Dale Earnhardt Jr. Joins Warner, Amazon for NASCAR After NBC Exit

After five years in development, “Silk: Spider Society” is no more.  Variety reports that Amazon has scrapped plans for the live-action series entirely after the show already received a massive writers’ room overhaul in February. It’s a fate Spidey-fans shouldn’t be surprised by.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Cynthia McFadden, the TV-news veteran whose career has taken her from co-anchoring ABC News‘ “Nightline” to a senior perch on NBC News‘ investigations team, is stepping away from broadcast journalism. “It is hard to leave a job you love but this is the right time — I have a list of things I have often said I wanted to do ‘someday’. Well, someday is now, while I am still raring to go — and playing with a relatively full deck,” McFadden said in a note to colleagues Friday.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The television industry’s annual “upfront” is usually a place where advertisers get to preview new series and specials, not blockbuster movies, so NBC raised eyebrows Monday when one of the first previews it showed to an audience at Radio City Music Hall was of the coming Universal film “Wicked.” NBCUniversal, chief content officer Donna Langley told the crowd, was “excited to build up our story legacy across film, TV and streaming.” Movies and premium cable series from HBO and Showtime used to be something traditional TV advertisers got their hands on only after they had made their way through theaters and pay-TV windows. Now, as a batch of this year’s upfront showcases reveal, they are increasingly being dangled before Madison Avenue as a major reason to support TV companies.

We are fully in the middle of TV Upfronts. And what that means, if you’re not already aware, is studios unveil what they’re working on and what series are getting renewed.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor After nearly 35 years with CNN, longtime Washington bureau chief Sam Feist has been named CEO of C-SPAN. Feist will remain at CNN through June and take the reins of C-SPAN later in the summer, succeeding co-CEOs Rob Kennedy and Susan Swain. Founded in 1979 by a group of cable operators, C-SPAN is devoted to televising the activity in the chambers of the U.S.

Emmerdale star Sam Hall has addressed claims he's set to leave the show after reports his character was set to be killed off after 18 years. The actor is known for playing Samson Dingle in the ITV soap, with the character born on screen in 2006 to parents Sam Dingle and Alice Wilson.

Major Indian distribution platform Tata Play will collaborate with Amazon Prime to offer Tata Play Direct-to-Home (DTH) and Tata Play Binge customers access to Prime Video’s content.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor NBC is increasingly throwing the ball to the NFL. The Comcast-backed media conglomerate said Monday that it had purchased the rights to broadcast an extra NFL game on Saturday, December 21, presumably adding a bigger audience to the last shopping weekend before Christmas. NBC already has the rights to broadcast a game on December 22 as part of its “Sunday Night Football” lineup.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Amazon Prime Video isn’t waiting for the start of next week’s “upfront” to draw attention to women’s sports. The streaming giant said it has struck a sponsorship deal with AT&T that will have the telecommunications perennial serve as the lead sponsor for 21 WNBA games shown on Prime Video, and the presenting sponsor of the halftime show that airs during the service’s National Women’s Soccer League matches.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Mark Marshall has been given a lot of time to prepare for NBC Universal’s annual presentation to advertisers. Last year, he only had 72 hours.

Sam Raimi‘s marriage to Gillian Greene is over.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor NBC is adding a new event to its coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics: Steve Kornacki in front of his big board. Kornacki, who is known for his deft on-the-fly analysis of political campaigns and races, will turn his focus for a short period of time to athletic competition in Paris as part of a cadre of NBC News journalists who will present some coverage of the extravaganza, Willie Geist, Sam Brock, Gadi Schwartz and Anne Thompson will also participate, with Kornacki offering analysis from the U.S., and his colleagues on the ground in France. The Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics is Friday, July 26 on NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo.

Addie Morfoot Contributor In “Take Me Out Feet First,” a new docuseries now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, director Serene Meshel-Dillman chronicles people’s right to choose medical aid in dying.The six-part docuseries, made in partnership with the nonprofit advocacy organization Compassion & Choices, profiles 25 terminally ill people, their families, and friends, as well as experts in the medical field who advocate for MAID. The series chronicles people who have taken control of how their final days will play out.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Audiences may not be the only thing about TV that continues to shrink. Advertisers are expected to once again press for “rollbacks,” or declines in the rates they pay for reaching streaming and TV viewers, in early “upfront” talks with TV networks, according to five media buying executives and other people familiar with these annual discussions in which U.S. media companies try to sell the bulk of their commercial inventory ahead of their next cycle of programming.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Amazon wants to break down the barriers between watching TV and driving to the mall. The streaming giant on Tuesday unveiled a new suite of interactive ad formats it is making available for sponsors of its Prime Video subscription-video service.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Kim Godwin hoped to build ABC News‘ future by cutting out some of its past. Tasked, ostensibly, with shaking up a culture of the Disney-backed news organization that pit anchors against one another and led to claims of intolerable behavior behind the scenes, Godwin was supposed to revamp a storied journalism hub without losing any of the impetus that spurred employees to make shows such as “World News Tonight” and “Good Morning America” the most-watched in their category.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Kim Godwin, the ABC News president who was the first Black woman to run a broadcast network news operation, is leaving the Disney unit amid increasing concern about the way she was managing the home of shows like “Good Morning America” and “World News Tonight.” Godwin told staffers in a memo Sunday that she planned to “retire from broadcast journalism.” Her command had come under increasing scrutiny since a restructuring of ABC News and Disney’s ABC stations had her reporting directly to Debra OConnell, a Disney business veteran who is seen as a valued operator at the company. OConnell will lead ABC News for the foreseeable future, she told employees Sunday evening.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Cardi B is joining the parade of celebrities starting to talk about the Olympics for NBCUniversal. The rapper appears in a 90-second promo Saturday evening during NBC’s telecast of the Kentucky Derby, meeting up; with sprinter and Olympic hopeful Sha’Carri Richardson that spotlights the next Summer Olympics, slated to begin July 26. NBCU and its corporate parent, Comcast, hold rights to broadcast the athletic extravaganza in the U.S.

Billy Idol is looking back on his sobriety journey. During an interview with People, Idol shared that, at 68, he's now "California sober" and no longer considers himself to "be a drug addict anymore." The musician told the outlet this decision came after he nearly lost a leg in motorcycle accident in 1990. "I really started to think I should try and go forward and not be a drug addict anymore and stuff like that," Idol said of the accident.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Paramount Global said it would bake a new suite of data into all ad deals “at no additional cost” that examines whether a commercial spurred a consumer to take a particular action, a measure known as “attribution” that is gaining new sway on Madison Avenue as marketers struggle to determine the effectiveness of their paid media pitches. Paramount said it would offer data from both Mastercard and EDO, a start-up founded in part by actor Ed Norton, that will help clients examine “outcomes,” such as a visit to a marketer’s web site or showroom, or a consumer search for a product being advertised.