Trump Cuts Short ‘60 Minutes’ Appearance

Deadline |

President Donald Trump blasted 60 Minutes and correspondent Lesley Stahl after he abruptly cut short a planned series of appearances on the show. His latest tweets suggest that he did not think the interview went well. Trump wrote on Twitter, “I am pleased to inform you that, for the sake of accuracy in reporting, I am considering posting my interview with Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes, PRIOR TO AIRTIME! This will be done so that everybody can get a glimpse of what a FAKE and BIASED interview is all about…"

Gavin Maliska To Lead WEEK News

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The veteran journalist will oversee journalism at Quincy Media's NBC-ABC affiliate in Peoria, Ill., beginning in December.

BRAND CONNECTIONS
WEEK ENDING OCT. 19

Station Trading Roundup: 2 Deals, $45,450,000

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The purchase of 26 former Ion Media stations by INYO Broadcast Holdings from E.W. Scripps tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

John Pollak Exiting NBCU After Restructure

Deadline |

John Pollak, who oversaw sales of Universal Television Alternative Studios programming to buyers outside of NBC, is leaving the company. Pollak, who was EVP, creative affairs, Universal Television Alternative Studios, is leaving as part of two restructures within NBCUniversal.

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NETWORK RATINGS ROUNDUP: OCT. 12-18

Football Rules Nationally, Dodgers In L.A.

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Television's other big competition last week was Thursday's dueling town halls with President Donald Trump on NBC and Democratic opponent Joe Biden on ABC. In an upset — since the former reality TV star president has always had drawing power — Biden won, 14.2 million viewers to 13.5 million. Fox was the most popular broadcast network last week, averaging 5.2 million viewers. CBS had 4.9 million, ABC had 4.6 million, NBC had 4.5 million, Ion Television had 1.2 million, Univision had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 920,000. Fox News Channel led the cable networks, averaging 4.25 million viewers in primetime.

CLOSING BELL

Dow Moves Up 113, Nasdaq Rises 38

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Stocks closed higher Tuesday. Traders bid up shares in several companies that reported quarterly results that were better than analysts expected, including Procter & Gamble, Regions Financial, Albertsons and Travelers. Others didn't fare as well. Netflix shares fell in after-hours trading after the streaming service reported third-quarter earnings and a tally of new subscribers that fell short of analysts' expectations.

QUARTERLY REPORT

Netflix 3Q Sees Slump In Sub Growth

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The drop-off disclosed Tuesday in Netflix’s latest earnings report was more dramatic than management had warned it might be. After picking up 2.2 million customers in the July-September period, Netflix finished the quarter with 195.2 million worldwide subscribers. Earlier, company had forecast an addition of 2.5 million subscribers during the quarter.

Justice Files Landmark Antitrust Case Against Google

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The lawsuit marks the government’s most significant attempt to protect competition since its groundbreaking case against Microsoft more than 20 years ago. It could be an opening salvo ahead of other major government antitrust actions, given ongoing investigations of major tech companies including Apple, Amazon and Facebook at both the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.

WEEKLY SYNDICATION RATINGS ROUNDUP

‘Barrymore’ Barrels Along In Syndication

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Despite being blacked out in numerous markets for French Open tennis, football and coverage of President Trump’s post-COVID diagnosis return to the White House from Walter Reed, Barrymore shot up 20% from the prior frame to a 0.6 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating in the week ending Oct. 11.

OVERNIGHTS

The Voice Hits Premiere Low But Bests ‘DWTS’

TVLine |

NBC’s The Voice kicked off Season 19 with 8 million total viewers and a 1.2 demo rating, down 10% and 29% from last fall’s premiere but still leading Monday in both measures (save for some football overrun on Fox). On ABC, pending possible adjustment due to NFL preemption, Dancing With the Stars (6.1 million/1.0) and Emergency Call (3 million/0.5) both ticked up.
  1. 1.
    NBC:
    1.0
    6
  2. 2.
    ABC:
    0.8
    5
  3. 3.
    FOX:
    0.7
    4
  4. 4.
    CBS:
    0.4
    2
  5. 5.
    UNI:
    0.3
    2
  6. 6.
    CW:
    0.2
    1
  7. 7.
    TELEMUNDO:
    0.2
    1
  8. Source: Nielsen

ViacomCBS Names Tom Ryan CEO Of Streaming

Deadline |

ViacomCBS today named Tom Ryan, currently CEO of Pluto TV, as president and CEO, ViacomCBS Streaming, unveiling a new leadership structure for its evolving global free and pay streaming services. Marc DeBevoise will step down from his role as chief digital officer, ViacomCBS, and president and CEO, ViacomCBS Digital, serving in an advisory capacity for the remainder of 2020 to support the transition and ongoing transformation of the digital organization.

