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Your 2018 general TV predictions (or guesses)

There's buzz today that Apple might buy Netflix. Citigroup says there's a 40% chance. It's currently driving up the stock for both companies.
 
TheBigA said:
Wow....not much positive on your list. Might as well just pack it in.



Keep in mind that all of the Fox animation will be owned by Disney, and Disney is building their own streaming site to compete against Netflix. So if these shows go anywhere else, it will be there, not Netflix.
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But wait Disney would have to be majority owner of Hulu. There's been talks for some time of Disney attempting to make their own on demand streaming service to go after Netflix. But I don't think that's going to happen I say Disney will take full control of Hulu. Initially Hulu had Disney, Fox and NBC own partial investments to Hulu. The uncertainty here is will NBC keep their shows on Hulu once Disney takes full control of the streamer.
 
RadioPatrol said:
One of them was the possible merger of CBS and Viacom again.
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I agree 100% with this article. My view is that unless Viacom does something spectacular soon, they are take-over bait.

They own so many great properties, but don't know what to do with them. They need someone with a vision.
 
crainbebo said:
- More sexual harassment charges lead to shows we never expected being cancelled or pulled from reruns.
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I will go on a limb and predict that Ryan Seacrest will be one of the next major stars to fall from further sexual harassment charges. There was apparently an accusation floating out there in November--and that story might either pick up more legs or more sexual harassment charges against Seacrest surface: http://www.tvguide.com/news/ryan-seacrest-sexual-harassment-accusations/

Also a few others:

--Joel Osteen's televangelism empire collapses after he is accused of sexual harrassment/misconduct

--Financial guru and radio host Dave Ramsey makes a deal to put a television version of his "Triumph Channel" on SiriusXM into a cable channel or netlet (perhaps on a lower-rated religious channel e.g., Total Living Network or Sonlife Broadcasting, but not TBN): https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/triumph-channel. This will include a live videocam of his daily radio show. Or perhaps buys the cable network outright.

--Sinclair either cancels one of their netlets outright or re-brands it into another format. If so my bets are on the TBD channel to at least be re-branded or axed outright. This will be especially true if Sinclair starts their own news channel to take on Fox News.

--Next Monday's College Football Playoff championship between Georgia and Alabama (an all-SEC matchup) becomes the lowest-rated college football championship game (either BCS or CFP)

--All of the major awards shows (Golden Globes, Grammys, Emmys, Tonys, Oscars) hit all-time ratings lows. It will be announced that starting in 2019, the Emmy Awards will air exclusively on HBO (or another cable channel) and will be the first awards show to leave network television permanently.

--"Sesame Street" will become exclusively an animated series with Claymation Muppet characters only (the last of the human characters and all Muppet performers on the show will be laid off by Sesame Workshop). The daily PBS reruns will air only on the PBS Kids subchannel, the main PBS stations will have Sesame relegated only to weekends. But surprisingly, PBS will offer a 40th anniversary airing of the 1978 "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" special during the December pledge drive (the first time reruns of it has aired since maybe the late 80s/even early 90s).

--ABC decides to air "Charlie Brown Christmas" the night after Thanksgiving (Nov. 23). Interestingly, this occurs the night after they air an encore broadcast of "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" on Thanksgiving night (ABC airs the first broadcast of the Thanksgiving 2018 season the Thursday or Friday before Thanksgiving). "Charlie Brown Christmas" will be repeated closer to Christmas

--ABC airs a special Christmas movie-length episode of Netflix's "Fuller House"

--The NFL announces the cancellation of Thursday Night Football starting with the 2019 season. The only Thursday NFL games will be two "kickoff" games the Thursday before the Sunday of Week 1 (which will air exclusively on NFL Network), and three Thanksgiving games (hosted by Detroit and Dallas as usual, plus a third game that will become exclusively an all-AFC matchup). The Thanksgiving game participants will now get their Bye week the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
 
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Matt Galvin said:
Mediacom buy somebody in KC area maybe CCI just to expand it's coverage area in KC area. Unimas will show up in KS/MO/OK. DTV America stations will make it on Small Cable systems.
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While meanwhile in downstate Illinois DMAs (and other rural Midwestern DMAs), the DTV America LD licenses will continue to languish unused. If one of them actually sees the light of day, they will be purchased by the major owners (e.g., Sinclair, Nexstar, Gray, etc.) as at least temporary translators of their existing stations during the repack process.
 
Also:

--There will be at least a decent amount of 50th anniversary retrospective coverage of the events of 1968 (e.g,. MLK Jr. and RFK assassinations, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Apollo 8, etc.).

