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CW Expands Streaming To Apple TV And Renames Digital Studio

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 10:32am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, CW, CW Seed, Mark Pedowitz

Like most other broadcasters this upfront week, CW execs today urged advertisers to consider the network’s involvement with digital platforms — and announced that its streamed shows, now available on Windows and Xbox, will also work with Apple TV. “This year we’re reaching more viewers on more platforms,” CW President Mark Pedowitz said during the CW presentation. With more than 20% of the network’s audience coming from digital sources, CW “will continue to make it as easy for you [to advertise] on every platform we’re on now and in the future.” He also announced that his CWD digital studio, which produces original videos for the Web, will be renamed CW Seed. “If the CW is what’s now, then CW Seed is what’s next,” he says. It will offer “new ways to connect to our viewers…It is about continuing our momentum.” After the presentation, Pedowitz said that the television network has cut some deals with advertisers based on the number of viewers who see an ad up to seven days after it airs, as opposed to the conventional three days. Some broadcasters would like to shift to a 7-day standard as DVR usage grows. Pedowitz calls it ”a good opportunity for some advertisers” that don’t have time-sensitive messages.

Related: CW New Series First Looks: Video

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It’s Official: ‘Nikita’ To End Run With Final Six-Episode Installment

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 6:00am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Nikita, the CW
Nellie Andreeva

As expected, the CW announced today that the six-episode renewal for Nikita will mark the spy drama’s final installment. The pickup came after Nikita creator Craig Silverstein, who has a hot new pilot, Turn, at AMC, closed a deal for one last short order. Nikita‘s final chapter, which is yet to be scheduled, will bring the series full circle, with Nikita (Maggie Q) once again on the run as a hunted rogue for a murder she didn’t commit as she attempts to clear her name as well as spare the people she loves. The pickup is part of CW president Mark Pedowitz’s efforts to give the network’s long-running series a satisfying ending for fans. Nikita, a very modest performer on Friday night, has had solid digital play and ranks as one of the CW’s top series on social media. It also has been a strong international seller for producing studio Warner Bros TV.

Related: CW 2013-14 Schedule Read More »

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UPFRONTS 2013: Year Of Second Chances

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 8:30pm PDTTags: ABC, Big Deals TV, CBS, TV Pilots, Upfront
Nellie Andreeva

It’s been another upfront where projects that had been rejected in the past got to shine. Of the four new scripted series showcased at the Turner upfront presentation today, three had been previously developed at other … Read More »

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Cannes: Belgium-Based uMedia Unveils 40% VFX Financing Deal

By JEN YAMATO | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 7:25pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, Cannes, uMedia, VFX

The VFX industry has seen recent mass migrations to tax-friendly locales overseas. Until now Belgium hasn’t been one of those major runaway destinations. But European film company uMedia has unveiled a new financing deal through its … Read More »

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‘Hannibal’ Subject Of Outside Interest While Awaiting Renewal Decision At NBC

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 6:12pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Bryan Fuller, Hannibal, NBC, Upfront
Nellie Andreeva

There are several comedy and drama pilots not picked up to series yet that are still in play. But among returning scripted series, only one, NBC drama Hannibal, went through the upfronts without learning its … Read More »

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All3Media Launches Scripted Division Run By Eric Lehrman, Inks Deal With Reality Producer Omid Kahangi

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 11:33am PDTTags: All3Media, All3Media America, Big Deals TV, Eric Lehrman, Omid Kahangi
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: All3Media America, the recently launched U.S. branch of the UK’s All3Media, is formally starting a scripted division. It will be run by former Bad Robot executive Eric Lehrman, named VP Scripted Television. The move reflects the company’s desire to enter the U.S. scripted business and build on All3Media’s slate of international scripted formats, including shows from Company Pictures (Shameless, Skins, The Village, Secret State), Lime Pictures (Hollyoaks), Objective Productions (Peep Show, Fresh Meat), South Pacific (Outrageous Fortune, The Almighty Johnsons), and Bentley (Midsomer Murders). All3Media America principals Eli Holzman and Stephen Lambert said that getting into scripted is something they had been looking to do since the two launched Studio Lambert USA in 2008. Read More »

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Who Is Sony Investor Daniel Loeb And What Does He Want With It?

