The History Of Former StarSat Channel, Zone Club (Also Known As Fine Living)

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Zone Club was a European based channel owned by Chello Zone which was eventually folded under AMC International by 2013. The brand was incepted by 1998 as Club, Chello Zone's distributor of lifestyle and general entertainment.

Expanding onto the lineup, it featured a lineup of home, travel, food and relationship based content. It also broadcast dramas and documentaries. Some notable titles include The Divine Design, Maxed Out and Saturday Cooks!

In September 2009, it was revealed that Chello Zone (now Chellomedia) struck a deal with AMC International to launch CBS Drama alongside two other channels provided to DStv, CBS Action (now CBS Justice) and CBS Reality. Of course, these brands were added to replace most of the Zone channels.

Chellomedia offered a variety of linear channels including Zone Europa, Zone Fantasy, Zone Reality, Zone Thriller, Zone Horror, Zone Romantica. As it is only 5 channels were inserted were inserted to replace this batch while others were filled with timeshift channels.

Zone Club's replacement was divided by 3 channels. In Poland, audiences got CBS Drama, Hungary got a kids channel Minimax and EMEA was the only region to have a replacement that wasn't owned by AMC International to some extent, Fine Living Network.

Fine Living Network was conceived in a joint venture with Scripps Networks which was eventually acquired by Warner Bros. Discovery (known as Discovery Inc. at the time in 2018).

Of course, after the brand was acquired there wasn't much mention of Chellomedia (or AMC International) so it was believed that Warner Bros. Discovery bought both company's share of Fine Living but take one factor to account.

Fine Living was just a random channel sure it had reality shows but not that of Zone Club. As the lineup consisted of mainly content from Warner Bros. Discovery like Beachfront Bargain Hunt, Candice Tells All, Extreme Homes, Fixer Upper and Million Dollar Rooms.

To top it off Fine Living hadn't seen much success internationally as it closed in Netherlands and Africa by 2019 and a year later dissolved after filing for bankruptcy with a debt of €30 million. It was eventually survived by the European version of HGTV and Real Time.

Of course, HGTV was exclusive to MultiChoice's DStv meaning consumers on StarSat would have to get another platform and pay extra so there comes Real Time a catch-up channel which was subsequently scrapped after the pay-tv platform failed to resolve their contractual agreement with the owners.

It also led to the cutback of other channels such as Discovery Science and Investigation Discovery and this comes after the loss of Discovery Family and as mentioned already Fine Living with the pay-tv company still sourcing replacements for over a year.

Malverde: The Legend Or A Myth, A Look At The Lives Of Former Patron Saints Heraclio Bernal And Felipe Bachomo

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Jesus Malverde was of Yoreme and Spanish heritage. He is a "Robin Hood " figure who was supposed to have stolen from the rich to give to the poor. He is celebrated as a folk saint by some in Mexico and the United States, particularly among drug traffickers. Historically, the existence of Malverde is not verified so we dwell into the world of other Patron Saints.

Heraclio Bernal

During the pre-Revolutionary period (1870-1910) while Porfirio Diaz was in power, the corrido was much less abundant than it would be in latter years. With national affairs controlled by the central government and a long period of peace, the corridista had little to work with. However, as soon as caudillos (military leaders), bandidos (bandits) and the pueblo began to take arms in revolutionary bands, the corrido had a new purpose. During this time period, some of Mexico's most important national figures like Francisco Madero, Venustiano Carranza, Emiliano Zapata, Pancho Villa, and Alvaro Obregon were swept from their high positions by rebellion and political assassination. As such, these figures often met with violent deaths giving the corridista subjects that were not only historical but dramatic. Through the tales that the corridista spun, these men became not only famous but legendary. Today we still hear these corridos in cantinas and plazas throughout Mexico and parts of the United States.

