OH BOY!!! ANOTHER 24/7 CABLE NOISE NETWORK IN THE MAKING?
MNN will be based in Indianapolis
Category: “The Business”
WHILE MSNBC FIRES PUNDITS WHO HELP CANDIDATES, FOX WRITES A CHECK
'Conflicting of interest' my asterisks. This time is different for some reason.
VIACOM/CBS’ LOOKS PAST COVID
ViacomCBS is looking ahead to a post-coronavirus world
VOX PONIES UP
It's been a tough year and VOX knows it.
I GUESS WE KNOW THE REAL PURPOSE OF SPORTS NOW
In a story NewsBlues has been following, Bally’s Corp. has acquired naming rights...
GEORGIA TV EXECS RUB HANDS ANTICIPATING AN UNEXPECTED WINDFALL
In Georgia, a pair of Senate runoff elections is giving local TV stations an early Christmas present...
EXPECT ANYTHING FROM SINCLAIR
Sinclair Broadcast Group is considering selling naming rights to the 21 regional sports networks it acquired from Disney
TELEMUNDO SETS NEW ELECTION VIEWER RECORD
Noticias Telemundo’s continuous 13-hour news Election coverage on Saturday, Nov. 7, propelled Telemundo to rank No. 1 in total day and primetime among all broadcast and cable networks in Hispanic viewers regardless of language, ...
COVID ERA MEDIA TRAINING
Clients will receive an eight- to twelve-week program, including a “deep-dive” into the current state of consumer attention
TEGNA READY FOR THE CONTINUATION OF THE POLITICAL $$ BONANZA
Election Night is over a week past. The winner was projected days ago. The loser... well... he's not there yet. But one thing that is not quite over just yet - political advertising.
AN AMICABLE DIVORCE
Univision asks 'Can we just be friends'
THINGS LOOK DIFFERENT AT ESPN’S TOP
In a story NewsBlues hss been following, ESPN has re-set its senior executive team
“NEWS NATION” SUFFERS 2nd BIGGEST ELECTION HUMILIATION
In a week that saw some cable networks and digital sites set viewership records, “News Nation,” the Chicago-based startup launched in September by Nexstar Media Group, barely registered. According to RobertFeder – at the ...
AND THE WINNER IS… FOX NEWS
We still do not have a 2020 Presidential Election winner, but we can call the Nielsen ratings race for Fox News Channel.
THE ABCs OF STREAMING – IT MAY BE TAKING OFF
From March to August, the ABC News Live streaming service averaged 23 million monthly viewers
THE MURDOCHS PREPARE FOR COMPETITION
“We love competition,” Murdoch said in response to a direct question from an analyst about Trump’s future
NEGOTIATING A CONTRACT? DO NOT DO THIS!
Congrats, you’ve been offered an on-air job. Yes, all your friends at home will see you that your dream came true. Yes, that one that dumped you can suck it! Ok, that last one ...
WELL HE’S DONE ALL RIGHT BY THE WASHINGTON POST SO….CNN?
Are we potentially looking at CNN Prime?
A POLITICAL MONEY BONANZA FOR PA TV STATIONS
Ad dollars are pouring it in and making it rain... but after election day: the drought.
THE INTERVIEWS DRAW BIG FOR “60 MINUTES”
It may be CBS who enjoyed the last laugh after the Trump walk-out and subsequent leak
BRAND-NEW SUIT AT ABC NEWS
Someone better brace himself to incur the wrath of a presidential tweet.
SINCLAIR TAKES ANOTHER STREAMING HIT
Sinclair's got beef with Hulu but Hulu don't play that game
NEXSTAR STREAMLINING
Nexstar moving and shaking all to the tune of saving millions
FOX NEWS HANGS ON TO ONE OF ITS LEGIT JOURNALISTS
But for how long?
BYRON ALLEN SCOOPS UP ANOTHER TV STATION
Byron Allen‘s Allen Media Groupdivision Allen Media Broadcasting has signed a purchase agreement for its acquisition of broadcast television station KITV from SJL Broadcasting for $30 million. As with other major television stations in ...
SINCLAIR NAMES A SPORTS NEWS VEEP
Sinclair Broadcast Group today announced David Morgan will be joining the company as Vice President of Digital Sports News for the company’s 21 regional sports networks (RSNs). In this role, he will oversee day-to-day ...
SCRIPPS OFF-LOADING ION STATIONS
The paperwork is drawn-up on the Scripps purchase of Ion Media. Scripps will divest Kansas City’s KPXE into a company called INYO Broadcasting Holdings. INYO will enter into an affiliation agreement to continue operating ...
