Netflix has set a July 26 date to premiere the final season of its Emmy-winning series Orange Is The New Black, the streaming service said Wednesday. 

The series' seventh season finds the ladies of Litchfield prison come to terms with the fact that prison has changed them forever. According to Netflix, the new season finds Piper struggling with life on the outside, while life in Max, as corrupt and unjust as ever, goes on without her. Taystee’s friendship with Cindy still hangs in the balance as her life sentence looms, Gloria and her kitchen staff are confronted by the hard truth of Polycon’s newest profit stream, while others chase drugs or dreams and grapple with the reality of their place in this world, said the streaming service. 

Netflix will end its long-running drama series Orange Is The New Black after the seventh season, the network announced on social media Wednesday.

In a Twitter post, several stars of the Emmy-nominated series combined to announce that the series will end its run on the streaming service with the upcoming seventh season. The series, created and executive produced by Jenji Kohan, has been one of Netflix's most watched shows.

Orange Is The New Black stars Taylor Schilling, Laura Prepon, Uzo Aduba, Natashia Lyonne and Daniel Brooks.

[embed]https://twitter.com/OITNB/status/1052665637409980416[/embed]

Netflix Monday unveiled a new trailer video for the sixth season of its Emmy Award-winning series Orange Is the New Black.

Season six finds the ladies of Litchfield Penitentiary entering a new facility where they have to navigate new rules and power dynamics. Starting at the bottom, the women are getting hazed by inmates and tortured by guards, even as they face a slew of charges from the Litchfield Penitentiary riot, according to Netflix. 

Canaccord Genuity media and technology analyst Michael Graham expects Netflix to beat its third quarter subscriber growth expectations, adding that growth should continue into the fourth quarter despite plans for a November price increase.

Netflix said earlier this month it would increase the monthly price of its premium tier to $13.99 from $11.99 and for its standard plan to $10.99 from $9.99 beginning in November. Pricing for its $7.99 basic plan will remain the same.

In the past, price increases have spurred a flurry of hand wringing from analysts who predicted it would result in slower subscriber growth.  And in Q2 2016, after it had decided to “un-grandfather” earlier subscribers who had been paying between $7.99 and $8.99 monthly for standard service to the current $9.99 rate – subscriber growth was impacted. Netflix added 1.7 million subscribers in Q2 2016, short of the 2.5 million it expected.

But Wall Street and investors applauded the latest increase – Netflix stock rose about 5% on the day it said it would implement the new rate card. And analysts are encouraged that a strong content pipeline will offset any churn.

In a research report, Graham noted that a slate of fairly strong original releases in the quarter like Narcos and high profile returns in the latter part of Q2, like Orange is the New Black, should carry additions into Q3.

Graham estimates that Netflix will add 850,000 domestic subscribers in the quarter, 50,000 more than analysts’ consensus of 796,000 additions and 100,000 above the company’s own expectations of 749,000 additions. He believes that with the second season of 2016 surprise hit Stranger Things slated for the fourth quarter, should help push that growth ahead.

“We still believe there are enough draws this quarter to drive a domestic sub beat,” Graham wrote.

Streaming service Netflix and HBO were the big TV network winners during the Screen Actors Guild Awards Sunday night.

Netflix won four awards including both the best drama series for Stranger Things and best comedy for Orange Is The New Black. HBO took home three SAG Awards statuettes, including a best actress in a comedy series award for Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ performance in Veep.

The SAG Awards were peppered with political statements from the winners. On winning the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor In A TV Movie/Limited Series, All The Way star Bryan Cranston – who plays President Lyndon B. Johnson in the HBO original film -- said if Johnson were alive he would wish current President Donald Trump well, but would warn him: “Just don’t piss in the soup that all of us gotta eat.”

The TV category winners of the 23rd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are as follows:

Outstanding Performance by and Ensemble In a Drama Series

Stranger Things -- (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance by A Male Actor In A Drama Series

John Lithgow – The Crown (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor In a Drama Series

Claire Foy – The Crown (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance By a Male Actor In A TV Movie/Limited Series

Bryan Cranston -- All the Way (HBO)

Outstanding Performance By A Female Actor In A TV Movie/Limited Series

Sarah Paulson – People v. O.J. Simpson (FX)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble In A Comedy Series

Orange Is The New Black – (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance by A Male Actor In A Comedy Series

William Macy – Shameless (Showtime)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actress In A Comedy Series

Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Veep (HBO)

Outstanding Action Performance by A Stunt Ensemble In A Comedy Or Drama Series

Game Of Thrones – (HBO)

Multicultural-themed programming is riding a wave of ratings and critical success on TV, but that rising tide isn’t lifting all boats.

From Emmy Award-winning shows like Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black and its multicultural cast, to ratings hits like Fox’s Empire, Starz’s Power and ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat and Black-ish, ethnically diverse TV content is hot. But even in such a TV climate, executives at independently owned multicultural networks said their services still struggle to gain widespread distribution.

Even with a growing base of multicultural subscribers who watch more hours of television than white viewers — along with an increase of young, multicultural millennials who are either cord-cutters or cable-nevers — distributors aren’t rushing to sign up networks that target the industry’s current and future subscribers, executives said.

“Overall, 40% of the population is multicultural, so what all that means is multicultural is now the new mainstream,” said Tonia O’Connor, chief commercial officer and president of content distribution for Univision Communications, which also handles distribution duties for four-year-old, male-targeted El Rey Network and young, Hispanic audience-targeted news service Fusion.

“It’s good business to be in this business,” O’Connor said. “Whether distributors have come to embrace it yet or not, they absolutely have to in order to continue to have any growth in the future — they can no longer ignore the multicultural consumer or opportunity.”

A HOT CATEGORY

While most television observers recognize today’s lineup of quality content from cable, broadcast and over-the-top digital services like Netflix as a new Golden Age of Television, it’s also arguably the most prolific time for multicultural programming.

This comes as the U.S. grows more diverse, and as diverse groups grow more influential determining in how and when entertainment content is delivered.

African-Americans watched more than 44 hours of live and time-shifted TV a week during fourth-quarter 2015, well above the 31-hour average for all adults, according to the recent Nielsen Total Audience Report. Hispanics nearly double all viewers in minutes spent watching video on smartphones, while Asian-Americans use multimedia devices to view television nearly a full hour more than the general public does.

Given those realities, the assumption would be that multichannel-video providers would be aggressive in launching networks aimed at the growing, highly influential multicultural audience. But network executives said some distributors have yet to recognize the value of multicultural content.

Most high-profile shows with appeal to multicultural audiences air on mainstream networks backed by major media companies, Africa Channel executive vice president of content and global operations Narendra Reddy said, adding that independently-owned multicultural channels don’t have the budget or staff to develop and market such programming. But that doesn’t mean Africa Channel’s scripted movies and reality shows originating from the continent are any less valuable or appealing to multicultural viewers, Reddy said.

He added that most favored nations language in contracts, restrictions on social-media marketing and promotion of content on the Web, and a lack of negotiating power during contract talks have hampered Africa Channel’s ability to gain distribution as an independent network.

