Federal regulators on Friday announced a new plan designed to advance the interests of independent video programmers that have complained for years about restrictive contract terms demanded by pay TV distributors. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said she launched the rulemaking in response to independent programmers that “continue to express concern about the challenges they have getting their programming on the channel lineup of cable and satellite television.”
CBS has canceled CSI: Vegas after three seasons and So Help Me Todd after two. That despite CSI: Vegas and So Help Me Todd being solid ratings performers. With the entire CBS schedule doing well this season and three new drama series joining in 2024-25 — NCIS: Origins, Matlock and Watson (in addition to a second season of the Australian NCIS: Sydney) — the network was faced with painful decisions, and So Help Me Todd and CSI: Vegas are the least watched CBS drama series this spring in both linear and multi-platform ratings.
Dow Climbs 211, Nasdaq Falls 319, S&P Drops 44
NEW YORK (AP) — The worst week for big technology stocks since the COVID crash in 2020 dragged Wall Street on Friday across the finish line of another losing week. […]
Nexstar Media Group said it does not intend to renew the affiliations of The CW stations owned by E.W. Scripps in seven markets. In two of those markets — Norfolk, Va., and Lafayette, La. — Nexstar-owned stations will become the new The CW affiliates, effective Sept. 1. “We have interest from other station groups in the five remaining markets and expect to make announcements about those affiliations soon,” Nexstar said in a statement.
Apple said it removed WhatsApp and Threads from its China app offerings Friday on Beijing’s orders, amid technological tensions between the U.S. and China.
Michael Abramowitz, a former Washington Post journalist who is currently the president of the nonprofit Freedom House, is expected to start in the role this summer.
Automotive year-to-date estimated national TV spending is down 9.1% year-over-year after falling another 1.9% in March. Household TV ad impressions of automotive ads is also down 11.4% in March and 9.4% year-over-year, according to iSpot.tv. National TV spending in March by automakers was $214 million compared to $218.2 million last March. Year-to-date estimated national TV spending was $699.1 million compared to $769 million for the same period in 2023.
CBS News and Stations debuts a multi-part investigation called Anything For Love: Inside the Romance Scam Epidemic Sunday, April 21. Airing across CBS News and station programs, Anything For Love runs through Sunday, April 28. The year-long investigation hears from victims, families, dating app executives and government officials across seven states: California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas
Change is afoot on another Dick Wolf series: Rick Eid is stepping down as showrunner of FBI but will remain an executive producer on the series. Eid has been the showrunner on FBI since its debut in 2018. The drama is currently in its sixth season and was renewed by CBS through 2027.
All of the nominations are in for the 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards, which will air live in June on CBS and Paramount+. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences revealed noms in five key categories Thursday, and the rest rolled out this morning.
He will be responsible for developing new series.
David Zaslav saw his total compensation package last year jump by more than $10 million to $49.7 million in 2023 — with Warner Bros. Discovery awarding him a base salary of $3 million, plus $23 million in stock awards, and non-equity incentive plan compensation (a cash bonus) of $22 million. It’s the second rather princely CEO package in as many days in an industry known for them as Netflix yesterday unveiled a similarly sized package for co-CEO Ted Sarandos.
Both Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are actively in talks with the NBA, and those discussions will continue past April 22, when the exclusive window expires. Amazon, NBCUniversal, Netflix, YouTube TV and Apple have all expressed preliminary interest in talks with the NBA about potentially buying a package of games as a new partner.
Rod Hissong Named News Director At WAND Decatur
Block Communications moves him from its WDRB Louisville, Ky., to oversee journalism at its NBC affiliate in Illinois.
TikTok, which officially landed in the United States in 2018, was the most downloaded app in the country, and the world, in 2020, 2021 and 2022. It wasn’t that the elements of it were so new — compelling videos from randos had long been a staple of American pop culture — but TikTok put the pieces together in a new way.
Essence magazine's corporate parent Sundial Media Group has agreed to buy women's lifestyle company Refinery29 from Vice Media, the company said Thursday. The deal offers Refinery29 a lifeline after a tumultuous few years under the Vice Media brand.
In an effort to help brands get the attention of as many viewers as possible, YouTube is launching a “Select Shorts” ad offering, to give advertisers the ability to engage audiences across a variety of content genres by placing their ads alongside best-performing Shorts. According to the Google-owned social platform, YouTube Select Shorts will allow advertisers to choose to place their ad alongside the app's top Shorts across five categories including entertainment, beauty, fashion and lifestyle, food and recipes, gaming and automotive.
‘Not Dead Yet’ Hits Season Lows, ‘Survivor’ Dominates Wednesday
With NBC’s #OneChicago still in rerun mode, CBS’s Survivor was Wednesday’s most-watched and top-rated program with 4.8 million total viewers and a 0.8 rating. ABC's Not Dead Yet (2.1M/0.2) hit and matched season lows.
The docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV posted Max’s best streaming numbers to date for its premiere week. The show, which streamed on Max concurrent with its on-air premiere on ID, had 1.25 billion minutes of viewing for the week of March 18-24. That’s the largest weekly total for any series on Max in the nearly four years of Nielsen’s streaming rankings, edging out the 1.19 billion for The Last of Us in early 2023.
Armstrong Williams: Depression-era regulations won’t protect local journalism in the digital age.
Fox Sports has appointed Jen Durda and Kathy Lydon both named VPs. Durda previously was a VP with Warner Bros. Discovery and Turner Sports. She will work from Fox’s Detroit office. Lydon was with ESPN/Disney leading a multimedia sales team. At Fox, she will lead sales for the Big Ten Network.
The Chrisleys rose to fame with their USA network show Chrisley Knows Best, which chronicled the exploits of their tight-knit family. But prosecutors said they engaged in an extensive bank fraud scheme and hid their earnings from tax authorities while showcasing their extravagant lifestyle.
Comcast on Thursday surprised with a suite of prepaid products that includes wireless, fixed broadband, Wi-Fi and streaming TV, all under the new Comcast “NOW” brand. Wireless has offered prepaid mobile plans for years. These plans have typically been targeted to lower-income people; they don’t require good credit scores (since they’re prepaid); and they can easily be switched on and off. But prepaid has not been widely offered in the fixed broadband world.
How To (Actually) Change A TV Newsroom Culture
The industry’s focus on newsroom culture is critical, but nothing can fundamentally change unless leaders take these active and essential steps.
The company and Apollo Global Management are discussing a joint effort, even as Paramount conducts exclusive merger negotiations with Skydance.
Netflix Adds 9.3M Subscribers In Another Strong Quarter
Netflix added 9.3 million subscribers in the quarter ended March 31, reaching 269.6 million worldwide, and outperformed expectations in other key areas in its latest strong financial report. Revenue and earnings per share both handily exceeded Wall Street forecasts at $9.37 billion and $5.28, respectively. The top line was up 15% from the same quarter in 2023, while EPS came in at nearly double the year-ago period’s $2.88. In its quarterly letter to shareholders, Netflix said it planned to stop reporting subscriber totals and average revenue per subscriber starting with its first quarter results in 2025.
New Jobs Posted To TVNewsCheck
New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include an opening for an account executive – trainee/new business development and existing jobs include 13 openings in news, sales, digital and engineering.
Streaming sales leaders from Gray Television, E.W. Scripps, Hearst Television, Ticker and Megaphone TV will share the latest developments in technology and strategy for OTT and FAST channels. Learn more about this critically important revenue source for broadcasters in a TVNewsCheck Working Lunch Webinar on May 16. Register here.