NBC is betting that the next big thing in streaming might be your local high school football game. The media giant is launching a new streaming service that’s part ESPN+, part YouTube, and part MasterClass, meant to appeal to families, schools and communities with amateur sports teams. The service, SportsEngine Play, will stream live matches from amateur teams, (think high schools, etc).
The third Republican presidential debate is set for Nov. 8 in Miami. NBC News, which will produce the debate for its linear TV, streaming and digital platforms, takes over from Fox News and Fox Business, which hosted the first two Republican primary debates. The third tangle between GOP candidates organized by the Republican National Committee will be held at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County from 8 to 10 p.m. on Nov. 8.
The San Fransisco 49ers defeat of the Dallas Cowboys is without a doubt the talk of the town for Week 5 of the NFL regular season. Sunday night’s matchup on NBC drew 24.3M viewers on linear TV — which rose to 26.3M when streaming viewership was factored in. That was by far the most-watched game of the week and, in fact, is the most-watched Week 5 NBC Sunday Night Football game since the program began in 2006.
Who’s doing it better — Kristen Welker or Jake Tapper? The two journalists, one the new moderator of NBC News’ Meet The Press, the other the anchor of the weekday The Lead and a co-anchor of State of the Union at CNN, aren’t typically pitted against one another. But there they were on a recent Thursday afternoon around 4:30 p.m., duking it out for the future of their medium.
New showrunners have been installed at Chicago Fire and FBI: International as L&O: Organized Crime continues its search.
The long-running sketch comedy show will premiere Season 49 on Oct. 14, NBC announced Wednesday. Former cast member Pete Davidson will host, making good on a plan to have him host last May. The comedian will be joined by first-time musical guest Ice Spice.
Exclusives
Season 18 of NBC’s summer mainstay America’s Got Talent concluded Wednesday night with a finale at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium which culminated with Adrian Stoica & Hurricane named the winners. Also Wednesday night, NBC announced officially that America’s Got Talent has been renewed for Season 19, which will air next summer. Current judges Simon Cowell — who is also creator and executive producer — Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara as well as host Terry Crews are all set to return. Auditions are already underway.
Saturday Night Live should get pretty much a full season after the writers and the studios reached an agreement to end the strike. The NBC show had Season 48 cut short by three episodes when the writers walked out at the beginning of May. The show, which traditionally restarts at the very end of September or the beginning of October, is now likely to return on either Oct. 7 or 14, pending a vote by the WGA.
NBC has unveiled its latest America’s Got Talent spinoff and its got a fantasy football-style format. The network will launch AGT: Fantasy League in 2024 with judges including Mel B, Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel. Terry Crews will host.
NFL Remains Top Draw For Advertisers
Fall’s upfront would have been a lot worse were it not for leveraging NFL packages with advertisers, and the league continues to pull them in in all sizes.
The NBC Sports Regional Networks are launching a new pro football preview show led by sports radio personality Ben Maller, Benny vs. The Penny, beginning this weekend. The half-hour program, […]
NBC has shuffled the order of its lineup on Wednesdays beginning Oct. 4. Quantum Leap will now air at 8 p.m., followed by Magnum P.I. at 9 and Chicago encores at 10. The previous lineup was Chicago encores at 8, followed by Quantum Leap at 9 and Magnum P.I. at 10.
Days of Our Lives executive producer Albert Alarr has left the NBC soap opera after 20 years working for the show. His departure comes after a reported internal misconduct investigation by Sony Pictures Television, which produces the show. Janet Drucker, who has been a producer on Days of Our Lives since the 1980s, has stepped into his role as co-executive producer.
The queen of 30 Rock could be making her return to 30 Rock. A source tells the New York Post that Tina Fey is being courted to take over as executive producer of Saturday Night Live when creator and current executive producer Lorne Michaels departs. So far, Michaels, 78, has not formally announced any intention to leave the weekly sketch comedy series he created for NBC in 1975.
Several of the country’s biggest entertainment and streaming companies are teaming up to fight hundreds of local broadcasters over a years-old provision that would determine whether they are forced to negotiate directly with those local stations for distribution deals. The Preserve Viewer Choice Coalition, which launched Wednesday, is made up of major entertainment companies and their broadcast networks, including Disney/ABC, Paramount/CBS, Fox Corp./Fox, NBCUniversal/NBC/Telemundo, Warner Bros. Discovery, Univision and Roku.
Fall schedule revisions continue at the broadcast networks, with NBC the latest to tweak its lineup. NBC’s makeover for its lineup isn’t as drastic as that of CBS — which had to do a nearly full teardown of its initially announced slate — but amid ongoing labor strikes in the industry, the network won’t have several shows it planned to roll out in the fall.
Morgan Pressel considered extending her playing career so she would have the opportunity to play in this week’s U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. Even though she stopped playing two […]
Magnum P.I.‘s reprieve at NBC is coming to an end. The network has opted not to order additional episodes beyond the 20-episode fifth season picked up last year.
