Cynopsis
10.05.10

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, October 5, 2010, and this is your first early morning briefing, coming to you from MIPCOM 2010 in Cannes, France!  As always, if you prefer to watch this morning’s news instead of reading it, click here. 

Tonight’s Premieres:
Syndication Premiere: Don’t Forget the Lyrics! (primetime  check local listings)
ESPN: E:60 at 7p
DIY Network: I Hate My Kitchen at 930p; BATHtastic! at 10p
Syfy: Caprica at 10p
TeleFutura: India at 10p
Oxygen: House of Glam at 11p

Tonight’s Finales:
TLC: Sextuplets Take New York at 730p
Oxygen: Hair Battle Spectacular at 10p

ABC Family cancelled its frosh drama series Huge based on the young adult novel by Sasha Paley with action taking place at a weight-loss camp for teens. Huge averaged 1.9 million viewers over the summer. ABC Family had ordered 10 episodes of Huge though will not pick up the second round of back 10 episodes. 

MTV is bringing back nine all-new hour-long episodes of its docu-series 16 and Pregnant beginning October 26 at 10p. Each episode relates the challenges facing young pregnant girls today. MTV is also touting newly-released research from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy that states TV programs such as MTV’s 16 and Pregnant make young people think more seriously about the risks of pregnancy and how to take preventative measures. Also, the survey said 82% of young people watching 16 and Pregnant think the show helps them better understand the challenges of pregnancy and parenting.

Google revealed many of its content partners for Google TV, the new service commencing later this month via an online connection and a set top box. Google’s partners include Turner Broadcasting comprising TBS, TNT, CNN, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim; NBC Universal will offer a CNBC Real-Time application featuring news feeds and stock results; NBA Game Time will offer real-time game scores and hi-def video of NBA game highlights; HBO Glo with movies and TV shows on-demand; YouTube, Twitter and the music services Pandora and Napster will also be available.

IFC struck a deal with advertiser Jameson as sponsor of its new original comedy series, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret which opened last Friday and airs on Friday nights at 10p. Jameson will get a custom 60-second vignette which contains a preview of the series’ next episode airing at the end of each episode followed by a 30-second Jameson spot.

The Inspiration Networks made an agreement with Nielsen for its INSP-The Inspiration Network to become a Nielsen-rated network. INSP will also rebrand and debut a new theme on October 18 under the tagline “It’s a New Day!” INSP is available in more than 60 million homes in the US on 2,800+ cable systems and on DIRECTV and DISH Network.

Syfy’s launch of WWE Friday Night SmackDown this last Friday tallied 2.5 million total viewers for the 8-10p time period. The live telecast also averaged 988,000 A18-49 viewers and 1.07 million among A25-54.

On Sunday, HISTORY Channel attracted 3.2 million total viewers for the season four finale of Ice Road Truckers at 9p along with 1.5 million A18-49 viewers and 1.8 million A25-54 viewers. Following at 10p, HISTORY did even better with the premiere of series IRT: Deadliest Roads with 3.4 million total viewers as well as 1.8 million among A18-49 and 2.1 million with A25-54 viewers.

MIPCOM 2010:

Planet Green unveiled its slate of series pick-ups for the fourth quarter 2010 and on into 2011. The acquired original series include 30 Days with 6 eps/60m that premiered on September 27; Coastwatch with 10 eps/30m that premiered October 1; Last Woman Standing with 6 eps/60m will debut 1Q 2011; and a second season of Conviction Kitchen with 8 eps/60m will debut 1Q 2011. Planet Green also picked up several specials and documentary films.

AETN International, a unit of A&E Television Networks is bringing a new Lifetime movie package to MIPCOM. The first movie, available for pre-sale is Tangled (wt) starring Hayden Panettiere which will air on Lifetime Television in the US in 2011. Other movies titles for air next year on either Lifetime Television or Lifetime Movie Network include: He Loves Me; Never Tell A Lie; Gone; and Ashley.