SINCLAIR TO LEAP INTO NEXTGEN IN THE DC MARKET
Sinclair Broadcast Group closed Thursday on the acquisition of two Class A television stations located in the Washington, D.C., market. In addition to traditional broadcast programming, the company plans to use channel capacity from ...
NBC NEWS STAFFERS STILL PISSED AT THE SUITS
NBC has been rocked by an internal feud over its decision to host a town hall with Donald Trump at the same time as ABC’s Thursday event with Joe Biden, a scheduling move that ...
TRUMP LOSES RATINGS WAR TO BIDEN
Joe Biden’s town hall drew more TV viewers than President Trump’s competing event on Thursday night, according to early figures. An average of 13.9 million viewers tuned in to ABC to watch Biden field ...
SOMETHING SMELLS ROTTEN AT CHEDDAR
It was in April that Dexter Goei, the CEO of Altice USA, and Jon Steinberg, the founder of Cheddar, addressed Cheddar’s employees. Altice acquired Cheddar for $200 million in 2019. With massive layoffs around ...
AND YOU’D BETTER BELIEVE THEY ARE NECESSARY
The amount of content to fact-check during the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign is so considerable that FactChat‘s Spanish-speaking allies, Univision and Telemundo, have increased the size of their teams to both translate their partners’ ...
PREPARING A FRIDAY LAUNCH
An award-winning 24-hour TV news service is launching in the Rio Grande Valley on October 16. Spectrum News 1 is promising to offer “high-quality, hyperlocal news, politics, weather and original local content” exclusively to Spectrum ...
LOUISVILLE ANCHOR SHUFFLE
WLKY announces an expansion to its weekday anchor lineup. Starting Oct. 12, anchor Stephon Dingle will join the evening news team as co-anchor of WLKY News at 5 p.m. and WLKY’s Caray Grace will ...
IN-HOUSE MOVE AT NEXSTAR
A meteorologist is moving from one Nexstar station to another. T.J. Springer is leaving Wichita’s KSNW, where he had been a weekend meteorologist. However, Springer is joining KOLR in Springfield, MO to be the ...
GREAT LAKES, GREAT TIMES FOR SCRIPPS
The E.W. Scripps Company will expand its commitment to Michigan audiences early next year by producing its own local newscasts at WSYM, its Fox affiliate in Lansing. The introduction of local news operations at ...
TELEMUNDO LAUNCHES AN ENGLISH-LANGUAGE COMMENTARY STREAMER
Telemundo is launching Radar2020, a new digital English-language news commentary show. Gabriela Fresquez, brought on board to work on the show, is the host. According to Telemundo, Radar2020 will “take a conversational and irreverent ...
ONE BROADCASTER CUTS THROUGH THE VOTER MISINFORMATION NOISE
With the pandemic introducing new uncertainties around this year’s voting process, the E.W. Scripps Co. is launching a wide-ranging editorial and promotional initiative to arm voters with the information and resources they need to ...
BROADCASTERS RESORT TO POOR-MOUTHING
Broadcast TV stations groups — especially those network-affiliate stations — have, for decades, long complained about merger restrictions – according to MediaPost.com. Now with continued rising competition from digital platforms — local, national, and otherwise — ...
PULLING EYEBALLS TO LATE NIGHT….MAYBE
It’s a novel idea: un-apologetically do interesting stories that are news-worthy. The first thing you notice is the weather. That’s because, as according to the CronkiteNewsLab, on KSTP-TV’s Nightcast, it actually is first. Every ...
A NEW NEWSCAST IN TEXAS
KRGV’s formerly independent Spanish-language digital subchannel is now an Azteca América affiliate – according to MediaMoves. As part of the change, management today launched HECHOS Valle newscasts, leaving behind its prior branded Somos El ...
SHAKEUP AT “CBS THIS MORNING”
There’s yet another major change coming to “CBS This Morning.” The show was rebuilt from the ground up after new honcho Susan Zirinsky took over the CBS News division in 2019. And now current ...
ONE GUY’S BRUTAL “NEWS NATION” ASSESSMENT
NewsNation may want to sit down for this. Harry A. Jessell, editor at large of TVNewsCheck has a few pointers – and by “pointers,” I mean knifey like things in the back. Nexstar’s NewsNation had ...
SINCLAIR TAKES A HIT – WILL YOUTUBE SUFFER?
YouTube TV subscribers will lose 19 Fox regional sports networks owned by Sinclair Media as of October 1, as a result of failed renewal negotiations between YouTube parent Google and Sinclair – according to ...
