Leaderboard

i think he means it's similar to the Disney mandates of recent.

CNN has been really solid today and lately with actual news reporting. I’m shockingly impressed.

No offense, but I have no clue where you’re getting that idea. They’re gutting and centralizing creative services to cut costs; they aren’t going to eliminate positions only to fill them up again with new people. It’s got nothing to do with some guy getting the font wrong at a particular station; as others mentioned, the people being let go are more than qualified for their positions.

Anyone wanna take bets on which "H" he's headed to? (Both of which are non-existant, but that's my opinion and Schwarzenegger's.) But aside from the polarizing aspects of his political activism and religious mission, Pat Robertson should be remembered as a pioneer of religious television. CBN started with WYAH-TV (WGNT) in Hampton Roads, in 1961. WYAH was all-religious at the outset, though it evolved into a general-entertainment independent with a jones for censorship. The other three CBN TV stations–Robertson launched WHAE-TV (WANF) in Atlanta in 1971; bought KXTX-TV in Dallas in '73, and signed-on WXNE-TV (WFXT) in Boston in '77–followed that model until CBN broke up the group in the 1980s. CBN also owned five Christian FM outlets, in Hampton Roads and a four-station network in upstate New York. And of course, there is the cable channel now known as Freeform, which much to ours and Disney's chagrin will be forced to carry Robertson's legacy, The 700 Club from now until the "Second Coming".

The Belmont Stakes has its own bespoke graphics package, which is surprising because I thought they'd be dragging out the old black rectangles for it. And shockingly it's not huge and in your face. It's very green and gold with shades of the World Cup, and the old US Open theme music strikes again.

An anatomy of eyewitness news - 1969 WABC special showing behind the scenes look at newscast production

we will see how this goes but I would hate for them to adopt some bland flat look over what they currently and used to have. Since NBC-NN is most likely dropping the latter L3, I think they'd look really good on O&O stations.

Something I don’t get about WABC (while minuscule) is up until Ken got fired they ran the Friday Morning talent open.. and they run the Friday noon open.. even tho Sam is off Fridays.. last Sunday I was watching I don’t believe they ran a talent open now that Ryan does sports Sundays.. I’m not sure about Fridays at 6 I haven’t seen it lately. Not something the average viewer would notice but just a little irk lol

The description from the article made me think of NBC News Daily.

For actual breaking news, CNN is far better than MSNBC or Fox News becuase they don't try to have three "analysts" shove a political opinion down your throat. They are actually just telling the story of what's going on. That is great for viewership when something big happens (when more "regular" people watch cable news) but doesn't work when it's just partisans watching.

They're always good with breaking news.

I really like the title logo. Simple, yet bold. I love the slit on the opposite sides of the N's, which of course correlates with the short N\N logo. (Sidebar: the G reminds me of the SNL pre-season 40 logo, which I also love).

This has nothing to do with ability or training, this is a cost-cutting measure, plain and simple.

Not to mention, they just have so many anchors…NINE people playing the “anchor” role in the afternoon and evening newscasts, yet down in Columbus - Tegna sister station WBNS has two anchors for 5, 6 and 11… It’s also three more anchors than top-rated WJW… Seems a bit bloated if you ask me!

And we're going to come back in a few months to do another "retooling"...... How they can maintain stability when they constantly shuffling their on-air talent around?

Well the new logo is basically a modernized version of the classic 70's logo, so that's fine with me. Wonder what the new graphics will look like and wonder if there'll be a new version of the Mission?

I understand exactly what you mean. Even though I prefer ABC News programming more, I’ve always found NBC to be the most positively disruptive and groundbreaking of the big 3. When they make decisions about their programming it tends to catch on across media.

Changes like this aren't made lightly so NBC must be feeling pretty confident with themselves. You gotta give them credit for adapting to the times (heavy digital focus) and trying something new. It's not a bad logo. Hearkens back to the old NBC 'N' of the 70s. I might have preferred the diagonal ends be sharp rather than squared off. Also interesting that they've kept the white border on the peacock after ditching it everywhere else.

