By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Queen Latifah is becoming a TV star for CBS at a time broadcast networks can really use one, while Dwayne Johnson and Kenan Thompson made respectable sitcom debuts for NBC.
Latifah's drama, "The Equalizer," was the most popular scripted show on television last week, the Nielsen company said, trailing only first-place "60 Minutes" and giving CBS a strong one-two punch on Sunday.
Johnson reached 5.3 million viewers for the premiere of "Young Rock," the NBC comedy based on his life, enough to finish among Nielsen's top 20 shows for the week.
A million of those viewers drifted away last Tuesday for the debut of "Kenan." The sitcom starring the long-running "Saturday Night Live" cast member as an Atlanta TV host and single dad reached 4.2 million viewers, Nielsen said.
A generation ago, numbers like that wouldn't be enough for a show to make a second week. But given network television's overall fade, and the chance for viewers to check out those series on a delayed basis, and NBC will no doubt take it.
For a typical week in February–no major sports events and virtually all primetime shows airing original episodes — live viewership on ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC was down 18% from the same week last year, Nielsen said.
CBS won the week with an average of 4.6 million viewers in primetime. ABC had 3.9 million, NBC had 3.5 million, Fox had 2.6 million, Univision had 1.6 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 1 million.
Fox News Channel was the most popular cable network, averaging 2.42 million viewers in prime time. MSNBC had 1.91 million, CNN had 1.6 million, HGTV had 1.12 million and History had 1.01 million.
ABC's "World News Tonight" won the evening news ratings race, averaging 10.2 million viewers. NBC's "Nightly News" had 8.3 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 6.4 million.
For the week of Feb. 15-21, the 20 most popular programs, their networks and viewerships:
1. "60 Minutes," CBS, 9.56 million.
2. "The Equalizer," CBS, 8.13 million.
3. "Young Sheldon," CBS, 7.72 million.
4. "Chicago Med," NBC, 7.59 million.
5. "Chicago Fire," NBC, 7.3 million.
6. "911," Fox, 6.85 million.
7. "American Idol," ABC, 6.67 million.
8. "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune," ABC, 6.03 million.
9. "Magnum, P.I.," CBS, 5.97 million.
10. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 5.92 million.
11. "Chicago PD," NBC, 5.88 million.
12. "NCIS," CBS, 5.771 million.
13. "This is Us," NBC, 5.766 million.
14. "911: Lone Star," Fox, 5.73 million.
15. "The Bachelor," ABC, 5.57 million.
16. "America's Funniest Home Videos," ABC, 5.36 million.
17. "Mom," CBS, 5.35 million.
18. "Young Rock," NBC, 5.32 million.
19. "B Positive," CBS, 5.11 million.
20. "MacGyver," CBS, 4.96 million.
Avid completes acquisition of Wolftech
Avid®, known for software solutions for professional media production, has completed the acquisition of Wolftech Broadcast Solutions, a leader in cloud-based multiplatform news planning, production and publishing solutions.
The acquisition enables Avid to combine its digital-first, end-to-end media solution with Wolftech’s expertise in story-centric workflow management. News organizations will be able to increase efficiency and accelerate story delivery through enhanced remote collaboration and multiplatform amplification.
Avid CEO Wellford Dillard stated, “Wolftech is unquestionably on the leading edge of where the industry is going, and this acquisition demonstrates Avid’s commitment to transform news, sports, and live production workflows. We are delighted to welcome Wolftech into the Avid family.”
Wolftech CEO Arne Berven added, “We were focused on finding a partner that could accelerate the adoption of our platform globally. We explored a number of possibilities, but when we talked to Avid, we knew it was the right match.”
The closing of the acquisition follows Avid’s announcement on October 7 that the company had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wolftech.
With this acquisition, Avid deepens the integration between the two toolsets while continuing to embrace an open approach in partnering with a wide range of media production tools and newsroom systems. Existing Wolftech customers will benefit from Avid’s global scale for customer support and professional services.
Ian Axton, head of production operations for ITV News, said, “As a customer of both Avid and Wolftech we’re excited about the benefits this acquisition will bring to our users and our business. Wolftech has transformed... Read More