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO REACH A VOTER?
Brand new local news hours are popping up like prairie dogs because there’s just so much news… and I’m sure – having nothing to do with the opportunity to sell more ad space to ...
JUST IN TIME FOR ELECTION COVERAGE
Two weeks shy of a year after abruptly quitting Fox News Channel with a declaration that “truth will always matter,” Shepard Smith returns to television this week at his unexpected new home – according ...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR LOCAL TV?
NBCUniversal, which has made a series of moves aimed at keeping pace with the increasingly complex video viewing marketplace, has just released its first One Audience Trends Report – according to Deadline. The 15-page ...
HOW DOES YOUR INCOME STACK UP?
RTDNA would like to ruin your day (hey, that rhymes!). For the first time since 2012, local TV news salaries fell in 2019. Following last year’s 3.1% increase, wages rose by 0.9%, but when ...
GRAY’S BOSS CALLS ON THE FCC TO SAVE LOCAL NEWS
If a bailout is good enough for the auto and banking industries, why not local news. Locals aren’t even asking for billions of dollars and opposed to the bankers, this isn’t exactly hole that ...
UMM, SHOULDN’T EVERYBODY BE DOING THIS?
From our ‘Why hasn’t this been happening for decades’ file… Univision News and Noticias Telemundo have joined FactCHAT, the first coalition of U.S. fact-checking organizations organized by the International Fact-checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter, ...
CUTS TAKE TOLL ON WSMV
In a story, NewsBlues has been following, cuts from Meredith on a national scale just had a direct impact on the local scale. Namely WSMV in Nashville. This is a company that asked employees ...
ANOTHER NEXSTAR STATION + ANOTHER NEW GM
Nexstar Media has announced that it has acquired WDKY-TV, the Fox-affiliated TV station in Lexington, Ky., from a Sinclair Broadcast Group subsidiary. WDKY-TV will be Nexstar’s first TV station licensed in Kentucky – according ...
130 POSITIONS GONE AT MEREDITH
Pink slips, goodbye notes and somber social media posts are going to be plentiful in Meredith newsrooms over the next few weeks. On Thursday, NewsBlues confirmed with the broadcast company that positions will be ...
THE MORNING SHOW WARS – WOODWARD EDITION
It’s a scandal bigger than Watergate — according to the NY Post. Page Six has learned that Gayle King and her “CBS This Morning” colleagues were furious because “Today” bagged the first live interview ...
RESTRUCTURING (LAYOFFS) AT FOX NEWS
Not to worry Brian Kilmeade. Your make-up will be unaffected. Fox News Media is laying off employees in multiple divisions amid a restructuring of the company’s various businesses and platforms – according to TheWrap. ...
BREAKING THE MOLD AND PAYING OFF
“Yes. Isn’t that incredible?” Esteban Creste, VP and news director at Univision’s New York station WXTV, is taking a well-earned victory lap. The station’s late news, Solo a las Once (Only at Eleven), won ...
FAKE NEWS PAYS OFF
Fox News will continue thriving even if Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump in November’s presidential election, Fox Corp. CEO predicts – this according to Deadline. “We’ve not only been strong but we’ve grown ratings ...
THIS WEEK IN ALLEGED GENDER DISCRIMINATION
The Des Moines Register is reporting on the sadly un-shocking alleged treatment of female executives in local news. In a news story five years ago, “WOI to overhaul broadcast in 2015,” the Register reported ...
GIMME THAT POLITICAL AD DOUGH!
Hearst-owned ABC affiliate KMBC in Kansas City, Missouri, will debut a new newscast on co-owned CW affiliate KCWE. KMBC 9 News at Noon will be a one-hour local newscast airing weekdays starting Sept. 21 ...
AND WHAT HAPPENS TO MEREDITH’S LOCAL STATIONS?
The Meredith Corporation has announced that it will seek shareholder approval of an amendment to its charter that would increase options for a tax-efficient separation of the Company’s National and Local media groups while ...
THE BIRMINGHAM SHUFFLE
Gray Television‘s WBRC-TV, branded as “FOX6,” has unveiled a new weekday anchor lineup in its evening and late newscasts as the station moves forward with the retirement of Janet Hall after 40 years of ...
HOW TO INTERVIEW A “SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE”
OUCH! I’d never heard of UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock, but i just saw him get Matt ColdCocked by Sky News’ Kay Burley. Burley was all over social media after video circulated showing her ...
