I'll tell you when it happens.
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"Newsroom culture clash" at CBS News
- Thread starter Mark Roberts
- Start date
True but then again its overshadowed by how the Ellisons want the merger between WB and Paramount completed in the same way the unrelated Tegna/Nexstar Merger went down this week. But in both cases Nexstar and Paramount has to deal with the California Attorney General over antitrust issues.
David Ellison Sends Letter to CA Lawmakers Outlining Plan to Keep Hollywood Jobs Local (Exclusive)
In a letter to Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Laura Friedman, the Paramount and soon-to-be Warner Bros. studio chief argued that keeping key aspects of the historic studios separate will help workers and L.A.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
Paramount deal for CNN and Warner Bros. draws concerns about news independence
The Ellison family would control CNN and CBS News if the merger is approved by government regulators.
www.latimes.com
Kara Swisher: I'm Leaving CNN When Paramount Skydance Completes Purchase
"I refuse to work for an organization that doesn't respect journalism."
barrettmedia.com
Here is more on the Paramount/WB talks as one of their pundits wondering what to do in the event Paramount/WB merger is finalized.
So I guess she's cleaning out her desk. It's not as if the merger won't happen because a hardly known employee will resign as a result. I guess the new owners can consider that a resignation when the merger is done and save on severance.Kara Swisher: I'm Leaving CNN When Paramount Skydance Completes Purchase
"I refuse to work for an organization that doesn't respect journalism."
Here is more on the Paramount/WB talks as one of their pundits wondering what to do in the event Paramount/WB merger is finalized.
The Ax to Swing at CNN — FTVLive
It’s like a nightmare you never wake from, as Journalists continue to lose their jobs…
www.ftvlive.com
Signing off at CNN — FTVLive
Smart move! She’s getting out before Paramount comes in…
www.ftvlive.com
Here is more as the Paramount/WB deal waits for approval.
(This will appear to have a paywall at first---give it 5-10 seconds and it goes away).
Essential pull-quote:
From later in the piece:
Full story:
www.status.news
Essential pull-quote:
From later in the piece:
Full story:
Weiss’ Ratings Wipeout
Six months into Bari Weiss’ overhaul of CBS News, new ratings data obtained by Status shows its flagship programs are shedding viewers at an alarming rate, collapsing to historic lows and accelerating the network’s decline.
www.status.news
There's no question that the two CBS News shows are struggling in the Nielsens. That's nothing new. They've been in the toilet for years.
My take on it is that you don't hire an amateur to run broadcasting, and expect instant success. However, what you hope for is that she'll at least develop some NEW platforms and new revenue streams in areas where she has expertise, and so far, we haven't seen any of that.
My take on it is that you don't hire an amateur to run broadcasting, and expect instant success. However, what you hope for is that she'll at least develop some NEW platforms and new revenue streams in areas where she has expertise, and so far, we haven't seen any of that.
But that is probably the spin the network will put in it. They will say their streaming, YouTube, social media numbers are up and that statement isn’t easily challenged, especially the streaming viewing numbers.
This is like watching Eddie Lampert take over Sears all over again, at first with big proclamations of revitalizing it and making it more competitive, but instead proceeding to bleed it dry and destroy whatever it had left, while enriching himself in the process.
No sympathy for her. She owns and deserves every bit of bad news. All the sympathy for those who poured their very best into the news division only to fall victim to this incompetent fool.(This will appear to have a paywall at first---give it 5-10 seconds and it goes away).
Essential pull-quote:
From later in the piece:
Full story:
Weiss’ Ratings Wipeout
Six months into Bari Weiss’ overhaul of CBS News, new ratings data obtained by Status shows its flagship programs are shedding viewers at an alarming rate, collapsing to historic lows and accelerating the network’s decline.
This brings to mind a problem with consolidation that I don't think anyone has considered, at least publicly. In a world where CBS, or any network, needs to keep multiple station owners satisfied with the network's performance, there's a constituency among those owners to which CBS is accountable. Ratings problems hurt those owners' bottom lines. To state it more bluntly, if the ratings are bad, thereby hurting affiliate station performance, then those affiliates are going to gang up and agitate for changes. That used to happen. Now, however, ownership groups have gotten bigger...and fewer. Two of the biggest, Nexstar and Sinclair, are fully in on the same ideological project that Ellison and Weiss appear to be pushing. If they stand up to the network on anything, it's not over ratings. We've seen that with the late-night hosts. Good ratings weren't enough to keep Colbert on after May. Maybe that was about costs, too, but it's clear that a lot of people view that as a fig leaf covering up a bigger goal. If there is a concern over ratings, the big guys can meet privately and sort it out. No more need for meetings of the affiliates. Whatever few smaller groups and affiliates remain will be cut out of those discussions.Full story:
Weiss’ Ratings Wipeout
Six months into Bari Weiss’ overhaul of CBS News, new ratings data obtained by Status shows its flagship programs are shedding viewers at an alarming rate, collapsing to historic lows and accelerating the network’s decline.
