Vol. 19, No. 934, Feb. 1, 2018
Dick Wien, Editor /
[email protected] / 212-975-5607
GRAMMYS HIT RATINGS HIGH NOTE ... PRODUCERS LAUD OUR NETWORKS TELEVISION l THE 60TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS on Sunday, Jan. 28, was the week’s most-watched program with 19.80 million viewers. It was the mostwatched primetime entertainment program on any network since the Feb. 26, 2017 Oscar telecast. The Grammy telecast also won the night in key demos. (Source: NTI)
CBS REACHES CONTENT CARRIAGE AGREEMENT RENEWAL WITH SONY’S PLAYSTATION™VUE
On Jan. 22, CBS Corporation reached a new agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment’s PlayStation™Vue for continued carriage of CBS-owned stations and CBS affiliates across the country. In addition, the deal includes
And... CBS All Access’ liveAWARDS® powGRAMMY stream of the 60TH ANNUAL ered the service to a new record for both subscriber signups and unique viewers for a GRAMMY Awards telecast. This year’s GRAMMY Awards holds the second-highest sign-up day on record for CBS All Access behind the premiere of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Unique viewers of CBS All Access’ live stream were up +40 percent over last year’s telecast. The 60TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS was also the most social television event of the year to date. (Source: Nielsen Social) l CBS Sports’ coverage of the Jacksonville-New England 2018 AFC Championship Game on Sunday, Jan. 21 was the highest-rated and most-
continued carriage of SHOWTIME, CBS Sports Network, CBSN and Pop on PlayStation Vue, Sony’s over-the-top television streaming service.
watched game the 2017 NFL season. The game earned a national household rating/share of 24.3/37 and averaged 44.1 viewers (Live + Same Day). In addition, this year’s AFC Championship game also was the highest-rated and most-watched program on television since Super Bowl LI programming last year (Atlanta-New England). ... In the Boston market, WBZTV, Sunday's game delivered a 50.1 rating and 75 share in households and an average of 2.281 million viewers. The broadcast attracted the highest viewership ever for an afternoon AFC Championship Game in the Patriots' Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era. (Source: NTI/NSI) 1 (Continued on page 2)
CBS HONORS VICTIMS OF THE NAZI HOLOCAUST
CBS Corporation and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. have created a special series of CBS Cares PSAs to honor the victims of the Nazi Holocaust and mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day (Jan. 27). The campaign debuted with two 10-second PSAs featuring 60 MINUTES correspondent Scott Pelley, which aired in CBS primetime on Friday, Jan. 26 and Saturday, Jan. 27, respectively. A 60-second PSA featuring the lives of children before they became Holocaust victims will debut in primetime on Feb. 2 and will be scheduled throughout the year. The photos are accompanied by a haunting song written by Ilsa Weber, who later perished with one of her sons on arrival at Auschwitz. The PSAs are now featured on the CBS Cares site and other CBS websites and shared on social media. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is featuring the PSAs online and distributing them through the Museum’s social media channels as part of its Never Stop Asking Why initiative. To see the 60-second PSA, go to https://tinyurl.com/ya58de7u (above center). To see the 10-second PSA, go to https://tinyurl.com/ya36wjls (above left) In addition, CBS-owned station WFOR (Miami) has partnered with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on a series of local news features and PSAs to tell the stories of Holocaust survivors living in South Florida: https://vimeo.com/245263729 (above right)
SHOWTIME, CBS AND SMITHSONIAN CHANNEL GET TOP MARKS FROM PRODUCERS
“READY TO GO...” WINS PRESTIGIOUS MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS AWARD The CBS Health and Welfare team’s “Ready to go…wherever life takes
According to the 2018 poll of reality production companies, conducted by the recently combined Nonfiction Producers Association and PactUS (NPACT), nonfiction and unscripted producers liked working with SHOWTIME and CBS best in 2017. SHOWTIME tops the list of networks that are best to work with overall, with CBS coming in as a close second. Smithsonian Channel ranked #1 in program development and editorial oversight. (TELEVISION, continued from page 1) l Nearly seven million viewers watched CBS News’ team coverage of President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union Address. The network delivered 6.99 million viewers and a 1.7 rating with A25-54 (up +6% from President Trump’s address to Congress last year). By comparison, NBC was down -22% with A25-54, while
you” home mailing campaign recently won the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals’ highest honor -- the Platinum MarCom award. “Ready to go…wherever life takes you” includes information about many workplace programs and benefits to support CBS employees and their families.
