LEAD STORY
Netflix Makes Changes At The Top
Netflix delivered a lot of news during its fourth-quarter earnings report this past Thursday. The news that took the lion’s share of the attention was that its leadership team was undergoing some changes, with Reed Hastings, the co-founder of the streamer, stepping down as co-CEO and moving to the executive chairman role.
Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO, will remain in his position but will be joined by Greg Peters, who has been elevated from his current role of chief operating officer to co-CEO.
Bela Bajaria, who was the streamer’s head of global TV, becomes the chief content officer. They haven’t announced a replacement for her previous position as of yet.
Hastings has been running things at Netflix since 1997 and has led the company from its DVD-by-mail business days to the streaming juggernaut that it is today.
It will be interesting to see how hands-off he will be and how much breathing space he will give his Co-CEOs, who will be starting in a position of advantage, as Netflix revealed during its call that it gained 7.7 million subscribers during the fourth quarter beating expectations, which were set at 4.5 million subscribers.
What was left out from this announcement was how many of these subscribers were from its newly launched ad tier option. With this new addition in subscribers, Netflix now has 231 million global paid subscribers, with 74.3 million coming from North America.
Netflix also announced that it would be cracking down on password sharing “more broadly” by March and is open to creating FAST channels, akin to PlutoTV, sometime in the future.
Sandos and Peters have a lot of work ahead of them, but Hastings has left them in a great position to take the company to even higher heights.
However, as we have seen with Disney’s leadership drama in the last few months, these new Co-CEOs and the COO already have pressure to ensure that everything at the streamer continues running smoothly.
(Axios, MediaPost, TechRadar, The Streamable)
RECAP
Cecilia Vega Moves From ABC News To CBS News’ 60 Minutes
How did ABC News let her go? It is one of the major swoops in the TV news industry in a long while, as CBS News’ 60 Minutes franchise managed to sign Cecilia Vega as a correspondent. Vega was ABC News’ chief White House correspondent, having been in that position since 2021, but she had been with the news organization for over a decade. Vega had been considered a rising star at ABC News and was seen as a potential successor to Robin Roberts at Good Morning America. She had been anchoring the morning show's Friday editions and helmed World News Tonight on Saturdays. All signs pointed to her having an expanded and influential role at ABC News. Losing her is a big deal for ABC News which must now reassess its succession strategy; as for 60 Minutes, its executive producer Bill Owens says, “I have admired her work for a long, long time and couldn’t be more excited to welcome her to 60 Minutes.” (Deadline)
Is Brian Williams looking to make a comeback?
We haven’t heard from Brian Williams since he signed off from his MSNBC show in 2021. That silence may soon be broken as Williams has recently signed with the talent management company CAA, which means he is looking for work. What kind of work and how soon, we don’t know yet, but the fact that he has signed with CAA should signal to media executives that Williams is not done with his career. As he left MSNBC, Williams did say that was not the end of him, “I will probably find it impossible to be silent and stay away from you and lights and cameras after I experiment with relaxation and find out what I’m missing, and what’s out there.” Could CNN be one of his suitors, seeing that they haven’t filled their 9 pm slot? It is just one of many possible destinations for Williams. (Variety)
The CW to broadcast LIV Golf
The breakaway LIV Golf tour has been without a proper US broadcast home since its 2022 inception. That changes now as it has signed a multi-year deal with the Nexstar-owned The CW. The network will air 14 LIV Golf events in 2023, beginning with the February 24-26 tournament in Mexico. These tournaments, which the Saudi-backed LIV Golf will still produce, will air on Saturday and Sunday on The CW and The CW app. Coverage of the Friday part of the tournament will stream exclusively on The CW app. The CW, which is undergoing a content makeover with its new owners, says that the partnership with LIV Golf “marks a significant milestone in our goal to re-engineer the network with quality, diversified programming for our viewers, advertisers, and CW affiliates.” Not everyone is happy with this deal as the National Press Club expresses that they are disappointed with the TV deal saying, “We are deeply disappointed that a company that makes money from news like Nexstar would agree to participate in such a shameful PR stunt as LIV Golf, which is fundamentally designed to rehabilitate the Saudi reputation, tarnished irreparably by the state-ordered gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018. We are left to wonder what, if anything, Nexstar stands for. You cannot have a brand in news and act this way.” (The Hollywood Reporter & Golf Week)
QUICK RECAP
Alan Komissarroff, Fox News’ senior VP of news and politics, passes away after suffering a heart attack two weeks ago. (Brett Baier/Twitter)
Kathryn Tappen named NBC Sports sideline reporter for its Big Ten football games. (New York Post)
Saeed Ahmed leaves BBC News after being hired in October 2022. (Deadline)
Ylan Mui departs CNBC after six years. (Talking Biz News)
NBC News says goodbye to Kerry Sanders. (Today/Twitter)
Executive producer Eric Hall moved from CNN This Morning. (The Wrap)
Did Fox Sports get insider info with its World Cup bid? (The New York Times)
Vice Media to cut 7% of its staff and seek a sale. (New York Times)
Tony Dungy’s political position creates an awkward situation between him, the NFL, and NBC Sports. (The Nation)
CNN's Great Big Story is resurrected by the UK’s Why Now World. (PressGazette)
ESPN has its most-watched NFL playoff game ever. (ESPN Press Room)
DAZN joins Amazon's Prime Video Channels. (The Streamable)
The 24th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor will air on CNN. (CNN Press Room)
CNN Business Arabic launches its digital business platform. (CNN Press Room)
WBD and the European Union won European broadcast rights for the Olympics. (Front Office Sports)
NFL's Wild Card weekend ratings were mostly down. (Sports Media Watch)
HBO Max starts showing live sports with US Women's National Soccer Team. (Awful Announcing)
GLAAD Media Awards: CNN, ABC News, and NBC News are winners. (GLAAD)
NBC News podcasts rank as the fourth-largest podcast producer. (Forbes)
Tubi is winning the hearts of Black audiences and Black filmmakers. (What I’m Reading)
CNN is also in the mix of networks looking to host Republican primary debates. (The New York Times)
WBD gives laid-off UK employees a one-time cost of living crisis payment. (Deadline)
Is Apple going after the Premier League rights in the UK? (Front Office Sports)
BBC's FA Cup coverage was ruined by a prankster. (Awful Announcer)
NBCUniversal News Group is the #1 digital news organization in 2022. (NBC News PR)
Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek received more than $20 million in severance. (The Hollywood Reporter)
CNN's Audie Cornish to receive On Air Fest's 2023 Audio Vanguard Award. (The Wrap)
NBC Sports debuts an updated sports hallmark. (NewscastStudio)
How the New Republican-led House might impact PBS’ funding. (Variety)
Is CNN looking at adding comedy to its primetime lineup? (Semafor)
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A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - Issue #110 - 2024