Programming

The multi-year deal, which covers DirecTV, AT&T TV and U-verse, ends a nearly two-month impasse. Terms were not disclosed.

CBS’s Big Brother is also down but ties America’s Got Talent for the adults 18-49 lead Wednesday night.

The league announced Wednesday that this year’s MLS Cup will be shown on the network for the 14th time in 24 seasons. The final on Nov. 10 will start at 3 p.m. ET. It also will air on Univision in Spanish.

Twenty-five years after WCIU Chicago shed its affiliation with the Univision Spanish-language network and became fully independent as “The U,” the Weigel Broadcasting station is about to take on a new identity. On Sunday it will become an affiliate of The CW.

In six years, Roku, the fast-growing streaming TV player/platform company, will total 80 million subscribers, according to one media analyst. Ralph Schackart, analyst at William Blair, says by 2025, Roku will also get to $4.5 billion in annual revenue, 90% of which will come from its U.S. business. Roku’s growth is trending faster than Netflix’s at this point.

As the new network TV season nears, TVNewsCheck reached out to four media agency executives with 10 questions about key programming moves for the upcoming season. Taken together, the answers provide an expert overview of what might happen when viewers start tuning in (or not).

The show was seen by 4.9 million viewers live on Monday across 12 different Viacom-owned networks. That’s down from last year’s audience of 5.2 million, as the annual event has slid in television viewers each year since reaching 10.3 million in 2014. Led by America’s Got Talent, NBC won last week in primetime network viewership, averaging 4 million viewers.

Disney has started advising Dish subscribers of a looming contract deadline with FX and National Geographic, which could go dark on the satellite system. The two companies had previously negotiated past a contract deadline in July, citing progress in the talks as the signals remained active on the satellite system. The current deadline is 9 p.m. PT today.

The 97-year-old actress is one of the main attractions in NBC’s next push to bring broader audiences to its soon-to-launch season of Sunday Night Football. A promo featuring White has the actress talking about a looming Sept. 5 match-up (a Thursday) between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, telling viewers: “There’s only one thing more badass than this year’s kickoff — and you’re looking at her.”

Some 42% of millennials say they’d be likely to subscribe to the offering of Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+, a Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult survey finds.

CBS Television Distribution’s new advertiser-supported digital lifestyle network Dabl (dab·​ble) is now cleared in over 80% of the country for launch on Sept. 9. In addition to the previously announced CBS Television Stations […]

American Ninja Warrior drew its biggest total audience of the season Monday and finished as close to ABC’s Bachelor franchise in adults 18-49 as it has all summer. The NBC competition averaged 4.84 million viewers, a season high for fast national ratings (and tied with the final number for the season premiere). The show’s 0.9 rating among adults 18-49 tied its best mark Mondays this summer.

The victory in the session ending Aug. 18 marks a full decade at the top of all first-run programs for Judy and six straight years as syndication’s highest rated show overall.

After six years at the helm, The Goldbergs creator/executive producer Adam F. Goldberg is stepping down as showrunner of the ABC comedy series, which is heading into Season 7. The Goldbergs veterans Chris Bishop and Alex Barnow, who have been with the series since its premiere, have been named showrunners of the series produced by Sony Pictures TV, where both are under deals.

Wendy Williams is the unabashed id of daytime talk TV, a host who gleefully splashes around in the same celebrity gossip pool into which her peers genteelly wade. Here, the brash talk show host discusses gossip, her current tabloid troubles and her legacy.