ABC is going against the prevailing winds in TV and making a big bet on family values. The network is banking on the strength of its comedy roster this fall by expanding its Tuesday sitcom block from one to two hours. The clutch of family-centric laffers that will air from 8 to 10 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday represent the most well-defined comedy brand among the Big Four networks at present.
ABC has renewed Celebrity Family Feud and The $100,000 Pyramid. The renewals were announced Sunday after the network picked up an additional season of fellow summer game show Match Game.
An email purported to be from the hacker or hackers behind the HBO breach is making a fresh wave of threats against the network. While the sender of the email appeared to use a pseudonym, the sender offered evidence of hacked materials to buttress the claim.
Exclusives
Brown Sugar, the new subscription-video-on-demand service from Bounce, is now available on the Roku platform. Roku customers can now watch Brown Sugar’s library of iconic black movies, all un-edited and commercial-free as they were originally seen […]
NFL Hall of Fame Game Tops Competition
The NFL Hall of Fame game on NBC easily beat out all of its broadcast competition in the Thursday overnight ratings. The game, which saw the Arizona Cardinals square off against the Dallas Cowboys, is currently averaging a 2.3 rating in adults 18-49 and 7.8 million total viewers. However, due to the nature of live sports, those numbers are not time zone adjusted and will likely change later today when the final numbers are calculated.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Steve Harvey says he learned two things after catching heat for a leaked memo. In an email to his staff for “The Steve Harvey Show,” […]
NBC wants business writers and critics to focus more on overall viewing, not just live program viewing measures. The revenue from delayed viewing is “significant,” says Bob Greenblatt, chairman, NBC Entertainment.
ABC has postponed its live-musical version of The Little Mermaid. The live production of the Broadway musical based on the classic Disney animated film had been scheduled for Oct. 3. No new premiere date has been set.
In addition to the 13-episode renewal, NBC has also ordered four more episodes for season one.
GSN, the company comprising GSN TV and GSN Games, has promoted Mark Feldman to president and CEO. The former EVP and general counsel replaces David Goodhill, who announced in April that he was exiting after a decade as CEO.
NBC is pledging to hire more female directors. The broadcast network is upping its inclusion efforts with an annual initiative called Female Forward, which will help work toward gender parity among scripted series directors across the network.
‘Big Brother’ Drives CBS To Wednesday Win
A new Big Brother, slightly lifted from the previous Wednesday, propelled CBS to a winning night. The reality show, paired with back-to-back episodes of drama Salvation, led primetime with an average 1.9 rating among adults 18-49 and 6.5 million viewers. As for Salvation, its two-hour block averaged a steady-ish 0.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 3.6 million viewers.
The agreement with TEN: The Enthusiast Network will combine: linear network Velocity, MotorTrend.com, the Motor Trend YouTube channel, Motor Trend’s OnDemand OTT service and TEN’s complete portfolio of automotive digital, social, live events and original content.
The African American-targeted multicast network’s 2017-18 programming will feature the new Grown Folks in addition to the exclusive telecast of The Trumpet Awards 2018, quarterly Ed Gordon newsmagazine specials and a new season of Premiere Boxing Champions on Bounce.
The network said in an internal memo that it did not believe its email system was compromised. The scope of the stolen materials, which include show episodes, is unknown.
Hasbro Inc, the maker of games ranging from Monopoly to foam Nerf balls, has ended talks to acquire U.S. movie studio and entertainment company Lionsgate Entertainment, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The deal would have given Hasbro a direct pipeline into Hollywood with more movies and TV shows tied to its toy brands.
WTCI To Launch Monthly Screening At Theater
What happens if the cable TV universe keeps shrinking and digital TV companies decide that they don’t need to invest in sports content? That’s a realistic scenario that threatens the huge amount of media rights fees that has made all sports much richer over the past decade. That’s not to suggest that there’s a media rights bubble that’s about to burst. But it could mean that the huge annual increases that the bigger leagues have enjoyed will flatten.
‘America’s Got Talent’ Matches Season High
Two months in, the NBC show continues to perform just as strong as it did during its premiere. Since its season premiere in May, America’s Got Talent‘s live showing has never fluctuated more than 4% in either direction, clinging to the high bar it set at the top of its 12th season to easily rank as the top reality player of the last year — outperforming even the regular season’s top players, The Bachelor (ABC) and The Voice (NBC).
