LEAD STORY
Chris Licht’s Plan For CNN
Three weeks into his tenure as Chairman and CEO of CNN Global, Chris Licht finally gives some insight into his vision for the linear channel CNN.
During Warner Bros. Discovery’s upfront presentation this past week, Licht revealed that Chris Wallace, who was hired to be one of the principal anchors of the now-defunct CNN Plus, would now have his interview-style show Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? airing weekly on Sundays on CNN and HBO Max.
Wallace’s show would be part of the rebranded night of programming on CNN titled CNN Sunday, which would also comprise of a topical long-form show that will allow CNN reporters and contributors to tell new stories they have sourced from around the world.
According to Licht, “This show will be an exciting outlet for the stories that can have a real impact and bolster the CNN brand.”
Licht also revealed Eva Longoria’s travel show Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico will now air on CNN. In addition to that, he said the news network has ordered a documentary focusing on the mobile game show HQ and documentaries on the history of Black television and the 2010 decade.
The CNN Films unit will debut Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down and Little Richard: I Am Everything (w/t) in the coming year too.
Perhaps the most surprising revelation from Licht during his presentation was that he intends to remake CNN’s morning programming, which currently comprises of Early Start and New Day. Still, his focus will be on New Day.
It seems that every time a new president starts at CNN, since the start of the new millennium, one of their first orders of business has been to fix morning programming.
This happened when AOL bought Time Warner in 2001. The bosses then hired Paula Zahn away from Fox News so that she could be the face of its new morning show, American Morning.
American Morning went through various re-imaginations when Jon Klien was brought on to lead CNN in 2004. His most memorable move was switching out Soledad O’Brien and Miles O’Brien for Kiran Chetry and John Roberts in 2007.
American Morning lasted for more than ten years before it was replaced by Starting Point, anchored by Soledad O’Brien, during the Ken Jautz and Mark Whitaker era of running CNN.
Starting Point was canceled and replaced by New Day when Jeff Zucker took over CNN in 2013, and it has been on the air since then.
All these morning shows suffered from poor ratings as they were no match to what was being offered on Fox News with Fox and Friends and MSNBC with Morning Joe during those time periods.
Now Licht wants to have a go at it.
He does come with some success as he was responsible for the launch of Morning Joe back in 2007, and over at CBS News, he was the one in charge when its morning show relaunched as CBS This Morning in 2012.
Licht’s viewpoint is that instead of being the counter-programming for the cable news shows, he wants to be the counter-programming for traditional morning TV news shows, comprising of ABC News’ Good Morning America, NBC News’ Today Show, and CBS News’ CBS Mornings.
He said, “We will reimagine our morning show leveraging our correspondents and unmatched resources in the U.S. and around the world to provide news that viewers need to know as they start their day.”
He added, “[To] be honest there, we are seeking to be a disrupter of the broadcast morning shows in this space, and we believe we have the people and resources who can do it.”
The new morning show is set to debut in the fall, and we expect to hear more about his intentions for the morning daypart as the summer months progress and what will happen to its current occupants, Jon Berman and Brianna Keilar.
It’s worth noting that when Jeff Zucker first launched New Day, he too was challenging the broadcast morning shows. He wanted it to be a newsier version of Good Morning America.
It will be interesting to see whether Licht has learned anything from those previous attempts and whether he succeeds in solving the morning TV problem for CNN.
(The Streamable, TVNewser, Deadline, The Wrap, Variety)
RECAP
Steve Levy, Louis Riddick Are Now ESPN’s NFL ‘B’ Team
ESPN went big with its announcing team for its Monday Night Football broadcast during this NFL off-season by hiring Joe Buck and Troy Aikman away from Fox Sports. With Brian Griese headed back to coaching in the NFL, the fate of the last announcing team consisting of Griese, Steve Levy, and Louis Riddick was sealed with the Buck and Aikman hiring. But not so fast; ESPN has signed Levy and Riddick to be their NFL announcing ‘B’ team, where they will call some games this season and then a minimum of five beginning in the 2023 season. They will be joined in the booth by former NFL player turned studio analyst Dan Orlvosky. (Sports Media Watch)
Disney Plus With Ads To Bring In More Subscribers
All Disney Plus subscribers currently pay for a no-ad experience when using the service, but that is about to change as the House of Mickey is set to launch an ad tier version soon, shifting its subscriber dynamics. Disney believes that once the ad version of Disney Plus launches sometime later in the year, the majority of its subscriber base will switch from the no-ad version to the ad version — one reason for that is cost. An ad version of Disney Plus will be significantly cheaper (the price has not been determined), which could help bring in more subscribers to the streamer. Disney says that the ad count will be low on the ad tier version of Disney Plus, with an average of four minutes per hour. (Variety)
Warren Buffet Invests In Paramount Global