“Even if the heads of programming for these various distributors believe that this content that we have will resonate with audiences, basically they’re forced to carry networks from the companies that have far greater leverage than we do,” Reddy said.

That doesn’t sit well with multicultural viewers who respond favorably to content targeted toward them. According to a recent Horowitz Race, Diversity and Media survey, 64% of multicultural millennials said they found television shows featuring a mainly multicultural cast appealing, compared to 44% of white viewers.

Yet beyond a few select shows, network executives say such images are rare on the current lineup of cable channels.

STILL AN UNDERSERVED AUDIENCE

“A multicultural cable subscriber today sees his or her dollar being mainstream, but the reality is when they look at what’s being offered they’re seeing that there’s just not that much there,” said Mark Walton, president of sales and marketing for One Caribbean Television. “Even though you may see an article or some conversation around all of this, from the consumer’s perspective it gets back to ‘I have 500 channels and I only have four or five that are addressing some of the interests I have.’ ”

One Caribbean Television, which offers entertainment, news and weather content from such Caribbean nations as the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica and Barbados, is currently offered on RCN with the network in distribution talks with several other operators. One Caribbean targets the nearly 10 million to 20 million African-Americans who have some connection to the Caribbean, as well as mainstream viewers who travel and have interest in the region.

“The consumer is paying X dollars but is getting X minus dollars in terms of value to them,” Walton said. “In order to breach that gap and reduce churn, you have to have the offerings that that consumer wants.”

Network executives said they recognize that MVPDs are under pressure to curb programming costs and adjust programming packages to prevent younger subscribers from churning or shifting to over-the-top subscription VOD services.

“[Distributors] might not be as confident to take risks on launching multicultural-themed channels,” Miguel Santos, general manager for Asian-American targeted network Myx TV, said. “The business environment is di_ cult — they’re seeing some churn, so it’s making a lot of MVPD executives risk-averse. They don’t really see at the moment the value of multicultural channels.”

One executive who said she does recognize the value of multicultural content is Verizon Fios executive director of content strategy and acquisition Michelle Webb. She told the Horowitz Associates Cultural Insights Forum in March that the telco is looking to balance that with finding the best ways to offer the most choice to consumers.

“It’s all about managing demand and bandwidth considerations,” she said.

Aspire TV has seen some small but noteworthy movement on the distribution front, vice president of business affairs and channel operations Melissa Ingram said. The African-American-targeted network, founded by basketball hall of famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson, has seen its subscriber rolls grow to 34 million viewers since its 2012 launch; it projects it will be in 37 million homes by year-end.

“Not only is [the multicultural] audience is requesting this type of programming but … from a business standpoint, affiliates are starting to understand the importance of having diverse content,” she said. “They’ve seen the success of shows like Empire and they’ve seen a movement by subscribers demanding such content, which is forcing these large distributors to understand the importance and value of it and to get more content like that on their systems.”

As networks continue to push for linear distribution, others are exploring the Web in an eff ort to generate interest and awareness for their brands. Networks such as Myx TV, Fuse and One Caribbean Television use apps to give viewers a chance to check out video content from the networks, as well as some live programming.

BOOSTING ONLINE REACH

“If you want to reach a younger audience, you have to be available on all of the relevant devices, and you have to have content that’s available on-demand,” Fuse Media CEO Michael Schwimmer said. “Obviously, you have to be able to balance that with the network’s role within the pay TV ecosystem, but I think that it’s all doable and important. Anybody that doesn’t have a strong digital presence does so at their own risk.”

Myx TV’s Santos believes networks targeting multicultural millennials in particular may find online distribution a more attractive way of exposing the brand to key audiences. Asian-Americans, especially, tend to watch content online on various mobile devices, so anyone looking to reach that audience would fare well in the digital space, according to Santos.

Myx TV is considering launching an OTT service in the near future, although Santos would not disclose a time frame. “OTT is possibly the key to diversifying entertainment,” he said. “Given the competitive environment and the uncertainty within the industry, it would behoove us to look at all options to really get our content out.

“In the end, the power is with the viewer, and they will decide where they want to watch their content — if they want to watch it over the top we should be there, and if they want to watch it on a linear platform we should be there, too.”

RELATED:Netflix Has Lowest Churn Rate Among OTT Services: Study

More and more consumers see Netflix as the place to go for original programming, even as they look for ways to pare down their premium channel subscriptions, according to a Morgan Stanley survey.

According to Morgan Stanley’s 6th Annual Streaming Media Survey, 29% of respondents picked Netflix as having the best original programming, up from 23% last year and besting Home Box Office with just 18%. It was the first year in the survey’s history that HBO lost the original content crown.

Netflix has spent billions of dollars on original content over the years and has had both critical and popular success with shows like Orange is the New Black, House of Cards and Jessica Jones that have resonated with audiences. The SVOD pioneer expects to outspend HBO on originals for the first time this ear -- $2.4 billion compared to $1.8 billion for HBO – as it nearly doubles the number of original shows to 31 from 16. The news also comes as Netflix readies to move grandfathered subscribers to its $9.99 monthly price point, a move that some believe will lead to a slowdown of subscriber gains.

In a research report, Morgan Stanley media analyst Ben Swinburne wrote that original content was increasingly cited by the survey respondents as a membership driver. But Swinburne also noted that the number of people that responded “Don’t Know” to the survey increased significantly – to 34% from about 27% last year – which could indicate that the rise in over-the-top offerings could be adding to brand confusion.      

More survey respondents also said they intended to cut at least one premium service this year, the second consecutive year of increases. About 19% of respondents said they would definitely disconnect a premium service in the next 12 months (up from 13% last year) and 27% said they would probably cut a premium channel, up from 22% last year.

Lionsgate said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it intends to inform premium pay TV channel Starz that it is exploring a possible combination between the two, confirming speculation that has swirled around the companies since Liberty Media chairman John Malone first invested in the movie studio last year.

Despite the prospect of a merger, Lionsgate stock plunged more than 13% ($3.46 per share) to $21.99 each in early trading Friday after reporting disappointing fiscal third quarter results. The studio missed consensus  revenue targets by almost $100 million and earnings per share at 26 cents were almost half the expectation of 46 cents per share.

Starz shares were down a modest 1.2% (36 cents each) to $30.87 per share in early trading.

In the SEC filing, Lionsgate said it has informed Starz that it “intends to explore whether there is a potential mutually beneficial combination of the two companies,” the studio said in the SEC filing. There is no guarantee that a deal will be consummated.

Starz and Lionsgate have been in talks before, but they have generally broken down over price. Speculation heated up about a year ago when Liberty chairman and major Starz shareholder John Malone swapped a 3.4% interest in Starz for 4.5% of Lionsgate stock. In November, Malone holdings Discovery Communications and Liberty Global each agreed to purchase 3.4% Lionsgate stakes.

