TelevisaUnivision Notches Upfront Gains By Taking Dollars from English-Language Rivals

Emmerdale won’t be the same without Rosie Bentham’s fan favourite alter Gabby Thomas as she’s set to take a break from the village. The character has been a permanent fixture on the soap since she was born but will be seeking pastures new soon following her split from Nicky Milligan.

More positives to take than negatives. That was the view of Renfrew manager Jimmy Quigley despite their heavy opening-day defeat to Johnstone Burgh.

Mark Owen - singing star and member of chart-topping boyband Take That - is understood to have been left in grief this week following the loss of one of his beloved family members. His wife of 23 years, energy coach Emma Owen, took to Instagram on Friday to share the news that their much-loved pet kitten has passed away and later revealed that the death has caused her to suffer an "existential crisis".

TelevisaUnivision is seeing overall upfront volume growth in the high-single digits for the company’s best showing in nearly decade.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor While its English-language competitors had to grapple with price reductions in this year’s TV upfront market, Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivision was able to do the opposite. The owner of the Univision broadcast network and the Vix streaming hub was able to increase the volume of ad commitments it secured in upfront talks, according to a person familiar with the matter.

This Morning regular presenters Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary have headed on their summer holidays, as they take a break from hosting the programme. During today’s show, 28 July, the two had some banter after recent quashing claims that their relationship is “strained” as they were served a fry-up during one segment. Dermot, 50, was delighted at the fact he was getting to taste the meal, as well as some bubbly which is supposed to compliment your tastebuds while eating a takeaway.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Two of the nation’s biggest purveyors of primetime television are relying more heavily on other kinds of video inventory to fuel their advertising flows for 2023 and 202r, Fox Corp. and Paramount Global are both near the end of their processes in TV’s annual “upfront” ad sales market, and both expect to see some volume gains in specific areas of their portfolio.

CBS and Fox weighed in on their upfronts today, following NBC last week. CBS has closed its 2024 selling season up “low-to-mid single digits” in dollar commitments. Fox Corp. showed gains in news and is looking at a fall slate of sports, animated and unsripted content.

Everyone didn’t stop going to the movies on Monday with Barbenheimer in full force: Warner Bros posted the best Monday at the domestic box office with Barbie grossing $26.1M while Universal’s Christopher Nolan pic Oppenheimer wasn’t shabby with $12.6M.

Gkids has unveiled the U.S. release date, first trailer and English-language voice cast for Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia, the sequel to the Oscar-nominated animated feature Ernest & Celestine, which it likewise released stateside.

Prince George looks all grown up and just like his dad Prince William in a new official portrait released for his tenth birthday.The royal family have released the new photo to mark the prince’s tenth birthday on Saturday (22 July), which shows the royal perched on some steps near the family home at Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor estate. In the photo, the young prince wears a blue and white checked shirt with a pair of teal trousers and dark brown suede shoes as he smiles for the camera.

NBCUniversal has wrapped up one of the most unusual upfront ad seasons in history, managing to secure cash commitments roughly in line with last year’s record haul.

TelevisaUnivision CEO Wade Davis said the dual strikes crippling Hollywood have “zero impact” on his company’s operations due to the Hispanic media giant’s programming supply chain.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor In a tough moment for the economics of TV, NBCUniversal went to market with a greater emphasis on big tentpole events and a little less on individual TV shows and specific networks. The Comcast-backed media conglomerate believes advertiser interest in larger properties such as the 2024 Olympics, a planned celebration of the 50th season of “Saturday Night Live” and its annual “BravoCon” helped buoy its efforts in TV’s annual “upfront” market, when U.S. media companies try to sell the bulk of their advertising inventory ahead of their next cycle of programming. NBCU expects the volume of commitments it sold this year to be flat with its efforts in 2022, according to a person familiar with the matter — no small feat when advertisers have been wary of spending amidst spikes in inflation, fears of a recession and the complexities of strikes by writers and actors in Hollywood.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent São Paulo’s Biônica Filmes, behind Carolina Markowicz’s Toronto hit “Charcoal” and her upcoming “Toll,” is driving into English-language production, backing “The Eyes of Another,” from Maria Arida, as Biônica taps into an exciting new generation of young women filmmakers in Brazil. “Eyes” marks the feature debut from Arida, currently based out of São Paulo, who drew attention with “Instinct,” her AFI thesis film, a 17-minute short which world premiered at London’s BFI Flare, then had its U.S. premiere at the Phoenix Film Festival where it won the award for best Latin American short. It is written by Liz Buda (“Getting Meisnered”). 

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic With Jane Birkin’s passing, France loses both an icon and one of its greatest enigmas. To focus on France is not to diminish the fact that Birkin’s death will be mourned around the world. Alongside Brigitte Bardot, Françoise Hardy and Catherine Deneuve, Birkin was one of the last surviving 1960s femmes who sparked global interest in French culture. Except that Birkin wasn’t French. She was born in London and clung to her English accent all her life. Birkin was perfectly fluent, but cultivated a faux-naïf way of speaking her adopted language that reinforced her persona as the eternal child. For the French, it was all part of her singular charm, established decades earlier… and which she sometimes struggled to escape.

French media has reported the death of Jane Birkin at the age of 76.

Within the first five minutes of “In Seldon’s Shadow,” the second season premiere of Apple TV+’s high-concept sci-fi colossus “Foundation,” Emperor Cleon XVII (Lee Pace), monarch of the Galactic Empire, is caught in flagrante delicto with his majordomo, Eto Demerzel (Laura Birn), by assassins, and takes a page out of Michael Davis’ “Shoot ‘Em Up” in response: He massacres them in his birthday suit.  Continue reading ‘Foundation’ Review: Apple TV+’s Sci-Fi Colossus Gains New Immediacy, Plus Lee Pace’s Abs, In A Strong Season 2 at The Playlist.

A judge ruled Friday that Kevin Costner's estranged wife Christine Baumgartner cannot take items from the Carpinteria home they once shared as she moves into a new space. The judge stood behind his tentative ruling during a July 14 hearing.

Emily Blunt has revealed that she is taking a year-long break from acting to spend more time with her family.The Mary Poppins Returns star, who is married and shares two daughters with fellow actor John Krasinski, made the comments during an appearance on the Table for Two podcast.Asked by host Bruce Bozzi how she manages to juggles her career with being a mother, Blunt said: “Not always well, you know. It’s one of those things when people are like, ‘How do you balance it?’ I never feel like I’m doing it right, you know.