Programming

After days of marathon negotiations, representatives from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and from the studios and entertainment companies who employ them reached the three-year contract agreement before a Monday strike deadline, avoiding a serious setback for an industry that had just gotten back to work after long pandemic shutdowns.

Thanks to machine learning and AI, choosing languages for Squid Game and other foreign content might be as easy as changing the channel. But a lot more could also get transformed along the way.

Netflix has fired a long time employee who leaked confidential financial information in response to the streamer’s launch of Dave Chappelle’s controversial The Closer special on Oct. 5. “We have let go of an employee for sharing confidential, commercially sensitive information outside the company,” a Netflix spokesperson said Friday.”We understand this employee may have been motivated by disappointment and hurt with Netflix, but maintaining a culture of trust and transparency is core to our company.”

Nick Bernstein, CBS senior vice president of latenight programming, West Coast, has the pandemic to thank for a new twist to his job. Bernstein has become an almost nightly presence on The Late Late Show With James Corden, as the host and the show’s producers dream up new and elaborate ways to put their boss in weird and uncomfortable situations on camera.

CBS’s Ghosts this Thursday scared up 5.1 million total viewers and a 0.6 demo rating, on par with its double-episode premiere. Law & Order: SVU (3.8M/0.7) TikTok’ed up to lead Thursday’s non-NFL fare in the demo.

The comedian Dave Chappelle’s comments on transgender people and gender in The Closer have led to outside criticism and internal unrest at the company that upended Hollywood.

Walker will oversee all digital platform programming and priority management and is tasked with driving digital revenue, acquisition and engagement across NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, SYFY, Universal Kids and USA as well as audience acquisition in sports.

The global success of Netflix’s Korean drama Squid Game illustrates the growing strength of non-English-language programming worldwide.

Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos sent a lengthy missive to the entire company following the mounting controversy around The Closer, a new original special from comic Dave Chappelle.

Not surprisingly, the start of the football season led to an uptick in broadcast TV usage. Somewhat unexpected, however, is that the gains for broadcast networks didn’t take away audience share for cable and streaming outlets, according to Nielsen’s Gauge snapshot of TV use for September.

The CW‘s DC’s Legends of Tomorrow opened Season 7 — barely a month after Season 6 finaled, and on a new night — with 600,000 total viewers and a 0.1 demo rating, up in audience versus its previous average (420,000) while steady in the demo. On Fox, The Masked Singer (4.3M/0.9) topped the demo, while NBC’s Chicago Fire (7.1M/0.8) delivered the night’s biggest audience.

The titular host won’t be returning for the talk show’s 13th season, including the Oct. 18 premiere, until she’s in better health, with producers citing “serious complications” from her Graves’ disease and ongoing thyroid problems. The producers said in a statement that she was “making progress,” but “Wendy continues to be under medical supervision and meets with her medical team on a daily basis…. It has been determined that more time is needed before she is able to return to her live hosting duties.”

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is not a fan of Sinclair Broadcast Group’s $250 million plan to parlay its 19 regional sports networks into a streaming service. For one thing, Manfred doesn’t believe Sinclair has enough digital rights from the 14 MLB clubs it has licensing agreements with to pull off such an enterprise.

According to the Standard Media Index Fall TV Season Preview Report, the 2020-21 national linear TV season ad revenue fell 10% due to COVID impact on production and scheduling, pre-existing trends in linear ratings declines; while eCPMS grew across key dayparts.

The Walt Disney Co. and the National Football League reached a five-year deal that will put a new Monday night wild card playoff game on ESPN and ABC, starting at the end of this year’s regular season. The Disney networks plan to use the game as part of a megacast that will include a simulcast on ESPN and ABC, with Peyton and Eli Manning hosting their popular alternative telecast on ESPN2 and ESPN Plus.

NBC’s The Voice claimed the Tuesday demo win while CBS’s FBI squeaked by with the night’s biggest audience. The Voice drew 6.3 million total viewers and a 0.8 rating, dipping week-to-week while CBS, FBI drew 6.4M and a0.7.

International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees International President Matthew Loeb said Wednesday that the strike would begin at 12:01 a.m. Monday unless an agreement is reached on rest and meal periods and pay for its lowest-paid workers.