Broadcasting and Cable - March 16, 2020

CORONAVIRUS DISRUPTS INDUSTRY TAKING TV TECH INTO THE CLOUD

KATZENBERG’S SHORT GAME

As Quibi prepares to launch, Jeffrey Katzenberg said the deep-pocketed content app is both what’s next for TV, and a throwback to its glory days.

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FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

8 COVER STORY

DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg says his phone-centric Quibi service is both what’s next in TV and a throwback to more lucrative times.

By Daniel Frankel

4 LEAD-IN

The coronavirus crisis is having a ripple effect, with events canceled, studio audiences and workers sent home and stock prices tumbling.

Here’s a look at five sectors hit hardest by the global pandemic and how the media industry is responding.

By Mike Farrell

4 LEAD-IN 14 SPECIAL REPORT: GOLDEN

MIKE AWARDS 16 PROGRAMMING 17 LOCAL NEWS 20 SYNDICATION 21 CURRENCY 22 POLICY 24 FATES & FORTUNES 26 FREEZE FRAME 30 DATA MINE 32 VIEWPOINT 34 THE FIVE SPOT

18 TECH

A group of engineers from Discovery, Fox, Amazon and other companies have earned a tech Emmy for what some say is a glimpse into TV’s future: a cloudbased content delivery system built for the digital age.

By George Winslow

4 LEAD-IN

Cover: JohnStaley.com; This Page: JohnStaley.com; Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

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LEAD-IN

Five TV Sectors Impacted by COVID-19 Days after WHO declared outbreak a global pandemic, the television industry responds

By Mike Farrell michael.farrell@futurenet.com @MikeFCable

T

he spread of the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the economy, as new cases continued to surface worldwide, the death toll mounted and the World Health Organization officially declared the outbreak a global pandemic. The media business responded quickly, banning live studio audiences from show tapings and postponing upfront gatherings and industry conferences, including the sector’s biggest trade event, NAB Show in Las Vegas.

Other organizations have postponed smaller industry gatherings like the ACA Connects annual Washington, D.C., policy conference (see Five Spot, page 34) and the T. Howard Foundation’s annual fundraising dinner.

As the cases mount — at press time, there were about 2,000 COVID-19 cases in the U.S., with 41 deaths — many in the industry fear the impact could grow worse. Globally, more than 140,000 people have been infected with the virus and more than 5,000 have died. With information around the virus and its potential effects changing daily, here is an update of the potential impact to the TV business.

JohnStaleyPhoto.com

Industry Conferences

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Perhaps the biggest conference cancellation so far for the television industry is that of the National Association of Broadcasters’ NAB Show 2020 in Las Vegas, April 18-22. The NAB had tried for weeks to keep the show on schedule, but threw in the towel March 11. The organization said it was working on alternative dates, but none had been set as of yet.

The coronavirus has forced several smaller industry conferences and fundraisers scheduled for March to postpone their dates, including the ACA Connects policy summit, scheduled for March 17-19 in Washington, D.C.; the T. Howard Foundation’s annual fundraising dinner in New York on March 25; and the International Wireless Communications Expo, slated for March 30-April 3 in Las Vegas.

The LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition also cancelled its annual event at the NAB Show in Las Vegas due to coronavirus concerns. The event, now in its seventh year, was scheduled for April 17.

MIPTV, the international TV conference Broadcastingcable.com

that was scheduled to be held in Cannes, France, March 30-April 2 has been canceled, as has the Google I/O Developers Conference set for May 12-14 in Mountain View, California.

The Paley Center for Media also announced that it was postponing its PaleyFest event, scheduled for March 13-22 in Los Angeles, to a later date.

Content

CBS was the first major network to cancel its annual upfront presentation to advertisers, opting instead to present its 2020-21 lineup in a video upfront special posted to digital platforms.

The network had expected to present its upfront at Carnegie Hall in New York on May 13. In addition to the 2020-21 broadcast lineup, content from CBS Entertainment, CBS News, CBS Sports and CBS All Access were also scheduled to be highlighted. The broadcaster said further details regarding the upfront special will be announced at a later date.

Later on March 12, NBCUniversal said it too would cancel its upfront, opting to televise and stream its presentation for the 2020-2021 season “to ensure the safety of all participants while also reflecting the increasingly direct relationship between NBCUniversal, its fans and its partners.”

Fox joined the fray later in the day,

(Top) The NAB Show in Las Vegas won't occur as scheduled April 18-22. (Below) ViacomCBS president and chief advertising revenue officer Jo Ann Ross and others will forgo in-person upfronts this year.

WONDER WOMEN, NYC TV WEEK SPRING EVENTS RESCHEDULED The Wonder Women and NYC TV Week Spring events, produced by Broadcasting+Cable, Multichannel News and Next TV, will not be held as scheduled on March 24-26 but will instead be rescheduled until June, amid coronavirus safety concerns associated with large gatherings of people.

The 22nd annual Multichannel News Wonder Women luncheon is moving

to Monday, June 8, at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York. The event had been scheduled for March 26 at that venue. The Wonder Women luncheon also supports the mission of the New York chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications.

NYC TV Week Spring events — Advanced Advertising, CultureX Conversations and Next TV Summit — will be rescheduled to the week of June 22.

For the latest information about Wonder Women Spring, please visit mcnwonderwomen.com. For the latest information about NYC TV Week Spring, please visit nyctvweek.com.

announcing that it would cancel its upfront presentation originally scheduled for May 11.

The CW also said it would cancel its live upfront in May, and was exploring alternative ways to present its lineup to advertisers.

Discovery Inc. also said it would cancel its live upfront, scheduled for May 12.

The Walt Disney Co. said late March 12 that it too would cancel the upfronts for its networks and streaming service Hulu.

AT&T’s WarnerMedia and its advanced advertising unit Xandr said they also would alter plans for the upfronts.

Other networks that postponed, canceled or modified upfront events include: • Fox News Channel canceled its live upfront in New York scheduled for March 24; • Comcast postponed the March 12 upfront for its Freewheel cable network; • AMC Networks canceled its March 18 upfront presentation in New York.

LEAD-IN

• A+E Networks said it would replace its live March 25 upfront meeting with a series of virtual presentations conducted on an agency-by-agency basis; NBCUniversal has suspended production across all of its production units for about 35 programs — including all Dick Wolf dramas still in production like Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med, Law & Order: SVU (NBC) and FBI (CBS); and syndicated talk show The Kelly Clarkson Show — in response to the coronavirus. Universal Television also put on hold several productions that haven’t started yet, like season 2 of Russian Doll (Netflix) and Little America (Apple) and season one of Rutherford Falls (Peacock), according to reports.

CBS also said it was postponing the upcoming season of reality shows The Amazing Race and Survivor because of the virus. Season 33 of The Amazing Race was about three weeks into production when the order came down.

Season 32, already produced, is expected to debut in the spring. Survivor will delay production of season 41 (season 40 is currently airing and will not be affected), with producers saying they hope to resume filming in Fiji in May.

Getty Images; Gregory Shamus/Getty Images; Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Advertising

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Most analysts were cautiously optimistic that any impact of the virus to ad sales would be minimal and for the short-term.

Moody’s Investors Service estimated that automotive, travel, consumer products and restaurants would be the sectors hardest hit by the virus, predicting that it could impact supply chains for those businesses as well, limiting inventory and products to sell.

Moody’s also estimated that a prolonged outbreak of the virus requiring consumers to self-quarantine could have a positive effect on pay TV and streaming video distributors by increasing viewership and engagement.

“That, together with political advertising ahead of the presidential election, may partially offset the reduction in demand for ads,” Moody’s senior VP Neil Begley wrote.

UBS Securities analyst John Hodulik also predicted that any impact the virus will have on the TV ad market would be short lived.

In a note to clients, Hodulik wrote that most advertisers are in a “wait-and-see mode.”

Although further event cancellations could drive a pullback in ad dollars, the UBS analyst said the ad market has been resilient in the past and should remain so now. He said the travel sector — which represents less than 10% of TV ad spend — is likely to feel the greatest impact, followed by advertisers with close travel connections like credit card companies.

Delays in film releases could also impact studio ads on TV. The loss of sporting events could also force advertisers to move spending to digital or pull back entirely, as those audiences Broadcastingcable.com

are tough to duplicate, particularly as pay TV subscribers and ratings continue to decline, according to Hodulik.

Stock Market

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell into bear market territory March 11, ending an 11-year bull run as investors continued to panic over the pandemic. The Dow fell 1,464 points on March 11, capping a 5,870-point (20%) decline in the market since Feb. 13.

Broadcast stocks like Sinclair Broadcast Group (down 36%), Nexstar Media Group (down 34%), and Gray Television (down 47%) fell hard during that period, amid fears that the virus would impact the advertising markets. Being the focus of a possible bidding war between three potential suitors — Byron Allen, Allen & Co. and Gray TV — helped ease the slide for Tegna stock, which was down only 3% between Feb. 13 and March 11.

Cable stocks, which according to some analysts are expected to weather the pandemic better than some sectors, fell fairly hard during the decline, as some companies had exposure in countries affected more seriously by the outbreak. The Walt Disney Co. saw its stock fall about 25% since Feb. 13, as strength in its over-the-top and content units were overshadowed by fears around its theme park and cruise line businesses. Comcast, whose cable and content units could benefit if consumers are forced to self-quarantine, nevertheless fell 17% over the period over fears concerning its U.S. theme parks business and the possible loss of the Summer Olympic Games.

Sports

As fears mounted over large gatherings of people potentially accelerating the spread of the virus, sporting events began to feel the heat, with the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League suspending their seasons. Major League Soccer said it would suspend its season for 30 days because of the virus.

On March 12, the National Collegiate Athletic Association decided to cancel its Men’s and Women’s Division I Basketball

The stock market (top), ad revenues (l.) and sports organizations like the National Hockey League (below) were all impacted by the coronavirus.

Championships, also known as “March Madness,” a day after initially saying the tournaments would be held in empty arenas.

After consulting with members — and after two major men’s basketball powerhouses, Duke and Kansas, suspended their athletic programs — the NCAA decided to throw in the towel.

