Netflix, Pushing Into AVOD Fray, Plans New Ad Formats, ‘Crown’ Sponsorship Deals

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Can “King Charles” rule in the heady, competitive world of cable news? CNN will soon find out. The new weekly one-hour program will debut Wednesday, November 29, at 10 p.m., and will be co-anchored by the unlikely duo of Gayle King, who still has her long-running day job at rival CBS News, and Charles Barkley, the outspoken sportscaster who remains a key element in the NBA coverage provided by CNN’s parent, Warner Bros. Discovery.

Jaden Thompson Netflix has debuted an explosive new trailer for Zack Snyder‘s “Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire,” set for a limited one-week theatrical release on Dec. 15 and a wide streaming release on Netflix on Dec. 22.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Before CNN, CBS News or ABC News can snare one of the series of Republican primary debates taking place in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, another news outlet will have its turn. NewsNation, the upstart cable-news property launched by Nexstar Media in March of 2021, will team up with SiriusXM Radio and the conservative political outlet Washington Free Beacon on December 6 to broadcast the event, the fourth backed by the Republican National Committee following debates telecast by Fox News Media networks and NBC News.

Vivek Ramaswamy used his opening question at the third Republican debate by turning to an old standby: Attacking the media.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor In the midst of a great debate about the future of the U.S. news business, the British are coming. Katty Kay, the veteran BBC newscaster, is set to launch a new deep-dive interview program that will take her away — not permanently — from her usual role covering U.S.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CBS’ news-and-stations division will launch a new unit to examine misinformation and so-called “deepfakes,” or false videos that can often be generated via artificial intelligence. The new unit, called “CBS News Confirmed,” will be led by Claudia Milne, senior vice president for CBS News and Stations and head of standards and practices, along with Ross Dagan, executive vice president and head of news operations and Ttransformation for CBS News and Stations.

Netflix drama is proving a hit with fans who “can’t get enough” of the new show.The Mexican thriller series called Pact of Silence/Pacto di Silencio, has proved a hit with fans around the world who have been gripped by the show’s plot and storyline.Directed by Carlos Villegas Rosales and written by José Vicente Spataro, the series tells the story of Brenda Rey (played by Camila Valero), who is a social media influencer. Abandoned as a child by her mother and with a harrowing past, Rey decides to get revenge on the people who abandoned her at birth.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Paramount Global saw a third-quarter profit hike thanks to new revenue from its streaming and film operations even as its largest business, linear TV, grappled with flat distribution revenue and a downturn in advertising dollars. The New York owner of CBS, the Paramount movie studio and the Nickelodeon cable network said revenue rose 3% during the period, largely due to a 38% increase in its streaming business and a 14% hike from its film division, which benefitted from the latest releases in the “Mission Impossible” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” franchises.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor David Corvo, the guiding force behind hundreds of hours of NBC’s signature “Dateline” newsmagazine, will step away from the role at the end of 2023, bringing to a close a TV-news career that has spanned four decades. Corvo has been with “Dateline” in some capacity since joining NBC News in 1995 as a vice president responsible for primetime news programming.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Lester Holt may be turning up more frequently in David Muir‘s rear-view mirror. During Muir’s tenure at “World News Tonight,” the ABC program has done something most TV programs cannot do in the streaming era: Add new linear viewers. Yet in recent weeks one of the evening-news program’s competitors has nibbled at its lead in a crucial audience category.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Christine Romans, a veteran financial journalist who had been with CNN for more than two decades, has joined NBC News. In her new role, Romans will be charged with “reporting across all platforms of NBC News, including writing for digital and on MSNBC,” according to a memo issued Monday by Catherine Kim, senior vice president editorial for NBC News.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Nielsen appears to be trying to move forward with a new audience-measurement technology that many TV networks think still isn’t ready for primetime. The measurement giant in September backed off an effort to incorporate first-party data from Amazon in its study of the audience for the company’s streamcast of “Thursday Night Football.” The move would have marked a first step toward utilizing inputs from the companies Nielsen measures as it produces its widely used tabulation of national viewership, and many TV executives denounced the plan.

Kurt Badenhausen The New York Knicks reached a jersey patch agreement with Sphere Entertainment for the Sphere logo to appear on the team’s uniforms starting with the 2023-24 season, Variety’s sister site Sportico reports. Sphere Entertainment and Knicks’ parent Madison Square Garden Sports, both of which are publicly traded companies, are controlled by the Dolan family.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Time for a different sort of commercial break. Any subscriber to the ad-supported version of Hulu is bound to encounter the usual assortment of TV commercials that regularly interrupt a binge-watch of anything from “Only Murders in the Building” to “NYPD Blue.” Sometimes, a different sort of pitch pops up. This one only surfaces when users stop the action on their own to take a call, grab a snack or hit the bathroom.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Live from somewhere near New York, it’s yet another recap of an original broadcast of “Saturday Night Live.” The venerable late-night NBC series, now just two episodes into its 49th season, kicked off the show with a satirical look at the Republican Party. “SNL” skewered Rep. Jim Jordan’s efforts to win the battle for U.S.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Live from somewhere near New York, it’s yet another recap of an original broadcast of “Saturday Night Live.” The venerable late-night NBC series, now just two episodes into its 49th season, kicked off the show with a satirical look at the Republican Party. “SNL” skewered Rep.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan will soon have to greet ABC’s morning viewers from a decidedly different locale. As part of a larger move by Walt Disney Co., all of the company’s New York properties are slated to move in 2025 to a building in downtown New York in a neighborhood known as Hudson Square. That will include some programs already ensconced in well known studios, such as “GMA” and “Live with Kelly and Mark.” The move won’t isn’t scheduled to take place for some time, but staffers are already coming to grips with how it might affect the program’s standing in TV’s non-stop morning-news wars.

Suffs, the Shaina Taub musical about the suffragist movement that had a sold-out, extended run Off Broadway last year, will move to Broadway this spring, with former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai on the producing team as co-producers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor NBCUniversal filed an individual request for a video feed to be provided of former President Donald Trump‘s election conspiracy case, which has been scheduled to start on March 4 of next year. NBCU did so even though a coalition of major news organizations filed a request earlier this month for televised proceedings.

Zach Bryan will have very few days off.The popular country singer recently extended his upcoming ‘The Quittin’ Time Tour’ that will send him to arenas and stadiums all over North America from March through December.As of now, the 27-year-old has a whopping 81 (!) gigs lined up next year; that’s 29 more than when the tour was announced back in late August.And if you’re a Zach Bryan fan based in NY or NJ, you’re in luck.In March, he’ll hit Buffalo, NY’s KeyBank Center on March 10, Newark, NJ’s Prudential Center on March 14-15, Brooklyn, NY’s Barclays Center on March 27-28 and Elmont, NY’s UBS Arena on March 30-31.He’ll close the tour with an encore of back-to-back concerts at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Dec.