Programming

Scripps will air NHL Golden Knights games on its KMCC Las Vegas station, which is currently airing programming from Ion, Scripps’ national entertainment network. A rebranded KMCC will broadcast local and national news, local sports and additional entertainment programming.

CBS’s Survivor led Wednesday in the demo (4.7 million/0.6), while NBC’s Chicago Fire drew the night’s largest audience (5.7M/0.5). On ABC, The Goldbergs‘ series finale (2.6M/0.3) drew its best audience since Jan. 18.

Drew Barrymore is stepping down as host of this year’s MTV Movie & TV Awards, in a show of support and solidarity to the striking Writers Guild members. But as a sign of good faith to MTV, Barrymore has also agreed to return and host next year’s edition of the kudocast instead.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) recently vetoed a bill that would continue funding for the state’s PBS stations, claiming that the national network has been indoctrinating young children with LGBTQ propaganda. During a press conference last week, the Republican lawmaker defended his decision to veto ongoing funding for the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority, the state network of PBS stations.

Since the Writers Guild of America went on strike Tuesday after failing to hammer out a deal with the major studios, all of which are represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the two sides have been at an absolute standstill. There have been no negotiations since the strike commenced and that there are no negotiating sessions currently on the books. When a studio executive was asked on Wednesday evening when they expect talks to resume, the person replied, “No idea, no idea.”

NBCUniversal is winding down LX, a three-year-old network with the stated mission of delivering viewers “the stories you need with more sass and less suits.” People familiar with the decision said the nearly 40 workers affected by the move are being actively considered for new positions within NBCU.

The new agreement, NBCU says, “demonstrates the value of big media and big tech aligning to super-serve audiences the content they love and want, while providing incremental reach and scale for advertisers.”

With CBS’s #TheFBIs in rerun mode, ABC’s The Rookie season finale led Tuesday both in total audience and in the demo with 4.2 million total viewers and a 0.5 rating.

The Season 2 finale of the ABC comedy series tallied 7 million viewers after seven days of multi-platform viewing, according to Nielsen data. That marks its best audience since the Feb. 8 Valentine’s Day episode, which scored a series-high 7.4M viewers in seven days. The seven-day audience is up about 4.2M from the 2.8M people who tuned in to the episode same-day. Among the ad-friendly 18-49 demographic, the Season 2 finale of Abbott Elementary hit a 2.47 rating in MP+7, which is up 366% compared to the episode’s 0.53 same-day rating. Just like total viewers, it’s also the highest multi-platform rating for the series since the Valentine’s Day episode managed a 2.49.

NBC, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers intend to pay staffers of the network’s Tonight and Late Night shows three weeks’ of wages while the programs are sidelined due to the writers strike, according to two people familiar with the matter. NBC plans to pay two weeks of salary to staffers while each late-night host will pay a third week out of their own pockets, according to these people. Health care for the shows’ employees will be paid through September.

Sinclair’s Diamond Sports Group subsidiary has paid the Cincinnati Reds the initial payment for the team’s 2023 local TV rights, within a mandated 15-day grace period after the April 17 due date, keeping the MLB club on regional sports network Bally Sports Ohio.

The first Hollywood strike in 15 years commenced Tuesday as the 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America stopped working when their contract expired. The union is seeking higher minimum pay, more writers per show and less exclusivity on single projects, among other demands — all conditions it says have been diminished in the content boom of the streaming era. (Chris Pizzello/AP)

The move to bring the reality competition series back to the broadcast network comes after the show aired one season exclusively on streamer Disney+. For its upcoming season, the show will air on ABC while also streaming on Disney+. In addition, the show will be available the day after its linear debut on Hulu.

The reality dating competition series has been picked up for a third season by The CW after its cancellation at Max with returning host Nikki Glaser. The franchise also announces the new spinoff series FGirl Island, also hosted by Glaser — a seed that had been planted by creator Elan Gale when he launched the series.

Some 11,500 film and television writers represented by the Writers Guild of America put down their pens and laptops after failing to reach a new contract with the trade association that represents Hollywood studios and production companies. All of the top latenight shows, which are staffed by writers that pen monologues and jokes for their hosts, immediately went dark. NBC’s The Tonight Show, Comedy Central’s Daily Show, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, CBS’s The Late Show and NBC’s Late Night all made plans for reruns through the week.

ABC’s American Idol (4.7 million/0.5) led Monday in the demo, while CBS’s NCIS copped the night’s biggest audience (6.6M/0.4).

The 2023 contest becomes the most-watched after previously ranking third. The viewership total was revised from 113 million to 115.1 million across Fox, Fox Deportes and streaming after it was discovered Nielsen had miscounted the audience due to encoding errors.