Please note we will not publish Monday, in observance of Memorial Day.

Looking ahead, the pending Paramount Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is poised to create a major force in global streaming sports, combining two of the space’s most significant players under one roof. Post-acquisition, the combined entity would control two-thirds (66%) of available sports content.

Netflix is producing its first daily live show. The video stream of “The Breakfast Club,” the long-running iHeartMedia morning radio show co-hosted by Charlamagne Tha God, DJ Envy, and Jess Hilarious, will air on Netflix every weekday beginning June 1. That’s a significant step for a platform that built its reputation on on-demand, ad-free content but has been steadily expanding its live slate in recent years, including sports and special events.

For Netflix subscribers, the experience will differ from the traditional radio broadcast: while commercial breaks will remain part of the over-the-air version, Netflix viewers will go ad-free, and instead receive exclusive bonus segments, behind-the-scenes moments, extended discussions, and original content during those windows, producing close to three continuous hours of programming daily. That kind of volume is notable for a streamer still developing its live infrastructure, and it signals a growing appetite for appointment viewing.

And Writers Guild of America East president Tom Fontana honored the show’s writing staff in a message to union members, praising them as a credit to their craft and noting that “The Late Show” had long made a point of speaking truth to power — right up until the very end.

From the Top Women in Sports honorees to this year’s standout finalists, the Cynopsis Sports Awards brings the industry together in one room.

June 4 | New York City

RESERVE YOUR SPOT

Telemundo-owned stations are running a weekly series, “Después de la Detención,” sharing the experiences of minors and their families during and after the children were held in detention centers in the United States. The reports air during the stations’ 5 p.m. local newscasts.

Spinoff series “Renovation Island: The Adventure Continues,” following home renovation experts Bryan and Sarah Baeumler, makes its debut Sunday, June 7 at 8 p.m. on HGTV.

Irish mystery drama “Harry Wild” returns to Acorn TV for Season 5 on Monday, June 22. This season, series star Jane Seymour will be reunited with her “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” co-star Joe Lando.

Netflix is deepening its investment in Japanese content. A lineup of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) drama series starts June 22. The first wave of titles includes six series: Taiga drama “Strategist KANBE”; morning serial “Mampuku”; Drama 10’s “Descending Stories: A Life in Rakugo,” “The Science Club”; and “Tokyo Salad Bowl” and “My Family.” By year’s end, 20 NHK dramas in total are slated to arrive on Netflix. And that’s just the beginning. The streamer plans to keep building relationships with Japanese broadcasters and production partners to bring more of the country’s programming to its global audience.

In addition, Nippon TV variety show “Monday Late Show” (Japanese title: “Getsuyo kara Yofukashi”, meaning “Staying up late even on Monday night”), is now available for global catch-up streaming on Netflix. This is the second regular weekly entertainment show from Nippon TV to be distributed for catch-up streaming on Netflix, following the rollout of “Golden SixTONES.”

“Jackass” returned to Paramount+. The episodes have been restored to their original form. The extreme prank series had previously been pulled from the platform at the request of Johnny Knoxville and the rest of the “Jackass” team, who objected to various creative changes that had accumulated over the years. Paramount+ says the updated episodes now reflect the show’s original vision. Knoxville explained that over the 26 years since the show first aired, the episodes had been heavily re-edited, resequenced, and rescored to the point of being unrecognizable. “I found this out the hard way last year when attempting to watch them. Eeek!”, said Knoxville. “But kudos to Paramount for giving us the $$ to restore the shows to how they initially aired in the first place.”

Sunday’s Premieres
Adult Swim: Rick and Morty at 11 p.m.
BritBox: QI
Netflix: Bad Thoughts
Showtime: The Chi at 9 p.m.

Monday’s Premieres
Acorn TV: Summerwater
CNN: What We Dream at 8 p.m.
Disney Jr.: Sofia the First: Royal Magic
Food Network: Food Network’s Top 10 at 10 p.m.
FYI: Rachael Ray’s Meals in Minutes at 9 p.m.; The Chef’s Garden at 10 p.m.
History: World War II With Tom Hanks at 8 p.m.
ID: The Many Lives of Benjamin Kyle at 9 p.m.
Magnolia: Maine Cabin Masters at 9 p.m.
MGM+: Spider-Noir at 9 p.m.

The match features the LA Galaxy taking on Houston Dynamo FC, streaming live on Apple TV. iPhone 17 Pro cameras positioned throughout the venue will cover the full scope of the broadcast: team warmups on the pitch, player introductions, in-net goal angles, and the energy inside the stadium.