Most interesting are the corridos of the bandidos who were often striking personalities. These bandidos were usually close to the pueblo and often acted as modern day "Robin Hoods". Heraclio Bernal was a typical "Robin Hood" character, taking from the mines and the government and giving to the pueblo which included laid off mine workers. Although most of the corridos about Heraclio Bernal celebrate him as a larger than life character, it is important to remember that he was a real man....a very couragous and brave man.

Heraclio Bernal was born in 1855 in El Chaco in the municipality of San Ignacio, Sinaloa as the fourth child of a poor family. Bernal's first run-in with the law came in the town of Guadalupe de los Reyes where he worked in the local mine. Here he was wrongly accused (according to some) of stealing bars of iron and arrested. Although he was able to get away, he was later apprehended in a small town nearby. Bernal was sent to Mazatlan where he spent the rest of the year (1877) in jail.

Map of Sinaloa and environs

From 1879-1880 Bernal was involved with the uprising of General Jesus Ramirez Terron in Mazatlan and the southern part of Sinaloa against Porfirio Diaz. Bernal was given the rank of lieutenant but soon returned to attacking mines, businesses and government offices in the region of Guadalupe de los Reyes. For the most part, Bernal and his bandidos were interested in arms and ammunition. However, when they did seize money on a raid, Bernal was quick to share it with his comrades. Most of Bernal's bandidos were mine workers from the Sierra Madre Occidental of the states of Durango and Sinaloa. Over the years, historians have disagreed on how many men Bernal had with estimates ranging from 10 to 200. In any case, during this time, Bernal and his band were headquartered in the remote area of El Maguey in the municipality of Durango surrounded by inaccessible mountains.

Later in 1879, Bernal would help the rebellion of Jesus Ramires Terron once again. Terron had just launched the Plan de Copala which denounced the government of Porfirio Diaz and demanded a strict interpretation of the constitution of 1857. From 1880 on, Bernal took the city of Mazatlan and extended his raids from Nayarit to the Tarahumara mountain range. He continued to attack mines and other government offices as he controlled nearly the entire line of the Sierra Madre Occidental.

In 1885, Bernal signed and published the Plan en la Rastra that denounced the president of the republic and the local authorities of Sinaloa. However, it was in 1886 that Bernal gained national fame. During a presidential address, Porfirio Diaz mentioned the fight that his government was engaged in with Bernal and in 1887, a bounty of 10,000 pesos was placed on his head.. There are a number of versions as to the death of Bernal. One version states that he was hiding in a cave dying of illness with his friend Crispín García standing guard. According to this version, after Bernal had died of his illness, García shot him in the head several times so he could collect the bounty. However, according to Nicole Giron, Bernal was surrounded in the mountains near the mines of Nuestra Senora Sinola and was killed on the fifth day of January in 1888 (Avitia Hernández 309). No matter how Heraclio Bernal died, the fact is that his name lives on. Many versions of the corrido of Bernal's death still exist today as a tribute to the Rey de Sinaloa.

Credits: Jaime

Felipe Bachomo

Felipe Bachomo was born in 1883 in Jahuara; an indigenous neighborhood of Mochicahui on the banks of the Fuerte River in northern Sinaloa. From a very young age; Without knowing how to read or write, he was employed as a laborer in the hacienda of the rich landowner Don José María Cásarez, where it is said he fell in love with one of the boss's daughters named Elvira.

On May 1, 1911, Bachomo, in the company of other Mayo Indians, armed with bows and arrows and an old pistol or carbine, left Jahuara to join Ibarra's forces with whom they participated in military actions in Sinaloa until the triumph of the Maderista revolution with the taking of Mazatlan, thus ending the military campaign.

Once the military campaign was over, the soldiers were “licensed”, that is, to give them the freedom to return to work on their land. But the Mayo Indians knew that they had no land to work, so they returned to Mochicahui but in order to start their own struggle under the leadership of Bachomo, with their own flag and objectives: to recover the dispossessed lands.

