Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine has tied with Making Space Media, the TV and film producer that places disabled voices front and center.
08.08.2023 - 14:53 / variety.com
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Nexstar reported its second-quarter 2023 earnings Tuesday, revealing the TV stations group giant had turned a profit of $153 million in Q2, while its CW broadcast network posted a loss of $78 million for the April-June quarter. For the CW, which was formally acquired by Nexstar in October 2022 from Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, a year-over-year comparison can’t be drawn based on the lack of financial results disclosed publicly by its former parent companies.
But it’s long been known the old CW was not profitable, and this $78 million is an improvement over the $83 million loss the CW posted in Q1 of this year. And that’s what Nexstar wants to see in its journey to reach its goal of profitability at the CW in 2025. On that front, the company is taking a “moneyball,” per Nexstar CEO Perry Sook, approach to content spend at the CW.
The network has stacked its fall 2022 lineup — a schedule set amid the early days of the ongoing writers strike in May and somewhat tweaked as the actors guild joined the picket lines in July — with acquired dramas and comedies, new and acquired reality content, and a whole lot of sports. Nexstar’s core ad sales were $404 million in Q2, a decrease of 2.2% from the comparable year-ago quarter. Political ad sales fell 89.7% to $9 million from $87 million last year, when midterm elections spiked that categories revenue.
Elsewhere, distribution revenue, digital revenue and “other” revenue fueled the good Q2: Distribution was up 7.7% ($696 million vs. $646 million), digital climbed 11.4% (98 million vs. 88 million) and “other” rose 200% ($33 million vs.
Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine has tied with Making Space Media, the TV and film producer that places disabled voices front and center.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from the Season 1 finale of “Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars” on Fox. A (food) star was born on Fox Wednesday, when Gordon Ramsay picked the winner of his new food business-focused competition series.
A source is coming to the Tuohys defense.
J. Kim Murphy An attorney for Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy has issued a response to Michael Oher’s petition against them, which alleged that the couple deceived Oher into making the pair his conservators at age 18 and that he has not shared in the revenue from the feature “The Blind Side,” which drew from his life story.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from the Season 2 finale of Fox’s “Crime Scene Kitchen.” While the final bake of Fox’s “Crime Scene Kitchen” Season 2 turned out to be a “Dark and Stormy” cake, inspired by the cocktail of the same name, it was a light and sunny treat for contestants Amber Croom and Yassmeen Haskins. The classically trained baking duo beat out the other two teams competing for the Joel McHale-hosted mystery baking competition’s second-season trophy in Monday’s finale episode, titled “I Need a Drink.” And they did it without even making the exact right recipe, as they had first decided to make a “Dark and Stormy” cake, they pivoted to a piña colada-flavored version when they started to doubt their detective work.
Billie Eilish is keeping things positive with her ex-boyfriend, Jesse Rutherford.The «Bad Guy» singer took to her Instagram Story over the weekend to field questions from fans, which is when one person questioned her about her relationship with The Neighborhood frontman.Eilish answered, «Very very good friends only. My homie forever.»The musicians first sparked dating rumors back in October 2022, when fans spotted them having dinner at Los Angeles joint Crossroads Kitchen.They were then seen out at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery is getting into the spooky spirit early, setting the Halloween-themed programming slate for its cable networks, which includes the linear debut of Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” as well as new and returning specials and film marathons across Food Network, Discovery Channel, TNT, TBS, TCM, Travel Channel and Cartoon Network/Adult Swim. The leader in Warner Bros.
The relationship may be over, but the living arrangements stay the same. That’s been the case for a number of celebrity exes — including Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval, Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson and more.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer In the summer of strikes and labor action, calls for reality TV personalities to form a union are gaining steam. Bethenny Frankel unleashed a storm last month with her unvarnished criticism of Bravo and other unscripted-focused platforms for the way that unscripted stars are treated behind the scenes. Frankel was not shy about detailing what she described as commonplace abuses, including producers manipulating contestants for the cameras.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Paramount Global hosted its second-quarter earnings call Tuesday amid the ongoing writers and actors strikes in Hollywood. Just like every other major media company that has reported its Q2 results already, the CBS parent company’s execs addressed the work stoppages with hopes for a timely resolution and comments on how it will affect their business operations. “We anticipate continued delays in production for the duration of the strikes, and as such, we estimate free cash flow in the back half of the year will be significantly higher than previously expected,” Paramount CFO Naveen Chopra said.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Dennis Miller has extended his contract as president of the CW Network through 2027. Miller (pictured above left) joined the network as president in October 2022, following its acquisition by Nexstar Media Group from Paramount Global and Warner Bros.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Longtime “Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood Jr. spoke about the future of late-night TV at Variety and Rolling Stone’s Truth Seekers Summit, presented by Showtime, saying he believes studios don’t realize that the more they look to downsize shows, the more likely they will face stiff competition from TikTok creators and other social media stars who can retain the rights to their content.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery reported the Hollywood writers and actors’ ongoing work stoppage had brought the company savings in the “low$100 million range” during its Q2 earnings results call Thursday. “We’re in the business of storytelling.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery lost 1.8 million streaming subscribers from April 1-June 30, the quarter during which it launched new combined streamer Max. Streaming subscribers across WBD’s HBO, Max and Discovery+ now total 95.8 million, per the company’s Q2 earnings report released Thursday.
More Hollywood A-listers are matching Dwayne The Rock” Johnson’s $1 million donation to the SAG-AFTRA fund, more Hollywood A-listers are following suit.
Post Malone has purchased the sought-after Magic: The Gathering The One Ring card for an undisclosed price.The One Ring, which is worth over £1.5million, is a unique card and its valuation surged once word got out that it had been pulled by a lucky player in Whitby in Ontario, Canada.Originally keeping his identity out of the limelight, Brook Trafton posted a video to TikTok showing the American singer and rapper agreeing to buy his Magic: The Gathering card.Check it out below:When I found the One Ring, the first person who came to mind was @Post Malone. I have played MTG since I was a kid and obviously it would be amazing to keep this card.
Offset is setting the record straight on his marriage to Cardi B. The 31-year-old rapper, whose real name is Kiari Kendrell Cephus, opened up about the highs and lows of his relationship with the «W.A.P.» rapper. While speaking on the podcast, the «Jealousy» rapper addressed the rumors that Cardi had cheated on him, after he posted and then deleted accusations against his wife to his Instagram Story.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer WGA East president Michael Winship will not be seeking re-election amid the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. “This is a decision that was made right from the start two years ago when I was asked to return to the presidency,” Winship said in a statement sent to guild members Tuesday, just as WGAE revealed the candidates up for officer seats in its upcoming council election this September.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This recap contains spoilers from the Season 2 finale of “Good Omens,” now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. In the 2006 reprinted edition of Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett’s 1990 classic “Good Omens,” the co-authors did a Q&A in which they answered the question “Why isn’t there a sequel?” like this: “We played around with ideas, but we could never work up the enthusiasm. Besides, we wanted to do other things (and some of those ideas probably ended up, bent to a different shape, in the works of both of us).
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Traditionally a strong performer in the fall and holiday TV season, Food Network is sizzling this summer, too. From Memorial Day on May 27 through July 20, Food Network content has drawn more than 50.6 million total viewers across the linear TV channel, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streamers Max and Discovery+.