CBS and Turner hold the television rights to the NCAA tournament, scheduled for March 19- April 8. In a joint statement, CBS and Turner said they support the group’s decision.

Major League Baseball on March 12 said it was cancelling Spring Training and would delay Opening Day dates for the regular season by at least two weeks.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver made the decision to suspend play on March 11, after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (and later guard Donovan Mitchell) tested positive for COVID-19.

WarnerMedia’s Turner Sports carries NBA games on TBS and TNT, and Turner Sports said it supports the NBA’s decision.

The NHL has 189 games remaining, including 10 scheduled for March 13. The regular season was scheduled to end April 4, with the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting the week of April 6.

A ban on gatherings and events of more than 250 people in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties in Washington state imposed by Gov. Jay Inslee meant that an XFL contest in Seattle between the Dragons and the Los Angeles Wildcats on March 14 also would be played without fans. Later, the XFL announced it too would suspend its regular season.

Washington state has been hit hardest in the U.S. by the coronavirus, with 268 reported cases and 24 deaths at press time.

The biggest question in sports remains whether the International Olympic Committee will postpone or cancel the Summer Olympic Games, scheduled for July in Tokyo, which has been hit hard by COVID-19. At press time, the IOC maintained the games will go ahead as planned, which should be good news for U.S. broadcast rightsholder Comcast NBCUniversal. Comcast has said that even if the Olympics were canceled, which some analysts predicted could result in as much as $1 billion in lost ad revenue over the two weeks of the Games, it has adequate insurance to protect the company. ●

LEAD-IN

THE WATCHMAN

WATCH THIS …

Senior content producer Michael Malone’s look at the programming scene

My Brilliant Friend: The Story On Monday, My Brilliant Friend: The Story of a New Name premieres on HBO. Based on the second book of Elena Ferrante’s series, New Name follows Elena and Lila’s journey into adulthood as they weather romance, success and betrayal.

Also on Monday, Roswell, New Mexico restarts on The CW. An alien is lurking in Roswell, and he may not be the only

Little Fires Everywhere

By Michael Malone michael.malone@futurenet.com @BCMikeMalone

Anti-Social Networks on PBS

Hulu; HBO; Jace Downs/IFC; Will Hart/NBC

Niall Ferguson’s Networld debuts on PBS March 17. It’s a three-part docuseries that looks at the role of social networks in our lives, and how they are not quite delivering on the ideals envisioned for them years ago.

Historian and author Ferguson hosts. Stephen Segaller, executive in charge, said Ferguson likes to “use history to shed light on the present day.”

The series dives into social networks from the days of yore, including how the printing press helped Martin Luther’s Reformation take off in the 16th century, and how Paul Revere used his network of social compatriots to spread the word about the British coming, which proved to be a more efficient method than riding his horse around town, shouting his head off.

Networld dives into how social networks assemble vast amounts of intelligence on their users. “Whether we like it or not, that can be used for nefarious purposes, or for commercial purposes,” Segaller said.

Ferguson’s books include The Square and The Tower:

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Networld Broadcastingcable.com

Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook.

He relies on brainy insiders to share their insights.

Segaller mentioned “a half-dozen of the most brilliant scientists and theorists” talking about “how communication networks behave.”

Interviewees include Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google.

Fake news gets a close-up in the series, which looks into Russia’s efforts to influence the U.S. president election four years ago, and again this year. The coronavirus, Segaller said, is a reminder of how vulnerable our societies can be.

“Disruption is very bad for social cohesion,” Segaller said, “including the economy and other things we hold dear.”

Brockmire one.

On Wednesday, Brockmire begins its fourth and final season on IFC. Hank Azaria plays the disgraced baseball announcer.

Friday, Mira, Royal Detective begins on Disney Junior. Inspired by the cultures of India, the mystery-adventure tells the story of Mira,

Feel the Burn on Hulu Little Fires Everywhere gets going on Hulu March 18.

Reese Witherspoon plays Elena, mother of a wealthy family in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Kerry Washington portrays Mia, single mother with a teen daughter who moves into Shaker Heights, and into Elena’s life.

Witherspoon and Washington executive produce, as does showrunner and creator Liz Tigelaar.

“It’s a show about women that’s mostly made by women,” Tigelaar said. “It has a real perspective about the struggle and joys of motherhood and the pain of loss, and about race and class.”

Joshua Jackson, Gavin Lewis and Lexi Underwood are also in the cast.

The show is set a few decades ago, but Tigelaar said Little Fires is super-timely today. “It’s easy to sit back and judge someone who is not like you,” she said.

“This raises really big questions, like, what is a good mother?”

Celeste Ng wrote the novel that inspired the series.

She’s a producer on the show, and has a cameo to boot.

Tigelaar shared something Ng said about the project: “I wrote the song, and you guys do the cover version.” ●

The Blacklist a brave young commoner appointed to the role of royal detective by the queen.

Also on Friday, The Blacklist is back on NBC. It is season eight, and James Spader’s “Red” Reddington is still hustling to stay a step ahead of the nasty folks on his list.

COVER STORY

If You Build It, They Will Come Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg says his new short-form mobile streaming service’s content is so good, there’s no way it can’t find an audience

By Daniel Frankel daniel.frankel@futurenet.com @dannyfrankel

JohnStaley.com; Quibi

W

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hile executives and companies vested in traditional media have a spotty record in terms of creating video programming for mobile phones, Jeffrey Katzenberg thinks he has simple entertainment physics working in his favor with Quibi, the streaming platform featuring short-form video targeted to mobile devices, launching April 6.

“One thing that’s happened to me in 45 years of being in Hollywood and in this industry is, I’ve never seen an instance where real quality entertainment hasn’t found an audience,” Katzenberg told B+C. “Whether we find it on the first day or 10th day or 200th day, if you make it and it’s good, they will come.”

For the DreamWorks co-founder and his celebrity CEO Meg Whitman, the former Hewlett-Packard and eBay chief, getting financial and creative support for Quibi hasn’t been much of a problem. Quibi (which Katzenberg says is short for “quick bites”) just announced another $750 million in private funding, bringing its total venture-capital haul to $1.75 billion since introducing itself two years ago. Major media companies like Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal and Viacom are backing Quibi, as is Chinese conglomerate Alibaba.

Advertisers ranging from T-Mobile to PepsiCo to Google have also bought in. Whitman told a jam-packed Las Vegas auditorium crowd during Quibi’s CES presentation in January that the company had already sold out an initial advertising inventory valued at $153 million.

Then there’s the creative talent, which reads like a roster from an early ’90s NBA Dream Team, except there are a lot more than 12 players on the roster: Steven Spielberg, Ben Stiller, Kiefer Sutherland, Idris Elba, Kevin Hart, Chrissy Teigen, Lorne Michaels, Sam Raimi and Antoine Fuqua. There are just too many Hollywood A-listers either producing content for Quibi, or in front of its cameras, to name.

“At the end of the day, I think the success of

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anything comes with the content,” said Jeff Gilbert, VP of strategy for Qwilt, operator of a popular cloud-based content delivery network (CDN).

“Content is king, as they always say. And if Quibi is able to bring compelling content, even in short form, anything is possible.”

Indeed, all that’s missing at this point is a mass audience.

Apples and Submarines

Katzenberg dismisses any juxtaposition of Quibi to Go90 — Verizon Communications’s failed mobile-first streaming service — as comparing “apples to submarines.” But Go90’s sinking to the bottom of the over-the-top ocean was infamous … and worth discussing in any narrative weighing Quibi’s chances.

Named after the mobile viewing behavior of tilting a smartphone from vertical (profile) to horizontal (landscape) mode, Go90 was launched with huge fanfare by Verizon in 2015, billed as a can’t-miss opportunity for the No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier to justify its $4.4 billion purchase of AOL

and its copious advanced advertising assets.

AOL was among a number of Verizon purchases that culminated into an operating unit called Oath Brands, which was headed by former AOL chief Tim Armstrong and ran Go90 — into the ground. In 2014, Verizon spent $200 million to acquire Intel’s OnCue video tech assets.

There was the $4.83 billion purchase of Yahoo, and the purchase for an undisclosed sum of Vessel, the online video company founded by former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar. Various reports have priced Verizon’s Go90 bath at around $1.2 billion, but who really knows how much higher it goes.

In the Go90 postmortem, a popular narrative emerged that maybe there isn’t a business in shortform viewing for smartphones.

For his part, Katzenberg was enmeshed in Go90, too.

In 2013 — three years before Comcast bought DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion, and when Katzenberg still ran the studio — DWA paid $33 million for AwesomenessTV, a popular YouTube channel operator run by media entrepreneur Brian Robbins.

Right before Comcast took over, Katzenberg and Robbins carved out a $159 million deal to make AwesomenessTV Go90’s biggest programming supplier.

Katzenberg is loath to pass over the grave of Go90 in any way. However, he did say: “I think we gained many of the insights that informed what we’re doing today. And the structure of the [Go90 business model] is fundamentally so different from what we’re doing.”

Never mind that YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram provide copious examples of successful mobile video business models. Indeed, YouTube made more than $15 billion in advertising revenue last year, much of it generated in mobile. Katzenberg noted that Go90 was a free-to-consumer offering existing only on as much advertising as Verizon could sell.

While Go90 “could only spend $5,000 minute on programming at the highest end of what they were doing, Quibi spends $100,000,” Katzenberg said, supporting his “apples to submarines” analogy.

“Not that money buys success, but it can buy you a different type of programming, a different type of storytelling, and for sure, a different type of filmmaker,” he said.

At CES, Katzenberg cited Dan Brown’s

If Quibi is able to bring compelling content, even in short form, anything is possible.� — Jeffrey Katzenberg, Quibi co-founder

Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg (l.) and CEO Meg Whitman bowed the phonecentric video services at CES in Las Vegas.

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COVER STORY

best-selling The Da Vinci Code novel series, and its short chapters, as an inspiration for Quibi. “I’m guided by the interest I have in this new form of storytelling,” he said, explaining a new paradigm where it’s not just a targeted audience of viewers millennial-aged and younger watching movies and TV series that are broken up into seven-to-10-minute snippets, but older people getting into the habit as well.