It is no secret that Malone wants Starz to find a buyer – in 2012 he said the channel needed a “big brother.” A Starz-Lionsgate marriage would give the studio an additional outlet for its movie and TV content and Starz another source of high-quality original content. The studio, which has produced box office hits like The Hunger Games and TV shows like Orange is the New Black, Nurse Jackie and Mad Men, also is a partner in premium service Epix.

In a research note, Morgan Stanley media analyst Ben Swinburne wrote that tax implications which expired this year may have been an impediment to a deal in the past. He added that a combination  would benefit Lionsgate by giving the studio a steady stream of cash flows, reducing the volatility inherent in independent film companies.

“Secondarily, Starz / Encore would provide LGF dedicated shelf space for high-end TV content, incrementally reducing TV production risk,” he wrote.

Netflix has made a huge commitment to its original dramedy series Orange In The New Black, greenlighting an additional three seasons, the OTT service announced Friday.

The service has also set June 17 as the premiere date for season four, with additional seasons five, six and seven to debut in future years, said company officials.

In addition, Orange Is The New Black creator and executive producer Jenji Kohan has also been retained for three additional seasons and will serve as executive producer and showrunner.

“Jenji and her team have produced a phenomenal and impactful series that is both funny and dramatic, outrageous and heartfelt. Audiences around the world have come to love the ladies and men of Orange is the New Black, and we are eager to see where three more seasons will take them,” said Cindy Holland, Vice President of Original Content at Netflix.

With iconic teen blockbusters like The Hunger Games and Twilight, Lionsgate through the years has carved out a niche in the cutthroat movie business, while its TV business has taken a backseat.

But investors and Wall Street analysts are increasingly taking notice, fueled by a string of hits such as Weeds, Nurse Jackie, Mad Men, Nashville and Orange is the New Black for a wide variety of distributors including premium networks, basic cable, broadcast and subscription video-on-demand outlets.

At the forefront of it all is CEO Jon Feltheimer, a 30-year TV-industry veteran who has grown the small-screen side of the business exponentially over the past 15 years with a steady stream of high-quality, highly profitable shows.

In the past five years, revenue has soared 64.3% at the TV unit, from $353 million in 2011 to nearly $580 million in fiscal 2015 and with an eye toward reaching $1 billion in sales in the next few years. At the same time, Lionsgate’s stock price has increased more than five-fold since 2010, from $6.59 per share to $34.65 per share.

Lionsgate also is jumping feet first into the shortform video and online arenas, partnering with YouTube sensation Freddie Wong’s RocketJump Studios last year. Its first production, long-form comedy RocketJump: The Show on SVOD service Hulu, debuted Dec. 2.

Through its own digital content company, Defy Media, Lionsgate has also tapped into the online arena with brands like Break, Smosh, Screen Junkies and Clevver.

NOT SITTING STILL

With an armful of critical and commercial success — the TV side of Lionsgate has garnered 29 Primetime Emmys over the years and continues to win accolades, snagging seven Golden Globe nominations earlier this month — Lionsgate and Feltheimer aren’t sitting still. The content producer is expanding its reach via a November deal with cable legend John Malone’s Liberty Global and Discovery Communications that is expected to lead to joint content productions and expanded international distribution.

While still in its early stages, Feltheimer says the Liberty Global-Discovery relationship could expand to other companies in the Liberty fold, including Virgin Media in the United Kingdom and Starz in the U.S.

“It’s a little keiretsu, if you will,” Feltheimer told Multichannel News regarding Liberty Global, Discovery and all their intertwined entities. “I can pretty much assure you we will be creating value together.”

Creating value has been Feltheimer’s and Lionsgate’s mantra from the start. It’s why Feltheimer is the Multichannel News 2015 Executive of the Year.

“The overarching opinion of him [Feltheimer] is that he has been patient — he’s been building this up from nothing — he’s been persistent and he’s been creative,” Evercore ISI Group media analysts David Joyce and Vijay Jayant say. “He’s maintained a leanly run and nimble organization that is decentralized, and thereby fosters a lot of entrepreneurism and a healthy creative environment.”

Sanford Bernstein media analyst Todd Juenger put it even more bluntly in initiating coverage of Lionsgate stock earlier this month, calling the studio a “structural winner” because it can profit from precisely what has been plaguing broadcast and cable networks for years — poor ratings means a need for better content. Lionsgate is more than happy to provide that programming.

“The same structural change harming TV networks is benefiting independent studios by creating a sustained surge in demand for content,” Juenger wrote, using the older, alternate, two-word version of Lionsgate. “Lions Gate is particularly well situated, with a risk-mitigated theatrical model and an undersized, fast-growing TV model. Lions Gate can happily license content to TV network and SVOD customers, with no conflicts.”

Since 2000, when Feltheimer, Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns, and their partners — Microsoft co-founder and former Charter Communications chairman Paul Allen, JP Morgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, former Capital Research head Gordon Crawford, investment fund Fidelity, German broadcaster Tele-Munchen and SBS Broadcasting — invested in a struggling Canadian movie studio, Lionsgate has morphed into a powerhouse in the independent film arena.

With a string of hits ranging from horror flicks like the Saw franchise to Academy Award winners like Monster’s Ball, The Hurt Locker and Crash, the film unit is still going strong. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, the latest in the series, grossed about $245 million in domestic box office, according to Box Office Mojo, and was the No. 1 movie in the U.S. for the fourth week in a row in the week leading up to Walt Disney Studios’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

TV: GROWTH BIZ

But the real growth story lies hidden in Lionsgate’s television division. CEO Feltheimer, who headed up Sony’s Columbia TriStar Television division and New World Television earlier in his career, oversaw a team of executives led by Lionsgate Television Group Chairman Kevin Beggs and Television Group President Sandra Stern in building Lionsgate’s TV business from a humble beginning: revenue in 2000 was a paltry $8 million.

Just how he did it was a mixture of smart deals, smarter hires and an entrepreneurial spirit that permeates the company even to this day.

Lionsgate was no stranger to dealmaking — it bought several small movie studios during Feltheimer’s tenure, including Summit Entertainment, the home of the Twilight franchise, in 2012, and Artisan Entertainment in 2003. But on the television side, save for its 2006 purchase of distributor Debmar-Mercury, the TV business has primarily grown organically until last month’s acquisition of Pilgrim Studios.

“The purpose wasn’t to buy revenue,” Feltheimer said of the Debmar-Mercury purchase, noting that current hits like The Wendy Williams Show and Celebrity Name Game were developed after the purchase.

But the acquisition did net two “incredible executives” in Debmar-Mercury co-presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein, he added.

Coupled with Lionsgate TV Group’s existing team: Television Group chairman Beggs, who Feltheimer half-jokingly said asked him to buy a helicopter so he could make pitches to all the potential buyers of their shows; Stern, who has worked with Feltheimer for about 30 years; and executive vice president Chris Selak, who heads the group’s scripted programming.

“We’ve got a great group there,” Feltheimer said. “It’s small, but they definitely punch above their weight.”