Looks to be a modern update of the ‘80s NBC logo

I probably would venture away from "without a strategy" being that a set refresh is something that is planned will in advance as we always point out in these threads. We need to remember that delays always happen, and there are still supplies that have long lead lead times and sometimes permitting takes long as well. I work at theme park, and no matter how much you plan something, things still can put well off your plan. They very well may have had a plan to do it all at once, but something threw that off.

One would think so, right?! I feel like that’s how things “used to be” - make a big splash with a whole new look - set, graphics, music, logo, etc. Now, those kind of launches are rare and it’s all done piecemeal without a strategy behind it. *off my soapbox*

I really like the logo right now, but I'll reserve judgment for it and the new look as a whole for when it debuts. I'm real excited for it.

Big changes coming to Nightly.

You know this is a dying industry when all of these companies are being scooped up by banksters and bottom fisher low rent broadcasters like Byron Allen.

I actually wonder if they can get good hosts, as a considerable body of NFL analysts are already under contract to the various sports media groups.

Seems like something they should have done leading up to the rebrand, not a few months after the rebrand. Very strange to be stuck on a temp set while trying to grow the new branding.

Now here's an interesting business venture. Apparently, Lilly (or an affiliated venture) has a fitness center in Erie using the "Erie Fitness Now" name, using the exact same logo as their "Erie News NOW" logo. Their website even has a link to "Erie News Now" They even do fitness segments on WICU and WSEE. If it's an affiliated venture, (or even sponsored), shouldn't that be disclosed, even though it's painfully obvious?

Well, that was fun while it lasted. Just kidding. It's kind of a shame, really. Licht is, by all accounts, an exceptionally successful and creative producer, having essentially resurrected three different shows on three different networks from near death to successes in their own right. In some ways, he was set up to fail: he came in replacing a predecessor (Zucker) who was terminated but incredibly popular among CNN staff, and then immediately after he was named CEO, Licht shut down CNN+ right after it launched, executed rounds of company layoffs, and fired several on-air talents, all at the behest of his boss, Zaslav. The Trump town hall, which irked many CNN staffers too, was no doubt encouraged or approved by Zaslav, too. But, yes, Licht also made his own fair share of unforced errors, and by his statements in the Atlantic article, he had lost all support from his staff.

Discussion here:

The "folksy" tone of the show was a double-edged sword. It was that warm approach that made it a "success" on HLN but it is also why it was never considered a fit for the mothership. I put success in quotes because its ratings were good...for HLN...but the expectations for that channel were always lower than main CNN. The tenor of Morning Xpress was always lighter than the more serious tone CNN wanted through numerous iterations of New Day. Now, you could make the case constant anchor changes, set changes, etc. never really moved the needle against Fox & Friends and Morning Joe so why not try something different. But sadly, I don't see it happening. I don't see MSNBC making any adjustments because of CNN. They have been giving Fox a run for its money since Tucker's departure. (Obviously that has more to do with FNC's stumble but hey an opportunity is an opportunity) So, I don't see them adjusting anything because of a distant third-place CNN. If anything, they should focus on what (if anything) they can do to break FNC's long run atop the weekly ratings.

That would actually make sense, it wouldn’t do any worse in the ratings and it would bring a certain level of comfort to the executives, knowing she and her team are more than capable and they wouldn’t have to worry about any unfavorable press with them. Im also wondering if MSNBC is smart enough to take advantage of CNN’s down position and make any changes to primetime or weekends ahead of the election year, seems like a great time for MSNBC to tidy up the network while CNN is a mess.

Kind of unnecessary, especially considering other NYC sets. Lets just hope the set looks just as good if not better with this refresh, sure it became the carbon copy for a few other O&O stations and it's not a big set by any means but it still looks good, simple but modern. Here's hoping!

Wow. Didn't see that coming. The "old" set held up well. Still better than a lot of the NYC stations.

please give Robin Meade her job back! Robin Meade is amazing!

Ted Turner for CEO

They have part of it already (the NFL Films content), they just need the hosts to wrap around it. This I can't criticize them for outside if they don't get a good panel of hosts (shh don't tell Antonio Brown).

Correct. I would hope that the next head of CNN wouldn't accept the job without some assurances that they will be given the opportunity to do their job effectively without interference. CNN isn't broken (per se); they just need to re-focus on things that matter (news) and less on politics.