FremantleMedia announced at MIPCOM yesterday it is purchasing a 60% stake in @radical.media, a worldwide transmedia business and creator of advertising and branded entertainment content. This deal marks the first time FremantleMedia has stepped into the branded entertainment arena. Jon Kamen, Chairman/CEO with @radical.media will continue in his position and the transaction is not expected to disturb any of the company’s current management positions and relationships.

FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) picked up a new unscripted original series, Auction Hunters from Spike TV in the US with 8 30m eps. Auction Hunters opens on Spike TV this November and FME is representing the show to international buyers at MIPTV 2011.

Zodiak Rights is presenting several projects at MIPCOM:

• Being Human (US adaptation)  13 eps, 60m drama produced by Muse Entertainment for Syfy and CTV/Space (2010)
• The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret  6 eps, 30m comedy produced by RDF Television for IFC and More4 (2010)
• Being Human  UK recommission for season 3 with 8 eps, 60m in hi-def; produced by Touchpaper Television for BBC3 with the support of the MEDIA Programme of the EU.
• Single Handed  recommission for season 2 with 6 eps/60m or 3 eps/120m in hi-def; produced by Touchpaper Television for ITV1 and RTE.
• Braquo: Cops on the Edge  recommission for season 2 with 8 eps, 60m (in pre-production); produced by Capa Drama, BE-Films, R.t.B.F. (2010)
• Irene Huss  recommission for season 1 with 6 eps, 90m and season 2 with 6 eps, 90m (available 2011); produced by Illusion Film and Yellow Bird in association with Kanal 5, ARD Degeto and Nordisk Film.

Discovery Channel is making available for international pre-sale at MIPCOM the new six-part series, Reign of the Dinosaurs. The series will premiere in the US next spring and is produced for Discovery Channel by Creative Differences based in the US.

BBC Worldwide Channels made a deal with HBO to debut several comedy and drama programs:

• Capturing Mary – Two-hour film starring Dame Maggie Smith has been licensed to air on BBC Entertainment in 2011.
• The Affair  -Two-hour film will air on BBC Entertainment in 2011.
• Rome – Seasons one and two of the drama with 12 eps/55m and 10 eps/55m respectively. The series is slated to air on BBC Entertainment in 2011.
• Little Britain USA – Series with 6 eps, 30m will air on BBC Entertainment starting next January.
• Conspiracy – Film at 95m will air on BBC Knowledge in Africa in 2011.
• Two films: The Gathering Storm at 120m and its sequel Into The Storm at 95m. Both will air on BBC Knowledge in 2011.
• Tsunami – Two-part miniseries with 2 eps/100m will premiere on BBC Knowledge beginning in December.

Mission Pictures International acquired the rights to Gener8xion Entertainment’s film library which includes such titles as The Omega Code, the documentary The Cross and dramas One Night with the King and Noelle. Additionally, the company secured the international rights to the film Like Dandelion Dust starring Mira Sorvino.

Fresh TV in association with FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) said FME picked up the exclusive licensing and distribution rights outside of Canada for the new live-action series, My Babysitter’s A Vampire. The series with 13 30m episodes will debut on TELETOON Canada next year.

Picture Box Distribution offers three formats: Anna and Kristina’s Grocery Bag which was recently sold to Italy; X-Weighted and X-Weighted Families just sold to Spain; and The Debt Do U$ Part.

FOX Look is handling the international distribution of a new game show Elevator Up! at MIPCOM produced by Juma Entertainment and IMG Media. The premise of the game show has five strangers involved in a spontaneous game show while on an elevator. The game challenges the five people to work together to answer trivia questions to win cash and prizes. As the elevator goes up higher the questions get harder though more money is at stake.