--However, the 55th anniversary of JFK's assassination (11/22/1963) will be the first such anniversary commemoration of that assassination which ends in a "0" or "5" that has next to no Big 4 OTA network coverage or acknowledgement (other than articles on their news websites, and maybe a PBS or History Channel documentary or two). Especially with the anniversary of the assassination falling on Thanksgiving Day this year.
 
The "Roseanne" revival wins its time slot in its return to ABC March 27, but afterward, despite airing on the original version's treasured Tuesday night time slot, flounders in the ratings and will not come back for a full season in 2018-2019 (maybe a few extra original shows in the summer).

However, I will predict there will be one interesting (and IMO mind-blowing) plot line: One of Becky's kids has a baby--making Roseanne and Dan Connor great-grandparents.

http://tvline.com/2017/12/21/roseanne-season-10-photos-darlene-children/
 
Tim from Springfield said:
I'm going to double up on two of your predictions and say that one of the sexual harrassment charges involves either Jerry or Maury (or Steve Wilkos), or their shows' staff members and/or past guests.

Or maybe even Dr. Phil (regarding the sexual harrassment charges), or the charges from last week of drugs and booze on Dr. Phil's set take on more legs and leads to at least the cancellation of the Dr. Phil Show:

http://www.tmz.com/2017/12/28/former-survivor-winner-todd-herzog-blames-dr-phil-vodka-xanax/
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWdqqEwGPXc


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/alex-jones-claims-slept-150-women-age-16-article-1.3095514

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...uckford-joke-late-show-infowars-a7702706.html

I'll double on my favorite youtube Troll Alex Jones will actually get sued for the 150 Women allegation. Last year Alex Jones did a rant on supposedly doing stuff to 150 Women while getting sued by Chobani, for a false rape allegation and getting sued by his Ex Wife but that went cold. This time I expect a certain number of Women to really Come forward and actually file lawsuits on Jones for harassment. Also I expect Colbert and others to do more Parodies of ALex Jones via a Tuck Buckford scenes plus "The Tuck Buckford Show" on CBS All Access.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/...to-the-only-conspiracy-alex-jones-doesnt-like
https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-da...egendary-long-dead-texas-comedian-bill-hicks/

Plus the famous Alex Jones/ Bill Hicks Conspiracy will go main stream.
 
crainbebo said:
Something like 'WWE The Bottom Line' could be aired on the Sinclair-owned stations in tandem with ROH. A lot of young people ARE cutting the cord, you know.
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Or Sinclair puts first-run episodes of at least ROH and "WWE Bottom Line" on their TBD netlet (geared toward millennials), in the event of a WWE-Sinclair deal (which to be honest I will be shocked to see happen). Maybe even "Smackdown" on TBD too.
 
crainbebo said:
- Alex Trebek announces his retirement from Jeopardy! and a new host is picked before September.
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Or . . . Both Pat Sajak and Vanna White announce that they both plan to retire from "Wheel of Fortune" at the end of their current contracts, after the 2019-2020 season. The search for a new host and hostess begins thereafter.

Plus ideas for the next-to-last and last shows for puzzles:

Next-to-last Pat/Vanna episode (Thursday night): Have exact same puzzles as those of the first week of the Nighttime version (Sept. 19-23, 1983): https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2wggu4

Last episode (Friday): Only have 3 rounds and bonus round using puzzles first used during the first week of Pat/Vanna episodes on NBC daytime (Dec. 13-17, 1982) (https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2weml5). Maybe bring back Shopping for at least one round on the last day, or even an automatic $1 million prize (in addition to what you spin on the Prize Wheel) if you solve the Bonus Round puzzle. Then rest of the episode just has Pat and Vanna on an empty set reminsicing (with flashbacks) and a tearful goodbye.
 
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Tim from Springfield said:
Also:

--There will be at least a decent amount of 50th anniversary retrospective coverage of the events of 1968 (e.g,. MLK Jr. and RFK assassinations, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Apollo 8, etc.).
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There'll be some, but not a lot. Most people alive today weren't around in 1968 -- certainly not those that matter to TV.

--However, the 55th anniversary of JFK's assassination (11/22/1963) will be the first such anniversary commemoration of that assassination which ends in a "0" or "5" that has next to no Big 4 OTA network coverage or acknowledgement (other than articles on their news websites, and maybe a PBS or History Channel documentary or two). Especially with the anniversary of the assassination falling on Thanksgiving Day this year.
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Even less people remember 1963 than 1968. Both years belong in history books, or at best on commemorative shows on The History Channel or PBS. I'm 62 and was barely old enough (at age 8) to understand what happened on that November day in 1963. To most Americans in 2018, you might as well be talking about Lincoln. Few younger than 50 have experienced coverage of a Presidential assassination, successful or not. And that includes the attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981 -- 37 years ago.
 