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday May 14, 2013 @ 5:14pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, Daniel Loeb, Kazuo Hi, Sony, Third Point

The billionaire founder of hedge fund Third Point startled many in entertainment today with the news that he has paid $1.1B for a 6.4% stake in Sony – and wants the company to create a stock for its movie, TV, and music businesses, selling as much as 20% to the public. But on Wall Street, where Daniel Loeb is an A-list celeb, the big surprises are that he showed any interest in showbiz — and that his language in the letter he sent to Sony was so polite. As a value investor managing more than $13B, Loeb, 51, likes to engage in deep research and then bet on relatively boring companies and assets that others overlook. Third Point’s most recent quarterly investor letter highlights its holdings in International Paper and mortgages, as well as John Malone’s European cable company Liberty Global. Although Loeb was raised in Los Angeles, the son of a lawyer and an historian, he’s known as a New Yorker. He earned an economics degree from Columbia University before he hit Wall Street. After working 12 years for firms including Citibank, Jefferies and Warburg Pincus, he founded Third Point in 1995 with about $3M from family and friends. Read More »

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UPDATE: Sony Says Showbiz Units Not For Sale, But Welcomes “Dialogue” With Third Point

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday May 14, 2013 @ 2:15pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, CBS, Daniel Loeb, Sony, Third Point

2ND UPDATE, 2:15 PM: Sony doesn’t slam the door on Third Point‘s proposal for it to sell up to a 20% stake in its entertainment assets — but doesn’t encourage the idea either. Sony “welcomes investment in the company,” SVP Corporate Communications Shiro Kambe says. But he adds: “We are focused on creating shareholder value by executing on our plan to revitalize and grow the electronics business, while further strengthening the stable business foundations of the entertainment and financial service businesses. As President and CEO Kazuo Hirai has said repeatedly, the entertainment businesses are important contributors to Sony’s growth and are not for sale, and we look forward to continuing a constructive dialogue with our shareholders as we pursue our strategy.”

UPDATE, 10:28 AM: The CBS speculation has taken on new life following this morning’s news that hedge fund Third Point wants the electronics company to create a public stock for its entertainment assets. Third Point proposed that Sony keep at least an 80% stake in the studio and music properties. Still, the plan “will concentrate investor attention” on the businesses and “the synergies that potential acquirers such as CBS might eventually realize,” says Pivotal Research Group’s Brian Wieser — who likes the idea. Sony shares are +10.5% in mid-day trading and CBS is +2.6%. Late last year Sony firmly rejected a sale after CBS’ Les Moonves mused that he “would want to look at them” if the properties were for sale. Sony execs might start to think differently if they take the movie, TV, and music assets public. The stock would give them a clearer sense of how much the properties are worth and, therefore, how much they could collect from a buyer. And Wiser believes that CBS could show that it would do a better job than Sony — which he says “has never bridged a significant cultural gap nor overcome its hierarchical bureaucracy to work better with the U.S.-centered operations.” CBS will be flush with cash soon as it prepares to sell and restructure its billboard ad properties. Read More »

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Univision Announces Partnership With Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey Network; ‘Dusk Till Dawn’ TV Series Planned

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday May 14, 2013 @ 8:38am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Robert Rodriguez, Univision, Upfront

Looks like Univision saved something extra for their upfront presentation today in NY. Promising “fun, fast-paced entertainment” Univision Networks president Cesar Conde announced that the company has a new partnership with El Rey Network, the upcoming English-language cable network from filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa’s FactoryMade. El Rey is set to launch at the end of the year via Comcast. Univision will be responsible for the back-office operations, sales and distribution of the network. “The El Rey Network is going to be the home of kick-ass entertainment,” said Rodriguez today onstage. The filmmaker said that the first shows from El Rey will be a TV version of his and Quentin Tarantino’s Dusk Till Dawn movie and an as yet unnamed action series developed by Fringe and Star Trek Into Darkness producers Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci’s K/O Paper Products.