In addition, I think Tom Cibrowski is being set up to be the fall guy, even though it's clear he's not setting the direction of the organization. But Bari and David have this vision thing going and, if the vision isn't working, they won't think it's their fault.
Finally, if this trend continues with CBS News, you may finally get to see what "Big Lou" looks like during one of their commercials.
The other side of that is as the big groups become bigger, with Nexstar reaching 80% of the population, there is less of a need for networks. We've already seen that in radio. Who needs a radio network when iHeart owns a syndication service that feeds national morning shows to its stations?
Long term, that's what this is about. Before all this happened, we thought that Ellison had no need for CBS, the network, or the owned stations. My sense is he still doesn't. But in the short term he likes playing a disrupter. Then he'll sell the network & stations to Nexstar or Sinclair, and he can focus on making movies, which is his main interest.
In a few years, I predict a bunch of splits and spinoffs. Investment bankers will pitch whatever makes them money from underwriting fees (etc.) at any given time. Now they're pushing for consolidation. When that's not possible any more, they'll switch to pitching breakups and spinoffs. You see this time and again in corporate America: the pendulum swings between forming conglomerates for reasons of "synergy" and breaking them up to "unlock value". Once the ideological project to drive out non-right-wing voices from traditional media is complete, Ellison, Sook, and Smith will be open to investment bankers' proposals. They will have accomplished their objectives and can make a little money from corporate breakups, while Wall Street can make a lot more money from those splits.
We haven't seen it in radio. Instead we're seeing stations shut down and licenses turned in. That's where I expect TV to go too.
Here are the actual numbers:
CBS Mornings' 25-54 audience has cratered by 28 percent to 268,000.
CBS Evening News is averaging 4.3 million viewers, down 7 percent year-over-year, with its 25-54 audience down a substantial 18 percent to just 541,000 viewers.
By comparison, ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir is up 8 percent in total viewers with 8.7 million viewers, down just 5 percent in the demo to 1.1 million, effectively doubling Dokoupil’s numbers. NBC’s Nightly News with Tom Llamas is up 6 percent in total audience at 7 million viewers, posting a 7 percent gain in the demo to a little more than 1 million viewers.
Finally. while not mentioned in the article, we all know CBS News Radio under Weiss's watch will soon be down 100 percent to zero listeners.
CBS Mornings' 25-54 audience has cratered by 28 percent to 268,000.
CBS Evening News is averaging 4.3 million viewers, down 7 percent year-over-year, with its 25-54 audience down a substantial 18 percent to just 541,000 viewers.
By comparison, ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir is up 8 percent in total viewers with 8.7 million viewers, down just 5 percent in the demo to 1.1 million, effectively doubling Dokoupil’s numbers. NBC’s Nightly News with Tom Llamas is up 6 percent in total audience at 7 million viewers, posting a 7 percent gain in the demo to a little more than 1 million viewers.
Finally. while not mentioned in the article, we all know CBS News Radio under Weiss's watch will soon be down 100 percent to zero listeners.
True and we are waiting to see how Audacy respond to replacing CBS News Radio in May.
The real wild card is if the WBD deal goes through or craters and how long it takes if it does. It'd be interesting to see Skydance's trajectory if the deal falls through.
Nexstar Eyes KDKA — FTVLive
Don’t be surprised if two Pittsburgh stations have new owners in the near future. We’re talking KDKA and WPXI.
www.ftvlive.com
One would think this is too crazy to be true given that Nexstar just took over Tegna Inc. But Nexstar taking over KDKA-TV aka CBS Pittsburgh sounds odd here. I get the idea Paramount wants to merge with WB but how does selling KDKA-TV get it approved exactly. But by the time we hear about anything happening at Paramount it’s about Bari Weiss and David Ellison. Here’s the President of CBS Stations Jennifer Mitchell. We have not heard anything from her about selling local TV stations. But then again she is in the same spot as Tom Cibrowski they are named presidents within Paramount but have to deal with Bari Weiss and the Ellisons making the final decision.
Paramount Press Express | CBS News and Stations | Executives | Jennifer Mitchell
Sooner or later we'll end up with...