Bachomo thus became an independent force in the Fuerte River basin, establishing its headquarters in Jahuara, commanding nearly 6,000 men with military supplies that it had accumulated during the Maderista campaign, as well as bows and arrows that they themselves had made. He didn't know anything about politics and he didn't support Carranza or Huerta, even, he had his own fight and that was to fight against the local caciques.

The caciques of the region reacted harshly to the Indians, carrying out a massacre in Ahome, taking those who remained alive prisoner. Maytorena encouraged Bachomo to stop the arbitrariness, and on April 18, 1914, he took the town to heart and blood, freeing the detainees and ordering the looting of the shops and houses of the "yoris", so called white people.

General Felipe Rivera; Chief of the Carrancista forces in Sinaloa, in recognition of his courage he extended the appointment of General, but Bachomo maintained his independence, his cause was not that of Carranza and his revolution was limited to persecuting and punishing the caciques executioners of his race. His was not a caste war, as evidenced by the fact that his second in command; Jesús Ruiz was a yori (white), in addition to the fact that many mestizos such as Lorenzo Robles were among his forces. In fact, one of his lieutenants; Armando Borboa, was a target of criminal and cruel instincts, who was the real author of the looting, fires and rapes, which Bachomo was later accused of in the process that followed to shoot him.

Credits: Héctor Lizarraga

NCLT Directs Zee To Convene Shareholders Meeting On Its Merger With Sony On October 14

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Passing an order, the Mumbai bench of the NCLT had on August 24 directed to call a meeting of the equity shareholders of Zee Entertainment to consider the merger, said a statement from the media major.

The National Company Law Tribunal has directed Zee-Entertainment Enterprises to convene a meeting of its shareholders to get approval for its proposed merger with Culver Max Entertainment, formerly Sony Pictures Network. Passing an order, the Mumbai bench of the NCLT had on August 24 directed to call a meeting of the equity shareholders of Zee Entertainment to consider the merger, said a statement from the media major.

"The NCLT Mumbai bench has directed in its order, that a meeting of the Equity Shareholders of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. be convened and held on Friday, 14th October 2022 for the purpose of considering, and if thought fit, approving the proposed merger of the Company with Culver Max Entertainment Pvt Ltd," said a company spokesperson.

The NCLT had directed to convene the shareholders' meeting virtually through video conferencing or other audio-visual means for approving the proposed scheme.

The merger, which will create the largest entertainment network in India with a 26 per cent viewership share, is presently before the scrutiny of the fair trade regulator CCI.

According to some media reports last week, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) made some observations about the merger.

Earlier in July, Zee Entertainment had said it has received approval from stock exchanges BSE and NSE for its proposed merger with Culver Max Entertainment.

Last year in December, the two media companies signed definitive agreements for the merger of ZEEL into Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI) following the conclusion of an exclusive negotiation period during which both parties conducted mutual due diligence.

When the merger deal was announced in September last year, the two networks had stated that Sony would invest USD 1.575 billion and hold a 52.93 per cent stake in the merged entity and Zee the remaining 47.07 per cent.

After closing, the new combined company will be publicly listed in India.

Zee Is In Talks With CCI To Get Approval For Merger With Sony Entertainment

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As per the BARC data for the ongoing financial year (2023), the merged entity has 36 per cent TV viewership market share in the Hindi GEC segment, and 33 per cent in the Hindi movies channels.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises has written to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in order to get the latter’s permission to merge its operations with Sony Entertainment. The firm is citing the latest TV viewership data which shows that the merged entity would have lower market share and will not lead to any concentration of power.

Zee has submitted the TV viewership market share data for the financial year ending March 2022 and year-to-date data of the ongoing financial year (FY23). The data shows that the shares of four channels of the merged entity in has come down compared to the financial year ending March 2021 – the data used by the CCI to scrutinise the Zee-Sony merger.

According to data by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) for the ongoing FY23, the merged entity has a 36 per cent market share in the Hindi GEC segment, and 33 per cent in the Hindi movies channels. In the Bangla GEC, the combined TV viewership market share is 38 percent and 26 percent in the Marathi GEC, as per an industry official.

