The board faces a difficult task in finding a new chief executive. Richard Parsons, the former interim chairman, had discussed the job with HBO’s Richard Plepler, according to two people. Mr. Plepler wasn’t interested.
NBC is getting grief over its decision to air an election ad from President Trump that focuses on the migrant caravan in Mexico. The airing of the ad came around 10:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, about two hours into NBC’s Sunday Night Football broadcast in a game between the Green Bay Packers and the New England Patriots. It also comes a day after news surfaced that CNN had declined to air the spot, calling it “racist.”
CLOSING BELL
Dow Ends Down 110, Nasdaq Falls 77
Stocks ended a strong week on Friday with losses as Apple shares skidded. That pulled technology stocks lower. Other high-growth stocks held up well after the U.S. and China said they had made some progress in trade talks, and Asian indexes surged on reports that China’s government plans to cut taxes.
DMAS 17 & 22
Tegna Appoints GMs In Portland, Denver
The station group names Steve Carter president-GM of KGW Portland, while Mark Cornetta adds to his corporate role to lead KUSA Denver.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
AT&T Inc’s WarnerMedia has accused the U.S. Department of Justice of “collaborating” with Dish Network in a high profile dispute over carrying HBO and Cinemax.
U.S. light-vehicle sales, behind strong light-truck demand and elevated incentives, inched up 0.4% in October, signaling the second-half slowdown that began in July is moderating. FCA, Toyota, the VW Group and the Hyundai Group posted gains while GM, Ford, Honda and Nissan slipped.
Exclusives
Tech companies that were once considered disrupters — like YouTube and Google — have grown into media giants in their own right. In 2017, online advertising reached $209 billion, for the first time surpassing the TV ad market. So, in this new media environment, where virtually every studio is launching its own streaming service and every tech company is getting into the TV show-producing business, exactly who is disrupting who?
TVN’S FRONT OFFICE BY MARY COLLINS
Collins | Transitioning To Tomorrow’s Workforce
As they migrate to the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard, TV stations represent a microcosm of the workforce shifts that are taking place within station groups and media organizations. Competing effectively as a multichannel, multiplatform and revenue-diverse organization increasingly relies upon technology-driven solutions such as cloud-based management, blockchain and automation, including more universal deployment of robotic process automation.
QUARTERLY REPORT
CBS 3Q Local Media Revenue Climbs 9.3%
The increase to $434 million was driven by growth in retransmission revenues and higher advertising revenues, reflecting increased political advertising sales associated with the U.S. midterm elections.
CLOSING BELL
Dow Picks Up 265, Nasdaq Climbs 128
Stocks rose Thursday as the market rebound stretched into a third day. Strong earnings from U.S. companies have helped the market recover its footing over the last three days.
21st Century Fox Executive Chairman Lachlan Murdoch said Thursday it is still an “open question” whether the company will buy back the regional sports networks it sold to entertainment company Walt Disney Co. in July as part of a $71 billion deal.
QUARTERLY REPORT
The New York Times Now Has 4M Subs
The New York Times now has more subscribers than at any time in the newspaper’s history. The newspaper announced the milestone Thursday along with its third quarter earnings results. It now has 4 million total subscribers, with about 3 million of those subscribers receiving the digital only edition.
The platform is a bidding system that allows small daily minimum marketer media spend to access more than 200 billion national TV ad impressions weekly from top cable and broadcast networks. Simulmedia says it will give DTC marketers key return-on-media investment metrics — and provide scale they have not achieved with digital media.
DMA 128: CORPUS CHRISTI, TX
KIII GM Robbins Announces Retirement Plans
After more than 40 years in broadcasting, Dan Robbins will step down as head of Tegna’s ABC affiliate in Corpus Christi, Texas, at the end of the year.
More than 50 positions in NBCUniversal’s advertising sales group are expected to be eliminated as the company works to allocate more resources to digital and other kinds of advertising. “From time to time we look across the business to ensure we’re best positioned to stay competitive in this rapidly changing marketplace. As a result, there will be some staffing changes within our advertising division,” the company said
The broadcaster extends its access to the measurement company’s suite of local TV services, including Nielsen Local TV View and Nielsen Scarborough.
The $500 million in notes are being offered to finance — together with cash on hand and anticipated debt facilities and indebtedness of Gray — the acquisition of Raycom Media.
QUARTERLY REPORT
Akamai’s 3Q Led By Media, Security Rev Growth
Extreme Reach’s 3Q Video Advertising Benchmarks Report says that impressions delivered in digital videos over connected TV rose 170% year over year. Connected TV share of the ads served rose 38%, compared to 31% for mobile and 21% for desktop. Tablets, once popular, accounted for just 9% of impressions.
TVN FOCUS ON ADVERTISING
Automated Spot Sales Picking Up Speed
The automation logjam is breaking up with companies like Hudson MX, Videa, WideOrbit and ProVantageX in play. The business has reached a critical mass, according to some observers. But with so many competitors, there’s the likelihood that there will be a winnowing down of platforms with time. And frictions remain to be ironed out — most notably handling makegoods automatically.
HBO has gone dark on the Dish Network amid a standoff over carriage agreements, the first time it has been off air on one of its major distributors in the company’s 40-year history.
U.S. stocks rallied again on Wednesday, but finished October with steep losses. Many of the biggest gains Wednesday came from technology and internet companies and retailers, which plunged early in October as investors worried about rising interest rates and the U.S.-China trade dispute.
Megyn Kelly’s slow-motion exit from NBC News has turned into an all-out legal battle. Kelly’s 9 a.m. show was canceled last week, but her contract goes through 2020. So now there’s a protracted negotiation taking place — and in an unusual move, Kelly’s lawyer Bryan Freedman is talking about it publicly. “Andy Lack needs to stop,” Freedman said Tuesday, accusing the NBC News chair of leaking information about the negotiations. On Wednesday, Freedman upped the ante with another statement.
For the 2017-2018 TV season, TV news programming climbed 3% in advertising revenue versus the season before, according to Standard Media Index’s AccuTV service. Cable TV news networks collectively posted a big 11% hike — from $2.08 billion to $2.31 billion — with broadcast TV network news programming down 4%, from $2.37 billion to $2.27 billion.
Less than a week before the midterm elections, political TV advertising is setting records for both volume and negativity. Total political ad spending will reach $6.75 billion in 2018, research firm PQ Media predicts, with about half of that going to television.
Hype, sex appeal and the promise of young audiences turned Shane Smith’s wild brainchild into one of the hottest digital brands on the planet. Then came scandal and skepticism. Now it’s up to Nancy Dubuc, the new CEO, to clean up the $5.7 billion media company’s culture and balance sheet as she prepares to launch a nightly live show on Viceland and as Vice’s weekly HBO show is expected to end.
DMA 2: LOS ANGELES
Christine Keller New KCBS-KCAL Controller
Veteran local broadcast finance executive Christine Keller has been named financial controller at KCBS (CBS) and KCAL (independent), the CBS-owned stations in Los Angeles. She is succeeding Justin Draper, who […]
The Media Rating Council today said that comScore’s local and national television products “are not accredited at the present time.” The MRC said that comScore TV is redesigning the production […]
A new report from Matrix Solutions shows Democratic candidates in Senate “toss up” races have purchased $9.9 million more in local TV spots than that of their opponents.