Comcast International Media Group, Asia Pacific has finalized deals totaling 400 hours in various countries. Highlights of the deals include:

• Australia’s Premier Media Group picked up the format for Web Soup and Seven Network acquired seasons one through three of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
• China’s CCTV picked up episodes of The E! True Hollywood Story.
• 8TV in Malaysia licensed Extreme Close-Up’s Twilight Specials and Living Channel in New Zealand picked up three seasons of The Style Network’s Ruby.
• In the Philippines, Velvet picked up a collection of E! titles including The Soup, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami, The E! True Hollywood Story and Forbes, E! and Extreme Close-Up’s Twilight Specials. Additionally, Lifestyle Network licensed programs from The Style Network such as Clean House, Clean House: Search for the Messiest Home in the Country, Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane, How Do I Look?, Giuliana & Bill, Jerseylicious, What I Hate About Me, Tacky House and Ruby specials.
• Solar Sports nabbed Golf Channel’s The Haney Project: Charles Barkley and Ray Romano; Versus’ Sports Jobs; and G4’s X-Play, Two Months, $2 Million and Human Wrecking Balls. ETC licensed Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami, Style Her Famous and Dress My Nest.
• South Korea’s CJ Media picked up Foody Call and Stripped for the O’live network.

And on a personal note … So here I am in Cannes, on the beach of the Mediterranean, eating fine French food and drinking fine French wines.  I know you’re thinking beautiful sun-kissed sand, blue water lapping up on the beach where the restaurants have lounge chairs and umbrellas, and beautiful people lying about hither and yon in the sun.  And you’re probably thinking all of us here for the MIPCOM 2010 market are probably “working” very hard, attending meeting after meeting in the French Rivera sun.  And you know what?  You’d be right … on most days … but not today.  All morning the sky looked threatening and the humidity was as drenching as a soaking wet towel on an August afternoon. Then around 11am all hell broke loose and for all the world it looked like a monsoon outside.  Wind blowing trees sideways, lightening and thunder, and the kind of rain that could soak you to the skin in seconds.  Then it would stop … just long enough for you to regain your confidence and decide to make a break for it and race from the Palais to the Majestic hotel for your noon meeting, only to be caught in the next wave of downpour and having your lowly umbrella flipped inside out and the insides of your shoes squeaking.  And those restaurants down at the beach? Under several inches of water with waiters with shoes off and pants rolled up mid-calf, attempting to keep the soggy patrons happy.   The rains kept up all afternoon and evening, keeping the market attendees on pins and needles wondering when it would let up.  Jump ahead to current time, now very late into the night and the sky has finally cleared, stars are out, the wind abated.  All signs are for a stunning Wednesday.  Okay, you can be jealous again. 

DIRECTV’s The Dan Patrick Show will go into national television syndication on a collection of more than 25 regional sports networks. Starting October 25, The Dan Patrick Show on DIRECTV, which is a television simulcast of Patrick’s radio show, will be available on all Fox Sports Networks regional sports outlets, DIRECTV, Comcast and MSG RSNs. Patrick’s show currently airs on DIRECTV’s The 101 Network airing live from 9a to noon Monday-Friday. This deal marks the first time a DIRECTV original program has been sold into national syndication.

Logo will become the home of comedy series Will & Grace as the network has acquired the non-exclusive, basic cable rights to the series under a four-year licensing deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. The deal encompasses all eight seasons of Will & Grace with a total of 194 episodes. Will & Grace is set to launch on Logo in September 2013.

Starz has begun the search for an actor to replace Andy Whitfield on its series Spartacus. Whitfield recently left the show’s second season after his doctors advised him to resume “aggressive treatment” for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Friday A18-49 Analysis: UNIV topped the pack Friday night with a 1.7/6 among A18-49, according to final national ratings from Nielsen. UNIV was #1 at 8p with Hasta que el Dinero Nos Separe at 1.8/7 and CBS’ Medium was #2 at 1.2/5. UNIV held onto its lead through 9p with Soy Tu Duena at 2.2/8 and CBS continued in second place with CSI: NY at 1.7/6. Then at 10p, CBS switched places coming in first with its new drama Blue Bloods at 2.0/7 and UNIV’s La Rosa de Guadalupe was next at 1.2/4.

