Sinclair struck a network distribution agreement with FOX Television Stations that adds Sinclair’s free over-the-air national broadcast TV network TBD TV to FOX’s owned and operated affiliates beginning January 15. The expanded agreement positions TBD TV in FOX’s key channel slots in several of the top markets, including the three largest DMAs, adding 22 million total TV households.

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Fox News’ unique US viewers across YouTube and Facebook climbed by 26% month-over-month to 44.6 million – No. 11 among all domestic creators, according to data from Tubular Labs. The network has increased its audience by 2.14x year-over-year dating back to last November as its programs focused on the election and issues for its core viewers.

Disney cut a transgender storyline in Pixar series “Win or Lose,” set to debut on Disney+ in 2025. “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline,” said a Disney spokesperson.

Erin and Sara Foster (“Nobody Wants This”) and their Fatigue Sisters Productions have signed an overall deal with 20th Television that calls for them to develop, write and executive produce original series for linear and streaming networks, with emphasis across the Disney Entertainment Television platforms.

ID announced upcoming hour-long special “Who Is Luigi Mangione?” (w/t), exploring how a young man of wealth and privilege could seemingly commit a heinous crime. Hosted and executive produced by Dan Abrams, the special is set to air in February 2025.

Dyllón Burnside (“Pose”) is set to lead the cast of BET+ true crime biopic “Fighting to Be Me: The Dwen Curry Story,” alongside D.B. Woodside (“9-1-1: Lone Star”) and A.J. Johnson (“Baby Boy”), with Joe Carroll on board to direct.

Ed Bernero (“Criminal Minds”) has joined Marvel’s “Nova,” in development for Disney+, as writer and showrunner. Bernero replaces Sabir Pirzada (“Moon Knight”), who was named as writer when the project was first put in development.

Season two of AMC’s “Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches” premieres Sunday, January 5 at 9p, continuing the journey of Rowan Mayfair (Alexandra Daddario) after she has unwittingly given birth to the demon Lasher (Jack Huston).

Lineup Industries and PBS Distribution have signed an acquisition deal for 12 seasons of the UK version of format “Long Lost Family,” alongside seven seasons of spin-off series “What Happened Next.” Both series will be available to watch on new FAST channel PBS Genealogy, which is now available on Pluto TV in the US, as well as with PBS Passport.

Today’s Premieres
Apple TV+: The Secret Lives of Animals
Hulu: Gordon Ramsay’s Festival Home Cooking
Netflix: The Manny

TV outcomes company EDO and DoubleVerify are partnering to deliver AI-powered optimization for CTV advertising. Leveraging DV Scibids AI™, DoubleVerify’s proprietary technology designed to maximize ad performance and cost efficiency across the world’s leading DSPs, the partnership is aimed at enabling advertisers to optimize media buys with ad-driven engagement signals. DoubleVerify’s AI technology leverages DSP impression-level data feeds, first-party data, and third-party measurement data, to dynamically generate custom bidding algorithms tailored to clients’ specific KPIs and desired outcomes, while improving operational efficiency and reducing manual lift.

Captify unveiled a new a Real-Time Audience Enrichment solution, an integration that will allow publishers to bridge the gap between what they know about their user base and their search activity across the open web. Captify’s models classify users within seconds, providing publishers with a holistic view of their site visitors and their behavior outside of their own domains. “Publishers are constantly looking for avenues to drive profitability to their site, and through this tool, Captify will be able to provide new ways to understand who their core audiences are, and easily monetize this information through direct buys,” said Amelia Waddington, Global Chief Product and Technology Officer at Captify. “Our solution helps unlock extra data signals, enabling publishers to create better advertising opportunities for themselves and their advertiser partners without the need for cookies or other targeting tools.”

Compulse, a marketing technology and managed services company built for local media and agencies, and Placements.io, focused on advertising sales, operations, and revenue management software, announced a strategic partnership. The collaboration integrates Placements.io’s AdSalesOS platform with Compulse’s flagship solution, Compulse 360, delivering automated omnichannel ad activation at scale. “Integrating with Compulse 360 allows us to deliver a powerful, unified solution for ad sales and fulfillment,” said Evan Bowen, chief business officer at Placements.io. “This partnership empowers Compulse’s users to manage their sales workflows more efficiently, unlocking greater productivity and profitability.”

