Skip a newsletter last week? “In Case You Missed It” rounds up the top stories in each of our three daily editions, so you can be up on the latest news, Cynopsis-style, in the worlds of linear, digital, sports and kids television. Enjoy!
FLAGSHIP
Fox is reviving The X-Files as a six-episode event series. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will reprise their roles as FBI agents Mulder and Scully, and Chris Carter, creator of the 1993-2002 supernatural drama, returns as exec producer. “I think of it as a 13-year commercial break,” said Carter. “The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to tell these six stories.” Production starts this summer.
Popular Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson is out, following his March 10 suspension for a “fracas” with a show producer. BBC Director General Tony Hall announced the decision, acknowledging, “The BBC must now look to renew Top Gear for 2016. This will be a big challenge and there is no point in pretending otherwise.”
DIGITAL
At F8, the Facebook developer conference held in San Francisco, it was announced that the social network’s Messenger is introducing a platform for developers to create apps. At the moment, more than 40 integrated apps such as those from ESPN, The Weather Channel and JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot company enhance conversations between users. The service can also support 360-degree videos with FB’s Oculus VR format; Messenger now has more than 600 million monthly active users worldwide.
Vessel, the new video venture from former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, officially launched to the public. The platform is available in a free version that provides clips but can also be found on other video sites; a paid service for a $2.99/month price tag gives a three-day window to see vids before they are released anywhere else. Regardless of the version, advertising revenue will lean generously toward the creator at a 70/30 split. A slate of talent and media companies, such as Ingrid Nilsen, Brittani Louise Taylor, Connor Franta, Nerdist Industries, Jimmy Tatro, Tanya Burr, Roman Atwood, Arden Rose, Jack Vale, Above Average, Machinima, Sports Illustrated and Tastemade debuted programming on the platform. A+E, NBA, NHL, MLS andFox Sports are also on board. Vessel hosts its own custom ad platforms – a five second pre-roll and a magazine in-feed called “brand motion posters,” powered by FreeWheel.
SPORTS
The NBA has a new teammate in Univision Deportes, striking a new multiyear deal designed to offer fans Spanish-language NBA content across Univision Deportes’ multimedia platforms, as well as offer activation around NBA signature events. The company will launch new NBA programming via UniMas and Univision Deportes Network, with UDN offering NBA Action, the weekly basketball show that will be customized in Spanish, beginning on Thursday. Additionally, UniMas presents Zona NBA, a new season-long, one-hour weekly show produced by Univision Deportes beginning with the upcoming NBA Playoffs and running through the end of the NBA Finals. On the marketing front, the deal will see Univision Deportes and the NBA unveiling new, enhanced co-branded ene•be•a web and mobile sites to further expand the league’s first fully integrated Hispanic marketing campaign with new domestic Spanish-language destinations starting in September.
The NFL is bidding farewell to the league’s long-running blackout policy, at least for a year. NFL teams approved a one-year suspension of the rule for the 2015 pre- and regular season games. The league will reevaluate the policy once the season concludes. Last year saw zero regular season blackouts, while the 2013 season saw two. Meanwhile, the league is also reportedly mulling an option to move the Pro Bowl to Brazil. FOX Sports reports that team owners are considering the shift away from US soil for the 2017 matchup.
KIDS
An aspiring pop diva, a fashionista and a bookworm come together at boarding school to form their own K-pop-inspired band in Nickelodeon’s newest live-action series, Make It Pop. The series, created by Thomas W. Lynch and Nick Cannon, premieres Monday, April 6, at 7p, with a sneak peek on Thursday, March 26, at 7p, and Friday, March 27, at 5p. The show will air regularly on Nick weekdays at 7p; each episode will be available on Nick.com and the Nick App the day after its linear TV premiere.
Disney Channel is developing a movie about Mo’ne Davis, the 13-year-old girl who pitched a shutout at the Little League World Series last summer and was the first Little Leaguer to make the cover of Sports Illustrated. “A year ago, I never would have thought that Disney Channel would make a movie about me,” said Davis. “I can’t wait to get started, and I hope it will encourage other viewers to believe that dreams really do come true.”