Live + Same Day Household Ratings: Friday, October 1, 2010  time period averages. Source: NTI Galaxy, as dated, Live+SD.

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CBS: 5.7/11      Medium 3.9/8, CSI: NY 6.2/11, Blue Bloods 7.1/14

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NBC: 4.0/8         Dateline 4.4/8, Outlaw 3.2/6

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ABC: 2.7/5         Modern Family [r] 2.5/5, The Middle [r] 1.9/4, No Ordinary Family [r] 2.6/5, 20/20 3.2/6

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UNIV: 2.0/4       Hasta que el Dinero Nos Separe 2.0/4, Soy Tu Duena 2.5/5, La Rosa de Guadalupe 1.5/3

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FOX: 1.7/3        House [r] 1.8/3, The Good Guys 1.6/3

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CW: 1.5/3         Smallville 1.5/3, Supernatural 1.5/3

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ION: 0.8/2       Without a Trace 0.9/2, Without a Trace 0.6/1, Criminal Minds 0.9/2

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TELE: 0.5/1      El Clon 0.6/1, El Fantasma de Elena 0.5/1, Alguien Te Mira 0.4/1

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TF: 0.4/1         Cine de Las Estrellas: Daredevil [r] 0.2/0, Rosario Tijeras 0.6/1

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A18-49: UNIV 1.7/6, CBS 1.6/6, NBC 1.2/4, ABC 1.1/4, CW 1.0/4, FOX 0.8/3, ION 0.3/1, TF 0.3/1, TELE 0.3/1

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CABLEready hired David Fox who is CEO of David Fox and Associates, to set up a joint venture with the company to hone in on original Canadian programming including library and advanced in development properties for international distribution. CABLEready furthermore added Peter De Jong as VP/Sales and Marketing to be in charge of territorial sales and creating new marketing initiatives. Peter was with AETN International for almost twenty years and most recently as Director/Programming.

Hans Logie joins MEC as Managing Partner, MEC San Francisco to head the agency’s Chevron account and to simultaneously manage the MEC San Francisco office. Hans will report to Tom Brookbanks, Managing Director, MEC North America. Previously, Hans was with DraftFCB where he served as a media strategy consultant on the PG&E account. 

Michael Simpson, CEO at Informant Media, producer of the Oscar-winning film, Crazy Heart, was added to the Honorary Board of Directors of CINE, the film, television and new media non-profit group based in Washington, D.C.

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This day in History:  1947 – U.S. President Harry S Truman held the first televised presidential address from the White House. The subject was the current international food crisis.

Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question:  What product is “Smart. Very Smart.”  MAGNAVOX  Kudos to:  Amy Horowitz-Media Storm/Norwalk; Marge Pistulka-Empower MediaMarketing/Coral Springs; Gerry Bixenspan-TV Marketing/NY; Steven Kurtzer-Zimmerman/Ft. Lauderdale; Mike Fraser-SuperMedia/Chicago; Stephanie Newman Smith-Hollywood Select Talent/LA; Rick Market-Warner Bros/LA; Susan Nessanbaum Goldberg-RoCart Prods/Hollywood; Cammie Buerry-FFE adventas/Las Vegas

Today’s Trivia Question:  What TV cowgirl rode a horse named Pecos? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you’ve been mentioned in any of the Cynopsis editions, you can’t be mentioned again that calendar week.)

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A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM IESE BUSINESS SCHOOL

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Later  — Cyn
10.05.10

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All of the broadcast and cable Cynopsis 2010 Upfront segments contained within our regular daily editions are recapped in their entirety in the Upfront Overview section of the Cynopsis.com website.

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A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM REELZCHANNEL

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