Programming

Both houses of the California legislature showed support Thursday for extending tax credits for film productions in the state, offering about $330 million annually to studios who film here — with a pending stipulation that filmmakers show real increases in diversity hiring for these projects. The extension, part of a $311.2 billion draft state budget, would keep the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program through 2030. Legislators still are hashing out details for a final budget, which then will require approval from Gov. Gavin Newsom.

SWAT made its first appearance on Nielsen’s streaming charts a week after CBS briefly canceled the series.

The crime drama cracked the overall top 10, and came in fourth among acquired series, for the week of May 15-21 with 635 million minutes of watch time. On May 5, CBS said it was canceling SWAT — then reversed course three days later and picked up a shortened final season of the show. The series’ first five seasons arrived on Netflix on May 17; it also streams on Paramount+ and Hulu.

Great American Media, the family and faith-based company started by former Hallmark Channel head Bill Abbott, said it completed its merger with Sony Picture Television’s Pure Flix. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Great American Media retains a majority interest in the merged company and Abbott will be CEO, reporting to a board of directors.

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed into law Thursday a $380 million public financing package to help build a Major League Baseball stadium for the Oakland Athletics on the Las Vegas Strip as MLB’s commissioner outlined a months-long approval process for the A’s proposed move there.

As of press time, we don’t know if or when SAG-AFTRA will go on strike should its deal with the AMPTP expire on June 30 without a new contract. But with the Writers Guild already on strike, and a SAG-AFTRA strike a distinct possibility, the TV Academy is already starting to mull several different contingency plans on how to adjust the rest of the campaign season calendar — and what to do with the telecast, currently scheduled for Sept. 18 on Fox.

Hearst Media Production Group and Mutual of Omaha are bringing the iconic series back this fall, 60 years after its original debut.

“Since many of you have been asking about the possibility of Gotham Knights finding a new home, we wanted to let you know that, over the last few months, our producing partners at Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Discovery had been working extremely hard to get the show picked up or possibly even moved to a new network,” showrunners James Stoteraux and Chad Fiveash wrote Wednesday on social media. “Unfortunately, despite all their efforts, The CW wasn’t able to renew the show, and the studio wasn’t able to find a new home for it.”

The CW’s Superman & Lois has set the returning cast for the recently picked up 10-episode fourth season, with four of the 12 Season 3 series regulars coming back amid budget cuts. Departing as series regulars are Dylan Walsh, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Erik Valdez, Inde Navarrette, Wolé Parks, Tayler Buck and Sofia Hasmik. Five of them had been on the show from the start, Walsh, Chriqui, Valdez, Parks and Navarrette. The hope is for the septet to guest star/recur next season, reprising their roles, subject to interest on their part and availability.

The deal that backers said will help further establish Las Vegas as the new “entertainment and sports capital of the world” still needs the governor’s signature, and MLB still must approve the A’s move to the Las Vegas Strip, but both are anticipated. Pictured: This rendering shows a view of the proposed new ballpark with a retractable roof at the Tropicana site.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Nevada alleges that the women were individually drugged and assaulted between approximately 1979 and 1992 in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe homes, dressing rooms and hotels. The Nevada lawsuit came only a few weeks after Gov. Joe Lombardo signed a bill that eliminated a two-year deadline for adults to file sexual abuse cases. Similar suits have followed other “lookback laws” in other states.

Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury promotes Emmy-winning producer Fernita Wynn to executive producer and showrunner, with Joelle Dawson-Calia upped to EP, Siobhan Schanda and Dan Fitzpatrick to co-EPs. Pictured (l-r): Siobhan Schanda, Fernita Wynn, Jawn Murray, Sherri Shepherd, Joelle Dawson-Calia, Dan Ftizpatrick (Andrew Werner photo)

The company’s WPHL, KRON and WTTA drop their MyNetworkTV lineups to carry Nexstar’s CW’s primetime entertainment, live sports and special event programming.

Fire Country is guaranteed to be spreading, in the form of NCIS-like spinoffs. Season 1 of the Max Thieriot-led firefighter drama averaged 8.4 million total viewers and a 0.8 demo rating (with Live+7 playback), ranking fifth in audience among the 14 dramas CBS aired this TV season, while tying FBI for No. 1 in the demo. “We are focused on mass-appeal franchises,” CBS President-CEO George Cheeks said at the Banff World Media Festival on Tuesday. “This season’s No. 1 show was Fire Country, which completely lends itself to building out a whole new universe.”

Sinclair subsidiary Diamond Sports Group has already used federal bankruptcy protection to walk away from one Major League Baseball team, the San Diego Padres, with which it has a money-losing distribution deal. And it’s looking more and more like Diamond will banish more MLB teams from its Bally Sports portfolio of regional sports networks.

NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe on Tuesday signed off from the long-running FS1 talk show Undisputed with co-host Skip Bayless, ending his seven-year run on the daily series.

Nexstar has spent the past two years building its national media business with The CW as a central part of that strategy. The CW will soon be put to the test as its third iteration hits viewers.

While speaking at the Banff TV Festival on Tuesday, CBS CEO George Cheeks revealed that CBS had reached a contract extension with the comedian to continue as host of its top-rated The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for another three years. His current pact was set to expire this year. “We just extended him for three more years and I was praying for that to happen,” Cheeks said.

ABC’s coverage of what would be the deciding game in this year’s NBA Finals — in which the Nuggets beat the Heat to claim their first title — dominated the night with 10 million total viewers and a 3.0 demo rating. Fox’s Stars on Mars (970,000/0.2) lost 25% of its premiere audience.

CBS will add the competition series to its summer reality schedule, beginning with a special two-hour episode on Sunday, July 2, and Friday, July 7. It will also stream live and on demand on Paramount+ with new episodes airing every Sunday and Friday in subsequent weeks.