PETITIONER OUTS SINCLAIR’S BALTIMORE BEARD OPERATIONS
If you pull away all the aluminum foil, this guy just may have a point! A Columbia, Maryland man has filed a petition with federal regulators alleging Sinclair Broadcast Group has violated TV station ...
THUMBS UP FOR NEWS NATION (FROM A HOMER)
They’re rave reviews… but with a caveat. Robert Feder’s reputation is sterling and what he says carried weight in the world of journalism… buuuuuuut he’s also all-things Chicago, so take this with a ...
ASST ND HAS TWITTER MELTDOWN; HILARITY ENSUES
KENS5 Assistant News Director James Keith went on a Twitter blocking spree this weekend after criticism from local reporters and former San Antonio mayor Julián Castro over how the station handled issues of race in a ...
TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT FOR NEWS NATION
When entrepreneur Ted Turner first launched CNN in the early 1980s without any big name anchors, one of his credos was that the news would be the star of his then-revolutionary new network – ...
AH, MORE COMMERCIAL AVAILS AROUND RECYCLED NEWS
It worked for Hallmark, when they invented holidays to sell greeting cards. In a Cincinnati TV first, WCPO-TV will broadcast one hour of local news at 7 p.m. weekdays starting Monday, Aug. 31. The ...
OPENING NIGHT APPROACHES
After weeks of rehearsals, Nexstar Media’s new national newscast on WGN America is just about ready to go according to Multichannel.com. The crew is making last-minute adjustments to some of the graphics and fine-tuning ...
THAT’S A LOT OF CHEDDER… EVEN FOR THE SUPER BOWL
According to the Wall Street Journal, ViacomCBS is seeking around $5.5 million for 30-second commercial spots in next year’s Super Bowl, roughly in line with commercial prices in the 2020 game, according to people close to ...
VIACOMCBS HOLDING GARAGE SALE
ViacomCBS which has been looking to shed assets since its merger last year is in talks to unload tech website CNET to Red Venture, a digital-focused holding company, Deadline has confirmed. A deal could ...
BYRON ALLEN SNAPS UP HAWAIIAN TV STATION
According to Deadline, Byron Allen is acquiring Honolulu ABC affiliate KITV from SLJ Broadcasting for $30 million, boosting his Allen Media Group’s owned and operated big-four network affiliates to 16 stations in 12 markets. The acquisition, through AMG’s Allen ...
FOX NEWS PLANS A WORLDWIDE STREAMER
Brace yourselves Mexico because here comes the answer to your prayers… Brian Kilmeade. Fox Corp. is joining the parade of big U.S. media companies seeking to stream their best-known content abroad – according to ...
RUMOR MILL A BUZZ AT ‘MEET THE PRESS’
According to a new report from The New York Times’ Ben Smith, Nicolle Wallace was proposed as a replacement for her MSNBC colleague Chuck Todd as moderator of the Sunday morning news show Meet ...
NBC’S COMMITMENT TO LOCAL WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
There are firings around the country at NBCUniviersal, but one thing is for sure. When the new hires come at certain stations, they’ll be diverse! The NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division today announced that ...
E!-NOUGH
It’s the end of an era for celebrity news, according to TVline.com. A trio of E! entertainment programs — the long-running E! News, along with newer shows Pop of the Morning and In the ...
COVID CAN’T STOP CAR COMMERCIALS
There’s good news and there’s some bad news when it comes to ad spending this summer. According to iSpot, automakers spent $223.5 million on national linear TV advertising in July, up nearly 18% compared ...
PANDEMIC? WHAT PANDEMIC?
Everyone is struggling due to the economic impact of an unforeseen and unprecedented global pandemic… everyone who is not Sinclair. According to TVNewsCheck, Sinclair Broadcast Group this morning reported that its second quarter 2020 ...
MORE VICTIMS OF THE NBCU-TELEMUNDO CUTS
Ana Patricia Candiani, main anchor at Telemundo’s KVEA in Los Angeles since early 2011, and Martín Plascencia, a reporter at the station for over 20 years, have been laid off. At least two other ...
“BURGUNDY” ON THE NBC CHOPPING BLOCK IN DC
You stay classy NBC! According to the Washington Post, Michael Jenkins, whom fellow sportscaster Dan Patrick once lovingly called “the sportscasting Ron Burgundy,” announced Monday that he was laid off by NBC Sports Washington. ...
MSNBC SHUFFLE SEES TODD GOING DIGITAL
Is it really a promotion when your workload doubles? According to Deadline, Nicolle Wallace’s Deadline: White House will expand to two hours and Chuck Todd’s MTP Daily will move to early afternoon as part of ...