The milestone builds on Apple TV’s first experiment integrating iPhone into a live sports workflow — a Friday Night Baseball game in September 2025 — and marks a significant leap from that proof of concept to full-event ownership.

Basketball Hall of Famer and entrepreneur Carmelo Anthony signed on as a strategic partner to Utopai Studios. Through his production company Creative 7, Anthony will collaborate with the studio to develop original sports and entertainment IP using PAI, Utopai Studios’ proprietary cinematic storytelling AI, with a focus on expanding the company’s roster of professional athlete partners.

“Power” creator Courtney A. Kemp inked a deal with Apple TV to develop and create series via her production company, End of Episode. Kemp co-created “Nemesis” under a multi-year deal with Netflix that started in 2021.

The Netherlands will be the first international home for “First Dates Beach Club,” produced by Warner Bros. International Television Production Netherlands and local network BNNVARA. The latest evolution of the hit “First Dates” franchise follows 16 l Dutch seasons of the original format. Filming will begin this fall.

Tomorrow Studios is adapting Skyward, the first book in the Cytoverse franchise by Brandon Sanderson, for television. Sanderson will write the pilot along with producers/writers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen “Marvel’s Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.”).

The 2026 midterm cycle is expected to drive record digital investment, and programmatic media partner Digital Remedy is ready with The Political Desk, a dedicated division serving political campaigns, advocacy groups, and issue-based organizations. The offering consolidates the programmatic media company’s political planning, targeting, optimization, and measurement capabilities into a single unified solution. Clients can engage voters across the media landscape with the tool. As political ad spending continues to surge, the new division will capitalize on growing demand for data-driven voter engagement tools.

KERV.ai and Canela Media have partnered to bring additional interactive video and dynamic creative technology to Canela Media’s ecosystem. Canela Media will integrate KERV.ai’s interactive video and shoppable creative technology across its ecosystem, enabling more immersive, commerce-driven ad experiences.

Amplified launched AttentionAI, which predicts how audiences will engage with creative across digital platforms. Brands and agencies can identify which assets are most likely to capture and hold viewer focus. The launch includes an AttentionAI API and MCP integration, which puts attention data directly into the systems where media decisions are made.

Most marketers cannot connect ad exposure to actual purchases in real-time for measurement or optimization, according to a new report from the Outcomes Marketing Council. The Affinity Solutions study found that four in five respondents said they primarily optimize campaigns in-flight using signals other than verified purchase data. When those decisions are later reconciled against actual sales outcomes, roughly 35% find they don’t hold up. Additional findings include:
· More than two-thirds of marketers estimate at least 11% of their media budgets are wasted due to optimization lag, while more than a third believe waste exceeds 26%.
· Roughly one in five marketers already use verified purchase data as a primary optimization signal.
· Data latency, limited access to transaction data, privacy constraints, internal processes and budget all emerged as major obstacles to adopting purchase-based optimization.
· Nearly two-thirds of marketers report three or more steps between a transaction and a campaign optimization decision.

“Marketing is still optimizing against signals that are too slow, fragmented, and disconnected from actual sales,” said Damian Garbaccio, Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer at Affinity Solutions. “That creates enormous systemic waste. The marketers who close the gap between media spend and verified outcomes will have a major competitive advantage.”

HBO Max’s “House of the Dragon” will be available to stream in American Sign Language (ASL). Season 1 with ASL will debut on Friday, May 29.

“Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That’s the Weight of the World)” debuts Sunday, June 7 at 9 p.m. on HBO. Producer, director, and musician Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson tells the story of the band, chronicling their evolution, highs and lows, and relevance from the 1970s into the present day.

Tokyo Broadcasting System named unscripted television veteran Elwin de Groot as Senior Unscripted Development Executive, advancing TBS’ strategy to develop original IP and adapt aired formats for U.S. audiences. De Groot previously served as Head of Development at Youngest Media Group.

Congrats to: John Kukla-KDFW Fox 4/Dallas; Alyson White-FOX TV Stations/Leander, TX; Adam Leston-Weigel Broadcasting/Milwaukee; Andrew Goldman-Phanes Funding Group/NYC; Kayla Moriarty-Fallon/NYC; James Maxin-Disney/NYC; Erin Bowles-American Public Television/Boston; Justin Pierce-JP Consulting Group/LA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Kerri Huyck/Kennewick, WA; Michael Coscia/LA