Programming

Lamb’s Daystar Television Network had in recent days asked viewers to pray for his recovery from COVID. The network has dedicated hours of broadcasts to anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine individuals and groups.

ViacomCBS announced a deal to sell L.A.’s CBS Studio Center to two investment firms for $1.85 billion, the latest in a series of real-estate divestitures for the company. The media conglomerate had confirmed this summer that it was looking to sell CBS Studio Center, which sits on a 55-acre site in Studio City.

Comcast and Disney renewed a critical carriage pact that will keep ESPN, Disney Channel, ABC and more flowing to the subscribers of the Philadelphia cable giant. The two companies said they had struck a “multi-year agreement” that includes carriage of the ESPN networks, Disney’s kid-focused cable networks, Freeform, the FX and National Geographic networks and ABC-owned stations on Comcast’s Xfinity service.

Digital media veteran Kelly Day is leaving ViacomCBS to join Amazon as VP of Prime Video International, a newly created role overseeing the ecommerce giant’s streaming video business in global markets. Day will join Amazon in early January 2022, reporting to Mike Hopkins, SVP of Amazon Studios and Prime Video.

It’s official. Dr. Oz is running for Senate in Pennsylvania. The celebrity TV doctor made the announcement Tuesday in a Washington Examiner op-ed and is rolling out a video to be shared with his millions of followers on social media. The spot will be featured on television in a “multimillion dollar ad buy” across Pennsylvania, said campaign manager Casey Contres.

Fox’s 9-1-1 beat out NBC’s The Voice for the Monday demo win, while CBS’s NCIS delivered the night’s largest audience.

After more than two years, the Prime Video comedy series will be back for Season 4 on Friday, Feb. 18, the streaming service announced Tuesday. For the first time in Mrs. Maisel‘s run, episodes will drop on a weekly basis instead of a binge-release rollout, with two new installments becoming available every Friday for four consecutive weeks.

Sean McManus is not retiring. Every couple of years, this rumor gains traction. It happened in the run-up to Super Bowl 50 nearly six years ago. What better way to cap off a legendary sports media career than to executive produce the NFL’s 50th Super Bowl? It’s happening again this year, as the 66-year-old executive who essentially saved CBS Sports marks a career milestone. He has overseen one of the most enduring sports brands for a quarter of a century. But McManus, one of the most respected executives in all of sports, is no closer to retiring today than he was five years ago.

Starting this month, much of the marketing has been around TV promotional spots — some 1,529 spots on NBCUniversal channels and networks — yielding 386.3 million impressions, with media value of an estimated $11.1 million, according to iSpot.tv.

Prosecutors asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision that overturned Cosby’s sexual assault conviction. In a petition filed Monday, Nov. 29, they wrote that courts should not equate a supposed promise made by a former prosecutor to lifetime immunity.

Gabrielle Union and Allison Tolman will also star in the installment of ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience from producer/hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Norman Lear.

Miley Cyrus and Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson will help NBC ring in 2022 with Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party special hosted by Cyrus and Davidson, from SNL creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels. The special will air live on NBC from Miami on Friday, Dec. 31, from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. ET, and will also be live-streamed on Peacock.

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday sent out a statement to his supporters suggesting there be a televised debate during which he could continue to share his baseless claims that the 2020 election was somehow “rigged and stolen.”

All rise! Judge Steve Harvey is in session at ABC beginning Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. a new promo for the unscripted legal series reveals. In each one-hour episode, Harvey will take on a variety of conflicts and characters in his courtroom — from small claims to big disputes and everything in between.

The Waltons’ Homecoming — a remake of the 1971 TV-movie that wound up spawning CBS’s The Waltons series — averaged nearly 960,000 total viewers on Sunday, marking The CW’s most watched night of the fall (and since April 14).

An episode that references the Tiananmen Square massacre is left out of the recently launched Disney+ streaming lineup.

Disney next year will spend nearly twice as much on content as Netflix did in 2021.

In the seven days ending Nov. 21, Hallmark Channel dominates B+C’s new Promo Mojo ranking, grabbing first place to promote its original movie A Kiss Before Christmas, plus fourth for The Christmas Contest and fifth for A Christmas Together With You.

Little known to most, the late Stephen Sondheim had personal history with the medium — his first professional writing gig in 1952 was as a scriptwriter for the supernatural sitcom Topper.

NBC’s coverage of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade drew a total of 25.4 million total viewers and a 6.4 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic on Thursday across the live broadcast and encore immediately after, according to Nielson fast national data from NBC. Those numbers were mostly on par with last year’s coverage of the event. which was virtual because of the pandemic.

Dame Helen, as the Oscar, Emmy and Tony-winning actor is properly addressed, makes her debut as a quiz host with Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses. The weekly, four-part series begins 8 p.m. ET Sunday on TBS and Cartoon Network.

The seven original main cast members of This Is Us have received $2 million cash bonuses ahead of the NBC drama’s sixth and final season. They are Milo Ventimiglia (Jack Pearson), Mandy Moore (Rebecca Pearson), Sterling K. Brown (Randall Pearson), Chrissy Metz (Kate Pearson), Justin Hartley (Kevin Pearson), Susan Kelechi Watson (Beth Pearson) and Chris Sullivan (Toby Damon), pictured above.