The TV team is encouraged to be entrepreneurial and independent, with the ultimate goal being to define every new network with a Lionsgate show.

But with every new deal comes the challenge of meshing quality with the right economics — how to make quality shows that also make money.

“I think we’re confident that we’ll put our heads together and we’ll figure it out each time,” Feltheimer said.

The Debmar-Mercury deal was followed later by acquiring interests in premium channel Epix (with Viacom and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), and Asian pay TV distributor Celestial Tiger.

Last month, Lionsgate bought a 62.5% stake in reality programmer Pilgrim Studios for about $200 million.

Including Pilgrim titles, Lionsgate has 80 shows on 40 networks.

Lionsgate also has stayed on top of the ever-changing trends in the TV business, moving into online video with the RocketJump partnership and Defy Media.

While the consensus is that younger viewers don’t watch TV anymore, instead filling their days with short bursts of video from YouTube and countless other online services, Feltheimer isn’t convinced that long-form programming is dead yet.

VALUE IN LONG-FORM

“I lean more toward longer-form content because, at the end of the day, I feel it has more staying power and library value,” Feltheimer said. “And I think it will be stickier and a lot more defining for these digital networks than short-form content.”

That doesn’t mean the Lionsgate chief is soft on technology. Lionsgate has made moves to ensure its content is on virtually every screen available. And he believes the panic over lost viewership to online and over-the-top sources can be alleviated with proper measurement.

“New technology has only encouraged people to watch more content than ever, Feltheimer said.

On the measurement side, networks like Fox are beginning to see that overnight ratings for shows are losing their relevance, Feltheimer said, a trend he believes is a long time in coming.

“People are watching,” Feltheimer said. “The concept of on-demand is a great benefit to content creators, but it also creates new challenges.”

Those new challenges include finding what has been an audience scattered among multiple viewing devices.

“Going forward, technology will enable us to find viewers much more easily,” Feltheimer added. “They will be more addressable in terms of advertising and on-demand transactional viewing. It’s really a huge benefit to the entire business and especially to companies not stuck in their ways with lots of legacy deals and lots of legacy attitudes.”

Improved technology also could mean another distribution channel for the studio — direct-to-consumer.

While it may be a little early for the Lionsgate App, it isn’t out of the question either. Feltheimer noted that the studio already has a major presence across many social-media platforms, including 400 million fans on Facebook, and has forged relationships with Tribeca Enterprises, through its joint SVOD Tribeca Shortlist SVOD service, and with Comic-Con International for a second SVOD platform. The company continues to explore working with other potential OTT providers.

Lionsgate is also working with narrative video game company Telltale Games (in which it owns a stake) to collaborate on a TV show and video game that would be sold together.

“We’re open to and capable of doing virtually anything right now,” Feltheimer said. “Nothing is impossible as long as we remain entrepreneurial.”

That maverick spirit has been a part of Lionsgate as long as Feltheimer has been there. But it really reached a head in 2007, when the studio decided to take a chance on an AMC Network drama set in the 1960s advertising business.

‘MAD MEN’: GAME-CHANGER

Taking on that show — Mad Men — put both Lionsgate and AMC on the quality TV map, according to AMC Networks chief operating officer Ed Carroll. Mad Men completed its seven-year run on May 17.

“For both Lionsgate and AMC, Mad Men was a show that changed the way people think about those companies,” Carroll said. He recalled that after receiving the script from series creator Matt Weiner, AMC produced its own pilot for the show at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, N.Y., and then shopped the pilot around to every major studio.

“Jon and his team, including Kevin Beggs, were the only ones who stepped up,” Carroll said.

While in hindsight, agreeing to produce Mad Men seems like a no-brainer, it was a big leap for the studio. At the time, the hottest genre in television was episodic crime dramas like Law & Order and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Mad Men was a period piece, had a large ensemble cast full of unknowns and dealt with the inner workings of the advertising business.

“In many ways, Mad Men went against the grain,” Carroll said. “Jon saw the potential in it, in doing something original, something different, something of high quality. You could see in the scripts that clearly Matt Weiner was a great talent, but there was a lot of risk that Lionsgate took on. Nobody could project that Mad Men would be a very profitable show internationally or in back-end syndication. I give [Feltheimer] a lot of the credit.”

Even though Mad Men ended its run this year, Carroll said AMC’s relationship with Lionsgate continues, with the drama Broke, an adaptation of a Danish series by Nurse Jackie and Dexter writer and showrunner Clyde Phillips. The show is expected to premiere in 2016.

While another Lionsgate programming stalwart ended its run this year — Nurse Jackie, which bowed in April after seven seasons on Showtime — the pipeline is far from dry.

In addition to a fourth season of Orange Is the New Black on Netflix, Lionsgate has multiple series on broadcast, cable and SVOD, including Nashville, which will continue its fourth season on ABC in March; The Royals (in its second season on E!); Manhattan (starting its second season on WGN America); and two sophomore series on Hulu, Casual and dark comedy Deadbeat.

In addition, Lionsgate has several new shows in the hopper. Alongside Broke, Lionsgate will launch Graves, a comedy with Nick Nolte and Sela Ward, on co-owned Epix in 2016, Greenleaf, a drama slated for OWN, and The Devil You Know, a period drama around the time of the Salem witch trials from Weeds and Orange is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan for HBO.

“Weeds, Mad Men, Nurse Jackie, Orange Is the New Black, it’s a pretty good list of accomplishments,” Carroll said. “Those were shows that were certainly successful economically but also had very, very high standards of quality. It is nice to work with someone who has the sensibility for both.”

CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves, a close friend for more than three decades, called Feltheimer a truly great leader, charismatic, with great creative and business abilities as well as an excellent eye for talent.

Back in the 1990s, when Moonves was a Warner Bros. TV executive and Feltheimer was running Sony’s TV business, they had a friendly rivalry in competing to place shows with networks. Later, the two became partners as Lionsgate sold shows to CBS-owned Showtime and when the two companies jointly acquired Pop, the former TV Guide Network.

Moonves said the Pop partnership came about because of his personal relationship with Feltheimer — the Lionsgate chief called him up when the TV Guide Network was for sale and asked if he’d like to pair up to buy it.

“He said it would be fun to do this together. And we did, and it has been fun and it has been successful,” Moonves said. Later, CBS called on Lionsgate to distribute and coproduce a number of films in CBS’s small movie division.

“Jon is a first-rate partner,” Moonves said. “He’s very loyal, he’s very fair, he really looks out for his partners. You always know you’re getting a fair shake.”

CALL FOR COLLABORATION

That sense of fairness extends to the industry as a whole. In 2012, Feltheimer went a little out on a limb in his keynote speech at the Cable Telecommunications Association for Marketing Summit in Orlando Fla., calling for the distribution and content communities to work closer together.

At the conference, Feltheimer said the emergence of new technologies and quality content present the cable industry with unprecedented opportunities for growth. But high-profile carriage battles between distributors and programmers threaten to undermine those prospects.

“You need to work together and make our jobs easier, not compete in ways that make them harder,” Feltheimer said.

