Business

Economists are fretting about a recession. Media stocks are in the toilet. Layoffs are being enacted monthly as a spirit of cut, cut, cut grips Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Oh, and screenwriters are on strike, while directors and actors are threatening to join them when their contracts expire next month. But for the media moguls and tech entrepreneurs who run the major conglomerates, it’s business as usual in one important respect. Yes, most of these corporate chieftains trimmed their pay packages … but not all of them did.

SAG-AFTRA announced Wednesday that it will hold a strike authorization vote as it seeks to get its “ducks in a row” ahead of June 7 negotiations with the major studios. The vote does not mean that the performers’ union will necessarily join the Writers Guild of America on the picket lines after its contract expires on June 30. In a press release, the union said its negotiating committee decided that a strike authorization would provide “maximum bargaining leverage” for the talks.

Standard General said the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has “suggested” the company “attempt to resolve remaining concerns to allow the transaction“ — its purchase of  Tegna’s TV stations — “to move forward,” which it said it is definitely trying to do. Standard General’s invocation of the Enforcement Bureau suggestion was a reference to a meeting with FCC officials last week.

YouTube, competing for TV ad dollars with TV companies that are shifting to streaming, announced that it is bringing 30-second commercials that can’t be skipped to YouTube Select on connected TVs. At its annual Brandcast presentation to advertisers during upfront week, YouTube also said it was introducing the ability to pause ads to CTVs.

At its first upfront presentation, Netflix shared some hard numbers with advertisers, saying it now has nearly 5 million global monthly active users for its ad-supported tier. The median age for those users is 34, the streamer said, considerably lower than the senior citizen-level average for most broadcast and cable channels. After years of forswearing commercials, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters told advertisers and media buyers: “We share a common goal, which is building connection. You want to connect consumers with your amazing brands. And we want to connect them with amazing entertainment they’ll love.” Pictured: Jeremi Gorman, Netflix president, worldwide advertising.

The Nexstar CEO said: “At the local level [LIV Golf] is selling like gangbusters. Car dealers are not deeply involved in national or international geopolitical conversations. They want to move product. This is televised sports. They’re all in.”

Wall Street rose Wednesday on hopes that the U.S. may avoid default. The S&P 500 climbed 1.2%, with much of the gain coming after President Joe Biden said he’s confident “America will not default.” The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2%, while the Nasdaq composite gained 1.3%.

During Wednesday’s MoffettNathanson Inaugural Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, the CEO also said sports will stay on Fox linear: ““Fox has a unique strategy, in that we are keeping our premium sports on our broadcast network. And we think that’s very important because it means that the traditional pay TV ecosystem is still what serves consumers best, serves the leagues best, with the most reach, and serves advertising clients. So we’re going to continue to do that.”

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%.