Related: Univision Announces ‘Breaking Bad’ & ‘Gossip Girl’ Adaptations

The network today also announced Va Por Ti, a new singing competition series for Sunday nights. Additionally, Conde said Univision will be showing the award show Premios TyNovelas that will cover Hispanic programming in both Mexico and the U.S. The show will air the same day in the States and Mexico. Read More »

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ESPN Inks Deal With Twitter For Ad-Supported Sports Highlights

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday May 13, 2013 @ 4:49pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Disney, ESPN, Twitter

Twitter users soon will be able to see — rather than just read about — more hail Marys, big air, and golden goals. ESPN said today it is broadening its ties to the 140-character world, making ad-embedded clips of several major events available on Twitter and mobile devices, creating yet another potential revenue stream. The sports behemoth becomes the latest TV entity to get cozier with the site as video becomes a bigger part of the twitterverse. Last month, Twitter was said to be holding talks with Viacom and NBCUniversal about hosting clips from those companies’ shows, and BBC America tweeted a few weeks back that it had signed up for the first “in-Tweet branded video synced to entertainment TV series.” The Disney-run “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” as it brands itself, soon will make the clips available on Twitter and mobile devices shortly after they happen live on-air. Expect video from NCAA football, the X Games and action from the pitch during the run-up to next year’s soccer World Cup. The net will detail its plans during its upfront Tuesday in New York. Read More »

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Cannes: HBO Acquires North American Rights To Alec Baldwin/James Toback’s ‘Seduced And Abandoned’ Feature Docu

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday May 13, 2013 @ 10:27am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, HBO, James Toback, Seduced And Abandoned

HBO acquired all television rights for the U.S. and Canada to James Toback‘s feature documentary Seduced And Abandoned. Produced by Michael Mailer, Alec Baldwin and Toback and exec-produced by Morris Levy, Alan Helene, Larry Herbert … Read More »

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Kiefer Sutherland Signs On For More ’24′, New Limited Series Is A Go At Fox

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday May 13, 2013 @ 5:28am PDTTags: 24, Big Deals TV, Fox, Howard Gordon, Kiefer Sutherland
Nellie Andreeva

24 Kiefer Sutherland ReturnsJack Bauer is back! I’ve learned that, after marathon negotiations, Kiefer Sutherland has closed a deal for a new installment of 24 on Fox. With him on board, I hear … Read More »

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‘Cake Boss’ Producer High Noon Sells Controlling Slice To UK’s ITV

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday May 13, 2013 @ 12:11am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Cake Boss, ITV

In its second buy into a U.S. production company in less than six months, ITV has acquired a controlling interest in Cake Boss producer High Noon Entertainment. In December Duck Dynasty maker Gurney Productions sold a controlling stake to ITV for $40M. In the High Noon deal, ITV will pay $25.65M upfront for 60% of the company with a further payment in 2015 contingent on High Noon’s performance. In keeping with the way it structures most of its acquisitions deals, ITV also has a put and call option to buy the rest of the company which can be exercised in four-six years. Read More »

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EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros TV Shake-Up – Top Exec Bruce Rosenblum Settled Out And Peter Roth Signed To Big Long-Term Deal; All The Behind-The-Scenes Drama & Detail

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday May 12, 2013 @ 2:06pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Bruce Rosenblum, Jeff Bewkes, Kevin Tsujihara, Peter Roth, Time Warner, Warner Bros Television Group, Warner Brother Television

UPDATE SUNDAY 2 PM: Warner Bros Entertainment CEO Kevin Tsujihara is finally confirming internally my news that Warner Bros Television Group Bruce Rosenblum is exiting. This, after Tsujihara for months and even in recent weeks has told almost everyone there that Rosenblum was staying.

BREAKING … SATURDAY 10 PM… EXCLUSIVE: Hollywood always fires people in success, or so the saying goes. I’ve learned that Warner Bros TV Bruce Rosenblum Outthe announcement by Warner Bros Entertainment CEO (and soon-to-be-chairman) Kevin Tsujihara is planned for 7 to 14 days after next week’s TV upfront presentations. Despite Tsujihara’s claims for months that he hadn’t made up his mind what to do about the brilliant but sharp-elbowed Bruce Rosenblum, I can tell you Tsujihara declared from Day Bruce Rosenblum Warner Bros TVOne of his new job that “Bruce is an unnecessary layer of management”. This, even though Rosenblum’s Warner Bros Television Group consistently contributes half of Warner Bros Entertainment’s profits year after year. I’m told that Rosenblum won’t be replaced as President of the Warner Bros Television Group now that he’s quietly settled out his contract which expires in August. (Tsujihara never made a move to negotiate a new one for him.) Some already expect Rosenblum not to turn up at next week’s upfronts. Instead Bruce is sitting on a fat severance package in recognition of his more than two outstanding decades at Warner Bros and for keeping his mouth shut during the humiliation of losing the WB CEO job and then getting kicked to the curb on top of that. Many in Hollywood thought Tsujihara might keep Rosenblum in place rather than bust up what is so obviously a winning formula atop the TV group. Instead Tsujihara proved that, just like his Time Warner boss Jeff Bewkes, he is more obsessed by politics and personality than profit. (“It would have been pretty awkward, quite frankly,” Tsujihara told the TV community about keeping Rosenblum on.)