In terms of imagining Quibi’s relationship with its content creators, Katzenberg said, “We went back to the way television used to work in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s,” when producers were able to keep their syndication rights.

Indeed, Quibi creators get rights to the full-length version of their shows back in two years, and the episodic version in seven years.

“Networks paid the cost of production, but they licensed content from IP companies, studios and creatives,” he explained. “The post-network value — the syndication value — was the payoff. That is where the great win came.”

Game of Thrones cast member Sophie Turner stars in Quibi’s Survive; Liam Hemsworth (l.) stars in original The Most Dangerous Game.

Luring in A-Listers

A-list talent is flocking to Quibi, Katzenberg added, “not because we’re the nicest people, although I hope we’re nice. It’s because we’ve given them a financial incentive that’s better than anything else that exists in our industry today.”

With its massive VC war chest, Quibi is planning 175 original short-form series in its first year, totaling more than 8,500 episodes.

When the platform launches in a few weeks, users will have the choice of paying $5 a month for a version with a few six-to-15-second ads per episode, or paying $8 a month for a version of Quibi with no ads.

Quibi just announced an aggressive promotional campaign that will give users three free months to try the service. It’s a price of doing business in a world in which the new Apple TV+ is offering 12 free months to purchasers of new Mac computers and iPhones, and where Verizon offers a free year of Disney+ to new unlimited plan customers.

Not that Katzenberg sees Quibi competing with Apple TV+ , Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock or even Netflix, or any of the other new subscription VOD services being foisted into the so-called streaming wars.

COMING UP ON QUIBI

Quibi

‘THANKS A MILLION’ Executive produced by Jennifer Lopez, this reality series features celebrities including Kristen Bell, Nick Jonas, Tracy Morgan, Aaron Rodgers, Yara Shahidi, Gabriel Iglesias, Anthony Davids, Kevin Hart, Karlie Kloss and Lopez herself giving away, one each episode, $100,000 to an ostensibly deserving and unsuspecting person. The kicker: That person has to give half the money to someone else deserving under the same pay-it-forward terms. As Quibi

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Katzenberg views Quibi as driving in an entirely “other lane” compared to more living room-based OTT services.

“How many people are going to give up their Apple Music or their Spotify subscription because they’re now subscribing to Disney+?” he asked.

Beyond a different qualitative level of storytelling, Quibi is selling itself on a core interactive technology feature it calls “Turnstyle,” which is based on the natural habit of toggling between vertical profile mode to horizontal landscape mode and back (the very behavior Verizon branded its failed mobile video enterprise on).

Turnstyle is woven into the very fabric of the Quibi viewing experience. During Quibi’s CES presentation, chief product officer Tim Conrad demonstrated the feature by showing off a clip from the short-form series Nest, in which a terrified woman tries texting and calling her husband as an intruder shows up on her Nest WiFi doorbell. The viewer is inclined to watch the portion of the video that unfolds on the woman’s smartphone , as she desperately tries to message her husband, in profile mode. The viewer then toggles back

notes, across the 10 episodes of the first season, $1 million will be placed “into the hands of everyday people.”

‘SURVIVE’ Sophie Turner and Corey Hawkins play the only survivors of a plane crash on a remote snow-covered mountain.

Together, they embark on a multisnippet wilderness journey that’s described as being, well, harrowing.

‘MOST DANGEROUS GAME’ Inspired by Richard Connell’s 1924 short-story classic, Liam Hemsworth plays a man desperate to take care of his pregnant wife before he

to landscape to view more traditional narrative scenes unfold, such as the intruder kicking down the door.

Turnstyle doesn’t come cheaply.

The approach requires Quibi producers to create two production workflows, and editors on Quibi projects say that can double post-production costs.

Meanwhile, Quibi just began locking legal horns in a California federal court with a New York-based video technology company, Eko, which says it owns the patent to the tech behind Turnstyle. Quibi said that claim is bogus and is countersuing.

Still, Turnstyle is one of the reasons that Quibi creators are so “charged up and engaged about doing something different,” Katzenberg said.

A promotional blitz for Quibi, which began with a pricey Super Bowl ad, will peak over the next few weeks. “You’ll have to be hidden away, under a rock, or in a cave on an island that no one has ever heard of not to know about us,” Katzenberg said.

“Today, 26 days out [from launch], I have lots of optimism,” he added. The audience will come. He’s sure of it.

“People have made really great programming for us,” Katzenberg said. “When [viewers] see it, we’ll be on our way.” ●

succumbs to terminal illness. In this dystopian action thriller, he takes a lucrative offer to participate in an event in which he soon finds out he’s not the hunter but the prey.

‘CHRISSY’S COURT’ As Quibi notes, if you thought actressmodel Chrissy Teigen couldn’t become a courtroom judge, well,, “you’ve been overruled!”

Teigen will, in each shortform episode, preside over a small claims case, with her mom as bailiff. Hey, she’s tough but fair.

‘#FREERAYSHAWN’ Produced by Laurence Fishburne and Antoine Fuqua, #FreeRayshawn features Stephan James, who starred in the Jesse Owens biopic Race, as a young, black Iraq War veteran, Rayshawn, set up by crooked New Orleans cops. He takes refuge inside his apartment building with his girlfriend and child, negotiating with a sympathetic cop (played by Fishburne) as the stand-off drama escalates. Skeet Ulrich is also featured among the snippets, but it’s not clear how. — DF

SPECIAL REPORT: GOLDEN MIKE AWARDS

Broadcasters Foundation chairman Dan Mason, Inside Edition anchor Deborah Norville, 2020 Golden Mike recipient Dave Lougee and Broadcasters Foundation president Jim Thompson.

I’ve never forgotten nor taken for granted the power we have as broadcasters.

— Dave Lougee, president and CEO, Tegna

Tegna Chief Dave Lougee Gets Golden Mike Award Deborah Norville hosts black-tie event for broadcasters in need

By Michael Malone michael.malone@futurenet.com @BCMikeMalone

Wendy Moger-Bross

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ave Lougee, president and CEO of Tegna, picked up the 2020 Golden Mike Award at the Plaza Hotel in New York March 4. The event is a fundraiser that supports the Broadcasters Foundation of America, which provides aid to broadcasters in need.

Deborah Norville, anchor of Inside Edition, hosted the gala, which attracted more than 350 attendees and raised over $400,000.

George Beasley, founder and chairman of Beasley Media Group, got the lifetime achievement award. Beasley’s daughter Caroline, the CEO of Beasley Media Group, accepted on his behalf.

Nile Rodgers and Chic performed, the songs including disco staple “Good Times” and “Get Lucky,” which Rodgers co-wrote.

Prior to rising to the top of Tegna, Lougee

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was executive VP of Belo. Earlier, he was VP of news at WRC Washington and news director at KUSA Denver.

Former Belo chief Jack Sander saluted Lougee from the stage. The Sander Media founder noted Lougee’s local news background as an indicator of how much he loves

Dan Mason; Caroline Beasley, accepting the Lifetime Leadership Award for her father, George Beasley; Jim Thompson, and Deborah Norville.

and supports community content and those who gather it. “Congratulations and well done,” Sander said.

Gordon Smith, National Association of Broadcasters president and CEO, described Lougee’s work from when he was chairman of the NAB board. “We love the passion you bring to broadcasting every single day,” Smith said.

Smith talked about how nothing makes Lougee happier than when a Tegna reporter picks up a Murrow or Cronkite award for reporting excellence. “At his heart, he’s a news guy,” said Smith.

Lynn Beall, Tegna executive VP and chief operating officer of media operations, was next. She spoke of Lougee’s focus on doing the right thing on a daily basis. “I have seen this play out countless times in the years we have worked together,” Beall said. “He stands for truth and he reminds us every day that what we do truly matters.”

Lougee then stepped on stage. “If you would’ve told me you could get this room to simultaneously say ‘I’m up all night to get lucky,’ I wouldn’t have called that,” he quipped, referring to Rodgers’ performance.

Lougee said broadcasters are called upon to serve their communities every day. “We can’t [do that] if we don’t take care of our own,” he said.

Local broadcast relies on “facts, not fear,” he said, amidst the national confusion around coronavirus, and provides truth when so much fake news is floating around.

“I’ve never forgotten nor taken for granted the power we have as broadcasters,” said Lougee.

The Broadcasters Foundation of America has distributed millions of dollars in aid to broadcasters who have lost their livelihood through a catastrophic event, debilitating disease or unforeseen tragedy.

Past Golden Mike winners include Perry Sook, Emily Barr, David Barrett, Michael Bloomberg and Bob Pittman. ●

PROGRAMMING

‘One Day at a Time’ Prepares To Pop on New Network Why rebooted sitcom did not work on Netflix, but may take off on Pop

By Michael Malone michael.malone@futurenet.com @BCMikeMalone

Nicole Wilder/POP TV

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year ago, One Day at a Time, a bold rethinking of a vintage sitcom, was left for dead at Netflix. With Justina Machado and Rita Moreno in the cast, the reboot went for three seasons until Netflix announced its cancellation in March 2019.

Pop TV swooped in in June and resuscitated One Day at a Time. The new season premieres March 24, with One Day leading out of smash comedy Schitt’s Creek. Pop TV president Brad Schwartz said it’s the first time a streaming show has relocated to a linear channel.

“What might not be a hit show on Netflix could very well be the biggest show on Pop,” he said. “You’re dealing with different metrics.”

The original One Day at a Time, about a divorced woman with two headstrong teen daughters living in an apartment building, featuring a mustachioed superintendent who is quick to offer advice, was on CBS from 1975 to 1984.

Norman Lear created the show and relaunched it in 2017. Produced by Sony Pictures Television, the current One Day is centered around the Cuban-American Alvarez family. Machado’s Penelope is a veteran and the mother of two children, and Moreno plays Penelope’s mother Lydia.

While most reboots stay mostly true to their original template, critics found the One Day update timely and refreshing. The series got a stunning 98 on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, including 100s for seasons two and three.

“One Day at a Time is a show that radiates delight,” said The New York Times.

