commentary

In charting the evolution of Black TV, don’t forget the shows that faded from popular memory, struggled to get their due or were canceled before their time. Pictured: L-r: Daphne Maxwell Reid, Virginia Capers and Tim Reid in CBS’s Frank’s Place in 1987. (Everett Collection)

The FCC has held tight to anachronistic structural regulations, dealing a massive blow to broadcasters in dire need of regulatory relief. Localism will be one of the casualties.

Entrenched in the past, the commission has held firm — and even tightened — its deeply out-of-date regulations, dealing a deep blow to broadcasters.

Ted Hearn: “Did the FCC just say that Nexstar and Amazon do not compete in the video programming marketplace? Didn’t Amazon Prime announce today that it will begin showing ads on TV shows and movies starting on Jan. 29? Financial pressure on TV station owners isn’t new, but it isn’t going away, either. But that didn’t seem to bother the FCC. The FCC’s new rulebook is long and complex, technical and tedious – which means a full understanding of the new rules won’t surface until the agency reviews proposed transactions or issues enforcement rulings against a TV station that pushed the limits.”

The entertainment giant has real issues, and now the CEO has to deal with the Greek chorus of Ron DeSantis, Nelson Peltz and Elon Musk at the same time.

Award shows, major sporting events and the Summer Olympics are among a rich slate of programming broadcasters can look forward to, offering a 2024 boost.

Recent research shows news outperforms all other categories in the FAST ecosystem, yet another reason for local broadcasters to leverage their content there and on as many CTV platforms as they can.

Digital news startups and struggling newspapers can make excellent partners with local TV stations that still have the power and platforms to engage like no other media.

Bitcentral’s Greg Morrow: Broadcasters embracing FAST channels target the “average” viewer with advertiser at their peril, as relevancy for specific can be a game-changer for retention.

Oliver Darcy: “The American press is facing, arguably, the gravest potential threat to its freedom in a generation. The four-time indicted, twice-impeached disgraced former president, Donald Trump, who admitted Tuesday that he will govern as a “dictator” on “day one” should he win office again, is overtly vowing to weaponize government and seek retribution against the news media, showing no regard for the First Amendment protections afforded to the Fourth Estate.”

Perry Bacon Jr.: “The cancellation of Mehdi Hasan’s show is the latest in a series of recent moves by MSNBC that are pushing the network in the direction of being the television arm of the Democratic Party leadership, as opposed to a news outlet that upholds left-wing values and perspectives. The network should reverse its decision on Hasan and make clear that it embraces progressive criticism of President Biden and other Democratic leaders.”

The foundation has helped many a broadcast employee through hard times. It can use every bit of possible support to keep seeing that mission through.

Stuart Brotman, the former Museum of TV & Radio chief, recalls his encounters with the media-savvy former secretary of state.

Former FCC chair Mignon Clyburn says regulations shouldn’t stifle the progress of indie streamers serving underrepresented audiences.

Innovid’s Dan Mouradian: “While conversations around attention metrics might grab your (ahem) attention, whether or not a consumer has ‘paid attention’ to your ad does not define your campaign’s effectiveness. What’s more, in an environment that has seen significant investment such metrics shouldn’t be your main focus when measuring performance in connected TV.”

Madhive’s Jon Kaplan: With mass audiences more difficult to reach than ever, ad strategy should focus on targeting segments.

Forget about Facebook, Twitter, and Snap when it comes to around 60% of the average U.S. citizen getting their news — at times — from now mainstream social media platforms. More alarming to some are younger news consumers flocking to newer fringe social media sites. Should we be upset that 32% of 18-29-year-olds now “regularly” get their news from TikTok, according to the Pew Research Center?

FAST channels are streaming’s shiny new object, but in reality, TV stations have been in the FAST business for a very long time. Now, as then, the quality of content makes all the difference.

