Programming

The college football season is the latest (partial) casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States — and another blow for media companies who will now be without hundreds of hours of live programming, and the ad revenue that comes with it, in the fall. As of publication time, 52 of the 120 schools that play at the top level of college football — more than 40% of the total — have decided to cancel or postpone their fall sports seasons. The Big Ten and Pac-12, two of the so-called “power five” conferences, announced their decision Tuesday, following similar moves by two smaller leagues, the Mountain West and Mid-American conferences, and unilateral decisions by the University of Connecticut and Old Dominion University in Virginia.

In primetime last week, CBS topped broadcasters with an average of 3.7 million viewers. NBC had 2.7 million viewers, ABC had 2.3 million, Fox and Univision had 1.3 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 930,000.

A Tuesday afternoon meeting with conference presidents and chancellors led to the Pac-12 deciding to cancel its fall 2020 college football season and postpone all fall sports through the calendar year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The move comes after the Big 10 elected to cancel its fall season earlier on Tuesday. Both conferences hope to play the season in spring 2021 but have not announced any specific plans.

The Big 10 Conference has postponed the 2020 football season because of safety concerns stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, the league announced Tuesday. The Big 10 is the first of college football’s elite Power Five conferences to decide against playing football this fall.

Martin Scorsese and his Sikelia Productions banner have signed a first-look film and television deal with Apple. The acclaimed director is currently working with the streamer on the film Killers of the Flower Moon, which will directed by Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. The film is in pre-production and is expected to debut in 2021. Scorsese’s deal comes just over a week after it was announced that DiCaprio and his Appian Way production company had signed a first-look television deal with Apple.

The talk show featured a widely-praised tribute to late co-host Regis Philbin on July 27 and, on July 31, an encore presentation of the “Regis Farewell Celebration Special” from Nov. 8, 2011, pushing it up 19% in the week ending Aug. 2.

Dwayne Johnson’s Titan Games aired its second season finale to decent numbers on Monday night, leading NBC to an overall win. The athletic competition show scored a 0.7 rating among adults 18-49, roughly a 10% up tick from the penultimate episode, and drew 3.5 million total viewers, which is pretty much the same tally as the last couple weeks. A replay of fellow physical competition show American Ninja Warrior followed that up with a 0.5 rating and 2.3 million viewers.

As part of the ongoing WarnerMedia restructuring, Warner Bros. Television Group Chairman Peter Roth is consolidating the studio’s scripted and unscripted television production operations. On the scripted side, Warner Bros. Television and cable/streaming unit Warner Horizon Scripted TV are being consolidated into a new scripted division led by Warner Bros. Television Presidents Susan Rovner and Brett Paul. They will continue overseeing all scripted programming, reporting to Roth. Clancy Collins White has been elevated to a newly created position and will now have day-to-day oversight of all scripted program development for the new Warner Bros. Television, reporting to Rovner.

With Simon Cowell on medical leave, America’s Got Talent is injecting some temporary new blood into its judging panel. Cowell’s former American Idol discovery, Kelly Clarkson, is set to fill his seat alongside fellow judges Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Sofia Vergara during this week’s inaugural live shows.

The Big Ten is on the verge of not playing football this fall, three people with knowledge of the decision confirmed to the Detroit Free Press. The people requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the decision. A formal announcement is expected Tuesday, the people said.

It is a difficult day at WarnerMedia, which is undergoing a round of major layoffs, part of a companywide restructuring spearheaded by new CEO Jason Kilar. As part of realignment, leaving the company are (l-r) Jeffrey R. Schlesinger, president, Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Distribution; Ron Sanders, president, Worldwide Theatrical Distribution & Home Entertainment and EVP, International Business Operations; and Kim Williams, EVP and chief financial officer, Warner Bros. Entertainment.

When NBCUniversal pulled the trigger on a massive reorganization of its television business last week, the company made clear that one key position in the new structure had yet to be filled — a new head of entertainment programming who would oversee creative decisions for NBC, cable channels including USA and Bravo, and fledgling streaming service Peacock. A version of that role had, as Variety reported prior to the reorg, been offered to Netflix local-language originals chief Bela Bajaria, who turned it down.

Nearly a year and a half after acquiring 20th Century Fox Television and Fox 21 TV Studios, Disney is changing the former to simply 20th Television, while the latter will become Touchstone Television. Additionally, ABC Studios and its subsidiary ABC Signature Studios are folding into one unit that will now be called ABC Signature. The full integration of the Disney Television Studios rebranding is effective immediately, with new logos and motion end cards that viewers will see on screen expected to be completed by year’s end. No executive changes or layoffs are expected as part of the changes.

The Barrymore-hosted talker to debut live on Sept. 14 despite COVID-19. Going live wasn’t in the show’s initial plans, but that changed. Like all other talk shows in the age of COVID-19, there won’t be an in-studio audience, only a minimal crew adhering to strict safety procedures.

The Sunday night TV ratings race wasn’t exactly as close as the PGA Championship finale, which easily out-drove the competition. CBS’s coverage of the golf major’s final day averaged a 1.0 rating among adults 18-49. Around 5.6 million total viewers tuned in to watch 23-year-old Collin Morikawa emerge victorious, two strokes ahead of former world number one Dustin Johnson and Englishman Paul Casey.

Cowell’s injury from an electric bicycle accident will force him to miss the beginning of this season’s live shows on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. The live shows will begin Tuesday and Wednesday without him, the network said. The entertainment mogul was “doing fine” and remained under observation after the operation at an unidentified hospital, the spokesperson said.

There’s little chance that either Ellen DeGeneres or Warner Bros. will walk away from a staple of daytime TV that has flourished for almost two decades. Look for a carefully-orchestrated mea culpa and a triumphant return — she’s too good an actress for any other outcome.

New WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar is putting his stamp on the company with a big reorganization. Leaving WarnerMedia are Bob Greenblatt, chairman, WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer, and Kevin Reilly, chief content officer, HBO Max and president, TNT, TBS, and truTV, as well as Keith Cocozza, SVP communications. The move comes four months after Kilar took over the top WarnerMedia post and two months after the launch of HBO Max.

ABC game show The $100,000 Pyramid is returning to the studio in the last week of August. The Michael Strahan-hosted series shoots in New York and it is thought that it is one of the first major non-scripted entertainment shows to return to the studio in New York, where Strahan shoots Good Morning America.