Programming

Roku has followed through on its threat to remove streaming bundle YouTube TV from its platform, in a dispute it has characterized as more about principle than dollars. The streaming provider had warned on Monday that it would unplug YouTube TV unless the Google-owned streaming outlet agreed to certain curbs on search and data use. It charges that YouTube has leveraged Google’s massive resources to manipulate search results in a way that compromises Roku users’ experience and hoards sensitive customer data.

Sling TV, the live streaming service owned by satcaster Dish, has added two more betting information channels, one for baseball and one for hockey. The channels, which are produced in collaboration with digital gaming company DraftKings, follow a marketing agreement last month between Dish and DraftKings to bring the latter’s sportsbook and daily fantasy sports gaming features to Dish and Sling subscribers.

The extension comes as California is slowly but surely emerging from the grip of the coronavirus. All signs are pointing to Los Angeles County moving into the least restrictive yellow tier of social distancing mandates within another week or so. That will allow indoor gatherings including concerts and sporting events to be held at 75% capacity, which will be a boon to the area’s live performance economy.

For the first time, all four outlets the ratings service measures places a show among the top 10 original series.

The CW has made its summer plans. The network today set premiere dates for new seasons of series including DC’s Stargirl, Masters of Illusion and Roswell, New Mexico, among others, and announced a new date for Riverdale‘s return. It also set the final sixth season of Supergirl to launch in August.

Kelly Donohue, the Jeopardy contestant whose on-air hand signal has been misinterpreted as his endorsement of white supremacy, has posted a lengthy statement on Facebook unequivocally condemning racism and reasserting his explanation that the three-fingered gesture was simply meant to denote his third win.

The 2020-21 TV season isn’t over yet, but CBS has claimed the crown in total viewers for the 13th consecutive year. The Eye network on Thursday projected it will end the pandemic-battered season with an average of 6.3 million total viewers, with help from the Super Bowl telecast in February, which fell below the 100 million viewer threshold but set a record for streaming viewing on that Sunday, and the success of The Equalizer reboot starring Queen Latifah that launched right after the big game (20.4 million viewers).

Joe Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress last night was both a very traditional and untraditional affair, but it was no Donald Trump – in more ways than one. In unadjusted fast affiliate data, the president’s speech drew around 11.6 million viewers in the 9 p.m. ET hour. Add, Univision to that batch of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and the result inches up to 12.62 million for the speech that started around 9:10 p.m. ABC was in first place with 3.5 million viewers in that 9 p.m. ET hour. CBS was close behind with 3.3 million, followed by NBC’s 3.2 million and Fox’s 1.6 million.

A group of former Jeopardy contestants on Wednesday posted an open letter to the syndicated game show over a hand gesture used by returning champion Kelly Donohue on Tuesday’s show that has been widely condemned as a symbol of white supremacy.

As NBCUniversal turns off the lights on its sports network, expect other Hollywood giants to cull their sprawling linear offerings as they prioritize billions of dollars toward direct-to-consumer platforms.

Fox has ordered the dramedy The Big Leap to series for the 2021-22 broadcast season. The one-hour show was originally ordered to pilot last year, but production was shutdown by the pandemic. Inspired by the UK docuseries Big Ballet, the show is about a group of diverse, down-on-their-luck characters attempting to change their lives by participating in a potentially life-ruining reality dance show that builds to a live production of Swan Lake.

Endeavor has set a share price of $24, the final step before the media conglomerate goes public on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. The company had previously announced that it would seek to raise about $511 million at a share price of $23-$24. The company will be listed on the exchange under the ticker symbol “EDR.”

The unions representing actors and crews are in talks with the studios about extending — and possibly changing — the safety protocols they agreed on in September.

CBS’s Tuesday dramas tied for the nightly demo win — even while all slipping in the wake of last week’s last-minute swapping in of reruns. The recently renewed NCIS drew 8.2 million total viewers (Tuesday’s biggest audience) and a 0.6 demo rating, down 20% and 40% to mark series lows

The Oscars were enough to give ABC a victory in the primetime ratings with an average of 4.1 million viewers last week. CBS had 3.8 million, NBC had 3.5 million, Fox had 2.7 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Telemundo had 1.03 million, Ion Television had 970,000 and the CW had 530,000. Fox News Channel led the cable networks with an average of 2.23 million viewers. MSNBC had 1.45 million, HGTV had 1.29 million, TNT had 1.15 million and ESPN had 1.1 million.

Denney will start at NBCU next month. He will be based in New York and report to Gidon Katz, NBCU’s president of direct-to-consumer. In addition to Peacock, Denney will be responsible for product strategy for other customer-facing NBCUniversal digital platforms, including broadcast and cable entertainment apps, NBC Sports and reality-TV streaming service Hayu.

In the session ending April 18, the sophomore Hall strengthened 14% from the prior frame to a three-week high 0.8 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, and rose 33% in the key women 25-54 demo.

Fox’s 9-1-1 this Monday drew 5.7 million total viewers and a 0.9 demo rating, dipping week-to-week yet leading the night in the demo. Over on NBC, The Voice (6.6M/0.75) dipped in the demo yet easily led Monday in total audience.

“The ratings for the Oscars plummeted from 23 million last year to less than 10 million this year. How can something so woke put so many people to sleep?” Jimmy Kimmel joked on Monday.