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Egyptian Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against TV Host Bassem Youssef
3 hours ago
The “Jon Stewart of the Arab World” still faces a criminal investigation into accusations that he insulted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and the Islamic faith on his satirical news show The Program. But an Egyptian court today rejected a separate petition brought by Islamist lawyer Mahmoud Abu el-Aineen to ban Bassem Youssef‘s show and shut down broadcasting network CBC, Reuters reports. Youssef was arrested last week and released on bail on Sunday. Related: TV Host Known As ‘Jon Stewart Of The Arab World’ Arrested Over Alleged Insults To Egyptian President Related: Jon Stewart Defends His Egyptian Doppelganger Bassem Youssef »
- THE DEADLINE TEAM
CNN’s ‘Crossfire’ Back In June; Cancelled In 2005
6 hours ago
After the failed week long experiment of (Get To) The Point and the unsteady The Lead With Jake Tapper, Jeff Zucker is looking for a blast from the past to revive CNN. The ratings-struggling cable new network is bringing back Crossfire in June, network insiders tell me. No hosts have been chosen yet, the sources say. Nor is it clear if the show will definitely remain a half hour, as the original Crossfire was, or go longer. Right now it seems that Crossfire 2.0 is slated to have a variety of CNN personalities and contributors taking up the “left” and “right” roles on the new version of the political debate show. A CNN standard almost from the begining, Crossfire ran on the network in both daytime and primetime from 1982 until it was cancelled in 2005. Crossfire isn’t the first piece of CNN history Zucker has brought back since taking over in January. »
- DOMINIC PATTEN
Primetime Pilot Panic: The Early Buzz
8 hours ago
It’s the first week of April, and we’re kicking off our annual Pilot Buzz series. Keeping with tradition, the first list only includes a limited number of projects that have been garnering strong early buzz as the vast majority of pilots are still filming or going through post-production. So we will omit those on which there is no conclusive feedback yet and will reserve judgement on those that we hear not so good things about until next time. If the rather dull Pirates Of The Caribbean Disney ride spawned a successful movie franchise, could the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad do the same on the small screen? Despite taking jabs for its origins and casting mostly unknowns, Big Thunder is a surprising early leading contender on the drama side at ABC. Not so surprising is the very strong early showing of the McG-directed Romeo and Juliet-esque soap Venice, with another soapy drama, »
- NELLIE ANDREEVA
Kathy Griffin’s Bravo Talk Show Cancelled
8 hours ago
After two seasons on air, Kathy Griffin‘s late night talk show Kathy is not being renewed, Deadline has confirmed. The comedienne dropped the news during a live stand up show Friday night in Cincinnati, Ohio as first reported by The Cincinnati Enquirer. The cancellation could free her up for a potential jump to CNN for the hourlong show opposite Anderson Cooper that Deadline told you the pair filmed last week. It also comes two months after an exec switch-up at Bravo saw the network change hands from Lauren Zalaznick to Bonnie Hammer. Griffin won two Emmys while at Bravo for her reality series Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D List. Related: CNN Eying Anderson Cooper-Kathy Griffin Series? »
- NELLIE ANDREEVA
Ratings Rat Race: ‘Shark Tank’, ‘Touch’ & ‘Happy Endings’ Up, ‘Vegas’ Loses, ‘Nikita’ & ‘Fashion Star’ Down
11 hours ago
Unlike last week, there was no Ncaa tournament on primetime last night but there were a lot of ups and downs on the TV court. The top rated and third most watched show of the night, 9 Pm’s Shark Tank (2.1/7) had some real bite on Friday. In its second week back after three weeks off, the entrepreneurial reality show rose up 24% from its March 29 airing. With an audience of 8.45 million last night, Undercover Boss (1.6/6) was the second most watched program on Friday and the most viewed reality show. The 8 Pm CBS series was up 14% from its last original almost a month ago on March 8. Easily the most watched show of Friday with 10.77 million tuning in, CBS’ Blue Bloods (1.4/5) returned last night in its 10 Pm slot after three weeks. The cop family drama was even with its last original on March 15. One CBS show up, one even and one way down. »
- DOMINIC PATTEN
NBC To Repeat ‘Hannibal’ Premiere April 10
12 hours ago