Three years later, not a lot has changed, but Feltheimer is optimistic.

“I think the tone of conversations between content suppliers and distributors is still not where it could be,” Feltheimer said. “The primary driver for the business, no matter whether you are a distributor, programmer or supplier, should be providing great content.

“That content is all of our product,” Feltheimer continued. “Everyone is still incentivized to continue to work cooperatively to grow the pie. People are watching more content than ever before. If we all put our heads together, we will continue to make the pie bigger and ultimately benefit everyone in the media space.”

The Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations offered few surprises, with veteran cable shows Game Of Thrones, Mad Men, Homeland and Veep garnering multiple nominations, SAG announced Wednesday morning. (The 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards nominations are being announced Thursday morning, Dec. 10, starting at 5:15 a.nm PT.)

Mad Men drew nominations for best drama and best actor in a drama series for Jon Hamm in its last year of eligibility. Mad Men will battle last year’s winner Downton Abbey (PBS), Game of Thrones (HBO), Homeland (Showtime) and House Of Cards (Netflix) for best drama, while Hamm will be up against Peter Dinkladge (Game of Thrones), Kevin Spacey (House Of Cards), and newcomers Rami Malek (USA’s Mr. Robot) and Bob Odenkirk (AMC’s Better Call Saul).

Overall, Netflix had the most TV nominations, with eight, followed by HBO with six and Showtime with five, including a record 22d nomination for Edie Falco, who is up for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series as "Jackie Peyton" in Nurse Jackie's series’ seventh and final season.

Viola Davis (ABC’s How To Get Away With Murder) will look repeat as the winner in the Outstanding Actor In A Comedy Series category when she goes up against Claire Danes (Homeland) Julianna Margulies (CBS’ The Good Wife), Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey) and Robin Wright (House Of Cards).

William H. Macy and Uzo Adula will look to repeat in the best comedy actor categories. Macy, who plays Frank Gallagher in the Showtime comedy series Shameless, will go up against Ty Burrell (Modern Family) Louis C.K. (Louie), Jim Parsons (CBS’ The Big Bang Theory) and Jeffrey Tambor (Amazon's Transparent) for best male comedy performance.

Adula, who portrays Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren in Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black will contend with Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie), Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Julia Louis-Dryfus (Veep) and Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation) for the coveted best female comedy performance statuette.

Orange Is The New Black will also look to capture its second straight Award for best ensemble in a Comedy Series against The Big Bang Theory, Key & Peele, Modern Family, Transparent and Veep. Overall Netflix garnered  eight SAG Awards nominations to lead all television networks.

TBS and TNT will air live 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 30.

The nominations in the Television Programming category appear below:

TELEVISION PROGRAMS

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
IDRIS ELBA / DCI John Luther – “LUTHER” (BBC America)
BEN KINGSLEY / Grand Vizier Ay – “TUT” (Spike)
RAY LIOTTA / Lorca/Tom Mitchell – “TEXAS RISING” (History)
BILL MURRAY / Himself – “A VERY MURRAY CHRISTMAS” (Netflix)
MARK RYLANCE / Thomas Cromwell – “WOLF HALL” (Masterpiece/PBS)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
NICOLE KIDMAN / Grace – “GRACE OF MONACO” (Lifetime)
QUEEN LATIFAH / Bessie Smith – “BESSIE” (HBO)
CHRISTINA RICCI / Lizzie Borden – “THE LIZZIE BORDEN CHRONICLES” (Lifetime)
SUSAN SARANDON / Gladys Mortenson – “THE SECRET LIFE OF MARILYN MONROE” (Lifetime)
KRISTEN WIIG / Delores DeWinter – “THE SPOILS BEFORE DYING” (IFC)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
PETER DINKLAGE / Tyrion Lannister – “GAME OF THRONES” (HBO)
JON HAMM / Don Draper – “MAD MEN” (AMC)
RAMI MALEK / Elliot – “MR. ROBOT” (USA Network)
BOB ODENKIRK / Jimmy McGill – “BETTER CALL SAUL” (AMC)
KEVIN SPACEY / Francis Underwood – “HOUSE OF CARDS” (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
CLAIRE DANES / Carrie Mathison – “HOMELAND” (Showtime)
VIOLA DAVIS / Annalise Keating – “HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER” (ABC)
JULIANNA MARGULIES / Alicia Florrick – “THE GOOD WIFE” (CBS)
MAGGIE SMITH / Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham – “DOWNTON ABBEY” (Masterpiece/PBS)
ROBIN WRIGHT / Claire Underwood – “HOUSE OF CARDS” (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
TY BURRELL / Phil Dunphy – “MODERN FAMILY” (ABC)
LOUIS C.K. / Louie – “LOUIE” (FX Networks)
WILLIAM H. MACY / Frank – “SHAMELESS” (Showtime)
JIM PARSONS / Sheldon Cooper – “THE BIG BANG THEORY” (CBS)
JEFFREY TAMBOR / Maura Pfefferman – “TRANSPARENT” (Amazon)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
UZO ADUBA / Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren – “ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK” (Netflix)
EDIE FALCO / Jackie Peyton – “NURSE JACKIE” (Showtime)
ELLIE KEMPER / Kimmy Schmidt – “UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT” (Netflix)
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS / President Selina Meyer – “VEEP” (HBO)
AMY POEHLER / Leslie Knope – “PARKS AND RECREATION” (NBC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
DOWNTON ABBEY (Masterpiece/PBS)
GAME OF THRONES (HBO)
HOMELAND (Showtime)
HOUSE OF CARDS (Netflix)
MAD MEN (AMC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
THE BIG BANG THEORY (CBS)
KEY & PEELE (Comedy Central)
MODERN FAMILY (ABC)
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (Netflix)
TRANSPARENT (Amazon)
VEEP (HBO)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series
“THE BLACKLIST” (NBC)
“GAME OF THRONES” (HBO)
“HOMELAND” (Showtime)
“MARVEL'S DAREDEVIL” (Netflix)
“THE WALKING DEAD” (AMC)

The wise owl in the classic 1970 "How Many Licks?" TV commercial declared it took three to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. At least that's how many it took before he bit into it.

Netflix wanted to know how many episodes of a TV show it takes before viewers bite into the whole season, and found that in most cases it takes at least three.

The OTT service analyzed global streaming data for the inaugural seasons of more than 20 shows -- Netflix originals and licensed fare -- across 16 markets between January and July and detected a pattern: an episode emerged from each show after which 70% of viewers went on to complete the entire first season.

Netflix calls that the "hooked" episode.

"It turns out that when commercial breaks and appointment viewing are stripped away and consumers can watch an entire season as they choose, you can see fandom emerge," the company said.

Among the cable and OTT shows sampled in the study, viewers were generally hooked by episode 4:

2 Episodes In
--Bates Motel
--Breaking Bad

3 Episodes In
--House of Cards
--Orange Is the New Black

4 Episodes In
--Better Call Saul
--Grace and Frankie
--Pretty Little Liars
--Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

For newly christened Best Drama Emmy winner Mad Men, it took six episodes for viewers to get hooked.

