lead its global pay-TV business development efforts. Leadlay most recently served as director of pay-TV product management and business development for Accedo.
 
Cybersecurity firm CHEQ hired Joshua Grant as chief client officer. Grant previously served as head of programmatic for Dentsu in Japan.
 


This Day in History: 1968 – Author John Steinbeck died; he was 66.

Answer to our last trivia question: How much did Lucy charge for a psychiatric session in A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)? Five Cents
 
Today’s Trivia Question: What was the first cable series to win an Emmy for outstanding comedy series? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: A limit of four correct answers from each time zone will be selected.).
 
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JOB OPENING: TEAM LEADER/CheckpointXP/Detroit: Visionary leader, w/exceptional orgnztnl skills to build/grow the division. Previous exp in brdcast radio & as mktg/promotions dir or event planner a +, but not required. Strong knwldg of Esports /gaming world; strong contacts & networking are a plus. Resume HERE (1/7)

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JOB OPENING: MANAGER, INVENTORY/Crown Media Family Networks/NYMonitor and track all inventory through WideOrbit and Dealmaker. Build ADU packages and analyze and strategize pre and post upfront reporting. Min 2 years exp. in pricing and planning or ad sales req. Apply HERE (1/6)

 
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JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR, SALES DEVELOPMENT, DIGITAL INDUSTRY/ION/NYC: High-energy self-starter responsible for generating new advertising accounts and revenue. BA Deg 10+ yrs TV selling or related advertising sales exp; Expert knowledge of consumer-oriented tech companies, strong contacts. Full info/apply HERE (1/3)
 
 
WHAT’S ON TONIGHT – THURSDAY DECEMBER 20
ABC: A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition
CBS: The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory, Murphy Brown, S.W.A.T.
FOX: A Christmas Story Live!
NBC: Timeless, Deal or No Deal
PBS: This Old House Hour, Lidia Celebrates America, Antiques Roadshow
CW: The 4th Annual Howie Mandel Standup Extravaganza
Telemundo: La Sultana, Falsa Identidad, Senora Acero
Univision: Jesus, Mi Marido Tiene Mas Familia
 
 

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