Exclusive: Trifecta's 'OK! TV' a Firm Go for Fall 2013

Half-hour entertainment magazine cleared in top-three markets

By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/27/2013 1:51:07 PM

OK! TV, a new syndicated entertainment magazine that's being spun off from OK! Magazine, is now a firm go for this fall, with clearances secured in the country's top three markets.

OK! TV now joins Sony Pictures Television's Queen Latifah, Warner Bros.' Bethenny, CBS Television Distribution's Arsenio Hall and The Test, and MGM's Paternity Court among the new syndicated shows that will premiere in September. 

WLNY New York, KCAL Los Angeles and WCIU/WCUU Chicago all have picked up the half-hour magazine. Those three join stations in other broadcast groups, including Journal, Media General, Gray Television, Mission Broadcasting and New Age Media, among others.

Trifecta Entertainment is distributing the show, while American Media, publisher of OK! Magazine and other titles, and Unconventional Partners, part of Young & Rubicam's Spark Plug program, are producing. 

Weigel Broadcasting has picked up the show to air initially in daytime on WCUU Chicago.

"There's value in the ancillary promotion of American Media's brands that can bring value to the television station and I like working with independent producers," says Neal Sabin, president of content and networks for Weigel Broadcasting.

OK! TV also has been cleared at 7 p.m. on Journal's ABC affiliate, KTNV Las Vegas.

"OK! TV gives us a true multiplatform media experience with content opportunities across mobile, digital and broadcast. We look forward to giving our viewers, along with our advertisers, a new approach to entertainment and lifestyle news," said Jim Prather, executive VP of television and radio operations for Journal Broadcast Group, and general manager of KNTV, in a statement.

Prior to OK! TV's launch, Journal plans to air OK! TV-branded entertainment segments on its multi-market lifestyle show, The Morning Blend.

Announcements about the show's talent and production teams are coming later, according to senior executive producer Mark Berryhill, with staff based in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Nashville, where American Media's Country Weekly is based.

"The audience will get great access to big entertainment events and behind-the-scenes stories direct from the OK! TV newsroom," said Berryhill in a statement. "By working with our station partners to launch OK! TV content prior to the series, will give the OK! TV brand an extra promotional push."

IMG's Babette Perry, Unconventional Partners' TV agent, is representing the project.