TV+News+Update+5


 * “John Miller to Join CBS, Bolstering ‘The Early Show” **

This //New York Times// article by Brian Stelter shows that John Miller will join CBS’s “Early Show” for the low ratings that this newscast program has been experiencing in the past months. This is important for the reason that once again, a transcendent figure in the television news industry joins a particular program to improve the credibility and ratings. The television news industry is in the process of adapting to today's sophisticated and modern world in lieu of the strong tie that the various television news media organizations have towards the traditional way of disseminating news information to the public. For example, Mr. David Rhodes, who is the president of CBS News said that “the most important thing for us is that he’s going to have this major role in the mornings.” This shows that not only is this “Early Show” program going to help John Miller in a personal and professional manner, but in trying to provide reliable and hard news for the news consumer. This is also important, because CBS seems to notice that the television news industry needs to change in a rapid manner today. Individuals like John Miller, Ted Koppel, and Tom Brokaw are needed for the public to come to the television news industry for news information. “CBS’s news division also has hired hard-news producers and dropped some of its lighter segments.” This is a clear example that the potential future for CBS and the overall television news industry may be in focusing in hard-news type of newscasts that could very well help the various news outlets to boost ratings. It is also important to note that John Miller will report, and comment on homeland security, law enforcement and other matters,” according to Mr. Rhodes. This demonstrates that Mr. Miller is well-versed in these somewhat “controversial” subjects that surround the television news industry and the media as a whole, thus potentially enhancing the credibility and reliability of the "Early Show" program content. Therefore, the integration of John Miller to CBS’s news programming in addition to Mr. Koppel’s incorporation to NBC is an indication that the shift from “soft to hard-news” may potentially attract the loosing audience that the various media news outlets have been experiencing in the last 15-20 years. It all comes down on how CBS’s “Early Show” news program does in the coming months with John Miller that will determine any shift in the future for this CBS program, and maybe for the television news industry. The instability that exists in the television news media organizations in terms of a news program lasting for years is no longer seen today simply because of low ratings. For this reason, whether the integration of John Miller will enhance credibility and boost ratings to CBS remains to be seen. It is simply imperative for the television news industry to “understand that journalistic sources, methods, and values” need to adapt to today’s continuous modern and globalized world. [|New York Times article] Manuel Martinez-Ortega

**Google Wants to Disrupt the TV Business. Will TV News Be Affected?**

The answer: it most certainly will. Just not at a large scale at first. There are several powerhouse content creators such as Reuters, //The Wall Street Journal//, and The Young Turks already signed on to create their own original content for the Google-owned, online video juggernaut YouTube, but it will still pale in comparison to the amount of content these same outlets are creating for broadcast television. To be able to start competing with broadcast television, YouTube will need to expand their reach... to the television.

There are several obstacles YouTube will need to hurdle and most pertain to the habits of the majority of people. There are more Internet-connected television sets being produced than ever before, but it is still an early technology that only the earliest adopters will truly take advantage of. Set-top boxes such as Roku or Apple TV make this easier for people to adopt since it is cheaper than purchasing a brand new WiFi-capable TV set, but they remain hobby equipment that haven't seen huge adoption rates just yet. As technology progresses and becomes more affordable and accessible, original YouTube content could very well disrupt the TV News portion of the television industry. Soon-to-be Current TV host Cenk Uygur will be creating content for one of these YouTube channels, and he doesn't believe the word "disrupt" is an accurate term:

// **"I don’t know if the word is disrupt, I think probably compete is a decent word."** // Will television news be entirely online in five, ten, or twenty years? Very unlikely. YouTube will not be able to compete with the local stations since the sheer number of them is impossible to replicate in every market. You may think YouTube would do better since it is a free service, but it uses the same business model as broadcast television: advertising. YouTube will never have enough content to seriously threaten the broadcast television industry, as TV is still considered to be the "Holy Grail" of all mediums. The amount of content online will undoubtedly continue to rise, but the professional, polished content will always be on traditional TV channels. People don't want to have to sort through all the muck that's on YouTube and the Internet in general, and how many people have encountered server issues while browsing online, causing slowdowns or complete loss of connection? It will be issues such as these that will keep the cable companies in business forever. We rely on such a solid technology as the TV since it has had time to mature, while the Internet still has a long way to go. YouTube may not disrupt TV News, but it will sure do its best to take a piece of the pie.

