How the Pandemic Forced a Radical Shift in Television News
By Movieguide® Contributor
Several network news showrunners reflected on how the pandemic forced the industry to evolve for the first time in 70 years and what that innovation means for the future of the industry.
Heading into 2020, TV News had remained largely the same for generations. The format for every time slot, from the morning news to late night talk shows, could be traced back to the roots of network TV when only a few channels existed. And the format never had a reason to change because it worked.
The pandemic, however, forced a major overhaul as those in the industry scrambled to respond to the nationwide lockdown which would make their current format impossible to produce. In a matter of days, they had reassembled the industry, enabling anchors to meet with extremely limited support, and allowing hosts to perform their job from their home.
“Over the course of 15 hours, they had set up an entire workable control room and show for the next day,” Jon Tower, a senior executive producer on CBS MORNINGS recalled during an interview with Variety. “And under normal conditions, you would maybe give a team like that a week, maybe two, to do that. And they had literally the night.”
“It was interesting how quickly people adapted,” added Chris Dinan, an executive producer of ABC News’ WORLD NEWS TONIGHT. “They just found ways to work around issues and work around problems and make something happen. I look back at that time as a very innovative time for an industry that had never operated like that. Nobody generationally had experienced anything like this. So it was completely new.”
While the world of lockdowns is now comfortably behind us, the innovation found during that time, offers a peek at what may be ahead for the industry in the coming years. For the first time since TVs became a commonplace in American homes, the existence of the news is being threatened. Many now turn to other sources for their news, and soon more than half of the country will have no cable access – opting for fully streaming options instead.
This is truly a bleak time in the world of cable entertainment. While live sports and the news have been keeping the business afloat since the pandemic, live sports are jumping ship – with every major league now available to stream in some capacity – leaving cable news as the sole foundation. Meanwhile, legacy companies are preparing themselves to drop their cable offerings, restructuring their businesses so if the industry goes under, they do not follow it.
The news, however, will no go down without a fight, and is now preparing to make the jump to streaming as well, though it will certainly require some change in order to be successful in doing so. Previous attempts at bringing news to streaming have proven unsuccessful and this will be the industry’s final chance to do so.
However, realizing the importance that this time the news be successful in its jump, news networks are finding the full support from their parent companies as they attempt the transition. Earlier this month, NBCUniversal announced it is launching a streaming platform for NBC News in Q4 of this year that will feature over 2 dozen live streams along with on demand features for its most popular programs. Meanwhile Fox and CNN are both eyeing similar models in an effort to survive in the streaming era.
While it is still unclear if any news program will find success in its jump to streaming, the industry’s response to the pandemic provides hope that it can be innovative when needed and showrunners and hosts will do everything, they possible to keep their programs alive when on the brink.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Related: Confidence in Television News Hits New Low
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch shared an update on the network’s upcoming streaming platform, which the company plans to launch this fall, right before football season.
Murdoch has modest expectations for the platform, with projected numbers to be in the “mid-single digit millions.”
He made comments at the Morgan Stanley media conference and, according to Deadline, explained “that the goal is not to cannibalize linear television and Fox will not advertise it on linear television but is meant purely to capture those who cut the cord or have never subscribed to cable.”
Pete Distad will spearhead the platform as CEO. He was previously the CEO of Venu Sports, the now-scrapped joint venture between Fox, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery.
“We brought Pete in and Pete’s focus at Venu and now at our venture is new subscribers that are outside of the bundle,” Murdoch said.
“I’m excited to bring FOX’s leading sports, news, and entertainment content to audiences outside the traditional pay TV bundle for the first time via an all-new streaming platform,” Distad said in a press release. “Working closely with our content, distribution, and platform partners, we’re going to build and grow a differentiated viewing experience for consumers to access their favorite FOX programming.”
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