‘Pause Ads’ Creep Onto Hulu, Peacock and Max as Streamers Seek New Revenue

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Before CNN, CBS News or ABC News can snare one of the series of Republican primary debates taking place in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, another news outlet will have its turn. NewsNation, the upstart cable-news property launched by Nexstar Media in March of 2021, will team up with SiriusXM Radio and the conservative political outlet Washington Free Beacon on December 6 to broadcast the event, the fourth backed by the Republican National Committee following debates telecast by Fox News Media networks and NBC News.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The Super Bowl isn’t the only big football property that will be crammed full of advertising. Amazon’s Prime Video has sold out all the commercial inventory attached to its new “Black Friday” game, the first event the NFL has earmarked for the day after Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday-shopping season, according to Danielle Carney, head of NFL ad-sales for the company. Amazon has also sold out of ad inventory in the “Thursday Night Football” games slated for November 16 and November 30, she says, in part because the company has tried to sell broader ad packages that connect an ad message across a broader swath of content.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor In the midst of a great debate about the future of the U.S. news business, the British are coming. Katty Kay, the veteran BBC newscaster, is set to launch a new deep-dive interview program that will take her away — not permanently — from her usual role covering U.S.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CBS’ news-and-stations division will launch a new unit to examine misinformation and so-called “deepfakes,” or false videos that can often be generated via artificial intelligence. The new unit, called “CBS News Confirmed,” will be led by Claudia Milne, senior vice president for CBS News and Stations and head of standards and practices, along with Ross Dagan, executive vice president and head of news operations and Ttransformation for CBS News and Stations.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Paramount Global saw a third-quarter profit hike thanks to new revenue from its streaming and film operations even as its largest business, linear TV, grappled with flat distribution revenue and a downturn in advertising dollars. The New York owner of CBS, the Paramount movie studio and the Nickelodeon cable network said revenue rose 3% during the period, largely due to a 38% increase in its streaming business and a 14% hike from its film division, which benefitted from the latest releases in the “Mission Impossible” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” franchises.

Along with programming updates, HBO and Max Content CEO Casey Bloys took on a handful of business topics during a 2024 slate event in New York, among them licensing, content spending and password sharing.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor David Corvo, the guiding force behind hundreds of hours of NBC’s signature “Dateline” newsmagazine, will step away from the role at the end of 2023, bringing to a close a TV-news career that has spanned four decades. Corvo has been with “Dateline” in some capacity since joining NBC News in 1995 as a vice president responsible for primetime news programming.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Walmart is still trying to make “fetch” happen. The giant retailer hopes to draw new attention to its Black Friday offerings by getting a jump on advertising around the annual holiday-shopping event. To call attention to new offers and low prices, Walmart will unveil a series of commercials featuring members of the cast of the 2004 movie “Mean Girls” reprising their roles — except now they are adults.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Netflix is ready to use “The Crown,” “Squid Game” and other signature series to take ad dollars from rival streamers. The company says it will start to offer so-called “title sponsorships” to advertisers ready to align with the new reality series “Squid Game: The Challenge” and the final season of “The Crown” as part of its bid to accelerate the utility of its ad-supported tier.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Lester Holt may be turning up more frequently in David Muir‘s rear-view mirror. During Muir’s tenure at “World News Tonight,” the ABC program has done something most TV programs cannot do in the streaming era: Add new linear viewers. Yet in recent weeks one of the evening-news program’s competitors has nibbled at its lead in a crucial audience category.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Christine Romans, a veteran financial journalist who had been with CNN for more than two decades, has joined NBC News. In her new role, Romans will be charged with “reporting across all platforms of NBC News, including writing for digital and on MSNBC,” according to a memo issued Monday by Catherine Kim, senior vice president editorial for NBC News.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Nielsen appears to be trying to move forward with a new audience-measurement technology that many TV networks think still isn’t ready for primetime. The measurement giant in September backed off an effort to incorporate first-party data from Amazon in its study of the audience for the company’s streamcast of “Thursday Night Football.” The move would have marked a first step toward utilizing inputs from the companies Nielsen measures as it produces its widely used tabulation of national viewership, and many TV executives denounced the plan.

A Scots mum who discovered her "loving" husband had multiple other wives and 13 children is set to feature in a new documentary. Mary Turner Thomson first met American man William Allen Jordan online in 2000 before getting married and having two kids together.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Comcast swung to a profit in the third quarter even as the media giant navigated new challenges presented by two different Hollywood talent strikes and shifts in demand for the connectivity services that are at the heart of the company’s financials. The Philadelphia owner of NBCUniversal posted net income of $4 billion, or 98 cents per share in the third quarter, compared with a loss of $4.6 billion, or $1.05 cents per share, a year earlier. Earnings came to $1.08 when adjusted for one-time items.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Live from somewhere near New York, it’s yet another recap of an original broadcast of “Saturday Night Live.” The venerable late-night NBC series, now just two episodes into its 49th season, kicked off the show with a satirical look at the Republican Party. “SNL” skewered Rep. Jim Jordan’s efforts to win the battle for U.S.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Pedro Pascal returned to “SNL,” Saturday night, making a surprise cameo during host Bad Bunny‘s opening monologue. The actor, who hosted an episode last season, served as a translator of sorts, while Bad Bunny boasted of all the things he enjoyed doing in Spanish.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Live from somewhere near New York, it’s yet another recap of an original broadcast of “Saturday Night Live.” The venerable late-night NBC series, now just two episodes into its 49th season, kicked off the show with a satirical look at the Republican Party. “SNL” skewered Rep.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan will soon have to greet ABC’s morning viewers from a decidedly different locale. As part of a larger move by Walt Disney Co., all of the company’s New York properties are slated to move in 2025 to a building in downtown New York in a neighborhood known as Hudson Square. That will include some programs already ensconced in well known studios, such as “GMA” and “Live with Kelly and Mark.” The move won’t isn’t scheduled to take place for some time, but staffers are already coming to grips with how it might affect the program’s standing in TV’s non-stop morning-news wars.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor During the recently ended writers strike, many people who worked on the staffs of TV’s late-night shows wished things would get back to normal. Roy Wood Jr. was surprised to find that he was not one of them.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor NBCUniversal filed an individual request for a video feed to be provided of former President Donald Trump‘s election conspiracy case, which has been scheduled to start on March 4 of next year. NBCU did so even though a coalition of major news organizations filed a request earlier this month for televised proceedings.