Welcome to “In Case You Missed It,” which is a quick roundup of the top stories of the previous week in each of our four daily editions. So if you skipped a newsletter, this is where you want to go to make sure you’re up on the latest news, Cynopsis-style, in the worlds of linear, digital, sports, and kids television. Enjoy!
Flagship
NBC‘s telecast of the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards on August 25th featured host Seth Meyers (Late Night), a slew of celeb presenters and more than a few surprises in the winner’s circle. Trophies went to:
Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Bryan Cranston
Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Julianna Margulies
Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie: Benedict Cumberbatch
Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie: Jessica Lange
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Jim Parsons
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program: The Amazing Race
Outstanding Miniseries: Fargo
Outstanding Variety: Colbert Report
Outstanding TV Movie: The Normal Heart
Outstanding Drama: Breaking Bad
Outstanding Comedy: Modern Family
Turner Broadcasting sent an email offering buyout packages to about 600 of its 9000 U.S. employees, including staffers at least 55 years old with at least ten years experience. The memo also warned of “additional reductions in staffing.” The move follows CEO John Martin’s announcement that a corporate restructure was in the offing involving “reducing spending and maximizing growth and profitability.”
Sports
NASCAR released its national series schedules for the 2015 season, which will see new deals with FOX and NBC kick in. Changes in the slate include new dates for Darlington Raceway, Bristol Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway. Following the 57th running of the Daytona 500 Feb. 22 on FOX, Atlanta Motor Speedway will now host the season’s second race weekend (March 1), while Darlington returns to its traditional Labor Day weekend date (Sept. 6).
FOX Sports will showcase the first eight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point races on FOX, while six run on FOX Sports 1 for the first time. The season kicks off from Daytona Speedweeks with the Sprint Unlimited, Daytona 500 Pole Qualifying and 57th running of the Daytona 500 all on the broadcast network. The broadcast network’s slate includes point events at Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix, California, Martinsville, Texas, Bristol, Talladega and Charlotte. FOX Sports 1 offers fans races that the Budweiser Duel, Richmond, Kansas, NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, Dover, Pocono, Michigan, and Sonoma. Meanwhile, coverage of the 2015 NASCAR Nationwide Series will see races from Phoenix, Talladega, Charlotte, and Dover on the broadcast channel while FOX Sports 1 will deliver 10. The channel also broadcasts 22 2015 NASCAR Camping World Series races, with one (Talladega) on FOX.
SiriusXM and Bleacher Report announced the upcoming launch of SiriusXM Bleacher Report Radio, a new satellite radio channel slated to debut on Sept. 2. The channel will run on Sirius channel 93 and XM channel 208. The new channel will now feature a daily lineup of shows hosted by the likes of Will Carroll, King Kaufman, Dan Levy and Josh Zerkle, as well as daily contributions from B/R’s roster of writers and contributors. Featured hosts will also include former NFL linebacker Kirk Morrison, broadcaster Nicole Zaloumis and others. The schedule tipped off at 7a on Sept. 2 with TheMorning B/Reakaway, hosted by Dan Levy and Josh Zerkle, followed by Nicole Zaloumis hosting B/R Spotlight at 10a and Will Carroll and Jason Goff handling B/R Afternoon Drive at 3p. At 6p, King Kaufman hosts Content Is King, an hour-long look at sports and sports media with top Bleacher Report talent.
Digital
Amazon has purchased Twitch for a reported $970 million after months of speculation that Google would buy the streaming service that allows video gamers to watch one another play. The word had been that Google would shell out $1 billion for the property.
AT&T has finally worked out a deal with antitrust regulators that will allow it to buy DirecTV, according to the New York Post. The Department of Justice has given AT&T unspecified conditions that it has agreed to meet in order for the purchase to go through, though it isn’t expected to be completed until the first quarter. The plan to buy DirecTV for $48.5 billion became public in May.
Kids
Sprout’s getting into the tablet business. The NBCU net announced the launch of the Sprout Channel Cubby Android tablet, preloaded with 40 full episodes of Sprout programming-including The Chica Show, Barney and the premiere ep of Astroblast–28 apps, 28 music videos and six Sprout original songs. The $99 tablet will be sold exclusively at Walmart in October and is available for preorder today at walmart.com (http://walmart.com/Sprout). It also packs preloaded “Sprout recommended” apps, a daily weather report, color and print pages, crafts and recipes, plus a child-safe web browser. The Cubby is produced by Ematic and will include credits for Vudu.com, allowing customers to download more content to the tablet. “Just as parents and caregivers trust Sprout in their homes and on the go every day, they can feel secure with the Sprout Channel Cubby’s safe play environment where children can interact with their favorite characters and shows,” said Sandy Wax, President of Sprout.
The Aug. 31 return of Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man on Disney XD didn’t just mark season 3,:it heralded a new era in story-arcing, designed for diverging viewing patterns. Marvel VP of Animation Development & Partnerships Cort Lane talks shop:
A different story this time around: We know a lot of kids are viewing the show on the network, but we’ve learned we have pretty decent Netflix viewership, too. In the past there’s been one arc for the season, but for this season, rather than focus on standalone episodes, we developed multiple arcs throughout of four to seven episodes each. That allows us to deliver the experience for everyone, including Netflix [binge] viewers, too.
The many designs of the Spider-Verse arc: This has been a tremendous production undertaking. Within the confines of the series we have the opportunity to explore different animation styles as we travel to other universes. We go to an alternate future and meet Spider-Man 2099; that’s animated in CG. We visit a Spider-Man that’s animated in a noir style, and we go to a Spider Ham universe where he’s Peter Porker, which is animated in a toon-y fashion. Then there’s an arc where all the male characters are female and we meet Spider-Girl and Petra Parker, which is animated more traditionally. Each of the first three episodes has two half-hour universes each, and then they all come together in the final one.
New promotional avenues for network TV: The shorter story arcs are not just about SVOD. They afford a great opportunity for XD in that they can promote the bigger arc rather than just one episode. Also, it creates really natural places for networks to air reruns and take a break from premiering new episodes.
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