Programming

With the $71.3 billion merger of two studios about to close, fears are mounting on the storied Fox lot as colleagues prepare to become rivals, Bob Iger’s every move is scrutinized and 4,000 jobs are about to vanish: “There will be bloodshed.”

In metered-market households, President Trump’s address to Congress averaged a 16.3 rating across ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, up about 10 percent from a 14.8 last year. Tuesday’s address was also slightly higher in metered markets than Trump’s 2017 address, which is not technically considered a State of the Union speech as he’d only been in office a few weeks.

Karey Burke made her TCA debut as ABC Entertainment President today. Following a surprise introduction by ABC latenight host Jimmy Kimmel, Burke shared her vision for the network, which she had wanted to work at since graduating college. That includes ramping up and better supporting programming that attracts female viewers, which has traditionally been ABC’s core demographic.

Chuck Lorre’s praised CBS comedy Mom has received a two-season pickup by CBS. The renewal follows the studio Warner Bros. TV securing new deals with stars Anna Faris and Allison Janney. After lengthy negotiations., the two actresses have inked new two-year contracts with major salary increases to continue on Mom, now in its sixth season.

Between them, the newscasts anchored by David Muir, Lester Holt and Jeff Glor were seen by an average of 26.9 million viewers each weeknight last week. If they were seen in primetime, both ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC’s Nightly News would be top 10 shows.

Sunday night’s Super Bowl may not have broken any TV ratings records, but it broke new ground for consumers who preferred to stream the game online. CBS says the game drew an average minute audience (one of the closest digital metrics to the Nielsen average viewership standard) of 2.6 million viewers, up 31% from last year’s Super Bowl, and a new streaming record.

ABC announced Tuesday that it has handed out a formal renewal for the Emmy-winning comedy after its adult stars inked rich new deals to return. The decision to bring back the Steve Levitan- and Christopher Lloyd-created single-camera comedy comes as the series is poised to become owned in-house as studio 20th Century Fox Television is included in the assets moving to Disney as part of Fox’s $72 billion sale.

Judy, more than dominating than ever in this, its 23^rd season, blew away all competition with a sparkling 7.6 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, its highest since November and marked six months as syndication’s No. 1 show.

CBS got a modest ratings bump the day after the Super Bowl, with The Neighborhood hitting a series high among adults 18-49 and Man With a Plan premiering a bit higher than last season. The Bachelor also tied a season best on ABC.

Liberty Media has joined the bidding for the regional sports networks that Disney is trying to sell to finalize a deal with Twenty-first Century Fox, sources told CNBC. Liberty and Major League Baseball have submitted bids in the auction. Disney is selling them in order to complete its $71 billion deal to acquire Fox’s movie production and television assets, which included the regional sports networks. That deal is expected to close within weeks.

Revenue for the company, led by CEO Bob Bakish, fell short of Wall Street expectations as advertising revenue dropped, but affiliate revenue increased.

NBC Sports Group and golfer Rory McIlroy have teamed to launch Golfpass, a $10-a-month subscription package that bundles video streaming of golf tournaments and instruction with travel, shopping and tee-time benefits. The founders are calling it a “first-of-its-kind” direct-to-consumer initiative.

NBC is no longer moving forward with its planned live version of the musical Hair. “Live musicals are a part of this network’s DNA and we are committed to continuing that tradition with the right show at the right time,” said Paul Telegdy and George Cheeks, co-chairmen of NBC Entertainment. Hair was originally set to air on NBC on May 19, which would have put it up against a number of other television events, including the series finale of Game of Thrones.

PBS, already offering programs on streaming outlets such as Amazon, Netflix and Roku, is considering additional agreements with Sling TV and YouTube TV. “We’ve been in discussions with them,” said PBS President Paula Kerger Saturday during the PBS portion of the annual winter press tour for TV writers. “I’m not making any announcements today, but stay tuned. … We think that’s certainly a place that our viewers would appreciate.”

FX Networks chief John Landgraf has long criticized Netflix’s quest to dominate television, and has advocated for the streaming giant’s shows to be evaluated, numbers-wise, in the same way that broadcast and cable series are.  But now that Netflix has finally begun selectively touting its’ audience, he’s labeling its claims as bogus.

NBC has picked up freshman medical drama New Amsterdam for a second season. The series is inspired by Dr. Eric Manheimer’s memoir Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital and his 15 years as medical director at the hospital.