Warner Bros Television President Peter Roth has just been signed to a new long-term deal and will report to Tsujihara for the first time. Roth reps the increasing power of content and the executives directly responsible for its creation. ”As I look at the key people that exist, Peter comes at the top of the list. He’s at the top of the game right now creatively,” Tsujihara enthused privately on Day One of his new job. But Rosenblum’s roles will be assumed by a new WBTV leadership mix including Warner Bros TV Group EVP Craig Hunegs, Warner Bros International Distribution President Jeffrey Schlesinger, and Warner Bros Television EVP Brett Paul. (“Peter is the big teddy bear but Brent was sent in to beat you up,” notes one exec.) These guys are some of what Bewkes was referring to back on January 28th when he talked about the “very strong benches of people beneath”. All will become the TV group’s new sharp-elbowed negotiators who won’t rub people the wrong way like Rosenblum did.

It’s been a professional and emotional roller-coaster for Rosenblum ever since he expected the top job and didn’t get it. Read More »

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Seth Meyers Named Host Of NBC’s ‘Late Night’, Lorne Michaels To Exec Produce

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Sunday May 12, 2013 @ 11:00am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Late Night TV, Late Night With Seth Meyers, NBC, Seth Meyers
Nellie Andreeva

The real winner here is Lorne Michaels, who now controls all three NBC late night shows. NBC completed its late-night revamp by naming Seth Meyers host of Late Night. He will … Read More »

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UPFRONTS 2013: NBC’s Scheduling Challenges

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Saturday May 11, 2013 @ 5:51pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Community, NBC, Parks & Recreation, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

NBC faces the task of scheduling six new comedies for next season with only two returning half-hour series: Community, which received an eleventh-hour 13-episode renewal, and Parks & Recreation. The network may just have the right man for the job. This is head of scheduling Jeff Bader‘s first turn at bat after moving to NBC last summer. As a long-time scheduling topper at ABC, he was presented with a similar challenge four years ago when the network picked up five new comedy series and returned two. Like Parks & Rec and Community, those two returning comedies, Scrubs and Better Off Ted, were quirky cult shows and not anchors that could launch new series. What Bader and ABC brass did back then was let Scrubs and Ted be, pairing them together for what became both series’ final season. Then they took four new comedies and launched a new two-hour comedy block on Wednesday. It worked – three of the four comedies are still on the air: Modern Family and The Middle on ABC and Cougar Town on TBS. (The fourth, Hank, was quickly cancelled.)

Bader may take a similar approach at NBC. Like at ABC in 2009, the two returning NBC comedies are workplace, while most of the new series are family or family-esque (Michael J. Fox, Welcome To The Family, The Family Guide, Sean Saves The World, About A Boy). Coincidentally, the last new comedy series this year, Undateable, is a multi-camera show about dating, which was also the case at ABC in 2009 with Romantically Challenged, which was scheduled behind Dancing With The Stars. Read More »

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Nicole Kidman To Star In And Produce ‘Reconstructing Amelia’ Film For HBO

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday May 10, 2013 @ 3:15pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, HBO Films, Nicole Kidman, Reconstructing Amelia
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: On the heels of her starring role in Hemingway & Gellhorn, which earned her Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG nominations, Nicole Kidman is back in business with HBO Films on Reconstructing Amelia, a … Read More »

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ITV’s Deborah Turness To Be Named President Of NBC News

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday May 10, 2013 @ 8:21am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Deborah Turness, ITV News, NBC News
Nellie Andreeva

It looks like NBC will be handing its venerable news division to a Brit. Deborah Turness, the editor of ITV News, is expected to become the first female president of NBC News, replacing Steve … Read More »

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’24′ Eyes Return As Limited Series On Fox, Howard Gordon To EP, Kiefer Sutherland In Talks To Star

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday May 9, 2013 @ 4:22pm PDTTags: 24, Big Deals TV, Fox, Kiefer Sutherland
Nellie Andreeva

24 Returning Kiefer Sutherland FoxThe clock may start ticking again on Fox. I’ve learned that the network is looking to bring back its signature real-time drama 24 as a limited series. Kiefer Sutherland is in talks to reprise … Read More »

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