Somewhat doubtful. Gayle likely only agreed to do the show as a favor to Licht. Now that he's gone; not sure she would want to continue as she doesn't need the money nor the extra workload. Charles signed a huge new deal that WBD will want to get their monies worth some how from him. A lot will depend on when a new leader is named. My guess is sometime in August or September. Can't see a ton of people jumping at the chance to run CNN and be micro-managed 24/7. And with a temporary quadfecta of people currently running things, I would assume no big decisions will be made anytime soon.

CNN is so screwed up right now (along with WarnerDiscovery) it would almost make sense for Nexstar to just give up on NewsNation and take CNN, and maybe a few more networks off of WarnerDiscovery's hands. The implosion of cable TV is imminent, and Nexstar could get these networks on the cheap. Then again, Perry being Perry, he'll make the same mistake Sinclair did with the former Fox RSNs and overvalue them to the point companies drop them and we have another Bally's situation...

After reading that article, the biggest red flag for me is that I don't understand Licht's vision for CNN. What is the mission and purpose of the news organization? A clear mission statement is often a rallying point for culture change. After spending time with that lengthy profile, you don't walk away with a crystal-clear picture of where he wants to take the channel. I understand what he's against, like boxes...he hates boxes to the point that the control room can say it in unison. He seemingly spends a lot of time trashing anything that was built in Zucker's vision. Fine. You don't like how he managed the channel. But what is your vision? Staff and ultimately viewers need more than a generic "under new management" type message. Here's the unfortunate reality for CNN; the competition has defined identities, and they don't. MSNBC captured the liberal lane. FOX, from its inception, laid claim to the conservative lane. So that leaves CNN to claim the middle. While the center of the ideological spectrum is a huge potential audience, it isn't exactly an audience that shows up night after night for cable news. The other two channels have built in audiences looking to see what mud their favorite host is going sling in the opposite direction. To me, the middle isn't a long-term solution. You are just Fox lite to one group and you are MSNBC lite to the other. Stand for something different! In my opinion, CNN should transform its primetime into storytelling and original reporting. Two of the most watched shows on television (broadcast or cable) are 60 Minutes and CBS Sunday Morning. Each do in-depth original reporting and that old-school style reporting gets people talking. And given CNN doesn't have the same time constraints as 60 minutes, you could air the report and then bring the reporter (and other appropriate guests) in for a debrief. Plus, it gets you out of covering politics every night. This is a huge country, there are plenty of stories to tell beyond the political ones. That is just one of a dozen different directions CNN could go. It is a costly and time-intensive idea, so it might not feasible. But at least it is a clear vision, something in 15,000 words I didn't get from the head of CNN.

Personally I really miss good investigations of consumer issues like pricing and grocery store issues, but Food Lion and Pink Slime pretty much scared ABC and NBC into full time crime on their newsmagazines, and you don't see CBS even cover many of those stories any longer.

I still don't understand what they're going to merge...the team golf concept nobody understands or has any loyalty to, or making LIV a part of the FedEx Cup? The Champions Tour just being yeeted out of existence? I am just left with more questions than answers about what this merger will do except confuse the rights holders, the PGA loyalists, and the clubs that host events already on the edge (your BC Opens) who may lose their tour stops. Maybe this is more PGA tossing money at LIV to just go away and get back to normal than anything.

WHOA!! Didn't see that coming

Even though I don't watch golf, I did not see this coming... and I don't know how to feel about this.

Gotta laugh once in a while…

It's one thing to blow up the last place station that no one watches anyway. That way News With A Twist can exist peacefully amongst good and semi-decent products. In Tegna's case, they've taken successful stations (and a cellar dweller or two) and driven them into the ground (further) with their "forward thinking" WKYC and WWL were once decent stations (WKYC was finally clicking after DECADES of failure) to have been fixed to death by Tegna....

Those names are so bad, I couldn't express my thoughts in words, so I give you this....

"...To Another Channel!"

That wasn't meant to be a negative or poor reflection on her. Instead it was meant to be a negative reflection on an industry that now sees experience as too costly to be worth it.