Co-creator and executive producer Gloria Calderon Kellett said the experience was positive at Netflix. “We were so creatively supported,” she said. “Netflix was really good to us.”

Critics and viewers alike howled when the cancellation came down. “We spent several weeks trying to find a way to make another season work, but in the end simply not enough people watched to justify another season,” Netflix said. Vulture called it a “betrayal.”

Comedies seem to have a tougher time breaking out on Netflix than dramas, and the platform’s younger viewers might not have connected with a multicam comedy whose original series they probably never watched.

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“To hear it’s over is always a painful thing,” Calderon Kellett, who previously worked on How I Met Your Mother, Rules of Engagement and other comedies, said.

She said the reaction from viewers to the cancellation was “very moving.”

“Shows come and go and people are quite used to it,” she said. “I was very pleased and stunned by the outcry of fans.”

Rebooting the Reboot

Schwartz made his move on resurrecting One Day shortly thereafter. He said CBS All Access also went hard for it, but its status as an SVOD network, similar to Netflix (which retains the reboot’s first three seasons), prevented it from landing One Day. Besides Schitt’s Creek, which was nominated for a best comedy Emmy last year, Pop TV shows include Florida Girls and Flack. Schwartz called One Day a perfect fit at the network, which he described as “a little comedy powerhouse,” with a brand that’s all about joy and happiness.

“Joyous comedies in dark times,” he said.

“Shows that can take you away from it, and can make you cry as much as they can make you laugh.”

Pop is putting its marketing might into One Day. Schwartz said the entire network is behind it. “Sometimes it’s better to be a smaller network’s No. 1 show than it is to be a

Taking One Day at a Time to Pop (l. to r.): Ray Romano as Brian, Marcel Ruiz as Alex, Justina Machado as Penelope and Rita Moreno as Lydia.

bigger network’s No. 12 show,” Schwartz said.

Part of ViacomCBS, Pop is promoting its new show across the corporation’s cable holdings, which includes MTV and Paramount Network. Schwartz described “an incredibly powerful portfolio of brands that we can use to break a piece of content through.”

Calderon Kellett appreciates the promotional push. “It seems like more than we ever got at Netflix,” she said.

One Day will lead out of the final three episodes of Schitt’s Creek. The series finale for Schitt’s April 7 will lead into a documentary about the comedy, followed by an episode of One Day at a Time. Calderon Kellett said there’s a lot of common ground between Schitt’s Creek and One Day at a Time, two family comedies that touch on inclusion.

“They’re very different shows, but they’re in line with each other,” she said.

Eyes On the Election

The new season has 13 episodes. Everyone has new relationship tangles to work out, said Calderon Kellett. There will be an episode dedicated to politics, and another focused on religion. “It’s a sexy year,” she said.

An awful lot has happened for One Day over the course of one year. “I’m glad we’re in a different place one year later,” Calderon Kellett said. ●

LOCAL NEWS

Seattle Stations Cover Coronavirus Coronavirus has local newsrooms hopping in DMA No. 13

By Michael Malone michael.malone@futurenet.com @BCMikeMalone

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he Seattle TV-station newsrooms have their hands full covering the coronavirus these days. The KING website had FACTS NOT FEAR and CORONAVIRUS FULL COVERAGE atop its homepage on March 11. The KOMO site talked up a TV special on the virus at 7 p.m. that night. The KIRO homepage featured a story about a local hospital banning patient visits, while KCPQ had a report about school closings.

“We’ve had specials and dedicated newscasts related to the coronavirus,” Greg Bilte, VP and general manager at KIRO, said.

Seattle-Tacoma is DMA No. 13 and it’s a boomtown. The tech giants, including Amazon,

keep well-educated, high-earning professionals flocking to the market. “Seattle has become somewhat like a mini-San Francisco,” said Kevin Walsh, general manager at KSTW. Walsh knows of what he speaks: he’s also the president and GM of CBS-owned KPIX-KBCW San Francisco.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has ABC affiliate KOMO and Univision outlet KUNS. Apollo holds CBS affiliate KIRO. Tegna has KING-KONG, the NBC-independent duopoly. Fox recently acquired KCPQ and MyNet station KZJO from Nexstar. CBS owns The CW affiliate KSTW and Ion has the Telemundo station KWPX on a subchannel. Comcast is the main pay TV operator in Seattle-Tacoma.

It is a blazing news race between KING, KOMO and KIRO. “Each daypart is neck and neck and neck,” said Jim Rose, president and GM, KING-KONG. “It is a very tight race.”

In November, KING and KOMO tied in the 6 a.m. household battle, with KIRO just behind.

KIRO ANCHOR RAIBLE SET TO RETIRE KIRO anchor Steve Raible will retire this spring. A former Seahawks player, he will wrap up close to 38 years with the station.

Raible anchors the 5-6:30 p.m. block on the station, and previously helmed late news. He also

Craig Herrera, meteorologist at Tegna's KING, is part of a neck-andneck race for news supremacy in Seattle.

handles Seahawks games on the radio.

Raible attended Georgia Tech, and recalled seeing anchor David Brinkley speak. “To me, he was the man,” he said.

Not more than 200 students were in the room that day. “I know I was the only football player there,” Raible said.

He played wide receiver for the Seahawks from 1976 to 1981, and retired to start in broadcasting. He joined KIRO as co-host of PM Magazine and a fill-in sports reporter. “I found it fascinating,” he said. “I loved every aspect of it.

KING won the 25-54 derby at 6. KOMO was tops in 5 p.m. households, and just behind KING in 25-54. At 6 p.m., KOMO won households, and KING took the demos by a hair. On to 11 p.m., and KIRO was tops in Monday-Sunday households at 2.8, ahead of KING’s 2.0 and KOMO’s 1.9.

KING did a 0.8 in 25-54 at 11 p.m., just ahead of KOMO’s 0.7.

KIRO has taken significant strides since news director John Laporte came on from WITI Milwaukee last May. “This has been an incredibly dramatic turnaround,” Bilte said.

Bilte said the story selection philosophy has changed, but won’t provide details. “We aim to be there for the people,” he said, “and offer answers to them.”

KING has recast its 4 p.m. newscast, which previously had more lifestyle elements. “We discovered there is a certain set of expectations when KING5 is on the air,” Rose said.

KCPQ, known as Q13, has weekday news from 4:30-10 a.m., and MyNet sister JOEtv has weekend news 7 to 11 a.m. JOEtv does 8-9 p.m. news weeknights and 9-10 p.m. every night.

Every month, the Q13 news team dedicates a week of coverage to individual communities as part of its All Local initiative. KCPQ and KZJO feature the Seattle NFL, MLS and WNBA teams.

A handful of CBS-owned CW affiliates have debuted 10 p.m. newscasts, but KSTW does not have that in the works. “We’re not going to rule it out, but we’re not there yet,” Walsh said.

The station does do daily 60-second weather and sports “vignettes,” produced in San Francisco, said Walsh.

The Seattle economy is solid, but homelessness is a persistent problem. The coronavirus remains a concern. “It is affecting local business,” Bilte said.

While they were covering the virus, the stations also had the Democratic primary to report on March 10.

Station executives here believe the news output is exceptional in Seattle. “I’m very proud of the work in this market,” Rose said. “Every purveyor of local news here does high-quality journalism.” ●

His top NFL highlight? A touchdown pass against the Raiders, ending up in the hospital after a shot to the head, and hitting a dinner party the next night — where he met his wife, Sharon.

Raible, 65, has trouble picking a single highlight from television. He said the most memorable stories are often tragic ones, such as Sept. 11, the Green River Killer and a 2001 earthquake.

“There have been a lot of stories over the years,” Raible said. — MM

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TECH

Taking Television Into the Clouds Tech Emmy winner shows how networks are rethinking operations for the streaming age was just going to go up and up and up.”

Coping with the content explosion needed for the streaming wars wasn’t possible with traditional TV technologies, though. To handle that, “we needed a fundamental shift in our operations,” explained Chris Blandy, now executive VP of technology solutions at Walt Disney Television, who led the technology teams at Fox NEO prior to Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox. “The vendor ecosystem [and the infrastructures used by TV networks] had to change so we could have much more flexible operations in the future.”

A ‘Fundamental Shift’

By George Winslow winslowbc@gmail.com @GeorgeWinslow

W

hile most awards are given for past achievements, one of the 71st annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards winners offers a glimpse into what some networks believe will be the future of how TV companies will operate in the 2020s and beyond.

The award for “pioneering public cloud-based linear media supply chains” will be given out by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to Discovery, Fox Networks Engineering & Operations (the Fox NEO teams that are now part of Walt Disney Television), Amazon Web Services, Evertz and SDVI. (The awards ceremony, originally set for April 19 in Las Vegas, has been postponed along with the NAB Show.)

The impact of the work to be recognized goes far beyond a few networks and vendors, and demonstrates how some TV programmers are embracing new technologies to reinvent the whole idea of how video is created, processed and distributed.

“When we started on this project, we wanted to really reimagine how we approach all aspects

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of the business because we knew we were at this tech inflection point,” Discovery executive VP of technology strategy and architecture Brinton Miller said. “We knew we were a few years out from what we are now calling the streaming wars. We knew that there was going to be this paradigm shift in the day-to-day business and that the volume of content we were going to be putting on all of these screens

We wanted to really reimagine how we approach all aspects of the business because we knew we were at this tech inflection point.

— Brinton Miller, EVP of technology strategy and architecture, Discovery

Discovery took to the cloud to deliver shows such as Deadliest Catch.

To address that issue, Blandy said, Fox NEO began exploring cloud technologies. Fox invested in SVDI in 2016 — Discovery is another investor in the media supply-chain management platform — and began working with Amazon Web Services to develop a cloud-based system to move all of its workflows for automatically ingesting, transcoding and checking the quality of content into the cloud. By the end of 2018, Fox NEO reached a point at which all programs, promos and commercials were flowing through a new cloud-based system.

Discovery went even further. Starting in 2015, the company began working on an inbound, cloud-based supply chain system that would allow producers to send all of their content to AWS cloud services to be automatically processed and prepared for distribution. In the second stage, it worked with Evertz for a cloud-based playout system that could send all their traditional channels, VOD content and streaming feeds out to MVPDs, streaming partners and consumers. Finally, Discovery moved post production and the middle stage of the content supply chain to AWS, for a complete, end-to-end system in the cloud.