In the entire fiscal year ending March 2022, the merged entity had a market share of 39 per cent in the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) segment and 38 per cent in Hindi films. In Bangla, the combined entity had a market share of 38 per cent and in Marathi, the combined entity had a market share of 31 per cent, according to BARC.

"There is no 40-per cent (market share) rule. It’s an indicative benchmark adopted by the CCI when assessing combinations. However, even where the combined market share is over 40 per cent, the CCI may ultimately decide to approve the transaction without remedies," said Abdullah Hussain, Partner, DSK Legal.

Some independent lawyers said if the merger is causing a concentration of over 40 per cent in the merged entity, then it becomes fit for scrutiny. The CCI approval for the Zee-Sony merger can go through if there are certain adjustments made to the transaction, including selling majority stake in the four channels by either Zee or Sony to get the approval, they said.

“The CCI will examine if the combined entity would reduce competition or if the other competitors could maintain sufficient pressure on the combined entity. If the combined market shares are very high and other competitors are not able to exert sufficient competitive pressure, the CCI may ask parties to give certain remedies (including divestitures) as a condition for approving the transaction. The CCI has asked parties for remedies in the past where the combined market share was as low as 30 per cent,” said Vaibhav Choukse, Partner & Head of Practice, Competition Law at JSA.

The lawyers also said the combined entity will have over 75 channels of different genres. “The CCI could ask the proposed combine to sell a part of the channels in those genres to another company to ensure there is no concentration in that market. The deal could go through if these adjustments are made," a Mumbai-based competition lawyer said.

Reuters reported that the CCI is probing the merger between Sony and Zee Entertainment saying it will potentially hurt competition by having "unparalleled bargaining power".

Why Impact Wrestling Is No Longer A Major Promotion?

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Originally founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, then named TNA (Total Nonstop Action) came onto the wrestling scene fresh off of WCW and ECW’s demise. Still, promotions like Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro-Wrestling existed; however, there was something that TNA had that those two companies didn’t: mainstream stars. Well, maybe not stars on the level of The Rock or Stone Cold, but recognizable names like Ken Shamrock, Jerry Lynn, Konnan, and yes, even Jeff Jarrett. TNA was presented as an edgier product than its wrestling counterpart, WWE, just out of the period when the biggest wrestling promotion in the world was transitioning out of the Attitude Era. One of the pioneers of that era was Vince Russo, who was head creative of the newly formed TNA Wrestling.

The pros of TNA is that it presented something fresh for fans who were tired of the WWE product. However, it also had something familiar, as Russo’s chaotic crash writing style was ever so present in TNA. The company also had some hot acts like LAX or Team Canada, and even the X-Division was miles better than WWE’s cruiserweight division. TNA would gain popularity as time went on and though there were a lot of questionable booking decisions made within the company, it still reached its peak with viewers who were happy with the WWE alternative. However, questionable booking decisions started to plague the company overall. Whether it was the over pushing of Jeff Jarrett as a top star. Ridiculous gimmick matches such as the reverse battle royal, electrified steel cage, or the king of the mountain match that the company continuously pushed as the Slammiversary main event during their early years.

However, when the likes of Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan came into the promotion, that was the beginning of the end. Hulk Hogan was certainly a draw for the company and given his big money contract status, Hulk Hogan was definitely going to be used to the best of his abilities. However, this wasn’t the man that main evented WrestleMania’s in the 80s or even NWO Hulk Hogan. At this point, Hogan could barely move. Eric Bishchoff was not a professional wrestler. Yet, the company was booked and centered around these two. There was the unwarranted push of Bischoff’s son Garrett, who pretty much disappeared from the wrestling scene once his time in the company was over. Hogan was at the center of TNA’s biggest angle, Aces & Eights, another terrible story that dominated the promotion. More importantly, veterans like Kevin Nash, Scott Hall (Rest in Peace Mr. Hall), Sting, or Booker T were clouding the main event scene. For the longest time, TNA focused more on WCW and WWE castoffs more than their own talent, which would ultimately come back and bite the company in butt.

