Programming

Hasbro Inc, the maker of games ranging from Monopoly to foam Nerf balls, has ended talks to acquire U.S. movie studio and entertainment company Lionsgate Entertainment, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The deal would have given Hasbro a direct pipeline into Hollywood with more movies and TV shows tied to its toy brands.

What happens if the cable TV universe keeps shrinking and digital TV companies decide that they don’t need to invest in sports content? That’s a realistic scenario that threatens the huge amount of media rights fees that has made all sports much richer over the past decade. That’s not to suggest that there’s a media rights bubble that’s about to burst. But it could mean that the huge annual increases that the bigger leagues have enjoyed will flatten.

Two months in, the NBC show continues to perform just as strong as it did during its premiere. Since its season premiere in May, America’s Got Talent‘s live showing has never fluctuated more than 4% in either direction, clinging to the high bar it set at the top of its 12th season to easily rank as the top reality player of the last year — outperforming even the regular season’s top players, The Bachelor (ABC) and The Voice (NBC).

The company is reeling from a sophisticated cyberattack that potentially compromised seven times the amount of data stolen in the Sony hack as the FBI investigates potential culprits.

Overall in primetime for the week, NBC averaged 4.7 million viewers in prime time. CBS was second with 4.3 million, ABC had 3.1 million, Fox had 1.7 million, Univision had 1.44 million, Telemundo had 1.39 million, Ion Television had 1.2 million, and the CW had 910,000.

The end of the road for CBS’s The Big Bang Theory is coming into closer focus. The nerdy series ranks as TV’s most watched comedy among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic and was renewed in March for its 11th and 12th seasons (48 episodes in total). “We never really figured to be at year 11, let alone what’s going to happen after 12. One could easily presume that would be the end of the series, but I’m just amazed we’re here,” co-creator Chuck Lorre said Tuesday.

CBS Entertainment chief Kelly Kahl and his new programming EVP, Thom Sherman, were peppered with questions about their slate’s comparative lack of female-fronted shows and series featuring people of color yesterday at the summer meeting of the Television Critics Association. “We are absolutely moving in the right direction,” said Kahl, citing a 60% lift in non-white series regulars and ongoing efforts to include more people of color behind the scenes. “We are making progress.”

Spanish-language broadcaster LBI Media said today that its Estrella TV Network has added a new affiliate in Wichita, Kan. Estrella TV has signed an affiliate agreement with KCTU-LD owned by River City Broadcasters, which will air the network on ch. 43 as early as this week. KCTU becomes Estrella’s its 48th affiliate. “Adding KCTU as a […]

Only seven first-run syndicated shows reported weekly ratings gains in the frame ending July 23: Judge Judy, Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune, Celebrity Name Game, Entertainment Tonight, TMZ and Dish Nation.

Monday’s Bachelorette special The Men Tell All topped a narrow reality race, earning a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 5.7 million viewers. With a new episode of To Tell The Truth (0.8 adults) at 10 p.m., ABC tied NBC for the night’s demo bragging rights.

Scripps was already a 5% owner in a portion of the business, so its net purchase price is $292 million for Bounce, Grit, Escape and Laff. Founder Jonathan Katz will continue to lead the Katz networks business. The company, with about 130 employees, will remain based in the Atlanta area.

CBS Corp. and Imagine TV Studios have partnered on a new, four-year first-look and co-financing deal for scripted and unscripted television and long-form digital programming. Under the terms of the deal, Imagine will partner with CBS to produce programming for CBS TV, CBS All Access and Showtime. CBS’s platforms will get a first look at new Imagine series, with CBS’s studio arm, CBS Television Studios, serving as production partner and worldwide distributor for any shows produced under the deal. Imagine will retain distribution rights in certain Asian territories

Seth Meyers, commenting on Anthony Scaramucci’s 10-day stint as the White House communications director, noted that his “last name is longer than his tenure.”

She takes over the role at ABC and ABC Studios previously held by Marla Provencio, who exited earlier this year.