Three vendors played a key role in those efforts. SDVI president and CEO Larry Kaplan noted they provided the two network groups with “a platform that manages the resources, the third-party applications that they need to support their supply chains. … You can think of it as a kind of factory floor in a virtualized facility, a kind of manufacturing plant in the sky.”

For Discovery’s cloud-based efforts, Evertz provided “a cloud-hosted automation system along with a feature-rich playout entity,” said Dan Turow, VP of file-based solutions at Evertz.

In addition to providing the cloud services for the project, AWS embarked on an

TECH

extensive effort to upgrade and adapt its cloud-based service to the needs of media companies and worked closely with SDVI to convince vendors to develop cloud based services. “I give SDVI and AWS a lot of credit for doing the hard work and getting the vendors to embrace this idea,” Miller said.

This will make it easier for the rest of the industry to take advantage of these technologies and reap their benefits, noted Mike Callahan, head of media solutions marketing at AWS. “The work we’ve done will give other companies the ability to innovate and move faster than they have done before,” he said.

Already, this approach allows Discovery to handle massive amounts of content and quickly launch new services. In 2019, its cloud-based operations pulled in nearly 18,000 hours of new content. Each month, the systems run through more than 4 million automated workflow tasks for the 496 channels they play out from the cloud. “We just couldn’t do that with traditional systems,” Miller said.

Besides handling massive amounts of content, the cloud-based systems also tap into Discovery’s business software systems. As soon as a piece of content arrives, the system knows how and where it will be distributed.

Then, the media supply chain systems in the cloud can automatically start creating the many different formats needed for traditional MVPDs, the different broadcast standards around the world and streaming formats for companies like Hulu and Netflix. Those systems can also check all the features, such as closed-captioning, and determine the quality needed for different outlets, ranging from standard definition to HD and 4K. All of these distribution points can be scaled up and down as new products come online, which allows companies to rapidly respond to changing consumer demands and a rapidly shifting digital landscape.

“Discovery took an architecture they had and used it to create [SVOD product], Food Network Kitchen, and they were able to do that in a relatively short time,” AWS’s Callahan noted.

We needed a fundamental shift in our operations. The vendor ecosystem had to change so we could have much more flexible operations in the future.

— Chris Blandy, EVP of technology solutions, Walt Disney Television

“The ability to create an entirely new channel or OTT offering from nothing and have it in production and rolled out to consumers quickly offers them the kind of innovation and flexibility that wouldn’t have been possible in the past.

Three or four years ago if you were trying to do the same thing, you’d have to wait six weeks just to have new hardware sent to you.”

Achieving this flexibility requires platforms and technologies capable of handling enormous complexity, which in turn requires close collaboration between the networks and vendors.

“Almost on a daily basis, we were discussing this feature or that feature, how does it look and how does it work?” SDVI’s Kaplan recalled.

“That’s because what’s underneath the covers is very, very complex. So complex there is no way you could design a system like this using traditional technologies and approaches.”

Getting playout systems to work for live channels in the cloud proved to be particularly complex, given the problems of latency, the nuances of networking in the cloud and scaling up those operations to handle hundreds of channels, Discovery’s Miller noted.

Discovery deployed the Mediator asset management system and automation system along with the Overture playout product from Evertz for the effort.

“The complexity was a huge challenge,” said Turow at Evertz. “It requires you to be very

The cloud-based content distribution chain allows for efficient delivery of shows like Nat Geo's Mars.

precise in how you design your system and how you take into account latencies. But we proved that you can do live events in the cloud and that is a major development.”

Network executives involved in the projects also give AWS high marks for its efforts to adapt and build cloud-based technologies that could handle the particular needs and very high quality standards of the TV industry.

As part of that effort, AWS purchased Elemental and Thinkbox, which provided a foundation for cloud-based video workflows, and built out a number of new capabilities “to turn AWS into a more video and operator friendly cloud,” Callahan at AWS explained.

AWS and SDI also spent an enormous amount of time working with other vendors to get them to start offering cloud-based services and products. This is particularly important, both Blandy at Disney and Miller at Discovery said, because it provides a foundation of technologies and a tool kit of various applications that the rest of the industry can build on.

“A lot of the work we are doing is replicable,” Callahan explained. “Once we solve it for one partner, we can spread it out and … make other customers aware of how they can take advantage of these additional capabilities.”

OTT Ramifications

This is also opening up the possibility for expanding the cloud-based media supply chain systems at Walt Disney Television. Disney is now “looking at the nonlinear delivery [part of their business] and how we prep assets and distribute them for VOD distribution for traditional MVPDs as well as some of the newer OTT services,” Blandy said. “We’re looking at how we move a lot of that work to the cloud as well … so we can assemble those assets dynamically and distribute them to a lot of partners in a fully automated way. ” Over time, these network executives also believe the flexibility, efficiency and speed of cloud-based systems will give them a crucial competitive advantage.

“I think the winners of the future in this industry are going to be the ones that figure out how to move their businesses from traditional capital intensive infrastructures, with long lead-in times, to a more software-defined, cloud-based or cloud-savvy flexible licensing model,” Blandy said. “Most of the industry is now moving in that direction. Those who have already figured it out and have adopted it are going to gain market share.” ●

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SYNDICATION

‘Judge Judy’ to Wrap After 25 Years. What’s Next?

Selling new shows proving challenging in crowded landscape international, to the new program. Sheindlin also brought in former Twentieth Television chief Greg Meidel to develop new projects for Sheindlin’s Queen Bee Productions.

Judy Justice has been pitched to station groups, but at this point, none of them have agreed to acquire the show. Koondel, who has a long history of making lucrative multi-window distribution deals, is shopping Judy Justice to cable and/or streaming outfits. Whether or not a deal for Judy Justice will be made on one or more of those platforms remains to be seen, but there is still plenty of time.

By Paige Albiniak palbiniak@gmail.com @PaigeA

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t the end of next season, as Judge Judy Sheindlin reiterated on Warner Bros.’s Ellen DeGeneres on March 2, CBS Television Distribution’s top-rated Judge Judy will end original production after its 25th season in syndication.

But according to Sheindlin, the show will go on as Judy Justice, which will be much the same as Judge Judy but under different production and distribution auspices.

“CBS felt they wanted to optimally utilize the repeats of my program because they had 25 years of reruns, so what they decided to do was to sell a couple of years worth of reruns,” Sheindlin, 77, told DeGeneres. “But I’m not tired … so Judy Justice will be coming out a year later.”

Later, in a statement, Sheindlin said: “I am looking forward to a banner 25th anniversary season. CBS has been a fine partner for 20-plus years. They have decided to monetize their Judge Judy library of reruns. I wish them good luck with their experiment.”

CTD said, also in a statement: “We have the greatest respect for Judy Sheindlin and have enjoyed a very successful relationship with her for over two decades. We look forward to making the 25th anniversary a true celebration of one of the most iconic shows in television history.”

So, if Sheindlin wanted to continue, why wouldn’t CBS Television Distribution just extend the show?

The answer is more complicated than it first seems.

Several years ago, Sheindlin negotiated with CBS for the rights to her library of some 5,000 back episodes. At the time, it wasn’t clear that such episodes had value in the marketplace because no long-running syndicated strips had been able to monetize their libraries. But with streaming coming online, industry watchers believed that the library did have value. That caught Sheindlin’s attention.

In 2017, several bidders emerged for the Judge Judy library, with offers in the $75 million to $85 million range. At the final hour, though, CBS realized it needed to control the rights to the show it had produced and distributed since 1996. CBS stepped in and paid Sheindlin approximately $100 million, according to several sources, to reclaim the library.

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Limited Shelf Space

As part of that deal, Sheindlin agreed she would retire after the show’s 25th season in 2020-21 and that CBS Television Distribution would sell the library episodes to TV stations. Acquiring the library appealed to stations because it was less expensive than Judge Judy, and it was going to be the only way viewers would get to see their favorite daytime judge.

While many stations that aired Judge Judy bought the repeats in three-year deals at about 60% of the cost of Judy’s current license fees, according to sources, many nontraditional affiliates — such as The CW and MyNet affiliates and independent stations — that bought the repeats do not currently air Judge Judy. Because the stations currently airing Judge Judy are not all the same stations that bought the library, it is not simple to just extend the show. What’s more, all of the stations have now locked in what they planned to pay for Judge Judy repeats starting in 2021-22, and they did not budget to pay full price for original episodes.

Sheindlin still wanted to go forward, so she called in former CBS chief licensing officer Scott Koondel, who left CBS in late 2018 and hung his own shingle, Exacta Entertainment, to help her sell her new show and possibly other projects.

Koondel has all distribution rights, both domestic and

Judge Judith Sheindlin (top) is wrapping up Judge Judy after 25 years, but she’ll still wield the gavel on new show Judy Justice.

Meanwhile, NBCU’s Maury (below) will stick around for two more years.

Besides stations already buying the Judy repeats, many stations don’t have room for a new show. That’s a challenge across the syndication landscape when it comes to new content.

This season, stations and syndicators renewed most of the new shows: NBCUniversal’s Kelly Clarkson and Judge Jerry, Disney’s Tamron Hall and Fox’s 25 Words or Less, starring Meredith Vieira. Stations also renewed NBCUniversal’s conflict talkers (now called “bold talkers”) Maury and Steve Wilkos for two more years. NBCU wants to expand Wilkos’s purview from the standard topics of conflict talk into broader areas of true crime, tapping his background as a policeman. Finally, NBCU has renewed its off-net version of Dateline for a fourth season.

What the library sales of Jerry Springer and the off-network repacks of shows such as Dateline and Sony Pictures Television’s Live PD Police Patrol — and likely Judge Judy — have shown are that there is some value to those repeats. As linear ratings decline, the economics of repeats make sense for stations, especially to fill already challenged time periods.

While all of those renewals mean there’s little room for Judy Justice, it’s also been tough for newcomers such as CTD’s Drew Barrymore and Debmar-Mercury’s Nick Cannon to secure plum time periods across the entire country.

