Know What's Happening in Television
Know What's Happening in Television
Netflix to Pull Oscar‑Nominated ‘Hell or High Water’ in 2026
Netflix will remove Taylor Sheridan’s Oscar‑nominated neo‑Western *Hell or High Water* from its catalog on May 1, 2026. The 2016 film earned roughly $37 million worldwide against a $12 million budget and holds a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating.
Nielsen unveiled a new upfront planning guide that offers a granular look at ad‑supported TV viewership across linear, FAST and AVOD platforms, with a focus on the 18‑49 demographic and sports audiences. The study shows adults 18‑49 allocate 63.8% of their TV time to ad‑supported content, with streaming representing 66.7% of that time and 81.1% of streaming occurring on ad‑supported tiers. Linear TV still commands 33.4% of total viewing, especially for live sports, while FAST attracts a broader 35‑64 audience. Nielsen positions the guide as a strategic tool for marketers to allocate upfront budgets more effectively.
Tim Burrowes’ Unmade Index, which monitors 14 Australian listed media firms, has recorded a more than 60% drop in total market value since its launch in early 2022, underscoring a deepening media apocalypse. The latest Mumbrellacast episode also dissects the...
Canal+ will retire Showmax, migrating South African subscribers to its own OTT app after Showmax accumulated roughly R8.7 billion in losses, including R4.9 billion in 2025. The transition will fold Showmax titles into the Canal+ platform and DStv Stream, aiming to retain customers...
Amazon MX Player, India’s free streaming service with 250 million monthly viewers, announced its most ambitious 2026 lineup. The slate features over 150 new and returning titles across drama, action, reality and its micro‑drama MX Fatafat vertical. High‑profile projects such as...
The Victorian Football League has secured broadcast agreements with Foxtel, ABC, Seven and SEN, promising the competition’s biggest audiences in decades. Foxtel will stream 16 matches on Kayo Sports across the first 13 rounds, while ABC returns to VFL TV...
In this special edition of the Behind the Numbers podcast, eMarketer analyst Emmy Liederman moderates a panel with Nicole Marcus of Dick's Sporting Goods and Alison O'Keefe of Best Buy about the evolving creator video landscape and its migration from...
A Looper Insights survey of sports‑media executives finds global streamers poised to dominate sports rights by 2026, with Amazon Prime Video emerging as the clear front‑runner. Forty‑one percent of respondents said streaming platforms will hold the greatest structural power, edging...
Scoop: Gayle King's new deal, which CBS News triumphantly announced last week, is only a one-year renewal, I've learned. It does not lock King into the network past 2027.
Saturday, March 7, 2026 TV ratings show CBS’s true‑crime series *48 Hours* aired a new episode amid a slate of high‑profile sports and specials. The Paralympic Games, NBA tip‑off, World Baseball Classic, and UFC 326 prelims dominated viewership, while reruns like *Saturday Night...
The IndyCar and NASCAR doubleheader at Phoenix Raceway delivered record viewership, with the IndyCar Good Ranchers 250 drawing 1.247 million viewers—a 95 percent increase—and the NASCAR Cup Straight Talk Wireless 500 pulling 2.841 million, up 19 percent. The event marked Team Penske’s 60th anniversary and featured...
In the 40‑day run‑up to the 2025 Oscars, YouTube activity leaned heavily toward Shorts, which captured roughly 78% of all views. The Glambot format continued its dominance, surpassing 1 billion cross‑platform views, with creator Haley Kalil accounting for several of the top...
Fox One and ESPN Unlimited are refining their direct‑to‑consumer (DTC) platforms to tackle sports‑viewing fragmentation, ingestion hurdles, and personalization demands. Fox targets the 60 million cord‑less households, offering the same lineup as pay‑TV and a joint ESPN bundle at $39.99 per...
Optimum‑owned News 12 is debuting “Made In,” a weekly series that highlights local businesses and entrepreneurs across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, premiering March 16 at 9 p.m. with repeats throughout the week. The show will be anchored by Rebecca...
March Madness drove record TV audiences, with ESPN delivering its most‑watched men’s college basketball season since 2014‑15, averaging 1.1 million viewers across 127 games. ABC’s five tournament events pulled 1.7 million viewers, while ESPN’s family of networks posted a 25% year‑over‑year increase....
