Fox, NBC unveil slate ahead of upfront presentation

MUMBAI: Gearing up for their upfront presentations, leading television networks NBC and Fox have added seven new series to the 2012-13 primetime schedule.

NBC, while renewing Dick Wolf?s Law & Order: SVU, has offered the producer a new drama Chicago Fire. It has also ordered Jimmy Fallon?s comedy pickup Guys With Kids. Also picked up were the comedies Guys with Kids, Go On, Save Me, The New Normal, 1600 Penn and Animal Practice.

Fox has tied-in three comedies including It?s Messy from Universal Television, 20th Century Fox?s Ben & Kate and The Goodwin Games. It has also picked up two dramas, The Mob Doctor and The Following from Sony Pictures TV and Warner Bros.

Fox is also sticking to 20th Century Fox Television?s Touch despite low viewership while axing Alcatraz and The Finder to make room for the dramas.

NBC and Fox are scheduled to showcase their lineups at upfront presentations in New York on Monday.

Meanwhile, AETN Group-owned A&E, History, Lifetime, Lifetime Movie Network, H2 and BIO has decided not to reveal its lineup during upfront presentation. CBS, ABC and Warner Bros. Entertainment-CBS Corporation JV CW Network are yet to form their own development slates.

Early indications from industry experts suggest that the big four broadcasters will see an increase in upfront revenue of between 2 per cent to 4 per cent for the 2012-13 TV season.

The big four plus the CW network should collect between $9.0 billion and $9.2 billion during the upfront season, according to Steve Lanzano, chief executive of TVB, a trade body for TV broadcasters.