Gains in technology and industrial companies pushed U.S. stocks mostly higher Thursday. The S&P 500 notched a small gain for the second straight day, while a modest pickup nudged the Nasdaq composite to an all-time high.

For Lehrer, and for his friend and longtime partner Robert MacNeil, broadcast journalism was a service, with public understanding of events and issues its primary goal. Lehrer was also a frequent moderator of presidential debates. He was 85

NBC News is launching a new in-house production studio, called NBC News Studios, which will produce documentary and scripted programming geared toward “emerging platforms.” The new unit has deals to produce docs with Focus Features and scripted TV shows with Blumhouse Productions, to be based on Dateline segments.

The network said Thursday that it will hire some 50 new journalists, assign correspondents Linsey Davis and Tom Llamas to online leadership roles and increase the number of hours of live programming with the goal of becoming a round-the-clock service within a year. The rollout begins next month.

Univision may be selling itself to Liberty Global and a smaller rival called Hemisphere Media, a struggling Spanish-language broadcaster in Miami that bills itself as “the only publicly traded pure-play U.S. media company targeting the high growth U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets.”

Deborah Dugan has gone from leading the Recording Academy to being a whistleblower. Here's why those watching — or not watching — this year's awards ceremony may be more consequential than any judge.

For the second straight week, NBC's three Chicago shows powered the network to an across-the-board ratings victory Wednesday. ABC's comedy The Goldbergs also bounced back some from last week's lows.

Executives from Fox Corp, Nielsen, Akamai and KQED to share strategies to combat insider threats and the emerging world of zero trust networking at TVNewsCheck’s third annual Cybersecurity for Broadcasters Retreat.

Stations and broadcast networks alike are heavily turning to IP contribution to cover the presidential primaries this year as past contention problems have largely dissipated and cellular networks greatly improved. For some, however, dedicated fiber and satellite trucks will still play a key role.

Nexstar CEO and President Perry Sook says leagues like the NBA may turn to broadcasters for their over-the-air advantage amid underperforming cable ratings, and that NextGen TV is the greatest tool a TV group can use “to control its destiny.” And he’s bullish about Nexstar’s biggest competitive advantage — its local news and sales forces.

Comcast reported earnings per share of 79 cents in the fourth quarter, edging the consensus expectation of Wall Street analysts by two cents. Revenue in NBCU’s Cable Networks unit increased 1% to $2.9 billion in the quarter, which the company credited to higher advertising and content licensing and other revenue.

On Wednesday evening, NATPE presented its 17th annual Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards at a dinner in Miami. The winners (l-r): Marcos Santana, president of NBCUniversal’s Telemundo Global Studios; Courtney A. Kemp, television creator, producer and writer; Karey Burke, ABC Entertainment president; actress Christine Baranski; and Jeff Zucker, chairman, WarnerMedia News and Sports and president, CNN Worldwide. The dinner benefits the NATPE Educational Foundation, with a portion going to the Broadcasters Federation of America.

For those who cover TV, the annual January meeting of the Television Critics Association can yield access, news and insights; for those in the industry, the goal is publicity. As brisk and carefully planned as it is, and as practiced as celebrities are, discernibly genuine moments can happen at the meeting that's nicknamed “press tour” or referred to the "TCAs.”

The syndicated game show from Entertainment Studios will return for fall 2021 and fall 2022 in broadcast strip syndication and cable.

Bill Abbott is leaving a month after the Hallmark Channel faced an outcry over a decision to pull an ad with a lesbian couple kissing. No reason was given for his departure, and no replacement was immediately named.

With the benefit of an NFL game in primetime, Fox led all the broadcast networks in ratings last week, averaging 9.9 million viewers. CBS had 4.9 million viewers in prime time, NBC had 4.2 million, ABC had 3.8 million, Univision had 1.6 million, Ion Television had 1.3 million, Telemundo had 890,000 and the CW had 790,000.

Mr. Peanut apparently won’t be watching himself during the Super Bowl next month, having died at age 104 in a crash of his NUTmobile while saving his friends, actors Matt Walsh and Wesley Snipes. Video evidence of Mr. Peanut’s demise comes via a 30-second, pre-Super Bowl spot, which was posted on YouTube Wednesday.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for a sports director in Madison, Wis.; a news producer in Richmond, Va.; a digital content manager on Maryland’s Delmarva Peninsula; and an anchor/reporter in Wichita, Kan.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include a local sales manager opening for KWES in Odessa-Midland, Texas (DMA 145), and a chief engineer for KIMT, the CBS affiliate in Rochester, Minn. (DMA 150).