THE PRICE POINT

FCC Gives Broadcasters A Lump Of Coal For The New Year

Entrenched in the past, the commission has held firm — and even tightened — its deeply out-of-date regulations, dealing a deep blow to broadcasters.

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The Broadcasters Foundation Deserves Your Support

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

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TV News Confronts Its Motivation Problem

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

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Is ABC Really For Sale?

A tipping point for the broadcast industry is coming, and part of it hinges on a problem that Disney chief Bob Iger created for himself.

THE PRICE POINT

Kansas Newspaper Raid Outrage Offers Warning To TV News

TV stations should view last week’s raid on the Marion County Kansas Record by local police and sheriff’s deputies as a warning shot. Every newsroom should have a plan to deal with potential search warrants with the station’s attorneys squarely on board.

THE PRICE POINT

Local News Burns Out

A recent study from RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University lays bare just how overwhelmed TV newsroom personnel have become. The bucks stops at the corporate level for this problem, and the C-suite is running out of time to address it.

THE PRICE POINT

Can CNN Be Saved?

In the ousted Chris Licht, CNN had a leader who was not introspective enough to understand why he was failing. He leaves behind an organization in worse shape than when he arrived.

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The GM’s Role In Sales

The best general manages put in the hard work of learning sales processes and understanding the details. Those willing to make that effort are always rewarded on the bottom line.

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Are Sinclair’s News Market Closures Canaries In Local TV’s Coal Mine?

The closing of five news departments at Sinclair stations across the country may just be an effect of one company’s regional sports network gone sideways. It may also signal that a major local TV news shakeup is finally upon us.

THE PRICE POINT

Jeff Shell, What The Hell Were You Thinking?

The disgraced NBCU chief is only the latest in a long line of C-suiters who have abused their positions, and their companies have paid the price.

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CNN’s Turnaround Won’t Be Overnight, But Licht Is On The Right Path

There are no quick fixes in a major overhaul, but signs are that new CNN chief Chris Licht is having an impact despite serious headwinds. His critics should give him the time such a Herculean task needs to be realized.

THE PRICE POINT

Paramount Global Directly Threatens Local TV Services

Paramount Global is using its latest Fubo TV negotiation to offer an untenable deal to affiliates and reset the entire retransmission consent landscape. The FCC’s response should be obvious: Make everyone play by the same rules.

THE PRICE POINT

New GMs Must Be Prepared For Success. Why Aren’t Station Groups Helping Them?

Newly minted TV station general managers are often thrown into their jobs with little or no training. It seems like a needless risk for station groups to take with their multimillion-dollar profit centers.

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Local Television’s Pivotal Year

Facing 2023’s major headwinds, TV stations need to confront their oversupply problem — and the need for new goods and services — or face dire consequences.

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The Big Shakeout Of 2023

Streaming’s bubble has burst, and national advertising won’t be the panacea to rescue media companies for their all-in bets on OTT. In 2023, it’s the consumers who will determine who will survive.

THE PRICE POINT/RAISING THE BARR

Emily Barr And Hank Price: How Mentoring Made Us

TVNewsCheck columnists and veteran TV executives Hank Price and Emily Barr began their friendship more than 40 years ago as an industry mentor and mentee. In this joint column they reflect on that relationship, how it shaped their respective careers and how young professionals today can form their own fruitful mentoring relationships.

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Why Lobbying Matters For Local Broadcasters

It’s crucial for station general managers to form and nurture relationships with politicians at the federal level, but just as important are the relationships they build with state leaders. The time to do that work is now.

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Axing Primetime At 10 Could Reset Network-Station Relationships

The prospect of returning the 10 p.m. hour to stations doesn’t portend the end of the network-affiliate relationship. If anything, it opens up the field for fairer financial agreements for stations and more control of primetime.

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With NBC Near Certain To Cut Primetime, Prepare For A 10 P.M. News

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell has all but confirmed a decision to trim back primetime by an hour, a move that will fundamentally alter the linear broadcast industry. Broadcasters would do well to buckle up for change now.

THE PRICE POINT

Too Much Local News?

With so many hours of morning and afternoon TV news, the market is getting close to saturation. Local winners and losers are sure to follow, and soon.

THE PRICE POINT

The OTT Recession Is Coming

Much to streamers’ chagrin, OTT has entered a new, consumer-driven phase that will determine the platform’s real winners and losers. Advertising will play a big role in that fate, and local partnerships may make all the difference.

THE PRICE POINT

WLBT And Gray Television Do The Right Thing

Back in the 1960s, WLBT in Jackson, Miss., had its license revoked after it actively promoted segregation, encouraged viewers to defy the government, break the law and mistreat their fellow human beings. Today, WLBT is an example of how to do race relations right, reflecting the needs, interests and employee makeup of a largely African American community. Its current owner, Gray Television, has just created the Gray Media Training Center to develop fully trained, highly qualified minority graduates for Gray’s stations in 113 markets.