Click here for the full-sized graphic pictured.

"Given the precious nature of primetime slots on traditional TV, a series pilot is arguably the most important point in the life of the show," Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix, said. "However, we found that no one was ever hooked on the pilot. This gives us confidence that giving our members all episodes at once is more aligned with how fans are made."

International Variations
The "hooked" episode remained fairly consistent across worldwide markets, Netflix said, but some slight geographic differences emerged:
--The Dutch tend to get hooked the fastest, one episode ahead of most countries.
--Brazilians fell for Jimmy McGill in Better Call Saul one episode sooner than Mexicans.
--Australians and New Zealanders hold out longer than viewers in other countries, generally getting hooked one to two episodes after everyone else.

As for the original question, the Tootsie Pop commercial ultimately concluded "the world may never know" how many licks it takes to get to the chocolatey center, but three groups of student researchers have tried, with less consistency in the results than Netflix's study.

Netflix has come a long way since the 2013 launch of House of Cards, with the over-the-top service set to offer 475 hours of original programming this year, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said.

Speaking during Netflix’s Television Critics Association tour session Monday, Sarandos said the OTT service, which only began offering original programming some 30 months ago, will have as many as 16 scripted shows, 12 documentary shows and 17 kids-targeted series on-air in 2015.

Sarandos talks about the value of original programming at #TCA15 in an original "MCN One Question for..." video.

Netflix’s original programming has been nominated for 34 Emmy awards, he added.

Netflix’s decision to build on its originals slate rather than on acquisitions of established shows (similar to Hulu’s recent acquisition of Seinfeld) provides the company with more flexibility in scheduling and international distribution, he said.

Sarandos would not reveal viewership numbers for any of the company’s original shows, although he said its comedy series Orange Is the New Black – the first to be Emmy nominated in both the comedy and drama categories – is the most watched original on the service.

Netflix is still bullish on its four-film deal with Adam Sandler despite the soft opening of his latest theatrical film, Pixels, Sarandos said, adding that Sandler’s appeal is very strong internationally.

Sarandos also opined on other Netflix original content:

--He said there’s still an opportunity for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen to appear in the OTT service’s Fuller House comedy series. The series re-unites most of the cast from the 1980’s Full House series except for the Olsen twins, who have previously said they would not appear in the reboot.

--Netflix will roll out a Marvel-themed series approximately every six months, including new seasons of current shows. The service has already announced a second season of Daredevil and will debut Jessica Jones later this year.

--Sarandos called “unfortunate” and “unfair” the controversy surrounding the filming of the Sandler-produced original movie Ridiculous 6 in which several Native American extras walked off the set due to what they felt as culturally insensitive script writing.  

“I think when people see Ridiculous 6 they’ll see the show speaks for itself in terms of its treatment of American Indians.” he said.

When Netflix "suddenly" decided to unleash the third season of its hit Orange Is the New Black six hours earlier than scheduled, the Twittersphere went wild. And many fans got a jump of a few hours during which to binge on the 13 new episodes.

When Sony's Crackle over-the-top service decided to release this season's episodes of Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffeeat 11:30 pm ET on Wednesdays (rather than the 12:01 am Thursday timetable of the previous five seasons), there was buzz that the new late-night timing gave fans an alternative to the departed Letterman show and the other before-midnight talk shows.

Yet these sophisticated timing stunts seem irrelevant in an on-demand world where cloud and set-top access let viewers create their own personally preferred schedule. Indeed, this week's Rentrak report that more Americans are spending a lot more time watching free video on demand underscores the reality. People want to pick the time and place to see shows they like. (Although Rentrak's study focused on time-shifted broadcast and cable programs, the underlying message is clear across all platforms: Viewers are no longer bound to any clock.)

Of course, Orange and Comedians in Cars benefit from their core fan bases, who will gobble up new episodes immediately if only for the bragging rights at the water cooler the next day or on social media immediately. It's not coincidental that Netflix and Crackle, respectively, unveiled the "early release" plans for Orange and Seinfeld's show within a couple days of each other. The OTT business is increasingly becoming one of hype and buzz and social media connectivity.

Indeed, the six-hour jump for Orange came during the invitation-only "OrangeCon" fan event in New York, where the show's most devoted fans heard directly from the series' stars (and via Tweets) that the Litchfield Correctional Institution inmates would start their next adventures at 6 p.m. on June 11 instead of at midnight ET. Not coincidentally, that put the binge viewers smack into the middle of the NBA Game 4 finals that night.

It's hard to imagine that Seinfeld fans will consider that the series' short programs (usually running about 15-20 minutes) as competition to Fallon, Kimmel, O'Brien or any of talkers at 11:30 p.m. (even Colbert, when he arrives). Yet the OTT interest in scheduling new releases is a curiosity.  As the New York Post observed, when Yahoo Screen debuted the sixth season of Community in March (nearly a year after NBC had cancelled the series), the plan called for a once-a-week release of new episodes - just like a TV schedule. Hulu is also emulating the one-a-week rollout for some of its original series, including Moone Boy and The Awesomes.

TiVO and the digital video recorder evolution that started more than a decade ago obviated the value of schedules -- other than the ones that individuals create for themselves. 

The current OTT stunts -- plus the array of scheduling options -- are reminders that "new media:" are experimenting with ways to put shows in front of viewers in a variety of ways. One concept is to emulate traditional program schedules. But online distributors can enhance that process  with binge-ready releases as well as on-demand availability or restricted access ("see it now," much like Disney's once-vaunted method of re-releasing its classic movies for each new generation of five-year olds then putting them back in the vault for a few years). That's harder to do in the digital distribution era, but new programmers are looking for creative ways to exploit their titles in ways that appeal to viewers.  

Above all, the timing issues are reminders about the integration of digital and linear viewing. Some fans (the "best" viewers to advertisers and others) will closely track when their favorite shows appear and gobble them up immediately. The entire situation is also a call for improved cross-platform program guides -- but that's another story.

Fundamentally, now that that timing isn't everything, we need a new way to redefine "appointment TV."

And that doesn't necessarily mean a specific time.

The 2014-15 television season is almost in the books, and it will arguably go down as one of the most groundbreaking as it pertains to diversity.

The success of a group of new shows on both traditional and digital TV platforms has helped to eradicate some long-held preconceived notions about shows created by and starring people of diverse backgrounds.

First, this TV season has proven that content with diverse themes and lead characters can appeal beyond specific niche groups. The explosion this year of shows such as Empire, Jane the Virgin, How to Get Away With Murder, Black-ish and Power on traditional cable and broadcast TV, as well as Orange Is the New Black and Transparent on over-the-top subscription video services, is remarkable, given the unprecedented competition and fragmented viewership of the current TV environment.

The fact that all of these shows performed well — especially Fox’s Empire, which, incredibly, saw its viewership climb virtually every week of its 12-week run — is a testament to each show’s ability to appeal not just to multicultural viewers who are watching lead characters that reflect their images and cultures like never before, but to mainstream viewers as well.