It’s one and done for NBC’s The Wheel. The U.S. adaptation of the U.K. game show has been canceled after one season. Airing five nights a week over two weeks last December, The Wheel debuted to 1.4 million total viewers and a 0.2 demo rating, and finished with 2.2 mil and a 0.3.
NBC has announced its panel of coaches for The Voice Season 25, with Grammy-winning artists Dan + Shay joining the show as its first coaching duo. Dan + Shay will serve as coaches alongside Reba McEntire, John Legend and Chance the Rapper. Season 25 will air in the spring of 2024.
NBC has opted not to proceed with a third season of its workplace comedy series American Auto, created and executive produced by Superstore creator Justin Spitzer. The news comes a week after the network picked up to series Spitzer’s workplace comedy pilot St. Denis Medical.
Hearst Media Production Group and Mutual of Omaha are bringing the iconic series back this fall, 60 years after its original debut.
His father was RCA-NBC media mogul David Sarnoff, head of the fabled American media family, and he had a six-decade career helping usher in the era of television. He was born in New York City into the fabled American media family on Feb. 23, 1927, and legend has it he was television’s “first live star” — a test subject for the RCA-NBC demonstration of the TV medium at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York.
You’d think CBS would have jumped at the chance to snag Carol Burnett’s 90 Years of Laughter + Love birthday special. Not only did the comedy legend’s variety show run on the network for 11 seasons, but so did its 50th anniversary special in 2017. But the network said no. 90 Years went on to score an impressive 7.6 million viewers for NBC. It’s now favored to pick up an Emmy nomination.
After serving as Season 23’s mega mentor on The Voice, Reba McEntire is officially returning to Season 24 as a coach. The announcement was confirmed at NBCU’s upfront presentation on Monday. The Country Music Hall of Fame inductee joins veteran coach John Legend and returning coaches Niall Horan and Gwen Stefani.
NBC is opening up a new fall comedy block on Tuesday nights and has pushed a couple of its drama series to midseason. The network unveiled its fall schedule, which sees Jon Cryer’s Extended Family run after Night Court, Quantum Leap moves to Tuesday night, while Found replaces Law & Order: Organized Crime on Dick Wolf’s second night in the fall and La Brea, with its short order season, also pushed to midseason. There are plenty of strike contingencies built into the schedule, in part as a result of NBC renewing shows early and keeping them in production ahead of the writers walking out.
Password, the game show from Jimmy Fallon and hosted by Keke Palmer, is returning to NBC for a second season. However, filming of season two of the series has been postponed as a result of the writers strike with The Tonight Show host Fallon among those not wanting to cross the picket line.
Broadcasters — including their primary lobby group in Washington and affiliate associations — have told the FCC that if it does not extend its waiver of the requirement to provide oral descriptions of weather radar and other visual emergency information, they may have to cut back on those graphics for everyone.
NBC earlier this week picked up all six Wolf Entertainment series — Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime — for next season. The renewals came with an asterisk as casts were told that they will appear in fewer episodes next year. The development comes on the heels of CBS recently renewing veteran drama Blue Bloods for a 14th season after the cast agreed to a 25% pay cut. And, the actors on another recently renewed CBS series, comedy Bob ❤️ Abishola, also had to agree to a substantial, double-digit salary reduction for the show to get a Season 5 renewal. (According to sources, it was less than 25%). Blue Bloods comes from CBS sibling CBS Studios, Bob ❤️ Abishola from an outside supplier, Warner Bros. TV.
Turning 90 this month, the sketch trailblazer has a TV special, Emmy buzz for her turn in Better Call Saul, a new Apple TV+ series and thoughts on which recent Oscar nominee she’d spoof if she still had a variety show (it’s Tár!).
NBC today renewed all six of its Dick Wolf-produced shows including the One Chicago franchise — Chicage Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. — and the trio of Law & Order dramas — the mothership series, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime — for the 2023-24 season.
TV’s nail-biting season has arrived. Although most of the cancellation headlines continue to be focused on the continuing purge at big streamers and premium cablers like Showtime, attention has begun to shift to the beleaguered Big 5 broadcasters as the May upfronts draw closer. While many in-limbo shows are a lock to return (NBC’s #OneChicago and Law & Order troikas and ABC’s Good Doctor, Station 19, The Conners and assorted Rookies), there are a handful of high-profile series on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW that remain very much on the bubble.
NBC has announced its summer slate, which includes new seasons of America’s Got Talent and American Ninja Warrior, as well as the premieres of Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge and docuseries LA Fire & Rescue.
The network has canceled the dancing competition, which starred Nick Jonas, Liza Koshy and Shakira, after one season. The decision, which was made a few months ago, comes after the show, which was hosted by Camille Kostek, premiered last May and ran for eight episodes. The news emerged after NBC set its summer lineup.