Google Wants to Disrupt the TV Business. Will TV News Be Affected?

By **Josh French**

"Chain Buys WRGB, Ch. 6"
Today it was announced on Timesunion.com that WRGB, a well-known CBS news affiliate based out of in Niskayuna, New York, will be sold to Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair is based in Baltimore and operates in New York. Sinclair is buying WRGB “as a part of a $385 million, eight-station transaction”. (Churchill 1). According to Timesunion.com writer Chris Churchill, this sales agreement was to be expected. Freedom, WRGB’s previous owner, has been struggling with “heavy debt”, and had been “looking to sell the television stations since at least 2010, according to reports in industry journals.” (Churchill 1). Sinclair is one of America’s largest, not to mention most influential TV broadcasters. All throughout New York’s largest cities, Sinclair is the owner of “65 stations in 39 markets.” (Churchill 1). Due to Sinclair’s power in New York, this could be a rating-booster for WRGB. Considering Sinclair doesn’t particularly specialize in newscasts, WRGB can now bring in a new audience who are frequent news watchers looking to get more involved on Sinclair’s stations. Now that WRGB is owned by a company who is financially able to fund them and is also familiar to the New York population, is seems as if WRGB will only continue to profit from this business proclamation. Brighter days and higher ratings seem to now be certain in WRGB’s future. [|Chain Buys WRGB, Ch. 6]

By: Laura Barrick

**"ROCK CENTER WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS"**
NBC News took a risk on Monday night coming out with the new newsmagazine show “Rock Center with Brian Williams.” Although the host of the show is Brian Williams, other correspondents will be on including Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer. The debut, which covered topics such as women traveling over to the United States to have their babies, and a live interview with John Stewart, proved to be a success for NBC. The show racked in 4.1 million total viewers with a 1.0 rating in adults 18-49, which can be a very hard demographic to reach. Even though the debut had lower ratings than other NBC shows such as “Dateline,” NBC is pleased with the outcome of the show. Steve Capus, news chief for NBC, said, “it was a great debut, there’s terrific buzz and I’m proud to see this news division launch something this big and important-and to add more quality journalism to primetime.” Williams and Capus were aware that compared to other entertainment shows, this show would be nothing in ratings, but the ratings were not the main focus. One thing that NBC wanted to make clear was that although “Rock Center with Brian Williams” may not have had the best ratings, it did give the network its best total viewers in that particular 10pm time slot since September 19th. Not only did NBC think the show was a hit, but Linda Stasi of the Washington Post called it “solid as a rock.” She described the show as “so smart, so unexpected, so entertaining and yet so informative….” The only downfall of the premiere, surprisingly, was the interview with John Stewart. Stewart is usually known for being witty and humorous, but many felt his interview with Brian Williams was awkward.

There are so many news programs that dish out useless information, which is either completely subjective or about celebrity nonsense. I think “Rock Center with Brian Williams” is a fresh way of broadcasting news in a way that could benefit the television news industry and be a way to help them reach that 18-49 demographic. Putting a comedic twist on the way news is provided is a smart way to get more people to watch television news, instead of turning towards other media outlets to find out what is going on around the world.



[|"NBC News 'Feeling Really Good' About 'Rock Center' Launch"] By: Taylor Baresic

__News Corp. Profits keep dropping in wake of phone scandal__
News Corp. has reported 5 % drop on its first quarter net income due to the scandal discovered several months ago. Five percent is not so bad considering the huge scandal and the media attention to the case. The network reported it's net income fell to $738 million. That I found interesting is that its advertising revenue at its domestic pay Tv channels, for example FX, grew 13% despite the scandal. I would have guessed that advertisers wouldn't want to invest money or pay adds in a media conglomerate that is surrounded my lawsuits and scandal. Their adverising revenue topped Time warner's and Discovery Communications, which operates channels like Discovery and Animal Planet.

News Corp's shares also rose. The company's spokesperson said that the company remains on track or higher adjusted operating income in the fiscal year. There was also a rumor that there would be a change in management structure and that CEO Rupert Murdoch had asked his son to step down after the scandal. The rumor has not been clarified and vanity Fair will do an article on Murdoch on it's December issue.

[|News Corps profits]

by Paola Cuevas



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