Also: PBC heads to Amazon Prime; Paramount Global may be on sales block; Cord-cutting having an impact on Baltimore’s finances More information was released last week about Dr. Phil McGraw’s new network Merit Street is relying on an old standby to distribute the network. Trinity Broadcasting Network, who usually broadcasts non-secular fare, will air several hours of Dr. Phil’s new […]
Follows HBO’s exit five years ago With the decline of linear TV – and traditional Pay TV in general, it’s no surprise Paramount Global’s Showtime Sports division is shuttering its doors after 37 years in operation. The unit was mostly home to boxing events run by Premier Boxing Champions and Bellator MMA fighting plus sports documentaries, would close by the […]
Netflix’s new Chicago Party Aunt is creating a lot of buzz Over the years, we were treated to jokes regarding all the number of Chicago shows Dick Wolf has created for NBC: Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med. What’s next? Chicago Sanitation Department? Chicago Animal Control? Well, how about Chicago Party Aunt? For once, we have a show with […]
Disney Plus made the biggest splash of the year 2019 saw the end of several institutions, big media battles, and disappointing sports teams. Let’s start with the huge changes in big media, as Disney closed on its purchase of the 20th Century Fox film studio and Viacom reuniting with CBS again with a new name (ViacomCBS) as the race […]
Plus…. Ratings for Bulls and Blackhawks continue to fall; Jeopardy continues to roll thanks to a winning contestant; Crain’s partners with WGN Radio As one might have predicted, CBS’ new limited-series drama The Red Line got off to a rough start Sunday night, and it was indeed “A Long Night”. The two-hour premiere of the shot-in-Chicago series drew next-to-nothing in […]
They want to get “bigger and broader” to compete with Netflix – but they use language only a commercial broadcaster would use If you are a fan of HBO or any premium cable service you have to be concerned about what was reported in the New York Times on July 8. Blaring the headline “HBO Must Get Bigger And Broader […]
Tribune has found a new vice president and general manager for WGN-TV and his name is Paul Rennie, who comes from sister stations WTTV and WXIN in Indianapolis. Rennie succeeds Greg Easterly, who moved to New York to take the open WPIX GM position. Rennie also will oversee CLTV, Tribune’s local Chicago news channel. Rennie will have the task of […]
CBS Corp.’s two other properties: Showtime and The CW, held their presentations at TCA recently: Showtime: CEO David Nevins addressed rival FX’s programmer John Landgraf’s comments regarding “too much TV”: “There is never enough great TV”, Nevins responded. Nevins also said he was developing a comedy with Jim Carrey about the 1970’s comedy club scene, and is developing a drama […]
Wheel, Jeopardy hosts stay another two years; LAFF increases reach with Cox deal – Don’t look for any members of the Chicago Bears current roster to make any media appearances this upcoming season: according to CSN Chicago’s John Mullin, the new regime at Halas Hall is not allowing any more outside radio and TV gigs for the 2015 season, with the […]
– Emmy and Peabody winner Bill Kurtis has a new gig: he’ll host a show on the new Decades network called Though the Decades, a weekday strip recalling the events of historical significance between the 1950s and 1990s, beginning in May. The series plans to draw from the vast resources of CBS News and Entertainment Tonight libraries for material. A […]
The second day of NATPE: – It’s a Friends reunion… but only with the creators of the show. Friends co-creator Marta Kaufmann and David Crane reunited Tuesday for a NATPE panel, reflecting on their success and talked about the future of the network sitcom. The duo didn’t exactly wax praise on the current state of the genre, saying they wouldn’t […]
It was CBS’ turn at the mic at the Television Critics Association press tour last Tuesday, and it featured a surprise cameo appearance from CEO Les Moonves, who filled in for Entertainment president Nina Tassler at the last minute. – Moonves didn’t really get into details regarding the retrans dispute between CBS and Time Warner Cable, hoping it would be […]
The opening day of Comic-Con had little in the way of television panels – but they were huge. The events of the day were headlined by three shows: the X-Files 20th anniversary; Dexter’s final season; and a release of a new South Park video game. X Files: With people waiting in lines for hours, the X-Files Anniversary panel reunited two […]
The CW recently took the stage as the TCA tour winds down: CW President Mark Pedowitz addressed critics at the press tour, including updates on current shows and those in development. Pedowitz said CW is in the reality business to stay despite two of those series – Breaking Pointe and Oh Sit are drawing few viewers. As far as renewals […]
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