One of the wealthiest men in the US is putting his money in Paramount Global, which may be viewed as a sign that he is happy with the media company. Through his investment company Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet has acquired about $2.6 billion worth of stock in Paramount Global, making him one of the largest outside investors in the company. Paramount Global, the home of CBS News, CBS Sports, and the streaming service Paramount Plus will view the investment as a vote of confidence as it believes that it’s doing the right thing, especially with its streaming service Paramount Plus. The streamer still trails the other services in terms of subscriptions, but Buffet may think it has long-term value and/or the market has undervalued it. (The Hollywood Reporter)
QUICK RECAP
Disney’s streaming bundle plan looks a lot like a cable bundle plan. (Front Office Sports)
Lara Logan’s strange journey from CBS News to Mike Lindell. (New York Times)
Pluto TV and Tubi are a hit with advertisers and viewers. (Los Angeles Times)
A golf ball struck ESPN’s Sage Steele during the PGA Championship. (New York Post)
ESPN’s ManningCast moves from football to golf. (Variety)
CNN Digital’s Editor-in-chief Meredith Artley to leave the network. (Deadline)
Greg Olsen will be part of the Fox Sports #1 announcing team during the Super Bowl in 2023. (New York Post)
Former NFL QB, Drew Brees, might be moving to Fox Sports from NBC Sports. (Andrew Marchand/Twitter)
CBS Sunday Morning earns the 2022 New York Press Club Award for journalism. (CBS News PR/Twitter)
TV host Stephanie Hamill leaves OAN. (Media Matters)
Netflix is looking into live TV programming. (The Streamable)
ESPN wins two Sports Business Journal Sports Business awards. (ESPN Front Row)
NBC News and MSNBC are finalists for two Scripps Howard Awards. (Scripps Howard Foundation)
Former CNN anchor Campbell Brown was named head of Meta’s media partnership team. (Axios)
A unified HBO Max/Discovery Plus streaming service will be coming soon. (The Streamable)
Netflix plans to add subtitles for ten additional languages. (Variety)
NBC News’ Pete Williams is set to retire after nearly three decades of service. (The Washington Post)
Amazon Prime to spend on TV and film in the UK. (The Guardian)
Media Upfronts: Paramount Global uses 60 Minutes correspondents to announce new shows. (Broadcasting + Cable)
Will NFL fans watch Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime? (Pro Football Talk)
CBS News’ 48 Hours: A Promise to Ahmaud wins the 2022 ABA Silver Gavel Award for Television. (CBS News PR/Twitter)
MSNBC launches minority women initiative called The Culture Is: (NBCUniversal Media Village)
More job cuts strike Netflix. (Business Insider $$$)
Fox is not interested in joining the streaming wars just yet. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Media Upfronts: David Zaslav introduces Warner Bros. Discovery. (Variety)
Profile: Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav is looking to shake things in Hollywood. (Wall Street Journal)
Media Upfronts: Fox News sidesteps its prime time lineup during its presentation. (MediaPost)
PlutoTV expands in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. (The Streamable)
Long-standing Netflix subscribers are leaving the service. (The Information$$$)
Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav on ending CNN Plus, “Subscribers weren’t there.” (Forbes)
ESPN acquires rights to XFL. (ESPN Press Room)
Australian Open renews with ESPN till 2031. (Awful Announcing)
ESPN Plus renews Peyton’s Place for a third season. (ESPN Press Room)
NFL to drop conference affiliation for its Fox Sports and CBS Sports Sunday games in 2023. (Sports Media Watch)
Netflix cancels some of its animation projects. (Variety)
Media Upfronts: ABC News’ David Muir brings humor and seriousness to Disney’s presentation. (TVNewser)
Netflix is one of the tech stocks dumped by hedge funds. (Reuters)
Netflix lays off 150 of its staff. (Deadline)
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer writes a letter to Fox News asking them to curb its racist rhetoric. (The Washington Post)
ABC News’ Good Morning America makes more changes to its first-floor studio. (NewscastStudio)
ESPN reveals its college football matchups. (ESPN Press Room)
NBCU News Group Digital remains #1 in the US in April. (NBC News PR)
Disney Plus’ international growth is to be determined by whether it secures the rights to the Indian cricket premiership. (The Streamable)
Disney to show fewer commercials on its ad-supported Disney Plus compared to rivals. (The Wall Street Journal)
Media Upfronts: Univision touts its streaming approach. (Broadcasting + TV)
ABC News’ Good Morning America beats NBC News’ Today Show for the second straight week in the 25-54 demo. (A.J. Katz/Twitter)
NBC News is planning a digital rebrand for Meet The Press. (Axios)
Alyssa London joins MSNBC as a contributor. (MSNBC PR/Twitter)
Disney Plus to remain family friends even with its ads. (Variety)
An internal war is brewing among Fox News’ primetime hosts. (The Daily Beast)
Former NFL coach Sean Payton is reportedly joining Fox Sports. (Awful Announcing)
Can Joe Buck and Troy Aikman boost ESPN’s ratings? (Front Office Sports)
Media Upfronts: Fox pre-recorded its presentation. (Variety)
How the news networks covered the various mass shootings. (NewscastStudio)
Tubi to stream all 2002 World Cup games after they air this November. (Andrew Marchand/Twitter)
Amazon’s Freevee launches on AppleTV devices. (The Streamable)
Netflix is considering extending its original movie theatrical releases. (The Streamable)
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A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - Issue #89 - 2022