THE PRICE POINT

As The FCC Dithers On The Top 4 Rule, The Case For Consolidation Grows Stronger

Stagnant regulations and a constricting economy may force the number of TV stations producing news to narrow. Ironically, that could also lead to an increase — and improvement — of news.

THE PRICE POINT

Television Lessons From A Newspaper Company

Today’s news consumers are smart. They know opinion, preaching and lectures when they see them, including on our own networks. If we want to retain their trust, we must never forget that viewers see forming an opinion as their prerogative, not ours.

THE PRICE POINT

An Anonymous Reporter Speaks For Many

The frustrations of a multimedia journalist over the job’s low pay and difficult working conditions published last week by TVNewsCheck rings true with many accounts I’ve heard across the country. The issue is reaching a tipping point that station owners would do well to heed.

THE PRICE POINT

Forget Subscribers. Now It’s All About Advertising

The recent upfronts saw networks turning on a dime from their obsession with acquiring subscribers for their streamers to their former adoration of advertising. Whether there’s enough ad revenue to support this industry-wide pivot is another story.

THE PRICE POINT

Networks Fray Rope Between Their Affiliates And Streamers

Networks are shortsightedly alienating their affiliate partners with their fixation on their streaming platforms. In so doing, they’re ignoring local brand value, which can carry them over the chasm between hit programs.

THE PRICE POINT

Why CNN+ Failed

The nascent streamer’s abrupt end has roots in the larger failure of CNN’s brand promise, which was squandered by a belated leftward turn at the cable network.

THE PRICE POINT

Unless The FCC Acts, Some Stations Face Reduced Local News

Virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (vMVPDs) operate in the loophole of the internet, free from having to honor network exclusivity agreements and able to negotiate directly with ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox, thus cutting local affiliates off at the knees. Their regulation needs to be at the top of the FCC’s agenda or quality local news is in peril.

THE PRICE POINT

How To Become A General Manager

Being a GM is a complex job that requires balancing many competing interests to reach a few common goals. For those who seek it, the best groundwork is laid by learning every role at the station.

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News Directors Must Own The MMJ Safety Problem

Hank Price: Multimedia journalism was born out of financial considerations, and now that MMJs are widespread, TV news owners and management have an obligation to better ensure their safety. It’s time for news directors to step up at the station level.

THE PRICE POINT

Wake Up, Nielsen. TV Is Moving On With Or Without You

TV’s very currency is in crisis, fueled by deepening questions of Nielsen’s accuracy. As the industry shifts its focus toward attribution, the company needs to pull itself out of its insular shell if it wants to create the future advertising currency and secure its own future.

THE PRICE POINT

SEC Football Will Move Millions From CBS To ABC Affils

When SEC football moves from CBS to ABC in the fall of 2024, CBS affiliates across the conference will lose the single most advertiser-friendly venue in their arsenals. Millions of dollars will move en masse to ABC affiliates, turning station budgets and revenue audits upside down. The halo CBS affiliates have enjoyed will move right along with those dollars.

THE PRICE POINT

Now’s The Time For The Newscast Of The Future

Stations bringing up the rear in their local markets have nothing to lose by shaking off their conventional thinking and introducing some radical changes to their news content. Here are a few ideas on how to kick that off.

THE PRICE POINT

It’s Time To Address Local TV’s Burnout Problem

Local television is an industry that runs on energy, and it has a short circuit. Top leadership needs to confront the burnout issue behind it right now.

THE PRICE POINT

Amid Local News Death Narratives, There’s An Opportunity For TV

The death of local news story much ballyhooed in journalism circles says more about the arrogance of local newspapers than the industry’s actual state. But TV stations need to heed an important lesson in the narrative and cast themselves as trusted local partners, not authoritative gatekeepers of information.

THE PRICE POINT

Emperor Nielsen Has No Clothes

Under well-deserved pressure from the Video Advertising Bureau and the Media Rating Council — not to mention Discovery’s David Zaslav — Nielsen is facing a potentially existential moment. It would do well not to revert to its usual defensive crouch and, instead, engage in a straightforward and transparent dialogue with its clients.

THE PRICE POINT

Recalling The Ghost Of Nagano

NBC’s Tokyo Olympics are shaping up to be an echo of the 1998 Nagano disaster at CBS, but aberrations aside, the Games will remain sports’ gold standard.

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The Insanity Of Political Advertising Rules

There’s a welcome place for reasonable regulation of political ads, but the current rules are so cumbersome and fraught with traps that even the most minor mistakes invite ready fines and embarrassment. Hopefully, acting FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel’s forthcoming changes will address that, but there’s reason for skepticism.

THE PRICE POINT

Price Point | Leading A Different Generation

Millennial employees can present generational challenges to older industry leaders, but great leadership transcends these differences, a trait especially needed as the industry navigates enormous change.