Gray said the renewal “is the direct result of impressive, double-digit ratings growth in the show’s debut season." InvestigateTV+ is hosted by Lee Zurik (pictured) and Tisha Powell.
The former Scripps exec will be responsible for developing and implementing newsgathering, storytelling and distribution models strategy across all platforms.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
DirecTV has confirmed that it will appeal a federal judge in New York’s decision to throw out its antitrust lawsuit against Nexstar Media Group. The pay TV company has accused Nexstar of conspiring to fix broadcast retransmission license fees through management services agreements with smaller station groups Mission Broadcasting and White Knight.
Les Moonves has settled his debts with the City of Los Angeles, at least financially. In a meeting of L.A.’s Ethics Commission Wednesday afternoon, the body voted for a second time on a payout from the multi-millionaire former CBS boss. Unlike the Feb. 21 meeting, this time the proposed settlement passed.
Exclusives
TUESDAY OVERNIGHTS
‘FBI’ Tops Tuesday, ‘International’ And ‘Most Wanted’ Draw 2nd-Best Audiences Of Season
CBS's FBI was Tuesday’s most-watched and highest-rated program (with 7.1 million total viewers and a 0.5 rating). In addition, FBI: International (5.7M/0.4) and FBI: Most Wanted (5M/0.4) all added viewers and were steady in the demo. In fact, International and Most Wanted delivered best-since-season premiere audiences, while FBI came very close to doing the same.
A new measure attempts to force the Senate’s hand on passing legislation to ban TikTok or mandate the app’s sale.
IPG Mediabrands has unveiled plans to step up its efforts to safeguard clients from the negative impact of misinformation in media — especially on social media — prioritizing political, climate, health care, AI-generated and brand-specific content. The initiative, which was announced along with a new spate of research revealing how consumers feel about brand advertising in misinformation environments, includes an expansion of an ongoing research relationship between IPG Mediabrand's Magna and brand content safety platform Zefr, as well as new technology developed by IPG Mediabrands' Kinesso unit.
The latenight program will broadcast live from Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre during this year’s Democratic National Convention, also taking place in Chicago Aug. 19-22 on CBS. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will also be available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+. Colbert announced the news on Wednesday night’s episode.
Nelson Peltz only secured about 30% of the vote he sought for his board seat, with Jay Rasulo losing his vote by a margin of five-to-one.
AI & THE MEDIA
As AI-Created Photorealistic Images Proliferate, Documentary Producers Draw Up Guidelines
On Tuesday, a group of archival producers presented a draft set of best practices for using generative AI tools in Los Angeles, noting a "danger of forever muddying the historical record." Pictured: In a demonstration of OpenAI's video tool Sora, this still was created from the prompt, "The camera directly faces colorful buildings in Burano, Italy. An adorable dalmatian looks through a window on a building on the ground floor." (OpenAI)
The Tennis Channel is lining up to play on multiple distribution courts in 2024 as it looks to serve its hard-core viewers wherever and whenever they want to see live tennis and Pickleball action, according to Tennis Channel president Ken Solomon. The Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned service is planning to launch a direct-to-consumer offering in 2024 to complement its lineup of the Tennis Channel linear service, its Pickleballtv and T2 FAST Channels and its Tennis Channel Plus SVOD service.
Meta Platforms and other large online platforms should give users an option to use their services for free without targeted advertising, EU privacy watchdog the European Data Protection Board said on Wednesday. The EDPB's opinion came after it was asked by national privacy regulators in the Netherlands, Norway and Germany to look into consent or pay models adopted by large online platforms such as Meta.
TVN’S MEDIA JOBS
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.