LOCAL TV NEWS IN ALASKA GOES DEEP GRAY
An Alaska telecommunications company has completed a deal to sell its Anchorage TV station to a Georgia company that already owns an Anchorage channel and will now control the state’s two leading broadcast news ...
YOUNGER MURDOCH SON: I’M OUT (‘SUCCESSION’ STYLE)
OK, is this based on an episode of ‘Succession,’ or will a future episode of ‘Succession’ be based on this. One has to be true. According to NPR, James Murdoch resigned Friday from the ...
CNN STANDS FIRM ON MASKS
There is apparently no great mask debate CNN, the likes of which you might observe on social media, or let’s face it (no pun intended) at your local supermarket these days. CNN is firmly ...
WHO NEEDS KIDS’ NEWS?
A lesser known character on The Simpsons, but nonetheless one that any enthusiast would know immediately, is Helen Lovejoy, wife to Reverend Timothy Lovejoy. She’s known as the town gossip and for her catchphrase, ...
7 MAJOR BROADCASTERS LAUNCH NEXTGEN TV IN PORTLAND
Seven leading local television stations in Portland, OR, including KATU (ABC), KOIN (CBS), KGW (NBC), KPTV (Fox), KOPB-TV (PBS), KRCW-TV (CW) and KPDX (MyNet), today became among the first in the nation to begin ...
THEY’RE JUST OPINIONS, YOU SAY?
Who says only facts can be argued and not opinions. It’s almost like these people never heard of “alternative facts,” thank you very much Kellyanne Conway. According to Deadline, more than 280 journalists at ...
THAT’S THE BUZZER AT FOX SPORTS
They’ll be no post game interviews for these poor souls. According to TheWrap, Fox Sports has laid off 50 to 100 staffers in what is being described as a restructuring and streamlining effort at ...
FEDERAL PROTECTION FOR JOURNALISTS?
Could it be that “the swamp” is actually taking proactive action in order to protect reporters in the field? According to NextTV, the News Media for Open Government Coalition is renewing its call for passage ...
SINCLAIR PUMPS BREAKS ON INTERVIEW
There’s always a fine line to skate when it comes to free speech and who you choose to give a platform to and in-turn hand a megaphone. This is a very relevant issue ...
PANDEMIC, SCHMANDEMIC – TEGNA DECLARES A DIVIDEND
There have been mass firings from newsrooms around the country. Ad revenue has been plummeting since March pretty march across the board. And yet, according to BusinessWire.com, TEGNA‘s Board of Directors Wednesday ...
AS NEXSTAR GOES NATIONAL – IS IT ANY DIFFERENT FROM SINCLAIR?
Forget the global pandemic for a sec. How about this for a phenomenon – local news television viewership is at all-time high and yet organizations are desperate for advertisers to fill in the ...
CIVIL WAR IN THE FOX HOLE
Racial tensions were seemingly the rise at Fox News — and that was BEFORE the news about Tucker Carlson’s head writer dealing in outrageously racism in online forums and Carlson’s luke-warm at-best “apology” to follow. ...
FOR $480/WEEK YOU CAN BE A TV NEWS REPORTER!
KNBN in Rapid City, South Dakota has an immediate opening for a full time multimedia meteorologist. You’ll be on-air and must be able to develop video based content for all of Connect-Now’s distribution ...
VIACOMCBS TO EMPLOYEES: YOU’RE HOME FOR 2020
Masked faces are the new norm in public, but coronavirus has also changed the face of production. It’s anyone’s guess when the bandages of this facelift come off, if ever. According to Variety, ViacomCBS ...
BBC TO CUT JOBS, LOTS OF THEM
That episode of BBC‘s The (original) Office where Ricky Gervais guarantees his staff’s job security only to learn he has to fire some of them seems a tad less funny now. According to Deadline, ...
THEY’RE PROUD AS A PEACOCK
It may be re-packaged with some new chyrons and less impressive sponsors – but hey… at least it’s news you already saw on TV a few hours ago! Bottom line is they’re calling it ...
TELEMUNDO LAUNCHING LATE NIGHT WEEKEND NEWSCAST
In a move that likely would not have transpired had the novel coronavirus not created a global pandemic ahead of a pivotal U.S. presidential election, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises has given the green light to ...
RE-RUNS + PLAGUE + CIVIL UNREST = NEW$
It’s quit literally the worst time in the history of television for networks to create new programming. Reruns are the norm in the age of coronavirus, but the news is still, well, new. The ...