The new gothic drama premiered Thursday to Ok ratings but will have another chance to audience-build on April 10. That’s when NBC will repeat the premiere of Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal Lecter series, temporarily filling Chicago Fire‘s Wednesday 10 Pm slot. Hannibal‘s second episode airs the following night at its regular time, Thursday 10 Pm. Chicago Fire returns with new episodes on April 24. »
- THE DEADLINE TEAM
SAG-aftra & Ad Industry Reach Tentative New Commercials Contracts Deal
13 hours ago
After almost two months of talks, SAG-aftra and the advertising industry early today struck a deal on new television and radio commercials contracts. If approved by the union’s National Board of Directors at its April 20 to 21 meeting, these agreements are intended to replace the last three-year contracts that formally expired on March 31. The negotiations, covering contracts with about $1 billion in yearly earnings, were the first contract talks conducted by the union since SAG and AFTRA merged last March. However, with now typical SAG-aftra secrecy, the union said today that no details of the new agreements would be made public to anyone including union members in advance of the Board’s review. Once the board has signed off, the deal will be sent to the full membership of 160,000 for ratification. SAG-aftra co-President Roberta Reardon did say in a statement Saturday that “we’ve made essential gains for SAG-aftra members and »
- DOMINIC PATTEN
Fox Sports Sued By Veteran African-American Executive For Discrimination
5 April 2013 8:03 PM, PDT
Read the entire lawsuit here. The plaintiff Jerry Davis alleges in a lawsuit filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court that the Fox Sports Corporate Group currently employs 34 executives above the VP level – and not one of them is black. “Indeed, to the best of Mr. Davis’s knowledge, no Black person has ever held any position at or above vice president in that division’s entire 19-year existence. Representation of Black individuals in leadership positions in other sports divisions at Fox is, and always has been, similarly abysmal. During the course of its existence, Fox Sports, through its various divisions and entities, has intentionally maintained a practice of directly and indirectly favoring the hiring and/or promotion of non-Black and non-minority employees at senior levels without any legitimate reason. Mr. Davis is a direct victim of this discriminatory practice.” Davis’ lawsuit describes himself as a 52-year-old African-American man, Berkeley grad, »
- NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
Update: Hulu Starts Sale Process Again – And Peter Chernin Bids $500M For What?
5 April 2013 6:01 PM, PDT
Update 6 Pm: Deadline has learned that Hulu is back up for sale and the bidding process is quietly underway again. Sources close to Peter Chernin confirm that he has bid $500M for Hulu but is not talking about it. Presumably, The Chernin Group (now with $200M backing from Providence Equity Partners) is bidding on less of Hulu than Dish and Google were back in 2011 when the sellers wanted $2 billion for the whole enchilada. Remember that October 13th, Hulu owners abruptly called off the sale. News Corp, Providence Equity Partners, Walt Disney Company, and the Hulu senior management team issued a joint statement that it would ”work together to continue mapping out its path to even greater success”. What went wrong was one problem particularly difficult to overcome: an inability to agree on the scope of the programming they were willing to offer someone buying Hulu. This was especially true for advertising-supported VOD, »
- NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
Variety Up To Its Old “Creepy” Tricks
5 April 2013 5:46 PM, PDT
As the saying goes: the more things change, the more they stay the same. Variety was up to its old tricks this week even under new ownership. Immediately after the announcement came out that Roger Ebert had died on Thursday, Variety “was calling/emailing around Hollywood for people to take out creepy obit ads for him,” an exec at one studio which was approached tells me. That is Variety’s long-time but in-bad-taste revenue-raising practice that I hoped would have disappeared under Jay Penske (who also owns Deadline) and Third Point, a hedge fund founded by mega-investor Daniel S. Loeb. »
- NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief
R.I.P. Robert Linden
5 April 2013 5:24 PM, PDT
Robert Linden, the associate director of music at CBS Television Studios, died Wednesday after a battle with leukemia. He was 57. Linden had in-depth knowledge of key studio products and cultivated important relationships with CBS staff composers and music supervisors. The USC music grad was also responsible for all West Coast submissions of music cue sheet information for all CBS TV Studios programs to performing rights organizations for licensing. He joined the studio in 2006 from Paramount Television. Aside from being an accomplished musician, Linden was on the Board of Directors of the California Copyright Conference for several years, the advisory committee of the industrywide cue sheet reporting system Rapid Cue, and a producer for the Heliotrope theatre in La. »
