LEAD STORY
ABC News And CBS News Announce New Leaders
ABC News made it official, this past Wednesday, when it was announced that Kim Godwin will be its next president. Godwin, who is moving from CBS News where she was their EVP of news, will become the first Black person to run a broadcast news operation.
With Godwin’s departure, CBS News announced a new leadership structure, the following day, that sees Neeraj Khemlani and Wendy McMahon as co-heads of CBS News and the CBS Television Stations. They will be taking over from Susan Zirinsky who is stepping down as head of CBS News and will be moving on to a production deal within ViacomCBS.
Khemlani will be coming from Hearst Newspapers where he was an executive vice president. It will be a homecoming of sorts for him as he was a former producer of 60 Minutes. McMahon, meanwhile, is coming from ABC where as recently as this past week she was the head of their ABC stations group.
Under this new structure, both Khemlani and McMahon will oversee CBS News, the CBS-owned TV stations, CBS Digital, and the streaming news service CBSN. They will both report to George Cheeks the head of CBS. Cheeks says that both of them will jointly oversee and manage every aspect of that division.
Over at ABC News, Godwin will be responsible for all facets of ABC News this includes their morning and evening news shows, This Week, 20/20, their streaming news service, and any other special programming that may come up. She will report to Peter Rice, Disney’s chairman of General Entertainment Content.
Godwin will have to hit the ground running when she starts as she will be looking for a new senior executive producer of Good Morning America after the abrupt dismissal of Michael Corn. No word yet on why he was let go.
Godwin, Khemlani, and McMahon will all start in May.
(Yashar Ali/Twitter, The Hollywood Reporter, ViacomCBS Press Express, Variety, Los Angeles Times)
RECAP
Amazon’s Plan To Transform Sports Broadcasting
Starting with the 2022 NFL season Thursday Night Football will be broadcast exclusively on the Amazon Prime Video streaming service and they are going to use that opportunity to make a splash. Personalization and customization are what they are thinking about and some of the ways they will achieve this include offering multiple feeds for its TNF broadcasts — a feature the other networks do not currently offer for their weekly airings. These feeds could be a localized broadcast tailored to a specific region. The streaming service is also thinking of using its gaming service Twitch for watch parties and possible sports betting opportunities. Amazon wants to change how sports are consumed. (New York Post)
Univison And Mexico’s Grupo Televisa Merge
US Spanish broadcaster Univision is merging with Mexico’s Televisa to form Televisa-Univision. The deal, which was announced this past Tuesday, is valued at $4.8 billion and would create the largest Spanish broadcaster in the world. By combining forces the new company is setting its sights on dominating in the Spanish streaming space, which it feels is very underserved. The company is set to launch a new streaming service sometime in 2022. (CableFax)
ESPN And Ariel Helwani Are In A Contract Dispute
Things are getting tense between ESPN and popular UFC reporter Ariel Helwani as there has been little movement with contract negotiations. Helwani’s contract with ESPN lasts until June and if they cannot come to an agreement he may exit the company and take along his large social media following and go the independent route. Helwani could possibly link up with Meadowlark Media helmed by former ESPNers John Skipper and Dan LeBatard and use them to boost his media platforms. (New York Post)
QUICK RECAP
CNN’s Fareed Zakaria’s mom passes away from COVID-19 complications. (TVNewser)
CNN correspondent Rene Marsh loses her son to brain cancer. (Mediaite)
Zach Stafford joins MSNBC as a columnist. (Zach Stafford/Twitter)
Fox News hires Bernard Gugar as its general counsel and EVP of corporate development. (The Hill)
Tony Reali signs a contract extension with ESPN. (ESPN Front Row)
Nielsen refuses to submit to a ratings audit. (Variety)
Tennessee congressman Harold Ford Jr. joins Fox News as a contributor. (TVNewser)
Saeed Ahmed leaves CNN for NPR to be its Director, Digital News. (NPR)
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is canceled for 2021. (TVNewser)
This week CBS News tackles climate change with its Eye on Earth: Our Planet in Peril initiative. (ViacomCBS Press Express)
NBC News will tackle climate change across its entire portfolio this week. (NBCUniversal Media Village)
The streaming channel Cheddar rebrands as Cheddar News. (Talking Biz News)
CNN’s Don Lemon says that it’s like a knife fight on cable news every day. (Forbes)
CBS News’ Bill Whitaker to be honored with an ICFJ Founder’s Award. (ViacomCBS Press Express)
ESPN and Vice are working to produce a 30 for 30 on American Gladiators. (Awful Announcing)
Brooke Baldwin signs off from CNN. (Brooke Baldwin/Twitter)
NBCUniversal’s News Group is making Nightly News’ Inspiring America into a division-wide franchise. (Deadline)
CNN relaunches its morning show New Day. (Variety)
Texas attorneys Chip Babcock and Scott A. Keller to represent Fox News in the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit. (Law and Crime)
Amazon Prime passes the 200 million subscribers mark. (The Hollywood Reporter)
ESPN showed off its NBA betting broadcast this past Wednesday. (Variety)
NBC Sports’ primetime Olympics coverage will originate from an outdoor set. (NBC Sports Group Press Box)
Fox Corp’s Lachlan Murdoch will return to the US end of summer. (The Hill)
Serena Williams gets a TV deal with Amazon. (Variety)
ESPN has big plans for its 2021 NFL Draft coverage. (Front Office Sports)
NFL Network reveals its 2021 NFL Draft plans. (Awful Announcing)
ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir and his team win the 2021 Christopher Award for Television. (ABC News PR/Twitter)
Former CNN exec David Clinch on life after being laid off from Storyful. (Poynter)
Fox Corp’s Lachlan Murdoch defends Tucker Carlson over his “white replacement” comments. (The Guardian)
Thanks to all of you for reading the Coverage Notes newsletter; we really appreciate it, and we value each and every one of you.
Please subscribe & share. Let us know what you think here- love it or hate it; we'll learn to deal with it and make it better.
A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - issue #55 - 2021