Disney+ is rolling out a new vertical‑video feature called Verts to U.S. mobile users this week, following a January announcement. A dedicated Verts icon will appear in the navigation bar, letting subscribers swipe through bite‑size scenes from the platform’s library....
Barb, the UK’s joint‑industry audience measurement body, announced Caroline Baxter as its new chief executive. Baxter, who joined Barb in 2022 and was promoted to COO in 2024, will steer the firm through a new wave of innovation for linear,...
The Golden State Warriors posted their lowest‑rated ABC broadcast since 2002, drawing a 1.1 rating and 1.90 million viewers in a Curry‑less matchup against the Thunder. Historically a marquee NBA draw, the team’s viewership fell sharply when Stephen Curry missed his...
Disney’s 20th Television is developing a new comedy pilot for Hulu called “Lex.” The series centers on a disgraced reality‑star who inadvertently records a murder and becomes the target of a worldwide conspiracy. The pilot is being written and executive‑produced...
AI agents are being layered onto media analytics pipelines, promising automated insights for streaming publishers. However, a single erroneous data point—such as a telemetry delay—can poison the entire chain, turning a glitch into a strategic misstep. The risk is amplified...
#OpenAI is putting #Sora inside #ChatGPT. Existing data suggests consumer demand for AI video may underwhelm relative to ChatGPT's 920 million weekly chatbot users. For Disney, its licensed 200-plus characters will be available to these audiences under strict conditions that...
Sony Pictures Television announced that Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman will leave the nonfiction division they have led since 2022. The unit will be folded into President Katherine Pope’s portfolio, joining her scripted and kids businesses. Sony originally acquired Holzman...
The DOJ reached a settlement with Live Nation‑Ticketmaster that stops short of a breakup, instead imposing a 15 % fee cap on tickets sold at Live Nation‑owned amphitheaters and requiring limited transparency for artists. The agreement also obliges Ticketmaster to open...
Bell withdrew its April 2025 complaint after reaching a distribution agreement with Telus for five discretionary channels—Oxygen True Crime, USA Network, CTV Nature, CTV Speed and CTV Wild. The dispute originated from Bell’s claim that Telus favored Rogers’ new channels...
I talked to @MattBelloni about Sunday's Oscars, the future of Hollywood, and why he thinks David Ellison wants to build a new Fox News: Excerpts here: https://www.businessinsider.com/oscars-prediction-paramount-ellison-gulf-matt-belloni-peter-kafka-2026-02 Full chat on Channels: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/channels-with-peter-kafka/id1080467174?i=1000754620316
Netflix Could Pay as Much as $600 Million for Ben Affleck’s AI Film Start-Up: Report https://t.co/EMp2y3V3u0 via @variety
Magnify Digital announced that Te Māngai Pāho, New Zealand’s national Māori screen fund, will deploy its AI‑driven audience intelligence platform ScreenMiner across about 150 funded productions each year. The platform aggregates quantitative metrics and structured qualitative feedback from digital channels, delivering decision‑ready insights...
Had a nice chat with the official @YouTube blog about launching The Town on video. ⬇️⬇️ https://t.co/Zj2sG7EZNv
The one BIG move that will tell us if Ellison and Paramount are playing to win. $PSKY $WBD $AMZN The LightShed Podcast, Ep. 304. With @BrandoLightShed and @WaltLightShed https://t.co/YJZW8CaF1O
Spain has been named the Country of Honour for the 2026 Banff World Media Festival, recognizing its rapid ascent as a global hub for premium content. The designation follows a breakout year featuring hits such as *Berlin* and *La mesías*,...
Barry Diller says in interview with Graham Bensinger that Paramount was mismanaged for ten years. https://t.co/5f66zaehm7 via @YouTube
I hate how much I love the #Oscars. But as the #AcademyAwards prepare to move to @YouTube in 2029, it's clear the ceremony has been relegated to following the audience instead of leading it. My latest for @observer: https://t.co/z2hBnBvjdU
Kerry Washington, promoting Apple TV+’s Imperfect Women, was asked about a possible Scandal reunion and redirected the question to creator Shonda Rhimes. Co‑star Tony Goldwyn gave a matching response, also pointing to Rhimes for any revival plans. Fans have already...