- THE DEADLINE TEAM
CNN’s ‘The Point’ & MSNBC’s ‘All In’ Down Sharply From Debuts
5 April 2013 4:16 PM, PDT
Looks like Jeff Zucker’s ill-fated experiment with (Get To) The Point really will just last a week on CNN, if viewership numbers have anything to do with it. Along with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes-hosted All In, the supposedly short-term panel show premiered Monday and both saw their numbers head south ever since. Replacing the 10 Pm repeat of Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN, the quickly announced The Point started low and fell further. Over a four-day average this week, the new show was down nearly 50% from the viewership the AC360 repeat drew last year and down 40% from what the encore of Cooper’s show garnered during March. In the adults 25-54 demo, The Point was blunted; with 77,000 in the demo, the Donny Deutsch-led show was down a whopping 55% from what the AC360 repeat received from April 2-April 5, 2012, and down 46% from the 143,000 average Cooper’s repeat earned last month. The »
- DOMINIC PATTEN
Comcast’s Brian Roberts Made $29.1M In 2012, +8.1%
5 April 2013 1:50 PM, PDT
NBCUniversal has its woes, but Comcast execs have little reason to complain about their personal incomes for 2012. CEO Brian Roberts — who controls a third of the voting shares — received a nice bump in pay in a year when Comcast stock appreciated 54%. His package includes $2.8M salary, $4.8M in stock awards, $4.8M in option awards, $9M in non-equity incentives, $4M change in pension value, and $3.7M in other compensation according to the proxy filed at the SEC this afternoon. About $3.3M from the “other” category represents deferred compensation. At least Roberts spread the wealth among his colleagues. His pay amounted to 1.4 times the median for Comcast’s four other top execs, which shouldn’t alarm corporate governance activists who become concerned when the CEO makes more than 3 times the average for other top execs named in the proxy. NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke ended up with $26.3M, +11.3%. Company founder Ralph Roberts, although no longer an executive, »
- DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
Jon Stewart Slams Jeff Zucker & CNN’s “Spiral Downward”: Video
5 April 2013 1:45 PM, PDT
The first 2 1/2 months of Jeff Zucker’s rule at CNN have not been kind ratings-wise. Last night, The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart took aim at the cable news network for what he called its “lack of direction and utter disregard for common sense.” CNN might take solace in the fact Stewart got wrong how long Zucker has been running “CNN 2.0″ — though he got the gig at the end of November, he’s only officially been in charge since January 20, not for the past four months like Stewart said. Also, Stewart went after CNN last April for many of the same reasons, well before Zucker was on board. But still this has got to hurt: Related: CNN’s ‘The Point’ Debuts Weak; Fox News Tops Quarter »
- DOMINIC PATTEN
Deadline Big Media With David Lieberman, Episode 29
5 April 2013 1:39 PM, PDT
Listen to (and share) our audio podcast Deadline Big Media With David Lieberman as our executive editor and host David Bloom talk about a big win in the courts for Aereo’s video service and what that means for broadcast investors; whether we’ve reached Peak Netflix as company shares began a precipitous fall this week; and if CBS is going to ruin the stock buyback party for all of its big media counterparts. Deadline Big Media, Episode 28 (MP3 format) Deadline Big Media, Episode 28 (MP4A format) The M4A version of this podcast is designed to run on any device using Apple’s iTunes software, and includes enhanced graphics and links to stories and other resources. The MP3 version of this podcast is designed to play on virtually any device capable of playing digital audio. To hear past episodes of “Deadline Big Media,” go here. You can also hear »
- DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
Pandora Shares Fall On Report That Apple Nears Streaming Music Deals
5 April 2013 12:34 PM, PDT