Second, services including Amazon and Netflix have proven you can build successful series around transgender characters who are complicated, compelling and three-dimensional, rather than cartoonish caricatures that viewers could easily dismiss as weird or somehow not real. Jeffrey Tambor’s Golden Globe-winning portrayal of a middle-aged woman inside a man’s body in Amazon’s Transparent, as well as Netflix’s depiction of multiethnic and LGBT characters in Orange Is the New Black, have shown that realistic portrayals of LGBT people will get viewers to tune in, not tune out.

Third, it’s good to have diversity behind the camera as well as in front of it. From Empire’s Lee Daniels to The Haves and the Have Nots’s Tyler Perry, to How to Get Away With Murder’s Shonda Rhimes to Power’s Courtney Kemp Agboh and Fresh Off the Boat’s Eddie Huan, this new wave of multicultural producers, directors, writers and showrunners is providing viewers with narratives that reflect unique experiences and cultural nuances — no better or worse than anyone else’s; just different than what viewers have seen in the past — that have put a fresh and colorful coat of paint on traditional TV genres that viewers love to watch.

A transgender father struggles to come out to his self-absorbed kids who are dealing with their own sexual issues and identities. A hyper-aggressive, African-American lesbian inmate has the hots for a white inmate from the suburbs who mixes with a virtual ethnic rainbow of female prisoners at a federal correctional facility.

The unique and trans-cendent diversity of Jeffrey Tambor’s character of Morton/Maura Pfefferman in Amazon Prime Instant Video’s dramedy series Transparent, and Uzo Aduba’s portrayal of Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren in Netflix’s prison series Orange Is the New Black have made the two over-the-top services credible players in depicting diverse characters on television.

Their respective portrayals also earned Tambor the first-ever Golden Globe award for the portrayal of a transgender character and Aduba a rare Emmy Award for an African-American actress.

And in a 2014-15 television season that’s arguably been one of the most prolific ever for multicultural broadcast and cable shows (with such breakout hits as Fox’s Empire, The CW’s Jane the Virgin, ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat and Black-ish and Starz’s Power), it might be OTT that provides the ultimate platform for content depicting diversity for both multicultural and mainstream audiences.

ULTIMATE DIVERSE PLATFORM?

Established over-the-top services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon have a unique opportunity to target multicultural viewers by offering content directly to an audience that increasingly streams its favorite content to smartphones, tablets and TV sets, executives said. Meanwhile, new multicultural OTT services like Urban Movie Channel, created by BET founder Bob Johnson, are creating targeted online-video services for specific segments of the multicultural audience.

“Over-the-top streaming is a quintessential answer to diversity because it allows consumers to access exactly the kind of content they want to access targeted to their primary viewing interest, whether it’s based on ethnicity, cultural behavior, or social interests or gender issues,” Johnson said. “There is no limitation on access and no limitations posed by gatekeepers if the consumers are willing to access the programming on an advertiser mode or a pay-basis mode.”

There is certainly a viable, growing multicultural audience for online video providers to mine. African-American and Hispanic viewers spent more time watching video content via the Internet or on smartphones on a monthly basis in the fourth quarter of 2014 than they did in the same period in 2013, per Nielsen’s Total Audience Report for the timeframe.

Further, multicultural viewers over-index on subscriptions to cable, SVOD, OTT and other pay TV services when compared with their white counterparts, according to a recent Horowitz Research study on the State of Viewing in the Age of OTT. Nearly 90% of African- Americans subscribe to some form of pay service, compared to 87% of Hispanics and 80% of Asian-Americans. Among whites, 75% have some form of pay TV subscription, according to Horowitz.

“This younger generation that is on these platforms is so diverse, naturally, that they will fi nd shows that are great and appeal to them,” said Rodrigo Mazon, director of content acquisitions for streaming service Hulu. “We do prioritize the audience that has been underserved traditionally, but it’s truly about great stories and shows that have a diverse and authentic composition.”

Indeed, the expanding multicultural online audience has not been lost on the top OTT providers. For one, Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black has one of television’s most diverse casts, which netted Orange casting director Jennifer Euston a 2014 Emmy for outstanding casting in a drama series.

NATURAL FOR YOUNGER DEMOS

Orange’s Aduba in her Emmy acceptance speech for best supporting actress in a comedy series last August singled out Netflix “for putting something like this on television so that everyone can be represented in such a beautiful way.”

At the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour this past January, Netflix chief creative officer Ted Sarandos touted the diverse casts of Orange and of drama series Marco Polo as examples of the streaming service’s concerted effort to create more original programming with multicultural appeal. Netflix also signed Men In Black 2 star Rosario Dawson to appear in its upcoming Marvel Comics-based series Daredevil.

“Netflix was born on the Internet, so our demographic was younger and more male when we were beginning, [but] it’s far more mainstream today,” Sarandos told more than 200 reporters at the TCA tour. “So you really are covering all demographics and trying to find programming that people love and attach to in a way that leads to retention and creates a brand halo for Netflix as well. We really are trying to program something for everyone.”

Hulu, which already offers same-day replays of such shows as Empire, Jane the Virgin and Black-ish, also wants to ramp up its multicultural viewer appeal through its original content, Mazon said. Hulu original drama East Los High, with an all-Hispanic cast, is the linchpin of the network’s Latino-themed content, which also includes acquired movies and series from Latin America.

“We’ve been committed to diverse, multicultural millennial audiences and content before that and this just reaffirms that,” Mazon said. East Los High, which chronicles the lives of Latino students in a fictional Los Angeles High School, will launch its third season later this year. The service last fall also launched unscripted series Los Cowboys, which focuses on a multigenerational family steeped in the sport of Mexican rodeo.

For Amazon, diversity isn’t limited to ethnicity. The studio’s dramedy series Transparent has been lauded for Tambor’s breakthrough portrayal of a middle- aged transgendered father; he won a Golden Globe for best actor in a television music or comedy series this past January. The series also won a Globe for best musical or comedy.

But established OTT services are not the only choices for diverse viewers. Other startup services, such as Urban Movie Channel, are looking to get into OTT on the ground floor.

UMC’s Johnson said today’s OTT business looks a lot like cable in the early 1980s, when networks looked to differentiate themselves from the broadly focused broadcasters by targeting niche audiences.

Johnson, who launched BET in the early 1980s as the first TV network specifically for African-Americans, added that producers of quality content aimed at multicultural audiences have a great opportunity for success at this early stage of the industry’s development.

Urban Movie Channel, which launched last November as an SVOD service, offers urban-themed documentaries, comedies, horror films and stage plays targeted to a predominately African- American audience.

UMC recently secured the VOD rights to the much anticipated independent film Blackbird starring Isaiah Washington and Mo’Nique. The movie will have a limited run in theaters before it streams on the UMC SVOD service later this summer.