Digital Remedy, a performance marketing and digital advertising solutions partner for brands and agencies, has launched a new reporting and performance platform that provides performance-focused reporting across CTV/OTT and programmatic media. “This platform goes beyond just numbers; it unifies fragmented data across platforms to give our clients a comprehensive view of their campaign performance,” said David Zapletal, Chief Operating Officer at Digital Remedy. “By providing real, actionable insights into the drivers of success, we’re empowering marketers to take charge of their strategies, make smarter decisions, and achieve measurable results in an ever-changing digital environment.”

Beginning today at 9p, viewers can find the Ultraman Holiday Special Marathon, a collection of five holiday-themed Utraman episodes, on the Ultraman Official English YouTube Channel. (Fun fact: Santa Claus is the Father of Ultra.) The channel will also present The Holiday Special Watch Party, including four additional episodes, special guest commentary, and new Ultraman product reveals on December 22. All episodes will be available through January 5.

Fuse Media has reached an agreement with Hartbeat to be the exclusive seller of all advertising inventory on its LOL! Network and LOL Stand-Up! FAST channels. The channels will be added to Fuse Media’s ad sales solution Culture Collective, a portfolio of owned and operated diverse-focused channels and premium partner channels that provide advertisers access to multicultural youth audiences across Streaming TV.

The lineup for the “iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2024” holiday special, hosted by Ryan ‘He’s Everywhere’ Seacrest and Elvis Duran, includes Katy Perry, twenty one pilots, Tate McRae, Meghan Trainor, Teddy Swims, T-Pain, Benson Boone, Gracie Abrams, Madison Beer, Kane Brown, Paris Hilton, The Kid LAROI, Shaboozey and NCT Dream. The broadcast airs today at 8p on ABC.

The “Abbott Elementary” holiday special delivered 6.66 million total Live+7 viewers and a rating of 2.14 among A18-29 on ABC, Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and digital platforms, according to Nielsen, up 129% from its Live+Same Day number.

“World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 evening newscast in all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (7.854 million), Adults 25-54 (1.084 million) and Adults 18-49 (726,000) during the week of December 9, based on Live+Same Day Nielsen data. Season to date, the show is ranking No. 1 in Total Viewers for the 9th consecutive year.

In 2024, FOX News Channel held 55% of the cable news audience in primetime and 53% in total day, its highest share of the audience since 2015. In primetime, FNC averaged 2,406,000 viewers (+31% vs. 2023) and 298,000 in A25-54 (+42% vs. 2023).

Christmas thriller “Carry-On” topped Netflix’s English films list with 42 million views, the biggest opening for a Netflix film this year.

Fuse’s O&O FAST Channels have collectively amassed nearly 3.5 billion minutes watched in 2024 to-date, pacing +38% ahead of 2023. Among the success stories: In November, Shades of Black saw its best month ever, up +46% vs. the YAGO month; OUTtv Proud finished November +506% ahead of YAGO with its spring launch on Samsung; and Somos Novelas scored its best month since launch in November.

Endemol Shine Italy is teaming with Rai Fiction to produce a new three-part primetime series for Rai 1, based on Mario Tobino’s novel Le Libere Donne di Magliano- Mondadori Libri.

“Turbozaurs,” an animated series by Tale Wind Studio, is expanding its presence in Southeast Asia with distribution deals with Mi Media in Brunei and CANAL+ in Myanmar.

Boat Rocker inked an exclusive multi-year deal with The Weather Channel to distribute its library of original content in global markets outside of the US.

Smartclip, RTL Group’s adtech business, and M6 Publicité, the advertising sales house of Groupe M6, announce a strategic technology partnership. smartclip’s advanced adtech solutions will progressively be integrated into M6 Publicité’s adtech stack.

WildBrain is partnering with the LEGO Group to bring the franchises LEGO® Friends, LEGO® City, LEGO® NINJAGO® and LEGO® DREAMZzz™ to its YouTube network globally through its hub channels. WildBrain is the first YouTube distribution partner for the content outside of LEGO’s own channels.

OneGate Media announced the launch of its Spanish Crime AVOD YouTube channel, Crime Para Mí. The channel has racked up over 1.5 million views so far.

Soniya Monga is joining Pinterest as VP of Global Agency Sales. Prior to Pinterest, Monga was Head of US Agency Partnerships at TikTok.

Today’s Trivia Question
Which 1960s series was revived in a 1994 TV-movie? (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)