Programming

ESPN is planning another Monday Night Football pregame shake-up, according to executives with knowledge of the network’s plans. A year after a complete makeover of the set under the stewardship of Scott Van Pelt, Robert Griffin III’s spot is in jeopardy, while the network is aggressively pursuing retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce for Monday nights. (Matt Rourke/AP)

Major League Baseball set up a DTC streaming platform for the team after its RSN went belly-up, but no local linear deals have emerged yet with the Rockies’ regular season starting Thursday night.

NBCUniversal Syndication Studios has renewed The Steve Wilkos Show for an 18th season in national syndication. The Steve Wilkos Show is the second longest-tenured syndicated talk show in current production and is averaging 765,000 viewers for the 2023-24 season, according to NBCU Syndication Studios.

Martin Scorsese is partnering with Fox Nation for an eight-part docudrama series, Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints. Hosted, narrated and executive produced by Scorsese, the series will encompass eight one-hour episodes exploring the stories of eight figures on their journey to sainthood.

In addition, the insurance company has invested in the National Women’s Soccer League Saturday Night Soccer on Ion with primary brand positioning and in-game sponsorship.

Disney’s streaming bundle combining Hulu and Disney+ in one service officially launched Wednesday morning, ending a three-month beta period described by the company as a success. The “duo” plan, Hulu on Disney+, is priced $2 higher than each individual subscriptions alone. It follows in the the estimable footsteps of the three-service Disney Bundle first introduced in 2020, which also includes ESPN+. Unlike that ongoing offering, though, the two-service one is focused on streamlining the consumer experience and pooling the content of two large, established streaming players within a single outlet.

CBS’s NCIS was Monday’s most-watched show, while ABC’s The Bachelor finale dominated the night in the coveted-and-delicious 18-49 demo.

Fox News beat the full-court press of TBS and TNT’s coverage of the March Madness college basketball tournament to top cable’s primetime chart for the 10th straight week. Fox News averaged 1.9 million viewers in primetime for the week of March 18-24, topping second place TBS’ 1.7 million viewers and TNT’s 1.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen numbers supplied by Fox News.

Overall, the tournament is averaging 9.07 million viewers on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. That is a slight increase over the 9.05 million average at this point last year. Pictured: Alabama forward Nick Pringle (23) celebrates with the mascot after Alabama beat Grand Canyon in a second-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament in Spokane, Wash., Sunday, March 24. (Ted S. Warren/AP)

Through the first five days of NCAA “March Madness” averaged 9.0 million Nielsen-measured across CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV, according to the NCAA — the best results ever for the tournament over that period.

Max has handed a straight-to-series order to The Pitt, a new medical drama starring and executive-produced by Noah Wyle. Fellow ER vets John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill are also on board as EPs. The Pitt, which has received a 15-episode order, is described as “a realistic examination of the challenges facing health care workers in today’s America as seen through the lens of the frontline heroes working in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh.”

The NFL is breaking new ground this season with a September game in Brazil, the first time a regular-season contest will take place in South America. The Week 1 game will be exclusively streamed on Peacock, giving NBCUniversal three stand-alone games in the first week of the season.

Anthem Sports & Entertainment said that it hired Greg Drebin as head of content and marketing for its AXS TV and HDNet Movies networks. Drebin, most recently EVP of worldwide marketing, publicity and research at Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, will look to expand viewership and improve the demographics of the two channels.

It’s confirmed – or will be later today – the organizers of MIPTV are setting up a new event in London. MIP London will be based in The Savoy hotel and an adjoining space, the IET London, in a seismic change to the international TV calendar. Historic programming market MIPTV has been situated in Cannes since the 1960s. The new event will run concurrently with the hugely successful London Screenings.

Executives from CBS, Fox Television Stations, Fremantle and Apploff Entertainment to discuss the need for cross-platform interactivity and other strategies to keep viewers more engaged in a panel at TVNewsCheck’s Programming Everywhere conference at the NAB Show in Las Vegas on April 14. Register here.

The writers and actors strikes crippled scripted television and the movie industry last summer. However, reality shows, variety series and game shows were able to continue filming thanks to operating under a different contract – the Network Television Code Contract. SAG-AFTRA is now setting the stage for renewal talks over its 2024 contract.

Two months after the Golden Globes aired on CBS for the first time in more than four decades, the network has closed a new five-year deal to continue to broadcast the awards show and stream it live on Paramount+.

As the viewing landscape continues to get more complex in the streaming era, ESPN is aiming to streamline things for sports fans by integrating video feeds from regional sports networks into its main app and website. Starting this week, subscribers to NESN, which carries Boston sports teams including the Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics, will be able to tune into games via ESPN’s app or on ESPN.com. In May, timed to the start of the WNBA season, Washington, D.C.’s Monumental Sports Network will also be integrated. SportsNet Pittsburgh, which is operated by NESN, is also part of the ESPN agreement, though its coverage will be added down the line.