That talent didn’t bring enough drawing power to warrant the dominance at the main event and worst yet, the stories and booking decisions weren’t getting any better in the promotion. Eric Bischoff effectively killed whatever career The Young Bucks had in TNA by beating the AEW stars in a tag team match. There was a rat on a pole match. The Lockbox Challenge set the knockouts back 100 years. The questionable booking only got worse as time went on, especially since most of the shows were focused on Hogan and Bischoff. When the two tried to recreate the Monday Night Wars in 2010 it did give TNA more viewers, but it was ultimately a massive failure. TNA wasn’t ready for the war because their own house wasn’t in order. The promotion was in a dire creative mess and there didn’t seem to be any indication that things would change.

For years, fans complained about Vince Russo and Dixie Carter, but the company moved on as there were no issues whatsoever. Hogan, Bischoff, Sting, Dixie, and Vince Russo leaving didn’t matter one bit. TNA had an opportunity to course correct by signing Paul Heyman as head creative control, but that never came into fruition and the company sunk into lower depths since then. The funny thing is that TNA, now Impact Wrestling, was miles ahead better than it was during the Bischoff/Hogan reign. One of the most buzzed out moments about the product was the Broken Matt Hardy stuff. Of course, when the promotion had the likes of LAX (Santana & Ortiz) The Lucha Brothers, and Johnny Impact, that was when the company as at its best, consistently delivering top notch shows. However, Impact killed the trust of fans completely by then. It wasn’t the fact that they kept moving from station to station, it was because the interest just wasn’t there.

TNA/Impact Wrestling tried so hard to compete against WWE that it became WWE lite for a lengthy period of time. The promotion lost any sense of identity that helped put them on the map, and Impact hasn’t really been able to lock down the type of company it wants to be. Plus, the booking decisions were REALLY bad. Impact is now a blimp on the wrestling radar, especially with AEW around. The company now draws ratings in the range of 89,000 to 150,000, a far cry from 1.0 million viewers. The company has managed to survive this long, but it’s highly doubtful that it will reach the highs that it did in its early years.

Credits: TVOM

Roundups #92: Jade Armor Expands To Cartoon Network EMEA, Burning Fire Expands To Ghana On UTV And NXT Europe To Rollout In 2023

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Cartoon Network swoops into martial arts

WarnerMedia Kids & Family EMEA has acquired broadcast rights to “Jade Armor,” a banner martial arts action comedy animated series from France’s TeamTO, one of Europe’s foremost kids entertainment production companies.

As part of Cartoon Network’s declared commitment to broadcasting more animation targeting girls, “Jade Armor” will be released on both HBO Max and Cartoon Network in Europe, West Asia and North Africa later in 2022.

An instance of platforms’ drive into local animation and diversity which is galvanizing animation in Europe, the new licensing deal builds on last year’s sale of “Jade Armor” to WarnerMedia Kids & Family in the U.S., ensuring classy powerful premium platform distribution for the series.

Burning Fire coming soon to UTV

United Television (UTV) a 24/7 Ghanaian free-to-air channel privately owned by Despite Group Of Companies which features a line-up of well produced family entertainment dedicated to delivering informative and entertaining programming will be introducing a brand new series titled Burning Fire.

Dante and Irene Ferrer own an important olive-oil production company in Mexico. When they reunite their extended family, a forbidden love blooms between Gabriel and Alexa, who are unhappily married to other people.

The series stars Mariana Torres, Claudia Ramírez, Carlos Ferro, José María De Tavira, Claudia Martín and Kuno Becker.

WWE To Launch NXT Europe In 2023

WWE announced today that the NXT brand will grow internationally with the creation of an all-new NXT Europe, with the launch planned for 2023.

“Following the success of our live events and talent identification efforts throughout all of Europe, we believe this is the perfect time to expand NXT beyond the UK,” said Shawn Michaels, WWE Vice President of Talent Development Creative.

