Programming

The licensing agreement with Cineverse includes The Bob Ross Channel, Comedy Dynamics, Dove Channel and Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, while Scripps Networks’ Court TV and Scripps News all join DirecTV’s lineup today.

This is a rare occurrence in the current strike-impacted broadcast season — a scripted series getting an order for additional episodes. According to sources, the CW’s flagship drama All American is having its current sixth season extended from 13 episode to 15.

The agreement would give the tech company worldwide rights for a monthlong World Cup-style competition between top teams set to take place next year.

The Indianapolis NBC-MeTV affils will air select Fever games following the Fever’s historic 2024 draft of Caitlin Clark.

The opening of the studios in Shreveport will aide in “fostering talent, creating opportunities, and building a community that thrives through creativity and innovation.”

Writers Guild members at Sesame Workshop have reached a tentative deal with management to avoid a threatened strike. A ratification vote on the new five-year collective bargaining agreement will be held in the coming days. The writers had voted earlier to authorize a strike against the nonprofit organization, and picketing would have begun April 24 outside Sesame Workshop’s offices in New York City, had a deal not been struck.

Federal regulators on Friday announced a new plan designed to advance the interests of independent video programmers that have complained for years about restrictive contract terms demanded by pay TV distributors. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said she launched the rulemaking in response to independent programmers that “continue to express concern about the challenges they have getting their programming on the channel lineup of cable and satellite television.”

CBS has canceled CSI: Vegas after three seasons and So Help Me Todd after two. That despite CSI: Vegas and So Help Me Todd being solid ratings performers. With the entire CBS schedule doing well this season and three new drama series joining in 2024-25 — NCIS: Origins, Matlock and Watson (in addition to a second season of the Australian NCIS: Sydney) — the network was faced with painful decisions, and So Help Me Todd and CSI: Vegas are the least watched CBS drama series this spring in both linear and multi-platform ratings.

Nexstar Media Group said it does not intend to renew the affiliations of The CW stations owned by E.W. Scripps in seven markets. In two of those  markets — Norfolk, Va., and Lafayette, La. — Nexstar-owned stations will become the new The CW affiliates, effective Sept. 1. “We have interest from other station groups in the five remaining markets and expect to make announcements about those affiliations soon,” Nexstar said in a statement.

CBS News and Stations debuts a multi-part investigation called Anything For Love: Inside the Romance Scam Epidemic Sunday, April 21. Airing across CBS News and station programs, Anything For Love runs through Sunday, April 28. The year-long investigation hears from victims, families, dating app executives and government officials across seven states: California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas

Change is afoot on another Dick Wolf series: Rick Eid is stepping down as showrunner of FBI but will remain an executive producer on the series. Eid has been the showrunner on FBI since its debut in 2018. The drama is currently in its sixth season and was renewed by CBS through 2027.

All of the nominations are in for the 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards, which will air live in June on CBS and Paramount+. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences revealed noms in five key categories Thursday, and the rest rolled out this morning.

He will be responsible for developing new series.

Both Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are actively in talks with the NBA, and those discussions will continue past April 22, when the exclusive window expires.
Amazon, NBCUniversal, Netflix, YouTube TV and Apple have all expressed preliminary interest in talks with the NBA about potentially buying a package of games as a new partner.

With NBC’s #OneChicago still in rerun mode, CBS’s Survivor was Wednesday’s most-watched and top-rated program with 4.8 million total viewers and a 0.8 rating. ABC’s Not Dead Yet (2.1M/0.2) hit and matched season lows.

The docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV posted Max’s best streaming numbers to date for its premiere week. The show, which streamed on Max concurrent with its on-air premiere on ID, had 1.25 billion minutes of viewing for the week of March 18-24. That’s the largest weekly total for any series on Max in the nearly four years of Nielsen’s streaming rankings, edging out the 1.19 billion for The Last of Us in early 2023.

The Chrisleys rose to fame with their USA network show Chrisley Knows Best, which chronicled the exploits of their tight-knit family. But prosecutors said they engaged in an extensive bank fraud scheme and hid their earnings from tax authorities while showcasing their extravagant lifestyle.

Across broadcast and streaming, Elsbeth is netting nearly 11 million viewers after 35 days of viewing. That’s up 52% from CSI: Vegas’ performance in the time slot last year.