“The OTT content providers of today are a lot like the content providers of yesterday,” Johnson said. “Their mindset to some extent is to go for scale and large audiences, and tend not to think about targeting micro audiences or unique diverse audiences. We’re going to take advantage of that window and build us a unique brand, much like I built BET into that unique brand.”

OUT OF AFRICA

Cable network Africa Channel will launch an OTT service in 2016 that will feature African-themed content from the channel as well as exclusive content created on the continent, according to vice president of marketing and digital Brian Newton.

“We look at [OTT] as evening the playing field,” said Newton, whose service has struggled to gain linear MVPD distribution. “Right now, you have all these people at home paying for channels that they don’t watch, and they do not see themselves reflected, so there will come a time when the viewer will have a choice to spend $5 a month to access programming that reflects their sensibilities all the time as opposed to a more expensive package that may do that part of the time.”

Hulu’s Mazon expects to see more multicultural programming in general pop up on both traditional TV networks as well as in the OTT space, all competing for the eyeballs and dollars of multicultural viewers.

“I think because of the young, multicultural demographic that exists today, a lot of content is being developed and created to target that audience,” Mazon said. “Voices are being heard more loudly now, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we started seeing a lot more multicultural [content] done in an authentic way.”

Netflix has set a May 21 premiere date for its original thriller series Between, the network said Monday.

The series stars Jennette McCurdy (Nickelodeon’s Sam & Cat) as a pregnant teenager living in a small town which is dealing with a mysterious plague that's killing all residents over 21 years of age.

The six-episode series will air on a week-to-week basis on Netflix, according to network officials. The move is a departure from the streaming service’s strategy of airing all season episodes for its original shows like Orange Is The New Black at the same time. Between is a co-production with City and shomi in Canada, and the scheduling is to keep pace with when episodes air on City TV stations and on the shomi OTT service. Netflix has rights to air Between outside of Canada.

Lifetime took home the lion’s share of non-televised NAACP Image Awards in the television category, the civil rights organization announced Friday.

Lifetime won four Image Awards, three of which for its original movie The Trip To Bountiful, including Outstanding television movie, mini-series or dramatic special.

OWN and Netflix also garnered multiple Image Award wins, accroding to the NAACP.

ABC led all networks with five awards. The Image Awards honor the contributions of African-Americans in a number of categories including television, movies, and music.

The remaining awards in the television category, including outstanding comedy and drama series, will be revealed tonight during TV One’s live telecast of the 46th Annual Image Awards.

The winners in the non-televised television category are as follows:

TELEVISION:

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series

Sara Hess - “Orange is the New Black” – It Was the Change (Netflix)

Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series

Erika Green Swafford - “How to Get Away With Murder” – Let’s Get To Scooping (ABC)

Outstanding Writing in a Television Movie

Shernold Edwards - “A Day Late and a Dollar Short” (Lifetime Networks)

Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series

Ken Whittingham - “Parks and Recreation” – Prom (NBC)

Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series  

Carl Franklin - “House of Cards” – Chapter 14 (Netflix)

Outstanding Directing in a Television Movie

Reggie Bythewood - “Gun Hill” (BET)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Laurence Fishburne - “black-ish” (ABC)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Yara Shahidi - “black-ish” (ABC)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Joe Morton - “Scandal” (ABC)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Khandi Alexander - “Scandal” (ABC)

Outstanding Television Movie, Mini- Series, or Dramatic Special

“The Trip to Bountiful” (Lifetime Networks)

Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini- Series, or Dramatic Special

Blair Underwood- “The Trip to Bountiful” (Lifetime Networks)

Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini- Series, or Dramatic Special

Cicely Tyson- “The Trip to Bountiful” (Lifetime Networks)

Outstanding News/Information (Series or Special)

“Unsung” (TV One)

Outstanding Talk Series

“Steve Harvey” (Syndicated)

Outstanding Reality Series

“Iyanla: Fix My Life” (OWN)

Outstanding Variety (Series or Special)

“Oprah’s Master Class” (OWN)

Outstanding Children’s Program

“Doc McStuffins” (Disney Junior)

Outstanding Performance by a Youth in a Youth/ Children’s Program (Series or Special)

Fatima Ptacek- “Dora and Friends: Into the City!” (Nickelodeon)

Outstanding Host in a Talk, Reality, News/Information, or Variety Series

Steve Harvey- “Steve Harvey” (Syndicated)

The cable industry once again received strong grades for its LGBT-inclusive programming in the latest GLAAD “Where We Are on TV” report. Yet cable was somewhat overshadowed by its fast-rising over-the-top video competitors.

The GLAAD report, which looked at primetime programming from June 2013 to this May, said that primetime cable shows featured 64 regular lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender characters — up from 42 last season — compared to their broadcast brethren, with 32 LGBT characters.

ABC Family, HBO and MTV earned “excellent” grades for their LGBT-inclusive programming, according to GLAAD’s Network Responsibility Index. HBO had the most LGBT characters, with a total of 15 regular or recurring roles. Most of those images came from its drama series Looking, which offered the most “out” characters of any scripted series on television. ABC Family and Showtime followed with 13 characters each.

Other cable series that introduced LGBT characters this summer or will do so later this year include Please Like Me (Pivot), Matador (El Rey Network), Broad City (Comedy Central), Witches of East End (Lifetime) and Hit the Floor (VH1).

GLAAD praised cable but also gave major props to its online video-streaming competitors. Netflix dramedy Orange Is the New Black contained more LGBT characters than nearly any broadcast or cable series currently on air, according to GLAAD.

Netflix’s Hemlock Grove and Lilyhammer also featured lesbian, gay and bisexual characters, and the OTT service plans a new series, Grace and Frankie, to feature two bickering wives whose husbands fall in love with one another.

Hulu original series East Los High and Amazon Prime shows Alpha House and Transparent feature several LGBT characters.

“As [television networks] move forward with new programs and storylines, networks must also keep an eye towards diversity and strive to include significant transgender content comparable to those efforts being made by their online competitors, such as Netflix’s Orange is the New Black and Amazon’s Transparent,” GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said.

HBO won 15 Creative Arts Emmy Awards to lead all cable networks during ceremonies held Saturday night.

OTT streaming service Netflix won seven Creative Arts Emmys, including three for its original scripted series Orange Is The New Black. Other cable networks earning multiple Creative Emmy Awards include Discovery Channel, Disney Channel, National Geographic Channel, Showtime, Cartoon Network, FX Networks, Comedy Central and Starz, according to the Television Academy.

On the broadcast network side, NBC won 10 Creative Arts Emmy statuettes, followed by PBS (8), Fox (7) CBS (6) and ABC (5).

HBO’s Game Of Thrones (pictured) and True Detective won four awards each,  tying PBS’s Sherlock: His Last Vow and Fox’s Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey.

Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black won a Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Casting In a Comedy Series, while FX’s freshman series Fargo took home the Emmy for Outstanding Casting For a Mini-series, Movie or Special. HBO’s True Detective won for Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series.

Allison Janney (Showtime’s Masters Of Sex) was a big winner in the Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series category, while Uzo Aduba (Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black) took home an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series.

A full list of winners can be found here.