Launched in 2016, NXT UK has received critical acclaim and developed WWE main roster talent such as Rhea Ripley, Doudrop, Gunther and Butch. NXT Europe will reimagine the brand and its talent pipeline with a Pan European focus.

 

Italian Stallion: That Time Sylvester Stallone Star Of "Rocky" Went Under The Sheets

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The world might find it hard to believe that a man who once struggled to find roles in movies — and who has started in soft-core porn — went on to become one of the most legendary actors in Hollywood. According to Forbes, the once-broke actor has a net worth exceeding $400 million.

As we grow up we usually stop following our dreams — However, obstacles are a necessary part of life, and just like Rocky — the bigger our dream is, the bigger our obstacle will be. Sylvester Stallone may not actively practice stoicism but he is a living and breathing example of a true stoic.

“Life’s not about how hard of a hit you can give… it’s about how many you can take, and still keep moving forward.”

And with that let’s dive right in…

The Homeless Pornstar

Stallones’ obstacles started at child-birth. While he was being born the doctors accidentally cut a nerve, and paralysed the left side of his face. This didn’t change his self image, or stop him from believing in himself. He was born a fighter — and as a young adult, he moved to New York to pursue a career in acting.

To make ends meet, he played a role in ‘Kitty and Stud’s’ (1970) soft core porn film — seriously, go and Google it. He said that “it was either he rob someone on the street or act in a porn film”. Luckily, he chose the soft-core porn film.

One night, inspired by watching a Muhammad Ali fight — Stallone turned to writing his own films, the first of which was Rocky. Stallone said he was offered $300,000 for the rights to Rocky, but turned it down because producers wanted a different actor to play the main role.

“They wanted every celebrated actor at the time,” Stallone said during an appearance on the Today Show. “And big-name directors, when they found out I wanted to be involved, they scattered, ran for the hills.””It was really insane at the time ’cause I was pretty broke,” he added. Luckily, his persistence paid off, and the film earned $117 million.

Since then, the Rocky six-part franchise has earned over 1.4 billion dollars at the box-office and has been nominated for 10 academy awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing.

The Conclusion Is To Be Fearless

Sylvester Stallones’ fearless approach can be applied to our own lives.
Stallone was rejected throughout his entire life and half of his face was paralysed since childbirth — yet, this impediment didn’t stop him.

And this too is the nature of the human experience. As children, we want to disprove our parents, test boundaries and challenge authority. We want to express our freedom.

When the film producers offer him $300,000 for the screenplay without him playing the lead, he REFUSED because it was a deal that would have changed his vision — Instead, he decided to fight for his dream.

Rocky represents all of us — he inspires us to follow our dreams.

Credits: Sam Berry

The CW Widens Programming Scope To Include Sitcoms & Procedurals, Begins Testing Outside Studio Deals With ‘The Hatpin Society’ From EP Rachel Bloom

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By the time the Nexstar Media Group’s long-in-the-works 75% acquisition of the CW finally closed earlier this month, it was the height of pitch season, when broadcast networks buy scripted projects to develop as new series for next season.

On the morning of the August 15 deal announcement, Nexstar toppers said that, under the new ownership, the CW would be going for broader and cheaper programming, including syndicated fare acquisitions, with the goal to make the network profitable by 2025.

Since then, sources tell Deadline that CW brass have reached out to the creative community, including taking agency meetings, to lay out their buying strategy going forward and tell everyone that the network is open for business.

On the original scripted programming side, in addition to the CW’s signature genre shows and teen soaps, which the network intends to keep doing — just not as many — it plans to broaden its slate by adding procedurals and other older-skewing dramas as well as half-hour comedies including multi-camera sitcoms.

The overall message was: bring us what you would’ve brought to the CW before but also bring us what you wouldn’t have brought to us in the past.

