Business

The Writers Guild of America strike is clearly taking a toll on production, as the Los Angeles permitting agency reported a 69.5% decline in on-location permits last week. FilmLA, which handles permitting for many jurisdictions around L.A. County, reported that there were 111 permits last week for TV and feature films. That includes reality TV, which is not covered by the WGA strike. That figure was down 69.5% from the same week in 2022, when there were 364 permits.

Rita Ferro, Disney president, advertising sales: “The Walt Disney Co. has the best broadcast, the best of cable, the best of sports and the best of streaming, coupled with the best investments around data and technology that really enable advertisers to buy in as close as they want to, to make sure that they’re spending the right money around the right KPIs.”

Set for Jan. 16-18, 2024, the marketplace will be headquartered at the InterContinental Hotel.

Just as with the previous writers strike, the longer this one goes on, the more likely its effects will be permanent and significant. Nor is that only a problem for writers; in the era of TikTok and YouTube, producers also have a lot on the line.

There’s a missed opportunity in local markets for TV stations to capitalize on: Super serve smaller communities within DMAs where competition is scant.

The purchase of three low-power stations by Gray Television tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

Wall Street weakened Tuesday as energy stocks, Home Depot weighed down the market. The S&P 500 fell 0.6%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1% and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2%.

The mystery surrounding Tucker Carlson’s ouster from the airwaves at Fox News — and his future plans in media — are coming into sharper focus. On April 26, Carlson spoke by phone with one of Fox Corp.’s eight board members, who told the host that his recent benching was a condition of Fox News’ settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the conversation. The unnamed board member told Carlson that the condition does not appear in any of the settlement’s documents, and instead was a verbal agreement. If Fox didn’t comply, the settlement was off, Carlson was told. Dominion had plenty of leverage given that the $787.5 million deal to settle Dominion’s defamation suit against the network wouldn’t officially close until late May.

The Walt Disney Co. is asking a judge to dismiss or stay a state lawsuit brought by the special district that oversees its Florida property, calling the litigation “moot” given recent actions taken by the state. In a motion filed in Florida state court in Orange County, Disney also said that Florida law requires that the state court sideline the lawsuit until the company’s own federal case against Governor Ron DeSantis is resolved.

Spanish-TV giant TelevisaUnivsion wants to speak a different language than its English-speaking rivals when it comes to audience measurement. “We all know that today’s TV measurement is inadequate for our multi-screen world, and as a consequence, U.S Hispanics have been undercounted,” says Donna Speciale, president of U.S. ad sales and marketing at the company. “In fact, our audience is 26% bigger than current measurement. How did we get that information? Nielsen just told us,” she says, using its traditional panel-based tabulation as well as its “big data” product. “This is huge and and a huge step for equity,” she adds, noting that TelevisaUnivision will ask all agencies and clients to base this year’s upfront ad deals on that measurement.

TelevisaUnivision, the Spanish-language media giant, says it has partnered with the NFL and CBS Sports to secure the Spanish-language rights to the next Super Bowl, which is set for Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. TelevisaUnivision announced the news at its upfront presentation Tuesday in New York with sports anchor Alejandro Berry teasing “four major and very exciting announcements,” before introducing star athletes to bring out trophies for the UEFA Champions League, the EuroCup, and the Copa America.

It seems more and more likely that Disney is going to fully own Hulu. It just comes down to price. Speaking Tuesday at MoffettNathanson’s Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in New York, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts addressed Comcast selling its 33% stake in the streamer. “I think it’s more likely than not,” Roberts said.

Bob Chapek, the former Disney CEO who was abruptly ousted from the company last November, is among a group of executives facing a lawsuit claiming violations of securities law for allegedly providing misleading statements and omissions about Disney+ and its subscriber growth.

Fox made its annual upfront pitch to advertisers at the Manhattan Center on Monday afternoon, pushing the messages of Fox Entertainment, Tubi, Fox News and Fox Sports, all while promising the audience that don’t worry, we’ll get you hammered soon. Coming off of presentations hampered by the pandemic in recent years, Fox was back in nearly full force, with the writers’ strike limiting the number of network stars in attendance. The event also featured some football antics courtesy of Rob Gronkowski and some well-placed cursing by Gordon Ramsay.

Get ready for a different kind of upfront. Sure, the foggy economy and the Writers Guild of America strike will affect the willingness of the buyers to engage and exactly what the network will put on their schedule. But while the economy is likely to be cyclical, turning up at some point, and while the strike by the WGA will eventually be settled — returning fresh scripted shows to network schedules that already count reality and competition series like The Masked Singer and The Voice among their top performers — deeper changes are taking place in the TV advertising business.

The impact of the Hollywood writers strike was felt as major television networks began their annual week of sales presentations to advertisers on Monday, with news personalities like Willie Geist and Stephanie Ruhle left to hawk comedies and dramas for NBCUniversal.

Wall Street rose Monday ahead of updates on spending by U.S. shoppers. The S&P 500 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.7%.

The green light follows objections to the blockbuster deal by American and British regulators on the grounds that it would undercut competition.

Dozens of protesters greeted marketers as they entered the first major event of the upfronts, an annual showcase for advertisers in which media companies stage lavish gatherings to promote their lineups.

As the start of the national TV upfront ad market draws near, total advertising — for live, linear TV — is estimated to drop 8% to $61.31 billion this year while total connected TV will rise 21% to $25.09 billion, according to eMarketer. YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix are among those that will see big gains, according to this analysis — with YouTube seeing the strongest rise. In terms of the upfront itself — where big brand advertisers typically commit 75% of their September- to-August TV season media before the season begins — eMarketer says YouTube will get “as much money as any TV network.”

It’s why 9-1-1 moved from Fox to ABC and why CBS canceled and then reversed course on SWAT.

Media companies, including NBCUniversal, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, will make their annual pitches to advertisers during their Upfront presentations this week. This year’s events come in the midst of a soft advertising market and the Hollywood writers’ strike, as well as accelerated cost-cutting by media companies. Advertisers will likely increase spending on ad-supported and so-called FAST options this year as cord-cutting accelerates. Franchise-related content will continue to take a big role.

Set designers, chefs and prop masters are out of work and growing anxious. Since the Writers Guild of America announced its strike last week, the work stoppage has had a sudden, profound impact on the entertainment industry. But overlooked in the dispute between the union’s 11,500 screenwriters and the major studios is the toll it could take on the wider economy — especially in Los Angeles, which remains, in part, a company town.

Vice Media Group, popular for websites such as Vice and Motherboard, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday to engineer its sale to a group of lenders, capping years of financial difficulties and top-executive departures. Vice said that the lender consortium, which includes Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital, will provide about $225 million in the form of a credit bid for substantially all of the company’s assets and also assume significant liabilities at closing.

CNN last Wednesday broadcast one of the most controversial news events of the year, a runaway town hall interview with former President Donald Trump, and advertisers like Subaru and Fidelity Investments went along for the ride. There are new questions about whether all of Madison Avenue will do so in the future.

New owner Nexstar has gutted the network’s roster that former CEO Mark Pedowitz built in favor of low-cost imports and unscripted shows — and a rejected cable drama. Pictured: Sullivan’s Crossing, starring Chad Michael Murray, Morgan Kohan and Scott Patterson, is one of many low-cost foreign series that The CW will program instead of homegrown original series. It’s already aired elsewhere.