Pandora Media’s down 7.7% this afternoon after CNET reported that Apple is “close” to enlisting Universal Music and Warner Music for an iTunes-linked streaming service. Apple would make it easy for users to buy songs that they like, and would share as much as 45% of the revenue from the ads it sells on the service. That appeals to the music companies even though they’d collect less for each stream than they do from Pandora. Apple wants to strike licensing deals with Sony Music, music publishers and others in time to introduce the service this summer in the U.S. as well as the UK, France, Germany, Australia, and Japan. Last month Pandora CEO Joe Kennedy startled investors by announcing that after a decade at the helm he plans to leave the company after it picks a successor. The stock is up 39% so far this year. »
- DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor
CAA Signs Reality TV’s Rachel Zoe
5 April 2013 12:14 PM, PDT
Exclusive: Stylist/designer Rachel Zoe has signed with CAA. She was with Wme. Zoe toplines her own reality series, The Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo, which is in its fifth season. She also has ventured into producing through her Rachel Zoe Prods, executive producing Style Network’s upcoming series Resale Royalty, which premieres May 12. Zoe also sold a half-hour comedy based on her life to NBC earlier this season. She is currently working on her second book, Living In Style, a follow-up to her best-seller Style A To Zoe, which will be published in spring 2014. Zoe, Editor-In-Chief and Chief Creative Officer of Zoe Media Group, also has three newsletters — The Zoe Report, Zoe Beautiful, and AccesZOEries — which count more than 500,000 subscribers daily, and website The Zoe Report that generates more than 1 million monthly visitors. After establishing herself as one of Hollywood’s top stylists, Zoe ventured into designing with the »
- NELLIE ANDREEVA
History’s ‘Vikings’ Renewed For Second Season
5 April 2013 10:47 AM, PDT
History Channel announced today that it is picking up another season of Vikings. The first scripted drama for the network, Vikings will return for 10-episode second season next year. Production is set to begin this summer. The show’s first-season finale will air April 28. The renewal comes five episodes into what has been a successful run for the series. With a lead-in from the Mark Burnett-produced The Bible, Vikings had 6.2 million viewers, 2.5 million adults 18-49 viewers and 2.7 million adults 25-54 catch its March 3 debut. That topped the broadcast networks at 10 Pm in the 18-49 demo. The series has emerged as the No. 1 new cable series of the year. “Vikings is a win win for us. As our first scripted series, Vikings has paid off in a big way with critical acclaim, strong ratings and a passionate, loyal fan base. It came out of the gate strong and has stayed on top, »
- DOMINIC PATTEN
Golden Trailer Nominees Unveiled
5 April 2013 10:45 AM, PDT
Rob Schneider and Aisha Tyler will host the 14th annual Golden Trailer Awards on May 3 at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. More than 1200 submissions were received this year, an 11% year-over-year increase, in a total of 70 categories, with honors in 16 main Show Categories set to be presented during the ceremony along with an additional trophy for Best in Show. Here are the main categories (see the rest of the nominees here): The 14Th Annual Golden Trailer Awards Show Category Nominees Summer 2013 Blockbuster Trailer “Iron Man 3” – Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Trailer Park “Fast & Furious 6” – Universal, Av Squad “Man of Steel” – Warner Bros., Jennifer Horvath “Pacific Rim” – Warner Bros., Trailer Park “World War Z “Day”“ – Paramount Pictures, Buddha Jones Best Action “End Of Watch” – Open Road Films, Ignition Creative “GI Joe: Retaliation” – Paramount Pictures, Av Squad “Iron Man 3” – Paramount Pictures, Trailer Park “Oblivion” – Universal, Picture Production Company “Skyfall” – MGM/Columbia Pictures, »
- THE DEADLINE TEAM
Maryland Gov. Set To Sign New Film-tv Tax Credit Bill Into Law Next Week
5 April 2013 10:39 AM, PDT
Film and TV production in Maryland just got a big boost — a $17.5 million boost to be specific. Earlier this week, the state’s House of Delegates passed a bill increasing Maryland’s film tax credit program from its current $7.5 million for the fiscal year 2014 to $25 million. It now heads to Gov. Martin O’Malley to sign. The Democratic Governor was a big supporter of the bill and, according to a spokesperson from his office, “could sign the bill as early as Tuesday.” Intended to bring out-of-state production to Maryland, the bill also extends the state’s program for another two years until June 30, 2016; the current tax credit program was set to expire on July 1 this year. The legislation benefits productions that spend at least $500,000 in Maryland. In recent years, the state has been a destination for political-themed productions, with Netflix’s House Of Cards and HBO’s Veep shooting there. »
- DOMINIC PATTEN
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