EXCLUSIVE: As the $71.3 billion Disney-Fox deal nears the finish line, there is a steady earner that often gets overlooked among the assets that will remain behind as part of Fox Corp.: MyNetworkTV. The programming service, launched with fanfare in 2006 as a bid to counter the emerging CW, had to regroup not long…

Fox cut a significant figure at this year’s just-concluded NATPE, promoting its forthcoming Meredith Vieira-hosted game show, 25 Words or Less, and getting its messages out on multiple executive panels. The activity level is not a radical departure from past years, but the Miami conference offered the industry one of…

This year’s NATPE conference in Miami, which runs today through Thursday, follows the release this month of Relatable, the first Ellen DeGeneres stand-up special since 2003. In her Netflix special, DeGeneres expresses ambivalence about being better known as a daytime talk show host than a practitioner of stand-up, her…

Lionsgate's Debmar-Mercury has acquired U.S. broadcast syndication rights to Schitt's Creek, the single-camera comedy that is the top-rated original show on Pop, the cable network co-owned by Lionsgate and CBS. The series, created by Eugene Levy and Daniel Levy, stars Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Elliott…

As the television business continues to manage through major change, CBS has let go of a small number of workers over the past month in its broadcast network and syndication divisions. Through a combination of layoffs, buyouts and attrition, the net reductions are understood to have affected a few dozen employees. The…

ICYMI (Originally posted on Jan. 27):  Successful broadcast procedurals used to be a gold mine for studios which would sell them for top dollar in cable syndication and internationally. It was only five years ago when the off-network market peaked as preemptive buys drove prices up, and CBS’ dramas The Mentalist, NCIS…

I’m traveling this week, and just caught up with the excellent report out yesterday from Barclays Equity Research’s Anthony DiClemente about the boom in TV syndication — and the implications for companies including Apple that want to bust the pay TV oligopoly. He observes that “monetization opportunities for TV…

EXCLUSIVE: Is fitness guru Jillian Michaels the next daytime talk show star? The popular Biggest Loser trainer has signed a multi-year deal to join the daytime syndicated talk show The Doctors as a co-host next season. Additionally, she will serve as a special correspondent on Dr. Phil. Both talk shows are distributed…

Judge Judy star Judy Sheindlin is already poised to become the undisputed queen of daytime TV when Oprah Winfrey signs off later this month. Now Judge Judy producer CBS TV Distribution has moved in to try extend her reign with a new deal that will keep Sheindlin on the top-rated court show through 2015. "Judy is in a…

Related: For Katie Couric, Leaving ‘CBS Evening News’ Does Not Mean Exit From CBS News By interesting serendipity, the news about the final Oprah show and the new round of speculation that Katie Couric will most likely leave the CBS Evening News anchor chair in June came in within minutes of each other today. The…