Both Barrymore and Cannon are going forward — both have launch groups on the CBS and Fox station groups, respectively. But both syndicators are having to work hard to clear the shows across the entire country. And even then, they aren’t getting ideal time periods in mid-to-smaller markets.

In a way, it’s a surfeit of riches: it’s better to have too much content than not enough. But in the meantime, it’s a challenging time to bring new content to the syndication marketplace. ●

CURRENCY

Despite Canceling Upfront, AMC Delivers Buyer-First Messages Streaming, social distribution aims to add reach

B

By Jon Lafayette jon.lafayette@futurenet.com @jlafayette

efore being forced by the coronavirus spread to cancel it, AMC Networks had invited 800 people to a big upfront event.

Why? “We had a lot to say,” said Kim Kelleher, who was named AMC Networks’s president of commercial networks and partnerships last September.

AMC Networks will now have to tell media buyers and clients in smaller groups about how it remains committed to creating quality scripted dramas for viewers, how it plans to distribute its franchises more broadly to increase reach for advertisers and how it will let buyers choose how they want to transact.

“The show goes on and we’re still feeling really good about the story, and the strategy, and the upfront overall,” said Kelleher, who is bringing a more digital approach to AMC, where ad sales dropped 4.3% to $904 million in 2019.

The virus has wiped out nearly all of the big events and networks are exploring other ways — including virtual and online hubs, where data and programming are to be

found — to deliver their messages.

At AMC Networks — which includes AMC, IFC, BBC America, SundanceTV and WE tv — everything starts with a “viewerfirst” strategy of creating shows that are “cultural zeitgeist grabbers,” from Better Call Saul and Killing Eve to Life After Lockup, Kelleher said. New shows coming to AMC networks include Soul Mate, Pantheon and the new The Walking Dead limited series World Beyond.

In a time of eroding ratings and cord-cutting reducing the ranks of cable-network subscribers, AMC is looking for additional ad-supported platforms where its content can be seen, increasing the reach it can offer advertisers.

As viewership increases for IMDb TV, Pluto TV and Tubi, AMC expects to announce in the spring deals to put library content from franchise shows and series that have already concluded onto ad-supported VOD platforms.

It’s worth noting that that’s where younger viewers are watching.

AMC would retain all ad sales, preserving a single

Shows like The Walking Dead: World Beyond are “cultural zeitgeist grabbers,” says AMC Networks president of commercial revenue and partnerships Kim Kelleher (below).

point of contact for buyers, who complain about the shift in viewers to the high-profile shows moving to ad-free subscription services like Netflix. “We think that puts us in a pole position if you’re looking for quality,” she said.

“We are deep engagement and high impact.”

AMC is also making deals with the social platforms where its viewers congregate after watching shows. As part of its first partnership, AMC will be creating exclusive content for Reddit.

“Reddit lights up on Sunday nights following The Walking Dead with people talking about what just happened and what’s going to happen next,” Kelleher said. More social partnerships are expected to follow.

To help advertiser messages morph from linear to social, AMC has created a studio called the Content Room, with a dozen staffers headed by senior VP Kim Granito.

“Wherever our audiences are convening, we want to keep the engagement going,” Kelleher said.

The third part of AMC’s upfront strategy is a buyers-first approach to transacting.

Kelleher noted that with some media companies creating one-size-fits all models, “we’re going to zig while others are zagging.

We are going to say we are happy to transact any way you want.”

Last week, AMC joined The Walt Disney Co. in letting buyers use Xandr’s data and platform to target consumers using their ad inventory. AMC has also joined Open AP, the industry consortium looking to create a standardized platform for data-targeted TV advertising.

AMC offers its own targeting system, Meditor, as well as a buying tool, Aurora.

The company is also working on data and advanced advertising approaches with clypd and 605, with more to come. AMC is eager to work with advertisers that want to push the envelope.

On top of that, AMC is looking to move from having separate plans for linear, digital and social ads to bring it all together. While AMC hasn’t solved all the issues involved with doing that, Kelleher said, it has made progress.

“There’s an opportunity for us right now with our focus and lack of distraction to just be great partners,” Kelleher said. “I do believe collaboration is the way forward for the television industry. We’re really leaning into that.”

So far, Kelleher said, the COVID-19 outbreak hasn’t resulted in clients pulling ads. Moving the new James Bond movie to November upset a partnership AMC was doing with the studio, but that’s been an isolated incident. There have been some “what if” calls from buyers trying to assess the situation, and AMC’s answer has been “we will work with you to try to meet your needs and continue our partnership,” she said. ● Broadcastingcable.com

11

POLICY

It’s WiFI Way or the Highway for 5.9 GHz Cable operators, automakers tussle over vehicle-to-vehicle band

Getty Images; Sheilagh Craigshead/The White House

I

By John Eggerton john.eggerton@futurenet.com @eggerton

t was rush hour inside the Beltway over the past several weeks, as efforts by cable broadband operators to get more unlicensed spectrum for WiFi ran into a concerted effort by automakers and highway agencies to block an FCC compromise, suggesting it put thousands of lives at risk.

The entire 5.9 GHz spectrum band (75 MHz) had been licensed for public safety, but in 2004 was opened up for commercial use by automakers, initially for dedicated shortrange communications (DSRC) between vehicles (V2V). But that technology has been slow to roll out and passed in the fast lane by newer technologies, like C-V2X (Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything).

As cable operators rolled out hundreds of thousands of unlicensed WiFi hotspots as their primary mobile broadband play, they have eyed that midband sweet-spot spectrum hungrily. The FCC, too, seeks as much of the sweet-spot midband spectrum for 5G as possible.

Automakers and transportation authorities have been balking at giving any of that spectrum up, and particularly at having to share the same spectrum, arguing that they could face life-threatening interference if others were allowed to use it — a risk they don’t think the FCC should take.

In some bands, notably the broadcast band, the FCC is allowing for dynamic sharing of the same spectrum with technologies that can sense when the bandwidth is being used by licensees and steer clear. But incumbent licensees are not convinced, or at least argue that if the FCC is wrong and there is interference, lives are at risk.

The FCC was initially considering a similar sharing regime for 5.9 and did some testing that chairman Ajit Pai said had been promising. But given the pushback and the complexity of the sharing regime, which could have taken several years to perfect, Pai took a different route.

The FCC voted unanimously last Dec. 12 to propose sharing the band by dividing it up.

The proposal is to free up the lower 45 MHz exclusively for unlicensed and keep the upper 30 MHz for V2V communications, including 20 MHz of that for C-V2X and perhaps the rest

22

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depending on whether DSRC pans out.

Comments on the proposal were due last week and it was clearly a divided highway.

Public Knowledge, which pointed out that that the 5.9 spectrum is a public safety band, is on cable broadband’s side, at least when it comes to transportation’s arguments for needing all of the band.

“The insistence by automakers that they need the entire existing allocation for public safety is belied by their equally fervent insistence that they should be permitted complete freedom to use free licenses issued for public safety for commercial purposes, and should have complete freedom to sell to third parties or otherwise use the personal

Automakers and highway authorities are fighting cable's plan to shift into the 5.9-GHz spectrum lane to expand WiFi service.

information collected in the name of public safety,” Public Knowledge told the FCC. But transportation officials are pushing back hard, invoking the specter of lives lost and repeating the sobering statistic of “more than 37,000 fatalities that occur on our nation’s roads each year,” as the American Public Transportation Association put it.

Everyone from the Hawaii Bicycling League to the Tampa Hillsborough County Expressway Authority has been weighing in at the FCC in recent days to try and get it to abandon the plan, a final order for which must still be voted.

The National Safety Council calls it a grave mistake to take back any of the spectrum from V2V, and notes that it is joined by “the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), every state Department of Transportation, and other road and public safety advocates in opposing the FCC’s proposal.”

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) told the FCC that connected car tech could save tens of thousands of lives, “but only if these technologies are given the certainty of a safety spectrum that is free from signal interference.”

Pai has said he is convinced spectrum can be shared without threatening V2V, and he has some bipartisan backing, ranging from the commission’s Democrats and Republicans, who were on the same page, to legislators as politically divergent as Reps. Billy Long (R-Mo.) and Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), vice chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee.

In fact, Pai argues that the proceeding is an opportunity to realize “significant safety benefits” by “carefully but expeditiously” developing C-V2X for crash avoidance.

NCTA–The Internet & Television Association says that allowing for sharing will enable the kind of gigabit WiFi speeds the industry must deploy to keep up with consumer demand.

New America’s Open Technology Institute could have been speaking for basically all the Big Tech and broadband companies when it told the FCC last week: “The virtually unused 5.9-GHz band has become a roadblock to an immensely valuable WiFi superhighway comprised of contiguous wide channels capable of delivering gigabit-fast and affordable wireless connectivity to all of America’s homes, workplaces, enterprises, schools and public spaces.” ●

STARKS SEEKS EMERGENCY 5.9 USE If FCC commissioner Geoffrey Starks has his way, the agency won’t even wait for its official order on freeing up some of the 5.9-GHz band for next-generation broadband before making it available for use, at least temporarily.

PItching a coronavirus response plan to the Senate Financial Services Committee on March 10, one of the commissioner’s proposals for an emergency virus response plan was to temporarily authorize use of the band to boost WiFi capacity.

The idea is that if there are major quarantines and school closings related to the virus, as was already happening in New Rochelle, New York, broadband-enabled schooling and health care will become even more important. — JE

FATES & FORTUNES

People Notable executives on the move BRIEFLY NOTED Other industry execs making moves

24

CAA

COMCAST

DISCOVERY

ET

Alison Pepper has joined Creative Artists Agency in New York as an agent in its Television-News Sports & Media department. An 18-year veteran of CBS’s 60 Minutes, she most recently served as a senior producer.

Jennifer Khoury was promoted to chief communications officer at Comcast in Philadelphia, succeeding the retiring D’Arcy Rudnay.

She had been senior VP of corporate and digital communications.

Neil Chugani has joined Discovery as chief financial officer and head of strategy and operations, direct-to-consumer.

