| A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM MADHIVE |
Good morning and welcome to Cynopsis — the media industry’s essential morning read. Today:
· Fox Buys Roku? Who Saw That Coming?
· “House Of The Dragon” Has Finally Built A Strong Foundation
· The FIFA World Cup Opens To World-Breaking Records |
 IN THE NEWS |
 Roku for beaucoup bucks. On Monday, Fox announced plans to acquire Roku for $22 billion.
· Once the deal closes in the first half of 2027 (pending regulatory approval, of course), Fox will own both of the most popular free streaming services in the US: namely, The Roku Channel and Tubi.
· According to the Nielsen Gauge, The Roku Channel made up 3% of all US streaming viewership in March 2026, and Tubi made up about 2.2% in that same time period. Combined, that’s almost as much viewership as Disney+ (5.3%) got.
· Still, there are no plans to merge the two platforms together anytime soon, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch told investors on Monday morning.
· Owning Roku will also help Fox significantly scale up its CTV business, thanks to the addition of Roku’s first-party data and programmatic ad tech buying capabilities.
Welcome to consolidation nation. Late last week, the Department of Justice officially approved Paramount Skydance’s pending $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which is expected to close later this year.
· Paramount is positioning the merged company as “pro-competitive” by pooling together the duo’s legacy IP and modern digital infrastructure. The world of Hollywood talent disagrees, citing concerns about widespread job losses and fewer content titles as the number of individual film studios dwindles due to consolidation.
· One of the loudest naysayers is Hollywood actress Jane Fonda, who was married to the late CNN founder Ted Turner. At a live event in New York City over the weekend, Fonda encouraged the audience to “sign a petition to tell your state attorneys general to block the Paramount Warner Brothers merger.”
· The Paramount-WBD deal still awaits international regulatory approval.
We were all rooting for you! Model and TV host Tyra Banks filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix in Los Angeles federal court on Saturday. The suit alleges that the docuseries “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” used selective editing to suggest Banks did not take accountability for wrongdoing that occurred during the production of “ANTM.” |
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| NEW & RETURNING SERIES |
 Reviews are in for “House Of The Dragon” Season 3, which returns to HBO on Sunday, June 21 at 9 p.m. Variety called the season “less sleepy” than the previous two, while The Daily Beast raves that the show is “finally reaching ‘Game of Thrones’ heights.” The new season currently holds a 97% score among critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
“The Season,” a new revenge drama series from the producers behind “Crazy Rich Asians,” premieres June 17 on Hulu.
“Drag Race France” Season 4 will premiere July 8 on WOW Presents Plus. |
Today’s Premiere
Disney+: A Spark Into a Flame: Hamilton & Hip Hop
Netflix: America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders
Magnolia: Lakefront Bargain Hunt Renovation at 9 p.m. |
| PRODUCTION |
| ESPN greenlit the original series “Setting the Tempo.” The four-part series explores the launch of Canada’s first WNBA franchise, the Toronto Tempo.
As part of its location shift to London, the sixth season of Hulu’s “Only Murders In The Building” has added David Tennant, Nicola Coughlan, Jodie Whittaker, Jim Broadbent, Richard Ayoade, Adrian Lukis and Kathryn Hunter to its cast. Filming is currently underway in the UK.
Speaking of Hulu, the streamer is also developing a TV adaptation of the comic book series “RetroActive,” written and illustrated by Ibrahim Moustafa. Bobak Esfarjani (“WandaVision,” “Alien: Earth” and Bruce Miller (“The Handmaid’s Tale”, “The 100”) are attached as producers.
Yet another media giant has taken inspiration from the success of “Heated Rivalry” and greenlit a brand new book-to-TV hockey romance series – albeit a heterosexual one. This time it’s Netflix, which ordered a series adaptation of “Icebreaker,” the best-selling novel by Hannah Grace.
Also on Netflix, “The Four Seasons” has been renewed for a third season, just a few short weeks after the premiere of Season 2. Head of UCAN Scripted Series Jinny Howe announced the move on Monday at the Banff World Media Festival in Canada.
