AXS TV To Host Grammys Special

AXS TV will look to pick the winners of the 2014 Grammy Awards as part of a live special airing Jan. 22.

The one-hour show, Grammy Prediction Special, will star network personality Ryan Stout and will feature polling on the upcoming music awards conducted from the next-generation data mining company CivicScience. The show’s panel of experts including renowned music critic Bob Lefsetz, music newsmaker DJ Skee and CivicScience’s John Dick will express their own opinions concerning the GRAMMY’s top categories including Song of the Year; Album of the Year and Record of the Year, among others, according to network officials.

“With this special we are bringing the world of analytics to music in a new fashion, striving to address an area that is seldom tackled, which is correctly predicting winners before the envelopes are opened,” stated Mark Cuban, AXS TV founder and member of CivicScience’s Advisory Board in a statement.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.