The latest craze among creator platforms? Inventing their own awards shows to honor the most popular and creative people cranking out content on their apps. https://t.co/SVFliYvp6u via @variety
Creators Go Pro: Digital Stars Bank Brand Bucks While Talent Agencies and Support Firms Proliferate https://t.co/P1OMksQCSC via @variety
Premium CTV inventory, while more expensive, offers advertisers higher-quality audience engagement. Vevo, partnering with measurement firm Amplified, has produced rigorous attention data demonstrating that premium placements deliver longer view times and stronger brand recall. The partnership’s findings provide concrete evidence...
Game of Streams: David Ellison's Plan to Compete with Netflix called Paramount+HBO Paramount wants to be more than a survivor in the streaming wars. It believes it can catapult itself into a daily use streaming platform that can compete head-on...
The episode dissects David Ellison’s strategy to transform Paramount into a daily‑use streaming powerhouse capable of challenging Netflix, focusing on the upcoming merger with Warner Bros. Discovery and the creation of a unified Paramount+HBO platform. It outlines a three‑step plan:...
Calrec will showcase hybrid workflow solutions at the 2026 NAB Show, unveiling its U.S. debut of the IP‑native Argo M audio console. The 48‑fader console packs up to 356 internal DSP channels and supports SMPTE ST 2110 and cloud connectivity. Calrec will also...
The article argues that the entertainment sector must move beyond a single‑dimensional attention economy and adopt a three‑tier framework—disposable, habitual, and devotional attention—to differentiate fleeting clicks from true fandom. It highlights how micro‑drama apps like ReelShort chase disposable attention, while...
Netflix’s two flagship English‑language series are falling short of their own records. Stranger Things Season 5 has logged 132.7 million views after 77 days, 8 million fewer than Season 4’s 140.7 million, and cannot close the gap before the 91‑day window ends. Bridgerton Season 4 sits...
FreeWheel unveiled an AI agent infrastructure built on its Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server and a suite of Intelligence tools, embedding artificial intelligence directly into premium video ad transactions. The platform enables real‑time workflow automation, performance monitoring, and decision‑making for...
CBS Sports partnered with the University of Cincinnati to produce two Big 12 men’s basketball games from the school’s on‑campus control rooms, marking the second university‑based linear broadcast after Kansas State. CBS supplied its front‑bench producers and directors while Cincinnati...
U.S. streaming services now account for about 75% of online video viewing across Europe, according to Mediavision and the Digital Production Partnership. Local platforms collectively hold only around 25% of the market, with notable variation—Finland’s domestic services capture 43% while...
.@thewrap looks at M&A so far this year: media VC deals are falling – 70% year over year – compared to AI which is soaring. Here’s the story in charts, in partnership with @PitchBook : https://t.co/dQDSQqFM6m
NBCUniversal Media Group promoted Gus O’Brien to president of International Networks and Direct‑to‑Consumer, effective April 1, succeeding veteran Ken Bettsteller who moves to an advisory role. O’Brien previously served as managing director for Latin America, overseeing joint ventures and the launch...
OpenX and TVision have introduced OpenX Attention Targeting, the first supply‑side solution that lets advertisers bid on CTV inventory based on real‑time viewer attention scores. The offering merges TVision’s passive, person‑level panel data with OpenX’s bid‑stream signals, delivering predictive engagement...
New: The NFL is plotting a new Thanksgiving Eve game and other potential new windows as it continues to dominate the TV landscape. https://t.co/5gWYad1A2P
Banijay Entertainment announced the sixth international adaptation of its reality competition The 50, produced by Banijay Italia for Amazon Prime Video. The Italian version will run ten episodes, featuring 50 reality stars locked in a castle under a Lion‑masked Game...
We are about to enter a phase of "Hollywood of Haves and Have Nots." The rich will get richer, the big will get bigger, and everyone that doesn't have that scale will be forced to reevaluate their place in the...
PBS announced an early renewal of the period drama The Forsytes for a third season, even before the series’ first episode airs on March 22. The show, part of the Masterpiece anthology, stars Stephen Moyer, Millie Gibson, Jack Davenport, and...
