The S&P 500 inched up 2.12 points, or 0.1% on Friday, to 3,351.28 to eke out a sixth straight gain, after being down most of the day. It's back within 1% of its record for the first time since February.
CLOSING BELL
New WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar is putting his stamp on the company with a big reorganization. Leaving WarnerMedia are Bob Greenblatt, chairman, WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer, and Kevin Reilly, chief content officer, HBO Max and president, TNT, TBS, and truTV, as well as Keith Cocozza, SVP communications. The move comes four months after Kilar took over the top WarnerMedia post and two months after the launch of HBO Max.
Michael Depp and Harry Jessell unpack the abrupt withdrawal of FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly's renomination by President Trump this week and discuss the pandemic's reckoning on broadcasters' quarterly earnings.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
EARNINGS CALL
Scripps: Recovery Spans Nearly All Ad Categories
Each month of the second quarter was sequentially better, so Local Media President Brian Lawler is optimistic: “We do believe, based on everything we’re seeing now, that August will be better than July, and September will be better than August in terms of year-to-year improvement, in terms of dollar growth,” he said.
ABC collected another ratings victory among adults 18-49 demographic on Thursday, with To Tell the Truth leading the broadcast networks in the key ad demographic. CBS led the networks in total viewers, paced by Young Sheldon.
Exclusives
ABC game show The $100,000 Pyramid is returning to the studio in the last week of August. The Michael Strahan-hosted series shoots in New York and it is thought that it is one of the first major non-scripted entertainment shows to return to the studio in New York, where Strahan shoots Good Morning America.
TikTok has launched its first TV app on Amazon Fire TV devices. "More on TikTok" features curated video playlists and compilations from the mobile TikTok app, as well as interviews with creators, along with other content that runs over the one-minute limit on the phone app. The app is a view-only channel, so users won’t need to log in, and it won’t enable them to upload videos.
With most of the major distributors reporting, analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak of Pivotal Research Group said his scorecard shows cable blowing away expectations for adding broadband subscribers at the same time pay TV subs are declining. Second-quarter U.S. net new broadband subs (including some private operators) rose 350% year over year to 1.1 million, Wlodarczak said in a research note Friday.
Comcast is suspending the launch of its global TV news channel, NBC Sky World News. According to Financial Times, the company’s staff has been told that the channel is now “unviable” due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
QUARTERLY REPORT | UPDATED 2:08 PM ET
Scripps 2Q Adjusted Local Media Rev Down 12%
The decrease to $277 million was significantly impacted by the economic downturn, reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the greatest impact in April. Scripps said it saw improvements in advertising revenue from April to May and from May to June.
QUARTERLY REPORT
Graham 2Q TV Revenue Falls 13.6%
The decrease to $100.8 million is pegged to reduced advertising demand related to the COVID-19 pandemic, partially offset by a $3.7 million increase in political advertising revenue and a $3.5 million increase in retransmission revenues. It says that “while revenue and operating results were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the second quarter of 2020, both revenue and operating results improved steadily throughout the quarter.”
The reorganization of NBCUniversal’s television business Thursday was prefaced by a windup that company insiders characterized as tortuous and demoralizing. When the moment finally came, it provided only some clarity as to whom the internal winners and losers would be in a restructuring that is expected to be broad in scope. But it did demonstrate that NBCUniversal, like its peers, is having to discard old ideas about troop placement in the age of the streaming wars.
The twin executive orders issued Thursday — one for each app — add to growing U.S.-Chinese conflict over technology and security. They take effect in 45 days and could bar the popular apps from the Apple and Google app stores, effectively removing them from U.S. distribution. China's foreign ministry expressed opposition but gave no indication whether Beijing might retaliate.
TVN’S FRONT OFFICE BY MARY COLLINS
Time For Talk About Race In Media
That is an inherently uncomfortable proposition. But, as we are seeing amid civil unrest and protests across this country and abroad, having frank and honest conversations on the subject, including the ability to air grievances without negative repercussions, is really the only way we can move forward. These conversations must be followed by meaningful actions. Learn about five such actions to help companies keep the lines of communication open while making the changes that need to be made.
WORKING LUNCH WEBINAR
Technologists To Consider The Cloud And The Future Of News Workflow
Engineering executives at WarnerMedia, ABC News, NBCU’s KXAS-KXTX Dallas, Ross Video and TVU Networks will talk about how cloud technology is likely to expand its role in news workflow during a TVNewsCheck webinar on Aug. 20. TVNewsCheck Contributing Editor Glen Dickson will moderate the conversation, which has been inspired by widespread remote production necessitated by the global coronavirus pandemic. Register here.
The epidemic of misinformation helps Tegna check the box with new audiences. “Our audiences are consuming news and local news in a way that they never have before, where their lives literally depend on it,” says Ellen Crooke, Tegna’s VP of news. “They are desperate to find somebody without an agenda, without spin to take some of the things that are out there and help them be smarter about what’s true and what’s not true.”
MARKET SHARE
Nexstar Names Casey Clark WJZY News Director
The Nexstar Fox affiliate in Charlotte, N.C., has a new owner, new general manager and now a new news director, all since March. I caught up with Casey Clark in the WJZY Charlotte newsroom on Thursday, his second day on the job.
Executives from NBCUniversal, E.W. Scripps, Sinclair and CBC will share their latest approaches to monetizing their streaming channels as pandemic audiences grow but TV’s advertising fortunes have been more challenged. Register here.
Webinars this week include TVNewsCheck's "Data, Performance, Technology: Optimizing Spot TV;" a look at "AI & ML for Media," from AWS; a webcast on "Building the Modern Control Room" from Black Box; a look at "NextGen Advertising" from Sinclair and One Media; and a webinar from Telos Alliance on the Omnia MPX Node. For a complete list of webinars this week and through summer and fall, including dates, times and registration links, visit TVNewsCheck's Virtual Events Directory.
TVN’S MEDIA JOBS
General Manager And Sales Openings
New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for a general manager at Nexstar’s two stations in South Dakota, and an account executive for Hearst’s station in Iowa.
TVN’S MEDIA JOBS
Creative Services Multimedia Producer Opening
New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include an opening for a multimedia writer/editor/producer for the Scripps station in Phoenix.
TVN WORKING LUNCH WEBINAR
TVN To Host Report Card On Race Webinar
Television executives from E.W. Scripps, Tegna and the NAB will assess what progress the industry is making toward diversity and inclusion among its ranks and in front of its news cameras in an Aug. 13 TVNewsCheck Working Lunch webinar. Register here.