On Friday morning, Jim Harbaugh will sit in an Ann Arbor courtroom and hear lawyers for his employer argue that he should be able to coach his Michigan football team Saturday afternoon against Maryland. The case is ostensibly about whether Harbaugh knew of an off-campus sign-stealing operation that cost one low-level Wolverines assistant his job. Put the right-or-wrong, who-knew-what-when nature of the argument aside for a minute. That it’s playing out this way is a reflection on who increasingly has the power in college sports. Not coaches or lifelong athletic administrators, but television executives. (Pictured: Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference Tony Petitti, testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to examine the future of college sports, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)

The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation is doing critical work to help media find and preserve the treasure in their vast archives.

Colby Hall: “It’s been 30 days since Hamas launched a horrific attack on Israel, sparking a war and further destabilizing a historically dangerous area of conflict. At Fox News, one reporter has stood out thanks to his coverage: Trey Yingst, the network’s foreign correspondent. The war has captured global attention, and major networks and news outlets have dispatched some of their best journalists to cover it. There are a raft of incredible wartime journalists in the area doing world-class and life-risking reporting. But Yingst has stood out as the new face who just might be out-hustling them all.”

Nora Neus: Failure to do so risks obfuscating the central connection between these shootings, doing a disservice to their readers and viewers.

In early October, RTDNA and 18 other press freedom groups and national news organizations filed two key documents seeking live audiovisual coverage of the trial in United States v. Trump, the D.C. election interference criminal case currently docketed to begin in March.

Emily Barr: Access to local media on streaming platforms is getting more difficult and localism is getting squeezed out of media’s new world order. The FCC and Congress need to act before the damage becomes irreversible.

Creativity, fresh thinking and energy left TV news years ago, driven out by the factory model the industry leaned into after the recession. But the current burnout crisis offers smart broadcasters a chance to recapture the spark.

Local stations need to question their assumptions about traditional revenue sources and set aside ample time for short- and long-range planning and developing multiple budget scenarios.

Gary Brown: Local TV producers are stepping away from the industry and not coming back. Station groups need to address their attrition now.

Phillip Swann: FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced two rule proposals designed to “empower” consumers during channel blackouts caused by carriage disputes between TV providers and broadcasters. However, the proposals would actually “empower” the broadcasters, perhaps triggering even more blackouts. Her initiative is another example of how politicians in Washington are detached from reality when it comes to governing emerging TV technologies.

John Voita: “After absorbing our first game on AZ Family, you can see and feel what it’s like to have a local company focused on presenting local sports. From the moment the broadcast began, we were provided with beautiful cutaways of the desert and a score bug that is not overwhelming on the bottom of the screen. What we witnessed was masterfully nostalgic.”

Vizio’s Travis Hockersmith: “Today, TV viewers are going in many different directions, but they’re all starting from the same place — the smart TV home screen. Advertising technology, budgets and strategies need to catch up to meet viewers where they now live.”

ATSC President Madeleine Noland: Many companies have already linked arms to develop the ATSC 3.0 standard; establish content security; launch next-generation broadcasting reaching most of the U.S. and South Korea plus major cities in Jamaica; bring to retail millions of receivers; and now introduce affordable devices for those who choose to upgrade.

As a currency for TV advertising, ratings leave far too much room for inaccuracies. It’s time to speed up the industry’s shift to impressions as the far superior alternative.

A large pile of cash is now sidling up to all the chatter. In an initiative announced this month, 22 donor organizations, including the Knight Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, are teaming up to provide more than $500 million to boost local news over five years — an undertaking called Press Forward. Journalists and publishers on the local scene in markets across the country have worked nonstop to bring their neighbors important stories and experiment with ways of paying for the service. The injection of more than a half-billion dollars is sure to help the quest for a durable and replicable business model.

The 2023 Emmys may ultimately be remembered less as a celebration than as a wake. Even before the twin strikes that have brought Hollywood production to a halt, prestige TV — that unofficial genre of quality programming that’s become a mainstay of the past 20 years — had a critical, and possibly terminal, diagnosis. Now it seems all but assured that when Hollywood resumes business, the landmark era defined by shows like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire and all their celebrated heirs will be over for good.

Usually when a person or company sells something, the primary motivation is getting back as much money as possible. Disne’s motivation to potentially sell ABC and its owned affiliates, linear cable networks and a minority stake in ESPN isn’t predicated on what these assets will fetch in a sale. It’s about signaling to investors the time has come to stop thinking about Disney as old media.