This jives with Nexstar brass’ comments that the demographic focus of the CW will change over time. Indicating that the new owners would be emphasizing the older-skewing linear network vs. digital where the vast majority of younger viewers watch CW shows, Nexstar president and COO Tom Carter noted that while the CW’s current slate of shows like Riverdale, All American and The Flash target viewers in the 18-34 demographic, the average CW linear viewer is 58 years old.

The network’s new programming strategy is looking to embrace these older linear viewers and trying to expand that pool. The network has done that occasionally with specials such as The Waltons holiday movies as well as the the Critics Choice Awards.

On the acquisition side, the CW also is expected to go for broader shows including procedural dramas. (For years, the network has been supplementing its originals with mostly Canadian and UK scripted series.)

The CW’s unscripted strategy is not changing; the network had been betting on broad shows such as Penn & Teller: Fool Us and World’s Funniest Animals, and there will be more of that going forward.

‘The Hatpin Society’ & Branching Out Beyond WBTV and CBS Studios

Following Nexstar’s acquisition, previous 50-50 owners Paramount Global and Warner Bros Discovery each retained 12.5%. Their broadcast-focused studios, CBS Studios and Warner Bros TV, respectively, have been the CW’s exclusive scripted series suppliers to date.

That will remain in place for the 2022-23 season as the vast majority of programming for it has been spoken for. Beyond that, Nexstar “will have the option to extend the partnership” with the studios, Carter said post-deal close, but noted that the situation is very much in flux. The company’s executives have indicated that the CW would be open to outside suppliers going forward.

One of the first projects that will test that new studio strategy is The Hatpin Society, a period drama written and executive produced by Elissa Aron (Humane Treatment) and executive produced by Crazy Ex-Girlfriend co-creator/exec producer and star Rachel Bloom and Dan Gregor. Set in 1909 New York City, it centers on a motley legion of suffragists who fight for equality by day and vigilante justice by night, seeking revolution through any means necessary.

The project was sold directly to the network, which plans to develop it in-house before finding a studio partner. That could end up being CBS Studios, which produced Bloom’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, or WBTV, but doesn’t have to be — a major departure from the business principles on which the CW was founded as it ushers in a new era as an independent.

Inviting third-party studios into the tent will also likely alter the CW’s streaming profile; previous seasons of the network’s scripted series are currently available primarily on Netflix or HBO Max.

The Hatpin Society joins just a handful of pre-existing sales at the CW in the current development cycle as the network and talent had taken a wait-and-see approach while the Nexstar acquisition was still in progress. Probably the highest-profile one among them, as Deadline reported in June, is Archie Comics drama Jake Chang, from Oanh Ly, Viet Nguyen & Daniel Dae Kim’s 3AD, which is produced by WBTV. It is part of the CW’s core genre efforts and reflects the network’s push for on-screen representation over the last several years.

With the CW brass quickly getting out to present their post-acquisition programming strategy just days after the deal officially closed, the buying is expected to accelerate in the coming weeks.

The CW’s longtime chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz, who is remaining at the helm of the network under new owners, has extensive experience overseeing content for broad broadcast audiences, including in his stint as president of main ABC supplier ABC Studios (now ABC Signature).

“I think you will always see a decent amount of scripted programming on the network, I think you’ll see — and we already began the transition to — more alternative, and we will be bringing more acquired programming,” he said in May as the Nextstar acquisition was still being finalized. “I do hope that we will enter the world of half-hour sitcoms being produced for the network, and I do hope should there be a sale and if there is a sale, that it will open the avenues of other producers and studios to come to us besides Warners and CBS, which means more opportunities.”

Comedy had a strong presence on the CW at the time of its 2006 launch, including broad multi-cam sitcom Reba, which went on to have a long afterlife in syndication. Within a couple of years, the network got out of the comedy business.

Reining In Spending

At the time the CW acquisition closed, Nexstar said that to achieve profit, they are planning a significant reduction of spending.

Citing Kagan research, Carter said the CW spends “almost twice” what the other broadcast networks do on programming, a disparity Nexstar plans to eliminate.