PBS Ups Sylvia Bugg To Chief Programming Exec

The Wrap |

PBS has promoted programming executive Sylvia Bugg to chief programming executive and general manager of general audience programming. In her new position, Bugg will oversee all non-children’s content and lead programming strategy across all broadcast and digital platforms. She will also be responsible for the acquisition and development of programming for PBS and its member stations, “with a particular focus on sharing important stories that reflect the diversity of our country,” according to PBS.

COMMENTARY BY MARGARET SULLIVAN

What Kristen Welker Can Learn From Savannah Guthrie

The Washington Post |

Margaret Sullivan: "Savannah Guthrie brought her A game to last week’s NBC town hall with President Trump. As Thursday’s final debate between Trump and Joe Biden approaches, Guthrie’s NBC colleague, White House correspondent Kristen Welker, needs to have the best night of her career, too — but in a very different way. To make this debate something that serves the public interest rather than being the disastrous circus that it could be, she needs to be in control."

TVN’S STATION GROUP OF THE YEAR

NBCU Stations: Reinvestment Reboots The Future

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NBCU Owned Television Stations, TVNewsCheck’s Station Group of the Year for 2020, have seen a resurgence under Valari Staab’s leadership and bold investments in infrastructure, weather technology, conjoined newsrooms with its Telemundo stations and digital platforms.

TVN’S STATION GROUP OF THE YEAR

NBCLX Goes Bold For Next-Gen Audiences

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NBCLX is NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations’ multiplatform lab for storytelling innovation, iterating across digital, diginets and OTT. It’s turning news conventions on their head in a bid to build loyal younger audiences. Above, LXNews hosts Ashley Holt and Nik Zecevic at its studio at KXAS Dallas.

Debate Commission Will Mute Mics On Thurs.

CNN |

President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden will have their microphones cut off in Thursday’s debate while their rival delivers their opening two-minute answer to each of the debate topics. The 90-minute debate is divided into six 15-minute segments, with each candidate granted two minutes to deliver uninterrupted remarks before proceeding to an open debate. The open discussion portion of the debate will not feature a mute button, but interruptions by either candidate will count toward their time in the second and final debate Thursday.

House Democrats Slam Pai Over 230

The Hill |

House Democrats blasted FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Monday over his announcement that the commission would move forward with the Trump administration’s petition to clarify the meaning of a law that grants tech companies a legal liability shield over content posted on their websites by third parties. Democratic leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee accused Pai of attempting to help a “flailing President Trump” through his decision to move forward with the administration's push to clarify Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

SPONSORED BY THE WEATHER COMPANY

Weather storytelling leaders to demo the power of augmented reality

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Univision Network Chief Meteorologist Albert Martinez will join HellerWeather's Tim Heller and The Weather Company’s Mike Convey for a TVNewsCheck webinar focused on elevating local TV weather segments to more effectively compete with digital platforms. Key to their strategy: storytelling with augmented reality. Register here.

‘Days Of Our Lives’ To Resume Production

Deadline |

Days Of Our Lives is returning to production sooner than originally planned. Filming on the NBC daytime drama was suspended on Oct. 12 for two weeks after a production team member tested positive for COVID-19. Taping is now slated to resume Oct. 26.

AT&T CEO Blasts Amazon, Roku ‘Bottlenecks’

FierceVideo |

AT&T is nearly five months out from the launch of HBO Max and the service still doesn’t have distribution agreements in place with Amazon or Roku. CEO John Stankey, speaking Monday at the WSJ Tech Live event, said the impasses demonstrate how platform companies, not network providers, have begun to hamstring access to apps and services.

Facebook Blocks 2.2M Political Ads

MediaPost |

Facebook tagged warnings to 150 million misleading election-related posts, and 2.2 million ads were rejected because they failed to complete the political ad authorization process.

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