 IN THE NEWS |
| Warner Bros. Discovery has begun layoffs across its linear TV groups, part of a plan to increase efficiency. While the exact number of layoffs was not revealed, sources told several outlets that they were in the double-digits but far less than 100. The news comes after Disney reportedly furloughed several hundred workers earlier this week.
It’s looking more like the proposed merger between Paramount and Skydance Media might not make it to the finish line. In a note on Wednesday, media analyst Rich Greenfield of LightShed Partners said he was “increasingly concerned the deal could collapse as Paramount is paralyzed by legal fears surrounding the pending President Trump–CBS 60 Minutes lawsuit.” While Paramount has been in talks to settle, politicians and a public interest group have warned that if the company does settle, it could be considered a bribe as Paramount awaits federal approval of the deal. “We believe it is unlikely the FCC will weigh in until the current Trump/CBS lawsuit is resolved,” said Greenfield.
Russell Simmons has filed a $20 million defamation suit against HBO, claiming the network’s “On the Record” documentary defamed him and ignored evidence that supported his version of events. The documentary focused on sexual assault and misconduct allegations against Simmons from several women and was distributed by HBO Max in 2020. In addition to damages, Simmons is seeking that HBO remove the documentary from its platforms.
NBCUniversal Local and Digital Health Networks have launched The Care Collective, a new healthcare marketing platform for distribution across TV, streaming and digital media properties. The Care Collective marries DHN’s health storytelling expertise, content production capabilities, and access to health talent and opinion leaders with NBCU Local’s audience scale and precision targeting capabilities. |
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| PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT |
| Globalgate Entertainment, Barry Films, Wachafilm, and UK-based Anton have teamed up to develop and produce “King’s Ransom,” an action thriller series about a hostage taking at the world’s most elite Swiss boarding school. Tony Saint (“Lupin”) has been hired to write the pilot episode and serve as showrunner for the series. |
| NEW & RETURNING SHOWS |
| HGTV series “Celebrity IOU” will return July 9 at 8p with six new episodes featuring Tyra Banks, Rachel Brosnahan, Josh Gad, Joel McHale, Jane Seymour and Shaun White. |
 The first two episodes of new Disney Channel series “Electric Bloom” launch Thursday, July 10 at 8:35p, with new episodes debuting weekly. The show will debut on Disney+ on September 17, with the first 13 episodes of the season and the remaining coming to the service in October. “Electric Bloom” follows the three members of the now mega-famous pop group Electric Bloom as they look back and tell the story of their band and friendship, starting with the day they all met in high school. |
 USA Network series “The Rainmaker” premieres Friday, August 15 at 10p. Based on the John Grisham novel, the series stars Milo Callaghan, John Slattery, Lana Parrilla, Madison Iseman, P.J. Byrne, Dan Fogler, Wade Briggs, and Robyn Cara.
The new season of “Storage Wars” kicks off Saturday, June 7 at 9p on A&E. Dan and Laura Dotson return to lead the bidding with buyers Brandi Passante, Dave Hester, Kenny Crossley, Ivy Calvin and sons, Rene and Casey Nezhoda, Lisa Delarios, and Dusty Riach.
Bounce TV comedy series “Mind Your Business” returns for a second season on Saturday, June 7 at 8 p. |
 Ryan Reynolds narrates the new Nat Geo nature series, “Underdogs,” premiering Sunday, June 15 at 9p. The five-parter celebrates the unique behaviors of the animals who don’t usually get to be the stars of the show. |
Today’ Premieres
Max: Chespirito: Not Really on Purpose
BET+: House on Fire
Netflix: Tires, Ginny and Georgia
Disney: Phineas and Ferb at 8p
SundanceTV: The Killer Clown: Murder on the Doorstep at 10p |
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| COMING UP |
 Great American Christmas in July returns to Great American Family beginning Friday, June 27 at 6p with a countdown to the 5th Anniversary of Great American Christmas, launching in October. The festivities begin with a marathon of royal-themed Christmas fare – “Jingle Bell Princess,” “A Christmas Castle Proposal,” “A Cinderella Christmas Ball,” and more – followed by a military-centric line-up on July 4 with “Bringing Christmas Home,” “My Christmas Hero,” and “Tails of Christmas.” |
| STREAMING |
One-in-three adults have upgraded their subscription services to the premium level in the past three months, according to new research from MAGNA Media Trials in collaboration with Roku, with ads in free streaming commanding the same level of attention as those in paid streaming. The study, “TV Attention, Deconstructed,” also found:
· Free streaming is outperforming paid ad-supported services in reaching GenX, Boomers and women
· Brands get about 18% more attention when the same person sees an ad on two viewing models instead of one
· Ad attention peaks every 24 hours, likely driven by habit viewing.