He was CFO for Google and YouTube business operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Google.

Leslie Kawaguchi was elevated to co-executive producer of CBS Television Distribution’s Entertainment Tonight. The 26-year show veteran started with ET as an intern, rising through the ranks to senior producer.

ET

ESTRELLA TV

FETV

IAB

Whitney Wallace was also named co-executive producer of Entertainment Tonight. The 14-year vet has served as news producer, news director, supervision producer and finally senior producer of the program.

Estrella TV has tapped Hernan Molina as lead political analyst on national newscast Cierre de Edición.

Molina has worked with networks such as CNN en Español, Telemundo and Univision.

Maria Kennedy was named New York-based senior VP of national direct response sales at FETV (Family Entertainment Television). She comes from Discovery, where she led a direct-response team responsible for 13 networks.

David Cohen was named president of the Interactive Ad Bureau (IAB) in New York, the No. 2 position at the New York-based trade group. He was president, North America, of the IPG-owned ad agency Magna.

NAB

SCRIPPS

VIACOMCBS

WEATHER

Liliana Ranon has joined the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, D.C., as VP of external affairs.

The former Univision Communications executive had been community manager at the Obama Foundation.

Andrew Shenkan was named VP and general manager of Scripps-owned NBC affiliate WLEX in Lexington, Kentucky.

VP and GM of KATC in Lafayette, Louisiana, since 2006, he is WLEX’s former director of sales and marketing.

Kelly Day was named chief operating officer of ViacomCBS Networks International.

She was president of Viacom Digital Studios, responsible for video content across MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and other brands.

Entertainment Studios-owned The Weather Group has named Barbara Bekkedahl as president, advertising sales responsible for The Weather Channel and Local Now. She was VP, client solutions at NBCUniversal.

Broadcastingcable.com

Bento Box Entertainment has tapped Brooke Keating as head of animation talent development. She had held posts at Disney and Cartoon Network.

Also, Caitlin Winiarski joined Bento Box as a creative executive.

She comes from Will Ferrell’s Gary Sanchez Productions. … Ed Wilson was named executive chairman of Cox Media, responsible for national ad platform businesses CoxReps and Gamut. Wilson was president of Tribune Broadcasting until 2010. … Tom Flanagan has joined Litton Entertainment as managing director of business development. He had been an executive VP at ad agency Leo Burnett in Chicago. …Gigi Sohn, former adviser to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler and head of advocacy group Public Knowledge, has joined the board of streaming platform Locast. …

Jason Frierott was named VP and chief financial officer at Meredith. He had been a CFO for several large business units at GE, including GE Transportation, GE Power & Water and GE Energy. … New York-based TV attribution firm TVSquared has named Jo Kinsella president. She had been executive VP and chief revenue officer.

FREEZE FRAME

(From l.): Kelly Ripa, Ryan Seacrest, Michael Gelman and David Muir at the “PaleyLive: An Evening with Live with Kelly and Ryan” event at The Paley Center for Media in New York.

Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SCAD aTVfest 2020; Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for National Geographic; Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for AMC

Actress Kim Cattrall accepts the Icon Award during SCAD aTVfest 2020 in Atlanta.

26

Team “Peak Consulting” celebrates its win at the Rocky Mountain Cable Association’s “Cable Apprentice” competition (l. to r.): Aaron Voss, RMCA president; judge Roger Seiken of WOW; judge Bob James of NBCUniversal; team members Vasanth Rajasekar, Chantelle Stevenson and Jessica Olvera; and Jana Henthorn, president and CEO, The Cable Center.

At the New York screening of AMC’s Dispatches from Elsewhere (l. to r.): Richard E. Grant; Sarah Barnett, president, AMC Networks Entertainment Group and AMC Studios; creator Jason Segel; Eve Lindley; and Josh Sapan, president and CEO, AMC Networks.

Broadcastingcable.com

(From l.): National Geographic Global Television Networks president Courteney Monroe, astrophysicist/host Neil deGrasse Tyson and Ann Druyan, executive producer and wife of the late Carl Sagan, at the Westwood, Calif., premiere of Cosmos: Possible Worlds.

FREEZE FRAME

At Nickelodeon’s 2020 Partner Presentation (l. to r.): Brian Robbins, president, ViacomCBS Kids and Family; Trevor Noah, host, Nickelodeon and Time Kid of the Year; Dylan Gilmer, star of Tyler Perry’s Young Dylan; and Bob Bakish, president and CEO, ViacomCBS.

(From l.): Cast members Tika Sumpter, Arica Himmel and Mark-Paul Gosselaar at the SCAD aTVfest 2020 panel on ABC’s Mixed-ish in Atlanta.

Mark Wahlberg (l.) and director Peter Berg at the premiere of Netflix movie Spenser Confidential at the Westwood Village Theatre in Westwood, Calif.

(From l.): Andrew Santino, Taylor Misiak, Dave Burd, GaTa, Christine Ko and Travis “Taco” Bennett at the premiere event for FXX’s Dave at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles.

SUBMISSIONS: Send your most recent press photos, with an ID, contact name and telephone number via email to: michael.demenchuk@futurenet.com. Electronic images should be at least 4 inches by 6 inches at 300 DPI.

Broadcastingcable.com

Francis Specker/CBS; Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Nickelodeo; Frank Micelotta/FX Networks/PictureGroup oe Scarnici/Getty Images for Netflix; Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SCAD

Contestants Parvati Shallow (l.) and Ethan Zohn at the premiere party for CBS’s Survivor: Winners at War in Los Angeles.

27

FREEZE FRAME: TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP AWARDS

Winners on hand at the 2020 Technology Leadership Awards, held in conjunction with Future's Technology Leadership Summit in Atlanta (l. to r.): Renard Jenkins, formerly of PBS; Stephanie Lone, CBS Interactive; Chris Blandy, Walt Disney Television; Fred Baumgartner, ONE Media 3.0; and Jeff Mayzurk, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.

Bill Gannon, global editor-in-chief of B+C and Multichannel News, presents the award to Fred Baumgartner, director, Next Gen TV implementation, ONE Media 3.0/Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Honoree Renard Jenkins, the former VP, production, media and distribution operations at PBS Technology and Operations.

Chris Blandy, executive VP, technology solutions at Walt Disney Televison and a Technology Leadership Awards honoree.

Aaron Tunnell, business development manager, Media & Entertainment at Amazon Web Services, which sponsored the awards dinner.

Darius Dalton

Award winner Stephanie Lone, senior VP, CBS Sports Digital, CBS Sports Interactive.

28

Broadcastingcable.com

DATA MINE

Data provided by

Ad Meter Who’s spending what where

PROMO MOJO Our exclusive weekly ranking of the programming that networks are promoting most heavily (March 2-8)

BIG SPENDERS

MOST-SEEN TV ADS

Brands ranked by the greatest increase in TV spend (March 2-8)

Brands ranked

by TV ad impressions (March 2-8)

1

1

GEICO

Garnier (hair care) Spend Increase:

▲ 177%

$2.9M

Est. TV Spend: Top Network:

ABC

Top Show:

Est. TV Spend:

Liberty Mutual ▲ 172%

$6.6M

Attention Score:

Top Network:

NBC

Top Show:

Spend Increase:

Est. Media Value: $1,144,008

Estimated media value of in-network promos On the strength of 273.9 million TV ad impressions, HGTV’s promo for Flipping 101 is No. 1, moving up from second place last time. Food Network takes the next two spots to hype Buddy vs. Duff 2 and Vegas Chef Prizefight, while another cable giant, Discovery, grabs fifth for Rob Riggle: Global Investigator. That leaves just one traditional broadcaster, ABC, in the mix, with the fourth-place promo for Volcano Live!

Notably, the Flipping 101 promo earns the highest iSpot Attention Index (136) in our ranking, interrupted 36% less often than the average promo (interruptions include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

30

Broadcastingcable.com

TV Ad Impressions Est. Media Value

273,878,833 $1,144,008

2. Buddy vs. Duff 2, Food Network TV Ad Impressions Est. Media Value

209,573,941 $794,350

3. Vegas Chef Prizefight, Food Network

TV Ad Impressions Est. Media Value

4. Volcano Live!, ABC TV Ad Impressions Est. Media Value

183,652,697 $609,829 177,067,329 $1,315,782

5. Rob Riggle: Global Investigator, Discovery Channel

TV Ad Impressions Est. Media Value

157,580,982 $1,162,169

Spend Within Industry: Top Network:

NBC Nightly News

Progressive ▲ 145%

$5.6M 9% CBS

TV Ad Impressions:

988.2M

Est. TV Spend:

$17.4M

Attention Score:

Top Show: College Basketball

State Farm ▲ 132%

$2.5M

TV Ad Impressions:

879.8M

Est. TV Spend:

$12.2M

Spend Within Industry:

19%

Attention Score:

Top Network:

NBC

Top Show:

Domino's

Acura Est. TV Spend: Spend Within Industry: Top Network:

90.69

NBA Basketball

5

5

Spend Increase:

93.74

4

E-Trade Est. TV Spend:

92.09

3

4

Spend Increase:

1.2B $11.6M

Est. TV Spend:

27%

Est. TV Spend:

1. Flipping 101, HGTV

TV Ad Impressions:

Spend Within Industry:

Sonic Drive-In

Total TV ad impressions within all U.S. households, including national linear (live and time-shifted), VOD plus OTT and local

NBA Basketball

2

3

TV Ad Impressions: 273,878,833

94.31

Attention Score:

Walmart

TOP 5 PROMOTIONS

$23M

33%

Spend Increase:

1.7B

Est. TV Spend:

Spend Within Industry:

2

Flipping 101, HGTV

TV Ad Impressions:

▲ 130%

$3.1M 5% ESPN

TV Ad Impressions:

827.9M

Est. TV Spend:

$8.1M

Attention Score:

93.74

Top Show:

Law & Order: SVU

DATA MINE

OTT CHURN BUILDS TO 35% IN 2019: PARKS THE CUSTOMER CHURN rate for over-the-top services reached 35% in 2019, a 25% acceleration from 2018, Parks Associates said.