Tim from Springfield said:
Or . . . Both Pat Sajak and Vanna White announce that they both plan to retire from "Wheel of Fortune" at the end of their current contracts, after the 2019-2020 season. The search for a new host and hostess begins thereafter.
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Let's make matters worse by saying Ryan Seacrest or Steve Harvey (even though they're in so many other shows) and one of the Kardashians as their replacements.
 
TheBigA said:
I agree 100% with this article. My view is that unless Viacom does something spectacular soon, they are take-over bait.

They own so many great properties, but don't know what to do with them. They need someone with a vision.
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I forgot to mention one thing here. other studios have been in talks for deals from the LA times article I posted.

Lionsgate
Known for franchises such as “The Hunger Games” and TV shows including “Orange Is the New Black,” Lionsgate has long been viewed as ripe for the picking.

“I think Lionsgate is the next attractive target,” Greif said.

Sony could use Lionsgate to bolster its film and TV business. Alternatively, a telecom provider such as Verizon could use it to jump-start its content business and create original video to entice mobile service customers.

Recently, the Santa Monica studio has been a buyer, rather than a seller. The studio acquired cable network Starz last year for $4.4 billion to build the latest media powerhouse.

MGM
MGM, which has been growing under the leadership of Gary Barber since its 2010 bankruptcy reorganization, is also the subject of much deal-making conjecture.

The Beverly Hills studio is returning to the business of distributing its own films domestically through a joint venture with Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures.

MGM's resurgent business has also benefited from a fast-growing TV arm, which produced the Emmy Award-winning streaming hit “The Handmaid’s Tale” for Hulu.

Some analysts and bankers believe that MGM and Lionsgate might be acquired by John Malone’s Liberty Media. Another scenario: CBS could scoop up both studios along with Viacom’s Paramount Pictures.

Still, neither Lionsgate nor MGM appears eager to sell, at least for now, bankers said.

“I don't think anyone's ready to go home yet,” said one banking source who was not authorized to speak publicly and asked to remain anonymous.

Representatives for MGM and Lionsgate declined to comment.

Sony
As Disney gains clout, expect Sony Pictures Entertainment to make a move of its own. Sony’s film studio is trying to rebound but still ranks fifth among the major studios in domestic market share.

The Culver City studio made management changes in the last year, bringing in former Fox executive Tony Vinciquerra as its new chairman and chief executive in June to replace outgoing Michael Lynton. Last summer, it revamped its television team when two top programmers defected to Apple.

“The entertainment industry is in a time of consolidation,” Vinciquerra wrote in a note to his staff last week. “In this climate, studios will either grow or become a target for acquisition. … It is my goal to do the former, not the latter.”

Potential acquisition targets could be MGM, Lionsgate or a company with cable television channels. Sony could also strike a partnership to provide programming to the Fox broadcast network.

Comcast
The Philadelphia pay-TV and Internet service giant is one of few companies with the balance sheet needed to pull off a big-ticket transaction, but its ambitions have been thwarted.

Comcast triggered the current wave of consolidation when it bought media company NBCUniversal in 2011. Last year, Comcast acquired DreamWorks Animation studios to bolster Universal’s presence in animation. Comcast Chairman and Chief Executive Brian Roberts even tried to engage Murdoch in merger talks — but the mogul didn’t bite.

What Comcast lacks is a national footprint. Its subscriber base includes only about a third of the country. Comcast three years ago attempted to buy Time Warner Cable to extend its reach to Los Angeles, New York and Dallas. But regulators frowned on the deal, which Comcast abandoned.

Meanwhile, Comcast also has been growing its high-speed internet service and pushing into mobile phone service through a partnership agreement with Verizon. Comcast could buy Viacom’s international television networks in Britain and India, or move more heavily into phone service.
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Olympics in the future will show up on ESPN. A Racing channel will come back. A Shopping Channel will be started on the West Coast. Chicago Sports Channel will go National.
 
Once ESPN re-brands the Fox Sports Regional Channels to ESPN (Insert City Here), look for more College Teams and Conferences to be seen as they move from Internet only ESPN3 to actual Cable TV coverage. Local editions of Sports Center, (MLB Team Name here) Tonight, perhaps even multiple College Gameday Live editions before games.
So basically move live hours, less filler.
 
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