Pamela Adlon and BD Wong will join Prime Video’s “Sex Criminals” adaptation as a series regular and recurring guest, respectively. The series is being co-created by Tze Chun, Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, the latter of whom will also recur.
ZAG unveiled a kids’ animated action-comedy series “Ghostforce Evolution,” now in production. The series will be distributed on Netflix, France’s TF1 and Germany’s Super RTL. |
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| TECH NEWS YOU CAN USE |
| Peacock announced its first original vertical microdrama, a Bravo unscripted series called “Campus Confidential: Miami.” The series will be available on the Peacock app as part of a much larger mobile vertical video feed push, THR reports. Other offerings include licensed microdramas from Reelshort, clips from Peacock content and Bravo recaps from an AI-powered Andy Cohen.
TvScientific, the video ad performance marketing platform acquired by Pinterest in December, launched a new AI-driven feature to help brands adjust their creative to drive improved results. The tool, called Creative Advisor, assigns video ad creatives a score based on historical ad performance data and recommendations on how to make a creative perform better. The product also comes with help from a dedicated human support team. |
| COMING UP |
| ABC announced the line-up for “Disney Celebrates America: Nashville’s Star-Spangled Bash,” a live concert special that will air on ABC, Freeform, FX, NatGeo, Disney+, Hulu and the ESPN app. The special airs on Saturday, July 4 at 8 p.m., featuring performances by Nick Jonas, Reba McEntire, Boyz II Men, NE-YO, and more. |
| SPORTS REPORT |
| Prime Video’s “All or Nothing” Documentary series will follow Manchester United through the 2026/27 Premier League Season, Amazon announced Monday. The new season will debut sometime next summer. |
| DISTRIBUTION |
| Australian content distributor Fred Media will relaunch its international Life Down Under channel, adding a number of new titles from Seven Network and the Great Home Ideas YouTube channel.
Swerve TV has completed distribution deals with Fubo, Plex, Amazon Fire TV and Anoki AI for 24/7 FAST channel Swerve Women’s Sports. The channel will also air a 24-hour marathon to highlight Black female athletes on this Friday, June 19, in honor of Juneteenth.
Netflix and iHeartMedia will expand their video podcast partnership with titles from Martha Stewart, Kate and Oliver Hudson, and Lele Pons. iHeartMedia will continue to retain all audio-only rights and distribution. |
| RATINGS |
 The FIFA World Cup’s opening match on Thursday pretty much broke records for every broadcaster that aired it. Fox is now reporting that the Mexico vs. South Africa game drew a total of 7.1 million viewers across Fox, Fox One and Tubi, using data from Nielsen.
Later that day, the Korea vs. Czechia game reached a peak of 3.73 million viewers on FS1, up 144% from the channel’s telecast average in 2022.
Meanwhile, Telemundo’s Mexico vs. South Africa broadcast drew 12.1 million viewers, making it both the most-watched World Cup game in Spanish-language history and the most-watched World Cup opening game ever regardless of language.
Friday’s game between the USA and Paraguay achieved similarly high ratings on Telemundo; it scored 8.9 million viewers, which made it the most-watched Team USA game on Spanish-language television.
More of a basketball fan? The NBA Finals game between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs on Saturday averaged 26.2 million viewers, according to AdImpact. |
| IN MEMORIAM |
| NBC’s “Today” show contributor and film critic Gene Shalit passed away late last week. Shalit was best known for reviewing books and movies on “The Today Show” for several decades before retiring in 2010. He was 100 years old.
“Love Island USA” executive producer James Barker died on location in Fiji last week due to an unexpected medical emergency. Although details surrounding his death were not disclosed, Peacock said that Tuesday night’s episode of the dating show will be presented in his honor. |
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Today’s Trivia Question
What punk rock pioneer also became the first openly gay person to star in an American reality television show? (Email answers to trivia@cynopsis.com and include your name, company and city. Answers limited to four per time zone.)
Answer to Our Last Trivia Question
Netflix’s “Heartbreak High” is a soft reboot of an Australian teen drama series with the same name that aired between 1994 and 1999. The original series is also available to stream on Netflix.
Congrats to: Justin Pierce-JP Consulting Group/LA; Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/LA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA |
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