TVNewsCheck will not publish on Monday, May 27, in honor of Memorial Day. We will return Tuesday, May 28.
Remember And Honor The Sacrifice
Top News
Pelley: Fired Over ‘Work Environment’ Complaints
Former CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley said Sunday on CNN’s Reliable Sources news magazine that he was fired from his job because he “wouldn’t stop complaining to management” about a “hostile work environment” in the news division. The remarks came after Pelley was asked about the CBS situation, where a number of top executives, including Chairman-CEO Leslie Mooves, have exited for various harassment complaints.
Streaming Future Suffers From Lack Of Data
Viewership information on digital platforms is hard to come by, and largely controlled by the companies with a vested interest in how many people watch.
Brand Connections
‘AP Bio’ Canceled After Two Seasons At NBC
Series creator Mike O’Brien shared the news with fans on Twitter, writing that “This has been my favorite project of my life.”
Dow Finishes Up 95, Nasdaq Adds 9
U.S. stocks rebounded Friday, but still face losses for the week. Financial companies led the buying as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note reversed part of a steep slide a day earlier.
Exclusives
ABC’s Farrah Fawcett Doc Tops Thursday
Thursday marked the start of the summer TV season, and ratings predictably took a tumble as a result. The night’s top show was This Is Farrah Fawcett, a two-hour ABC News documentary about the life of the late actress. It averaged 5.78 million viewers and a 0.7 rating among adults 18-49, best on the broadcast networks in both measures.
Worker Falls To Death From TV Tower
Polk County, Iowa, Sheriff’s officials have identified a man who died in a fall from a middle section of KDSM Des Moines’ tower (about 1,000 feet) Wednesday morning while working on restoring the station’s signal. Tribune’s WHO is letting KDSM broadcast on its subchannels.
KIII Names Nia Towne News Director
The former managing editor at WHP Harrisburg, Pa., will run the news operations at Tegna’s ABC affiliate in Corpus Christi, Texas.
KUED Amps Up Local Production With Mag
The Salt Lake City creators of This is Utah say it’s as unique as the state in which it’s produced.
Brand Connections
Adam Levine Leaving ‘The Voice’
The Maroon 5 frontman wrote a lengthy Instagram post Friday, saying the NBC Emmy-winning show “went on to be a life shaping experience that will be close to my heart forever.”
5G Field Test For Mobile Broadcast Begins
Germany’s 5G Today project has started its field trial for TV over 5G networks with a remit to contribute toward wider standardization of broadcasting over cellular. This is taking place at German broadcast technology research institute IRT in Munich as a wide area 5G field trial in the Bavarian alpine region covered by two high-performance transmitters each operating at 100 kilowatts ERP
90% Of Veteran Broadcast Shows Fall
Same-day numbers may not tell the whole story, but nearly every show’s starting point retreated from the previous season during 2018-19.
FCC To Begin Accepting ATSC 3.0 Applications
The FCC says it will begin accepting applications from broadcasters to deploy ATSC 3.0 on May 28. The commission approved the standard in November 2017 but needed to revise a number of forms before it could begin accepting applications.
FuboTV, FanDuel In Sports Betting Deal
FuboTV signed a new agreement with fantasy sports provider and bookmaker FanDuel to integrate sports betting data with the FuboTV streaming service. The companies said this agreement is FanDuel’s first strategic partnership with a third-party OTT internet television service. FanDuel’s betting data will be integrated on the Fubo platform in the coming weeks.
TV Streaming Shakeout Is Coming
Media giants such as AT&T Inc. know that it’s no longer enough to simply offer their own versions of Netflix. They’re now under pressure to differentiate their streaming-video products. That’s because, at some point, there will be an industry shakeout, and this crowded market for TV apps, which are already difficult to run profitably, will be whittled down to a handful of main competitors.
WHO Lets Rival Broadcast On Subchannels
KDSM, Sinclair’s Fox affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa, is back on the air thanks to rival, Tribune’s WHO, which is letting KDSM broadcast on its subchannels. A line to KDSM’s transmitter failed on May 17 and efforts to repair the transmission line have been delayed.
Bunny Ears Redux? Here Come Antennas Again
As more and more viewers begin to rely on streaming, but are unwilling to cut out live and broadcast television completely, they are turning back to antennas. According to Horowitz’s State of Pay TV, OTT & SVOD 2019 report, a full third (34%) of TV content viewers today use an antenna at home.
How Simple Lists Can Improve Local Journalism
Journalism isn’t brain surgery, as news directors like to point out. But newsrooms could learn a lot from the way experts in other fields have benefited from the simple power of the checklist. In fact, newsrooms teem with tasks ripe for a checklist approach. Repetitive tasks are one area of opportunity.
Why Too Much TV Can Be A Good Thing
Making room for more ambitious shows from voices that have rarely gotten the chance has only made TV better.
Latest Jobs In News, Sales, Marketing
This past week on TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center, Nexstar, Cox, News-Press & Gazette, Pikes Peak Television, and one unnamed broadcast company posted job openings at stations in Boston, Memphis, Norfolk/Portsmouth, Idaho Falls, Colorado Springs and somewhere on the East Coast.