Churn in this context refers to the number of subscribers to OTT providers who canceled service in calendar year 2019 as a share of the current sub base, Parks said. The research firm found churn was particularly high among virtual multichannel video providers, measuring 81% in 2019.

“OTT services are offering free trials and promotional offers to drive initial service uptake, but these tactics are also leading to sky-high churn rates,” Parks research director Steve Nason said.

Star Trek: Picard

“To secure long-term subscriber fidelity, providers need to offer more, including original content and a personalized user experience,” he added.

Notably, Parks found that economic imperative was the No. 1 driver of OTT customer churn, with the need to cut household expenses listed as the reason more than 30% of OTT customers quit a service.

“Couldn’t find programs to watch” was the second biggest reason. More detail on churn reasoning is in the accompanying chart. — Daniel Frankel For more stories on the streaming space, go to nexttv.com.

Most Common Reasons for OTT Churn

B+C’S MOST VIEWED

Among U.S. broadband homes that canceled at least one streaming service in past 12 months

Needed to cut household expenses Couldn't find good programs to watch

Top stories on broadcastingcable.com, Feb. 17-March 4

The service raised its price

1. ViacomCBS Expanding ‘Star Trek’ Franchise 2. Comscore in Breakthrough Deal for Comcast TV Data

The promotional price for the service ended Decided to use a better, alternative service instead

3. WAGA Atlanta to Debut 4:30 P.M. News

Didn't have time to use the service

4. ‘Maury’ Renewed for Two More Seasons 5. Sinclair Extends Fox RSNs as YouTube TV Talks Continue To read these stories, go to broadcastingcable.com/March16.

I like to change services occasionally to find new things to watch The service took away programs that I like to watch 0% 15% 30% % Specifying the Reason of Cancelling the Service SOURCE: Parks Associates

Ratings Rank

Telecast (Week Ending March 1)

Network

Stickiness Index*

1

98

Amor Eterno

Univision

152

2

141

Enamorándonos

UniMás

145

3

81

Rubí

Univision

142

4

9

Chicago P.D.

NBC

137

5

8

Chicago Fire

NBC

136

6

17

Hawaii Five-O

CBS

136

7

94

La Voz

Telemundo

135

8

4

The Voice

NBC

135

9

91

Ringo

Univision

134

10

132

Operación Pacífico

Telemundo

132

Stickiness Rank

* TV Engagement ratings powered by Comscore’s TV Essentials. (Sorted by social media activity.)

Broadcastingcable.com

Trae Patton/CBS All Access; Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC

STICKIEST SHOWS Top 10 broadcast programs ranked by viewer engagement

31

VIEWPOINT

Connections in the Time of Coronavirus Industry comes together to inform, serve as nation copes with pandemic B+C Editorial

T

he broadband industry is on the front lines of the battle to keep the country connected as it confronts the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, while “First Informer” broadcasters are working to provide accurate information to a frightened public.

High-speed internet providers came together last week as the country faced the most serious health crisis since the AIDS virus, and arguably the most concerted and all-encompassing response to a global threat since World War II. Broadband providers, whose huge network investments over the past two decades will be tested, but likely not found wanting, have agreed to waive fees, suspend overage charges, boost speeds, and more to meet the demand from a nation for whom "social distancing" is the new and unwanted norm.

They also pledge to monitor their networks "night and day" for the impact of the increased traffic in telework, telehealth and tele-education that will be needed, hopefully only in the short term.

Providers said they believe they have the capacity, resources and knowhow to handle the influx of traffic on top of the video and content streaming that represents the majority of current traffic and will still be needed as a respite from the current drumbeat of bad news.

And while the coronavirus may have taken down the NAB Show in Las Vegas (see Lead-in, page 4), the National Association of Broadcasters is fighting back. NAB has created a Coronavirus Response Toolkit to help stations accurately cover the disease, including TV and radio public-service announcements with scripts in English and Spanish. The goal is educate stations about how best to cover the story and the public about how to help prevent the spread of the virus in hopes that the story will not get any bigger.

But, don't take it from us.

• “We are confronting an unparalleled global 32

Broadcastingcable.com

public health crisis,” NCTA-The Internet & Television Association president and CEO Michael Powell said. "This is a moment that calls for society to work together and for every business and organization to do what it can to help mitigate the dangerous effects of COVID-19 and the risk it presents to our citizens. Social distancing has become an essential part of that response, which is leading to millions of people — by far more than typical — working and learning from home. NCTA’s member companies, America’s broadband leaders which provide fast and reliable internet service to over 72 million homes and businesses, are working hard to ensure that our vital network connection to the internet remains robust and accessible.”

“As our country responds to the challenges being created by the COVID-19 outbreak, the cable industry is stepping up its efforts to ensure the health of its workforce, the strength of its networks, and the well-being of its customers,” NCTA said in its own statement of principles. ”We are working with federal, state and local government officials and comPowell munity leaders to share appropriate information and stay abreast of current developments.

"As America continues to grapple with the unknowns of this pandemic, the U.S. cable

Providers said they believe they have the capacity, resources and knowhow to handle the influx of traffic and will still be needed as a respite from the current drumbeat of bad news.

Polka industry will do all we can to contribute to our national preparedness and recovery."

• ACA Connects, whose smaller members are on the front lines of the rural digital divide that will need the most help, stood ready as well: “As part of their daily operations, many of our members have already taken steps to accommodate increased and unique demands by their customers and their communities during this period of social distancing brought on by the coronavirus outbreak," ACA Connects Smith president and CEO Matt Polka said.

“ACA Connects members are also investing in both training and technology to ensure their networks remain operational and their service meets their customers’ needs during periods of increased demand as a result of this emergency. "[Our members] have been at the forefront of broadband growth throughout rural America. Because they have invested billions over the past decades to build high-performance and reliable broadband networks, they now stand ready to meet the needs of consumers, businesses, and anchor institutions to more easily cope with the spread of the virus, affording their customers the ability to stay in contact with their families and neighbors and engage in telework, distant learning, and telehealth.”

And broadcasters, while not broadband providers, have a role to play in times of emergency.

• “As America’s ‘first informers,’ local radio and TV broadcasters and our network partners have long been committed to ensuring public health and safety during times of emergency,” said National Association of Broadcasters president and CEO Gordon Smith in a statement. “As COVID-19 impacts everyday life, it is important for broadcasters to communicate credible news and information to keep people safe and informed,” he continued. “I encourage all broadcasters to utilize resources in the toolkit to help their local communities during this critical time.”

It is unclear just how the COVID-19 pandemic will unfold in the days and weeks to come. What is clear, is that communications, broadcast and broadband, have never been more important. ●

THE FIVE SPOT

Matt Polka President and CEO, ACA Connects Small-cable advocate on pushing off D.C. summit and other top-of-mind issues

M

att Polka, president of ACA Connects, the trade group representing small to medium-sized independent cable companies, made a tough call recently. It canceled its annual Washington, D.C., policy summit, which would have taken place this week, out of concern for members traveling amid the coronavirus crisis.

The summit is popular with cable operators partly because it includes visits to Capitol Hill to meet directly with elected officials and committee and regulatory staffers. B+C senior content producer, Washington, John Eggerton caught up with Polka to ask about that decision and about recent big wins for smaller operators.

What was the tipping point in deciding to postpone the summit? It was talking to members and sensing what they were thinking.

We started to see more evidence of the seriousness and uniqueness of this virus, including the FCC’s decision to limit attendance at outside events. We also had a lot of intel that offices were going to be closed. It became clear that there wasn’t going to be an opportunity to do what we do, which is lobby and advocate. In a practical sense, it was ‘will there be anyone there to meet with?’ and the answer was ‘no.’

Given the coronavirus, it would seem to be important to be in the business of connecting and entertaining people

remotely? We know this virus could change how we do business and how we work and connect, which means putting a premium on the broadband internet service our members provide. If it wasn’t vital before, which we know it was, it is that much more vital now.

Do you have any issues with how the FCC is handling the C-band spectrum auction? The issue became more important to our members than we expected it to be. It has taken a lot of significant advocacy, probably one of our biggest projects in terms of time and expense, at the FCC. But we are very pleased where the FCC came out with a public auction as well as to take into account the transition costs.

What is the effect of the STELAR sunset and associated bills on your members?

What was achieved, that we fought for and won, was huge. That [win] was extending good-faith [retrans bargaining] to buying groups, and in this case our members’ buying group, the National Cable Television Cooperative, which means that NCTC will have the ability to negotiate with the top broadcast groups in the country, and if NCTC chooses to negotiate with one of those groups, they can’t say no.

Summarize what you would have told your members at the conference? First, I wanted to say thank you for what Congress did passing the Television Viewer Protection Act to extend good faith to buying groups. And, maybe

BONUS FIVE Favorite streamed shows? Bosch, Jack Ryan (Amazon Prime); Mindhunter, Lost in Space (Netflix). Plus a lot of Pittsburgh hockey on the DVR. Favorite music group? Electric Light Orchestra Destination on your bucket list?

Australia, New Zealand, and the “old country” (Poland and Eastern Europe, or Western Russia, to research my roots).

Book on your nightstand?

Anything by Robert B. Parker.

Memorable meal?

Bean burritos and french fries at the Wings Olé in Morgantown, W. Va.

JohnStaleyPhoto.com

ACA’s Matt Polka fosters consensus and community at events like The Independent Show, a collaboration with NCTC chief Rich Fickle (l.)

34

Broadcastingcable.com

in a related way, we wanted to say, ‘We’ll keep you posted.’

The current retransmission-consent cycle ends in 2020. By year-end, our members will probably be renegotiating close to threequarters of their existing retransmissionconsent agreements. We were going to pledge to keep them posted throughout the year where problems would be. Third, we wanted to thank them for being mindful of the C-band issue [the FCC wants to sell the C-band spectrum, used by satellite firms to deliver TV networks for 5G wireless use], which is at the FCC, but there has been some movement on Capitol Hill. Finally, we wanted to talk about specifics with members preparing to come with stories about how broadband deployed in their communities is making a difference, underscoring the vital nature of smaller providers. And last, it is all about relationships, making sure lawmakers know who our members are and that they are a resource to be used. ●

9000