New Series, New Channel, Targeting a New Generation, PIVOT TV hosts the first PIVOT 2013 Upfronts

Beginning August 1st 2013, Participant Media home to hit movies like; Lincoln, The Help, and An Inconvenient Truth will begin to focus its attention on Television with the launch of their new cable television station Pivot. Their focus is to reach the Millennials; those who grew up watching the shows featured on Nickelodeon’s The 90’s Are All That, and remember when MTV played music and consisted of mostly music videos. Pivot TV will be the first channel, which satellite, telco and cable companies can offer to ALL of their customers, at their Upfronts cable television provider, DIRECT TV, confirmed that Pivot will be made available to it subscribers. Pivot’s programming slate is anchored by more than 300 hours of original programming in its first year. Debuting a minimum of 6 new series, award winning films and documentaries, 3 acquired hits, and more the 10 series in development, Participant Media has created an impressive start for the birth of Pivot TV. 

ORIGINAL SERIES……….


HITRECORD ON TV!
A new take on the variety show, hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt who directs countless artists from his global online community– hitRECord – to create short films, live performances, music, animation, conversation, and of course, more! Each episode focuses on a different theme as Joe invites and encourages anybody with an internet connection to join him and contribute.

TAKEPART LIVE
A one hour, no-holds-barred live show, begins with a live-streamed pre-show midday where viewers help build the show they will see on air that evening. Equal parts serious discussion and comedic take on the daily headlines, “TakePart Live” will bring celebrities, activists, newsmakers and viewers together to discuss and decode the events that make up the fabric of daily life and how to act on the stories that move us. The nightly show will also be fully second-screen enabled, featuring live interaction with the cast, polling, social media sharing and more. Additionally, there will be a live-streamed pre-show on the network website and Takepart.com.


RAISING MCCAIN
A genre-busting docu-talk series following Meghan McCain, the outspoken daughter of Senator John McCain, on the road talking to unexpected experts, regular people and members of her generation, exploring the most important and unusual questions of the day framed by Meghan’s experiences in her personal life.


JERSEY STRONG
From the team behind the Peabody Award winning series, “Brick City,” this Newark-based docu-soap chronicles the lives of two families from parallel universes — the street and the executive suite. Former Blood (Jayda) and Crip (Creep) gang members are raising two kids while pursuing their careers and following their dreams. Jayda is working to build mentorship programs for young women in Newark, while Creep balances a day job in sanitation with his dream of launching a comedy career. Brooke is a trial attorney balancing the stress of high stakes litigation with the real life drama of raising two college-aged kids with her partner in life and business - Maggie. “Jersey Strong” will explore Newark’s warm center and tough exterior through the eyes of two unconventional families striving to achieve the American Dream.


WILL
A one-hour scripted series by Cineflix Studios Inc. about young William Shakespeare. Will is a young man from the wrong side of the social, political and economic tracks who, against all the odds, sets out to do that most modern of things: create his own destiny. Set in young Will’s crazy, intense, violent and sexy Elizabethan London, “WILL” is a period piece - but not as we know it. A hip sound track, contemporary shooting style and edgy production design will create a world that is fast, fresh, dangerous, and totally unique.


UNIVISION NEWS AND LATIN WORLD ENTERTAINMENT DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Through an innovative and groundbreaking joint venture, Univision News, the news division of the leading media company serving Hispanic America, Latin World Entertainment, the premiere Hispanic talent management and entertainment marketing firm in the United States and pivot will join together to a produce and market a series of ten compelling documentaries drawn from the headlines and produced in both Spanish and English.


WORLD TELEVISION FILM PREMIERES
Surrounding its original scripted and unscripted series will be world television premieres of Participant Media documentaries, including “Last Call at the Oasis,” “State 194” and “A Place At The Table” as well as festival favorites including “We Are Legion,” “Terms and Conditions” and “99%—The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film,” a compelling portrait of the Occupy Wall Street movement which sheds a light on why and how this movement took off with such explosive force, and what it means.

ACQUIRED PROGRAMMING….....

All seasons of the following programs, have found a home on Pivot:


“Friday Night Lights”
Set in Dillon, Texas, where football--even on the high school level--is everything, Friday Night Lights is a compelling drama with a football subplot. Poignantly and effectively touching on racism, rape, steroids, jealousy, infidelity, and life-changing injuries, the series presents the inhabitants of Dillon as real people who are flawed, but remarkable in their ordinariness.


“Little Mosque" ("Little Mosque on the Prairie” in Canada)
Takes a satirical look at a Muslim COMMUNITY living in Canada who has rented the town’s Anglican church to start a local mosque. The series focuses on the Muslim community in the fictional prairie town of Mercy, Saskatchewan (population 14,000). The primary institutions of the community are the local mosque, presided over by imam Amaar Rashid and located in the rented parish hall of the town's Angelican church, and Fatima's Café, a downtown diner run by Fatima Dinssa.


“Farscape”
Farscape features a diverse ensemble of characters who are initially escaping from corrupt authorities in the form of a militaristic organization called the Peacekeepers. The protagonists live inside a giant space-dwelling creature named Moya, which serves as their ship. In the first episode, they are joined by the main character, John Crichton a modern-day American astronaut who accidentally flew into the entrance of a wormhole near Earth during an experimental test flight.


IN DEVELOPMENT at Pivot are ten properties including projects with Gotham Chopra, Timothy Scott Bogart, Mary Harron, Deborah Copaken Kogan, and Cineflix Studios.

BREEZY’S RECAP……
The Idea for a network geared toward the "millenials" seems like a good one, everything seems to geared toward teens, kids or adults and the people that are just beginning a life on their own, and everything about the world and how they chose to interact with it new, always seem to be left out. I personally love Friday Night Lights so I am so excited that this channel has bought their syndication rights. Will is the series that I am most looking forward to on this network. How about you, are you looking forward to the new Pivot channel? Do you see anything worth watching? Let me know what you are thinking about below in the comments!