“Over time, we will be taking a different approach to our CW programming strategy and will leverage our experience in spending approximately $2 billion a year on programming, attracting and monetizing viewers, and transitioning NewsNation, our national cable news network, from WGN, while maintaining a strict focus on cash flow,” he said.

The CW had previously operated at a loss as a network, commissioning a lot of scripted originals that generate value for WBTV and CBS Studios — and their parents, Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Global, respectively — as they exploit them downstream, on streaming and/or internationally.

“Our approach will be unlike other broadcast network owners,” Carter said on August 15. The company would develop its programming “without a dual agenda of greenlighting programming with potential to cross over to SVOD.”

He projected “lower unscripted costs,” without elaborating, and said more syndicated shows would likely be added. The CW has recently been programming 13 hours across six nights in primetime.

Warner Bros. Discovery Considering Running HBO, HBO Max Reruns on TNT, TBS As Low-Cost Programming Option

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Warner Bros. Discovery is clearly looking under every stone to try and shake loose a few more dollars to eat into the $3 billion hole that CEO David Zaslav is trying to fill in, and the company is turning to its primary streaming service HBO Max for as much assistance as possible. The company’s latest tactic? Airing streaming and previously premium content on its linear cable channels to attract viewers to as many of its platforms as possible.

According to a new report from Business Insider, Zaslav sees cable channels TNT and TBS as important parts of his strategy to revolutionize WBD’s platforms. The cable channels draw a large audience thanks to their live sports programming, particularly the NBA. If the networks can keep those audiences watching non-sports content, that can help both the linear and streaming brands. So, why not have those networks put some of HBO’s most popular content in front of their eyes?

Second-run programming like “The Sopranos,” “The Flight Attendant,” “Succession,” and other HBO and HBO Max titles could soon become a permanent part of TNT and TBS’s programming schedule. The latter channel has already begun experimenting with one-off presentations called “Front Row on TBS,” which saw the first season of “The Flight Attendant” air ahead of Season 2’s premiere on HBO Max and Season 1 of “Titans” air on cable before the third season began.

This new plan would essentially see — around the valuable sports programming, of course — the Turner networks become a repository of reruns from HBO’s library of premium cable and streaming originals. WBD hopes that this will not only draw more attention to the cablers, but also encourage viewers to sign up for the streamer so that they can watch their favorite HBO programs on demand. While the corporate synergy makes sense, especially as a cheap way to fill cable air time, one unnamed former Warner executive is skeptical of the company essentially going backward when it comes to running the cable channels.

“Samantha Bee is gone, and all of the original programming. It’s reverting back to the old model of 20 years ago and becoming a network that is all reruns,” the former executive said of TBS. “At some point [WBD execs] have to make a decision with all the cable networks: Can they sustain all of them or do they consolidate?”

Warner’s hope for sustaining those channels is the live sports content they offer. TNT’s deal with the NBA runs through the 2024-25 season, and WBD definitely wants to renew that contract. TNT also airs NHL games, and TBS gets some MLB games, while both channels air the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. According to Insider, there is also discussion of making one of the channels a sports-focused network, combining all of WBD’s cable sports rights in one place and supplementing with other sports-themed programming.

While that would be a bigger swing for the company, the movement of HBO shows from being exclusively available via streaming to airing on linear cable channels is a bit of a trend-buster for WBD. More and more networks are choosing to do just the opposite; moving high-profile shows exclusively to streaming in hopes of boosting the profile of their respective streaming services.

That’s what Disney did when it moved “Dancing With The Stars” to Disney+ exclusively. Peacock is doing the same with the long-running soap opera “Days of Our Lives.” But those companies are also increasing their streaming budgets, while WBD is in the midst of a massive cutback.

“Our goal is to compete with the leading streaming services, not to win the spending war,” Zaslav said in the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call last year.

Leaning on established outlets like TNT and TBS as platforms for second-run premium programming may indeed help WBD, but it’s another in a long line of signs that the bottom line is much more important to the company than the customer’s experience.