Latest in Ion

After airing on ESPN for the past 27 years, the Scripps National Spelling Bee will have a new TV home within the E.W. Scripps corporate fold. The popular tournament will be shown in 2022 on Ion and Bounce, two free over-the-air networks operated by Scripps. In an announcement, the company said the switch will make the…

Local TV station owner E.W. Scripps said it will pay $2.65 billion to acquire national broadcast network ION Media, with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway putting $600 million into the deal. Scripps will combine ION assets — notably its broadcast spectrum holdings — with its own brands like multiplatform news outlet…

Will Fox shift some of its biggest network affiliates from Sinclair Broadcasting to Ion Media as part of a battle for fans of politically conservative commentary — or just reduce its dependence on Sinclair as it grows? Wall Street believes that’s a real possibility. Sinclair shares are down 7.6% this morning following…

Canadian medical drama Saving Hope has found a new U.S. home. ION Television has inked a deal with Entertainment One Television for the series’ upcoming 18-episode third season, now in production. Produced by eOne and ICF Films in association with CTV, Saving Hope will now be an ION original series as the network…

ION Television has joined Shaftesbury, Canadian network CTV and Fox International as a producer on the Canadian procedural drama series The Listener for its 13-episode fifth season, which started production earlier this year. Under the agreement, ION becomes the exclusive U.S. television network for originals of fifth…

Another CBS procedural drama is headed to off-network syndication. Following the recent deals for CBS’ Person Of Interest, distributed by Warner Bros., and Elementary, distributed by CBS Domestic Television, the network’s Blue Bloods, also from CBS TV Distribution, is landing off-network pacts. I’ve learned that CBS…

Almost a year and a half after it was slapped with $4 million breach of contract lawsuit over a show that they say they didn’t agree to take, ION Media has emerged victorious. On Friday, a federal judge granted the company's motion for summary judgment (read it here) against plaintiff Atlantique Productions over the…

Regulators voted today to consider a change in its media ownership rules in a way that has irked station owners, but cheered public interest activists. In a 2-to-1 vote, the FCC approved a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that might scrap a 30-year-old provision called the UHF discount. It relates to the law Congress…

ION just announced that it has picked up two dramas that originated on USA Network: Burn Notice and White Collar. Each show was a top rated scripted cable original series among 25-to-54 year olds on the nights they aired, and ranked among the top 10 dramas for those making $100k+, ION says. They join a line up that…

On the heels of its pickup of the off-network rights to Numbers, ION Television has acquired another long-running procedural, Law & Order: Criminal Intent. ION has bought all 10 seasons (195 episodes) of the Law & Order spinoff series, which started its run on NBC and ended it on USA Network. At ION, it joins Numbers…

ION Television has closed an off-network syndication deal with CBS Television Distribution for all six seasons (118 episodes) of the CBS procedural drama Numbers. The series is set to premiere on ION during the 2012/13 television season. "Numbers aligns perfectly with our general entertainment schedule and is a…

ION Television has teamed with WWE for a new weekly one-hour original series. WWE Main Event will debut October 3 and air on Wednesday nights at 8 PM. It will feature WWE stars from the rosters of Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown, including in-ring action and storylines. The new show provides WWE with a…