ABC was off -12% in the demographic desired most by those who advertise in news. (Source: NTI) l Smithsonian Channel’s THE CORONATION, which premiered on Sunday, Jan. 14, was the highest-rated program (HH and P2+ viewers) in the channel’s history. The program, in partnership with the BBC, (Continued on page 4) 2
A LOOK BACK AT SIMON & SCHUSTER’S SALUTE TO DIVERSITY IN 2017 In celebration of Asian-Pacific American Heritage in May 2017, Simon & Schuster hosted Arun Gandhi (the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi), author of the book Gift of Anger, which discusses ten vital and extraordinary life lessons that strike a universal chord about self-discovery, identity, dealing with anger, depression, loneliness, friendship and family, and Be the Change, the companion to the award-winning Grandfather Gandhi, which tells a poignant, personal story of the damage of wastefulness. ... Also in May, for Military Appreciation Day, Simon & Schuster hosted US Army Captain Matt Gallagher, author of Youngblood, a book about a young American soldier struggling to find meaning during the final, dark days of the war in Iraq. ... To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Simon & Schuster hosted the debut novel of Bronx-born Lilliam Rivera, author of The Education of Margo Sanchez. For the second consecutive year, Simon & Schuster’ Rockefeller Center Diversity Council worked with Simon & Schuster’s adopted high school, the High School for Media and Communication, to help students and faculty understand the publishing process through the RISE collaboration. The collaboration was created to give students the chance to experience publishing firsthand. Participating students from all grades submitted original pieces of creative or artistic work, including short stories (fiction or nonfiction), essays, poetry, photography, drawings or paintings. Among the notable diversity-themed books published in 2017 were Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of their Runaway Slave Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar (National Book Award finalist) and Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (National Book Award longlist). On the Awards front… Simon & Schuster imprints had 10 titles recognized at the 2017 International Latino Book Awards on Sept. 9, 2017. The winners included The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo, What We Become by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, La niña alemana by Armando Lucas Correa, Querido Alberto by Eduardo Magallanes, Lion Island: Cuba’s Warrior of Words by Margarita Engle and The Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition by Reyna Grande. The second place or honorable mention titles included The Only Road by Alexandra Diaz, Ábrete a lo inesperado by Tosha Silver, El único destino by Alexandra Diaz and The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa. Three Simon & Schuster titles were nominated for the 48th annual NAACP Image Awards in the following categories: •
Biography/Autobiography - Around the Way Girl by Taraji P. Henson with Denene Millner (37 INK/Atria Books)
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Instructional - Green Smoothies for Life by JJ Smith (Atria Books)
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Youth/Teens - As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds (Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/Atheneum). As Brave As You was the winner of the Youth/Teens category.
Plus… Four Simon & Schuster titles were finalists for the 28th Annual LAMBDA Literary awards honoring LGBTQ writers and stories. Those honored included The First Bad Man by Miranda July, The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle by Lillian Faderman, Cooking as Fast as I Can by Cat Cora and The Glittering World by Robert Levy.
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13TH CBS DIVERSITY COMEDY SHOWCASE HELD IN L.A. During the week of Jan. 22, the CBS DIVERSITY COMEDY SHOWCASE -- recognized by many as the industry leader in actor showcases designed to highlight diverse talent -- held six sold-out performances at the El Portal Theatre in Los Angeles.This year’s showcase featured 21 performers from across the U.S., saw over 800 auditions with sessions in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, and hundreds more auditioned via selftape. Over the four-month rehearsal period, over 500 original sketches are written, with 25 making it to the stage. Since its inception 13 years ago, THE CBS DIVERSITY COMEDY SHOWCASE The 2018 CBS DIVERSITY COMEDY SHOWCASE cast and creative team
has developed into a hybrid comedy show with Broadway-worthy live performances and original,
creative writing. THE CBS DIVERSITY COMEDY SHOWCASE is attended by senior-level CBS Entertainment executives, showrunners and casting directors from Network series, as well as other networks and talent agents/managers.
(TELEVISION, continued from page 2)
garnered unprecedented buzz and press coverage for its celebration of the 65th anniversary of the ceremony. In the program, Queen Elizabeth II speaks about the historic event for the first time.
PUBLISHING l Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing has been named the first book chosen by the new PBS NewsHour/ New York Times Book Club. The club allows readers to participate in discussions in real time and ask questions of the authors. The announcement and
resultant media coverage caused the novel to jump to #5 on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction bestseller list. l On Jan. 17, Simon & Schuster announced it will publish in March 2018 a new work on faith by 39th U.S. President Jimmy Carter. FAITH: A Journey for All will also be published in audiobook by Simon & Schuster Audio. ####
UPDATE is published by CBS Communications Group. Gil Schwartz, Senior Executive Vice President Richard Wien, Editor, x5607 (NY)
CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This newsletter may include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual factual results to differ materially from the forwardlooking statements, including those due to changes in economic, business, competitive, technological, strategic and/or regulatory factors, and other factors affecting the operations of the businesses of the CBS Corporation. CBS Corporation's news releases and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including but not limited to its most recent Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and 8-Ks, contain a description of factors that could affect future results. The forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this document and we do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. For more information about CBS Corporation, see the Company's news releases and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission which can be found on the CBS Corporation website, www.cbscorporation.com in the "News" and "Investor Relations" sections, respectively.