“With this study we learned valuable insights that can not only inform media investment strategies, but also creative approaches and building better connections with audiences,” said Kara Manatt, EVP, Intelligence Solutions, MAGNA. |
| TECH |
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| Advertising analyst Brian Wieser increased his outlook for 2025 US ad spending growth by 6%, about twice his estimate for the industry in March. The increase excludes estimates of political ad spending and follows stronger-than-expected growth in Q1 (9.7%) and Q2 (6%).
Integral Ad Science (IAS), and Impact Plus have formed a partnership they say will allow advertisers to track and optimize the performance and sustainability of their digital media campaigns. The integration with Impact Plus will provide advertisers with campaign-level emissions that are incorporated into IAS reports, helping to drive more data-driven, sustainable advertising and allowing IAS customers to measure the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by their digital campaigns alongside media quality and attention metrics.
Comscore has expanded its partnership with ad tech company ShowSeeker’s Pilot cloud-based campaign and order management platform, bringing its person-level local live and DVR data into the Pilot system. Pilot has integrated person-level insights with local time-shifted viewing data, which gives mutual clients the ability to assess household-level impressions and individual-level demographics such as age and gender. |
| SPORTS REPORT |
 TNT Sports’ coverage of the French Open delivered record viewership and engagement through its first week, with total hours watched across its three networks (TNT, TruTV and HBO Max) up 53% year over year, making it the most consumed first week of coverage ever. Average viewership on TNT only was up 23%. On the social media side, coverage of Roland-Garros attracted more than 330 million views across all social platforms, on pace for it to become the most socially-viewed tennis tournament by a media partner.
Tennis Channel, its app and website TennisChannel.com will unveil a four-episode, nightly conversation series June 5-8, during the final days of the French Open. “Prakash in Primetime,” hosted by network global-desk host Prakash Amritraj, will premiere tonight, June 5, at 10p. The hourlong discussions will feature guests such as Hall of Famer Jim Courier and coach Patrick Mouratoglou and current and past tennis stars. Amritraj is at Roland-Garros as part of Tennis Channel’s two-week coverage of the year’s second major.
Sony and the National Hockey League announced a new multiyear global technology partnership naming Sony an Official NHL Technology Partner. The NHL and Sony will work together to evolve the NHL experience for fans, as well as NHL coaches, officials, players and broadcasters, by increasing Sony’s Beyond Sports’ production of NHL animated data visualizations, broadening usage of Sony’s Hawk-Eye measuring and tracking technologies and investing in various Sony products and technologies.
According to SponsorUnited, women’s pro sports are beginning to rake in big sponsorship money. WNBA teams generated $76 million in sponsorship revenue across 551 deals in 2024, while NWSL teams brought in $75 million across 445 deals this year. The average deal size was between $138,000 and $169,000.
Syndicated combat sports network FIGHT SPORTS has expanded distribution in the US with FanDuel Sport Network, adding its programming to an additional eight FanDuel networks, joining the four FanDuel regional networks already airing its content. New markets include Los Angeles, Atlanta, Tampa, Cleveland, Minneapolis, St Louis, Oklahoma City and Milwaukee. FIGHT SPORTS reaches over 70M households in the US, and with this expanded partnership, coverage now reaches 90% of the Top 50 DMAs.
Affinity Solutions has launched Fansactions, which enables advertisers to directly measure return-on-ad-spend (ROAS) by combining online and in-store transactions with sports fan media consumption and ad exposure. This solution can be integrated with any media and measurement platform across linear TV and CTV, which gives advertisers more flexibility and opportunities to unlock greater value from their investments. The software enables brands to determine which sports and leagues their customers and competitors’ customers engage with so they can activate precise targeting and optimization, the company claims. TV outcomes company EDO will leverage Fansactions with its syndicated outcomes database. |
 Disney announced “Disney Jr. Let’s Play!,” a multiplatform global campaign designed to inspire preschoolers to experience the joy of play through Disney Jr.’s characters and stories. Disney Jr. also announced a collaboration with ESPN’s “Take Back Sports” initiative, which with national nonprofit Every Kid Sports will offer sports grants to families with preschoolers who are facing financial hardship. Available through the Fall 2025 Every Kid Sports Pass, the grants will provide access by covering fall registration fees for qualifying applicants. This marks the first time that the program has focused on preschool-aged children. |
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This Day in History
1968 – Sirhan Sirhan assassinated Robert F. Kennedy, shooting him 3 times and wounding 5 others at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Kennedy dies the next day.
Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
In which animated series did Tiffany Haddish play a head cheerleader? “Legends of Chamberlain Heights” (2016-17). Kudos to: Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA
Today’s Trivia Question
Veteran voice actor Don Messick portrayed a laundry list of Hanna-Barbera animated icons like Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons’ dog Astro, Hong Kong Phooey’s cat Spot and Barney Rubble’s son Bamm-Bamm over a decades long career but had just one live-action credit. What was the name of the series? (Email your answer to trivia@cynopsis.com and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four answers per time zone.) |
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