Programming

Lance Carwile, a veteran of Nexstar, Media General and LIN, will oversee programming for the group’s 21 television stations.

The presidency of Donald J. Trump and his penchant for using his personal Twitter account has led to a political climate where a 24-hour news cycle is often whittled down to a scant six hours or so. For most of the Emmy-nominated variety talk series that means having to be ready to write a new joke or rip up and rewrite an entire monologue at a moment’s notice.

Like the earliest women film directors, today’s female TV creators, from Jane Campion to Ava DuVernay, are using their platform to tackle the biggest of big issues — and making some of the best shows in the process.

Tuesday’s episode of America’s Got Talent was easily the top-rated and most-watched show of the night, according to Nielsen. The NBC competition series averaged a 2.6 rating in adults 18-49 and 12.6 million viewers, airing from 8 p.m.-10 p.m. It was approximately even with last week’s episode. NBC handily won the night with a 2.1 and 10.1 million viewers.

The Fox affiliate in Lake Charles, La., owned by American Spirit Media will shift its lineup on Aug. 31 to add ABC on ch. 29.2. It will simulcast local news from Raycom’s KPLC.

Four out of five of the shows watched on Netflix were found by its subscribers thanks to recommendations offered them, Netflix says. Those suggested new favorites are much more customized for each subscriber than might be evident from a glance at the Netflix home page.

As summer enters its final weeks, it’s time to take stock of what burned hottest on the small screen and what plain ol’ flamed out.

Endemol Shine North America has named Sharon Levy president, unscripted and scripted television. Levy was most recently EVP of original series for Spike TV, where she spent the last 12 […]

Overall in primetime during this sleepy summer week, NBC averaged 5.1 million viewers. Runner-up CBS had 4.2 million, while ABC had 3.7 million, Fox had 1.7 million, Telemundo had 1.5 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 1.3 million and the CW had 910,000.

Reality TV has typically been a young person’s game—remember The Real World’s 18–25 age limit? But these days, the players are getting even younger. With the success of Fox’s MasterChef Junior, and to a lesser degree, Lifetime’s Project Runway: Junior, networks are rolling out a bevy of new unscripted competition series focused on talented tykes.

A lot of those gains are due to the presence of the Rio Summer Olympics a year ago. Week-to-week the numbers are less impressive.

President Donald Trump’s address to the nation on the war in Afghanistan drew an estimated 17.5 million viewers across the Big 4 broadcast networks on Monday. Airing from 9 p.m. until approximately 9:30, Trump’s speech drew a 1.4 rating in adults 18-49 and 6.2 million viewers on NBC. On ABC, the speech averaged a 1.2 and 4.7 million viewers. CBS was next with a 0.7 and 4.1 million. Fox drew a 0.6 and 2.5 million. Final numbers, as well as cable news ratings for the speech, will be available later today.

Family Entertainment TV said today that the multicast network received its highest viewing with 97,500 households on Aug. 7 at 8 p.m. with Perry Mason, according to ComScore ratings. FETV airs […]

The new agreement extends carriage of the Bounce, Escape, Grit and Laff multicast networks through 2024. In addition, Univision will add Bounce in Washington on Sept. 30.

Disney’s upcoming branded streaming service will likely be priced around $5 per month in order to drive wider adoption, according to MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson. He says that the new Disney streaming service and the upcoming ESPN services need clear distinctions. The ESPN service will likely test different prices as it prepares ESPN to be ready to go fully over-the-top, according to the report, but the Disney service is about building asset value instead of taking licensing money from SVOD deals.

CNN debuted a daily program Monday on Snapchat Shows, a growing roster of short-form video series on the social-media platform. Airing every weekday at 6 p.m. ET, The Update will feature breaking news from the cable network’s reporters exclusive to Snapchat in its signature Shows format. CNN will also offer rolling updates on developing news as part of the program.