Wednesday’s Social TV Must-Reads (Feb. 20)
ABC’s Robin Roberts made a much-heralded return to Good Morning America today. Welcome back. Robin!
That was an early morning highlight of Wednesday’s TV. Tonight, it will be CSI, Modern Family and Southland. Are they buzzworthy? We’ll see in a couple of days.
Also today, Sony is rolling out its much awaited PlayStation console in New York. Will the product even the playing field with Nintendo’s Wii or Microsoft’s Xbox and change the second screen experience and cure all of Sony’s ailments? That remains to be seen.
Michael Jackson’s son, Prince, is going to work at age 16.
We’ve got details of these stories, and so much more. Give a read, be sure to share and let us know what you think!
Top Story
‘Good Morning America’ co-anchor welcomed back by co-workers, fans and celebs
Robin Roberts returned to ABC’s “Good Morning America” Wednesday with a blue dress, a wide smile and best wishes from the highest levels of the land, including the Commander in Chief.
Read the article http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/robin-roberts-returns-gma-article-1.1268594
TV Tonight
What are the critics picking for TV tonight? “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” on CBS at 10; Reagan’s attempted assassination from the perspective of Soviet spies, on “The Americans”; the first 10 women sing on “American Idol.”
- Read the article, via LA Times http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-wednesday-tv-highlights-csi-crime-scene-investigation-on-cbs-20130219,0,3032574.story
- USA Today’s picks for tonight’s viewing: “Modern Family” on ABC at 9, “Mad About Oscar” on ABC at 10, and “CSI” on CBS. http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2013/02/19/bianco-critics-corner-feb-20/1930611/
- The NYTimes picks fifth season premiere of police drama “Southland” on TNT at 10, via Seattle Times http://seattletimes.com/html/television/2020386856_tvpicks20xml.html?prmid=head_more
TV Ratings
- ‘Downton Abbey’ Finale Rises to Record 8.2 Million Viewers
Sunday’s season three finale, originally broadcast in the U.K. as the 2012 Christmas special, pulled in 8.2 million viewers to the public broadcaster. That’s a 50 percent improvement from last February’s 5.4 million finale and a jump of 300,000 from January’s season opener.
Read the article, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-downton-abbey-finale-422335
- Beyoncé Boosts Ratings for Two Networks in One Night!
The singer’s HBO doc, “Life Is but a Dream,” pulled 1.8 million viewers, the network’s highest documentary ratings in nearly a decade, in its first airing. Beyoncé’s one-hour interview with Oprah won the 25-54 female demographic for its 8pm Saturday timeslot with just over 1.3 million viewers.
Read the article http://www.zimbio.com/TV+News/articles/K7l4nCcu2gW/Beyonc+Boosts+Ratings+Two+Networks+One+Night
Advertising
Twitter May Release Advertising API Today
Twitter could announce its long-awaited advertising API as early as Wednesday, according to sources among Twitter’s partners. The API, which has been rumored for weeks, would let larger ad agencies create more sophisticated campaigns, a la Facebook.
Read the article http://mashable.com/2013/02/19/twitter-advertising-api/
Second Screen
Kantar teams up with SecondSync for social TV data
SecondSync will provide Kantar with data on the social media conversations surrounding broadcast TV, while in return Kantar will provide it with analysis of the TV viewing data it collects on behalf of Barb.
Read the article http://www.research-live.com/news/analytics/kantar-teams-up-with-secondsync-for-social-tv-data/4009232.article
Technology
Sony set to make pre-emptive strike on Microsoft with PS4
The rare PlayStation event in New York comes amid industry speculation that Microsoft is set to unveil the successor to its Xbox 360, which beats the seven-year-old PlayStation 3′s online network with features such as voice commands on interactive gaming and superior connectivity to smartphones and tablets.
Read the article http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/us-sony-ps-idUSBRE91J0C620130220
Deals
Fox Inks Partnership With YouTube’s WIGS Channel
Fox on Tuesday announced it has entered into a multi-year pact with YouTube’s female-centric drama channel WIGS, which was one of the 100 channels YouTube launched last year.
Read the article http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/fox-inks-partnership-youtube-s-wigs-channel-147409
People
- Fox amps multi-platform content with exec reorg
James Oh will lead current programming as senior veep, reporting to COO Joe Earley. Shana Waterman is named senior VP of event series and multi-platform programming. Former News Corp. digital media exec Kiliaen Van Rensselaer will serve as senior veep of multi-platform programming.
Read the article http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118066339/
- Prince Michael lands TV job on ‘Entertainment Tonight’
The 16-year-old son of the late Michael Jackson will be interviewing stars in his new role as a roving reporter on the hit showbiz news program.
Read the article http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4804148/Prince-Michael-Jackson-lands-TV-job-on-Entertainment-Tonight.html
Sports
(RELEASE) Produced by Turner Sports, “NCAA March Madness Live” will offer free streaming across all devices to pay TV subscribers throughout the tournament and is designed to be either a primary or companion viewing experience available to fans across a collection of screens including online, mobile and tablet.
Read the release http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2013-02-20/ncaa-march-madness-live-offers-fans-unprecedented-multi-scree
- Following the NFL Combine on the Second Screen
There’s a Master List of players invited to participate in the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine tracks the Tweets of over 250 players invited to participate in the NFL Combine. We’ve come a long way since we had to wait for newspapers to let us know how the combine went.
Read the article http://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/2013/02/20/following-the-nfl-combine-on-the-second-screen/
- Canal Plus to create social TV event around football classic
Canal Plus is to tap the Google Plus Hangout video chatroom service to create a social TV event around the double-match football clash between leading French sides Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Marseille on February 24 and February 27.
Read the article http://www.digitaltveurope.net/32501/canal-plus-to-create-social-tv-event-around-football-classic/
Latin Market
Margie Moreno Hired as mun2 Programmer
Cable network Mun2 has named Margie Moreno to the newly created position of vice president, programming. Moreno was head of development for Imagina US/Promofilm US, an international television production company, where she specialized in adapting international television formats (scripted and reality) for U.S. broadcast and cable markets.
Read the article http://www.multichannel.com/content/margie-moreno-hired-mun2-programmer/141806
Social TV Daily publishes this daily roundup of news articles across the Internet. Excerpts are drawn from the content and full URLs are included.
