Programming

Only two talkers, two games and one magazine show report ratings gains from the previous session.

Pyeongchang lies in mountainous terrain at the uppermost eastern corner of South Korea, about an hour from the border with North Korea. Normally, its proximity to the Demilitarized Zone, and the North beyond, would not be an issue. But six months from now, thousands of athletes from around the world are set to gather at that remote location for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Much can change, either good or bad, as the clock ticks down to the opening ceremony Feb. 9.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Pac-12 has hired Mark Shuken, the former CEO of DirecTV Sports Networks, to be president of the conference’s cable networks. Shuken, who has also run sports networks […]

NEW YORK (AP) – Gym. Tan. Laundry. Repeat. The cast of “Jersey Shore” is doing it all again for a special on the E! Network. “Reunion Road Trip: Return to […]

The company still will air about 250 matches on its television networks, mostly NBCSN, NBC and CNBC. But 130 games are being moved to its stream. Priced at $49.99 as “Premier League Pass,” on NBC Sports Gold, those matches previously had been available to cable subscribers as Premier League Extra Time on overflow channels and as part of the regular NBC Sports app.

Monday kicked off two straight weeks of last-ditch campaigning for this year’s Emmy contenders. Final ballots are due by 10 p.m. PT on Monday, Aug. 28, and then it’s three more grueling weeks of nominees holding their collective breath for the Sept. 17 Primetime Emmys ceremony. Throughout the main categories, an interesting note arises: If you’re eager to stand up for broadcast, now is your chance.

The ABC network three years ago handed its most lucrative night of the week — Thursday — to its most prolific producer, Shonda Rhimes. ABC grouped three Rhimes-produced shows together and promoted the bloc as “Thank God It’s Thursday.” So Netflix’s announcement late Sunday that Rhimes would be moving her Shondaland production company to the streaming service was a gut punch to ABC. The network has raked in hundreds of millions of dollars over the years in advertising revenue and foreign distribution fees from the sale of Rhimes’ shows.

The 2017 Teen Choice Awards were improved from last year in the Sunday overnight ratings. Airing at 8-10 p.m., this year’s ceremony averaged a 0.6 rating in adults 18-49 and 1.9 million viewers. Last year’s ceremony initially drew a 0.6 and 1.8 million viewers, but adjusted down to a 0.5 and 1.7 million in the final numbers.

With more and more studios and programmers producing copycat streaming services, consumers are eventually going to figure out that they are getting less than when they subscribe to the overflowing packages of cable and satellite. And how they are all going to make money is puzzling.

After hackers leaked on Sunday several episodes of HBO’s upcoming Curb Your Enthusiasm and, among others, Sunday’s episode of Insecure, HBO says it will not “play” the hacker’s game. In a statement, HBO said, “We are not in communication with the hacker and we’re not going to comment every time a new piece of information is released.”

The prolific showrunner behind Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and more has left her longtime home at ABC Studios for the streaming giant. Under the multiple-year deal, Rhimes and her Shondaland banner will create and produce new projects for the streaming giant. Rhimes’ longtime producing partner Betsy Beers will continue to head Shondaland in the move to Netflix. Under what is said to be a rich four-year pact, Rhimes is expected to score a percentage of the back-end on programming she creates for Netflix.

Time Warner’s HBO last month offered $250,000 to cyber criminals who hacked into its computer system, asking them to extend a deadline for paying a much larger ransom, according to an email reviewed by Reuters. The note said that HBO was willing to make the payment “as a show of good faith,” but needed time to fund an account for sending payments in bitcoin digital currency or obtain account information from the hackers so it could use a conventional bank wire to transmit the funds.

Disney’s plan for two new streaming services (and possibly more) is just the latest sign that everyone is jumping into the streaming business. All of that will simply add to a cacophony of existing Netflix-style video services that let you watch what you want, when you want. More are probably on their way, as entertainment companies see profits in controlling not only the creation of their films and shows, but also their distribution.

ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are in talks with the Television Academy about a new licensing deal for the Primetime Emmy Awards. The TV Academy has retained heavyweight lawyer Ken Ziffren, who led the previous two negotiations in 2002 and in 2010-11.

At 9 p.m., the half-hour comedy special drew a 1.7 rating in adults 18-49 and 6.5 million viewers. It built on its lead in from The Wall (1.2, 6.2 million) by 42% in the key demo, and was the No. 2 original show of the night on the Big 4 in the demo behind only Big Brother on CBS, as well as the second most-watched. In addition, no summer comedy, new or returning, has debuted higher than a 1.5 in eight years since ABC’s The Goode Family in 2009.

Disney’s announcement this week that it will launch two Internet-based streaming-TV services — one for sports and one for family fare — is a declaration of independence from cable and satellite companies that would have subscribers pay for hundreds of channels they may never watch.