Skip a newsletter last week? “In Case You Missed It” rounds up the top stories in our daily editions, so you can be up on the latest news, Cynopsis-style, in the worlds of linear, digital and sports television. Enjoy!
The six-month suspension of Brian Williams, bumped in February from his NBC News anchor perch for misreporting, is officially over. For his next act, in September Williams heads to MSNBC, where it’s expected he’ll play a role in rejuvenating the last place major cable news channel. The “lean forward” net will start standing straighter under new NBC News chairman Andy Lack, according to the Wall Street Journal, with a pivot to straight news in daytime. Meet the Press anchor Chuck Todd is also part of the rescue effort, leading an afternoon news show.
Sesame Street is making a big move. Sesame Workshop inked a five-year deal with HBO that gives the pay cabler first-run episodes of the kids series, which has been carried by PBS since its premiere in 1969. PBS and member stations get the new eps free of charge after a nine-month window, as well as a new Muppets show and Sesame spin-off that’s part of the agreement. The network also landed exclusive streaming rights, so Big Bird, Elmo and Cookie Monster will say goodbye to Amazon and Netflix. “Our new partnership with HBO represents a true winning public-private partnership model,” said Jeffrey D. Dunn, Sesame Workshop CEO. “It provides Sesame Workshop with the critical funding it needs to be able to continue production of Sesame Street and … it gives HBO exclusive pay cable and SVOD access to the nation’s most important and historic educational programming.” Not to mention giving parents a new reason to subscribe to HBO.
Twitter’s Periscope has surpassed 10 million users just four months after launch, according to a blog from co-founders Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein, who say they’re seeing over 40 years’ worth of video watched per day. That user base is impressive, Beykpour and Bernstein acknowledge, but add it’s not the metric for assessing their overall success. “Time Watched serves as a proxy for active user growth, without suffering some of the limitations of focusing exclusively on a metric like Daily Active Users (DAU) or Monthly Active Users (MAU),” they point out. “If we were motivated to grow DAU, we’d be incentivized to invest in a host of conventional growth hacks, viral mechanics, and marketing to drive up downloads…this direction doesn’t necessarily lead to a better product.” Adobe recently released data showing that Periscope has generated 3x more traffic than competitor Meerkat since late March.
In a major twist, Google has undergone an overhaul, creating a new publicly traded parent company, Alphabet Inc. Google will become a subsidiary of Alphabet, shedding more experimental businesses like gadget maker Nest, and its attempt to extend human life with Calico, which will fall under the Alphabet umbrella. Businesses like YouTube, search and the Android and Chrome operating systems will stick with Google. “Fundamentally, we believe this allows us more management scale, as we can run things independently that aren’t very related,” said Google co-founder Larry Page, who will run Alphabet with Sergey Brin. Google exec Sundar Pichai is elevated to Google CEO.
NBCUniversal is making a $200 million equity investment in Vox Media. The digital media company has “a great portfolio of premium digital brands that deeply engage broad audiences,” said NBCU CEO Steve Burke, as well as “strong leadership, top editorial talent and a unique technology platform.” Vox brands include The Verge, Re/code, Eater, Curbed, SB Nation, Polygon, Vox.com and Racked.
The Premier League opted to plant roots and has awarded NBC Sports Group with a six-year extension that keeps the company as the exclusive home of its matches in the US. Besting offers from challengers FOX Sports and beIN Sports, the partnership runs through 2021-22 and will continue to offer all 380 matches across NBC, NBCSN, USA Network, Telemundo and NBC Universo as well as via the Premier League Extra Time TV package and NBC Sports Live Extra. NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus noted that execs had worked through the weekend to cement the deal, after submitting bids for both 3-year and 6-year packages. “NBC Sports has done a fantastic job broadcasting the Barclays Premier League for the last two seasons and we are extremely pleased that they have invested in our U.S. rights for seasons 2016-17 to 2021-22,” said Premier League Executive Chairman Richard Scudamore. “Outstanding production, expert analysis, and wide audience reach have all been beyond expectations. First-rate creative marketing and promotional campaigns have driven interest in our clubs, and the competition as a whole, to unprecedented levels. NBC Sports has committed to extend partnership activation and promotion of clubs in future seasons – a significant factor in the awarding of these rights – and we look forward to continuing our excellent working relationship with them for the next seven years.”
Colin Cowherd’s move to FOX Sports is now official. The company announced that the former-ESPN personality is joining FOX Sports and Premiere Networks next month as a face of their television, radio and digital platforms. Cowherd will host a three-hour sports talk program dubbed The Herd starting Sept. 8 from noon to 3p that will concurrently on FOX Sports 1 and the FOX Sports Radio Network. In addition, Cowherd will join the FOX NFL Kickoff crew, with the show shifting from FOX Sports 1 to FOX on Sundays this season at 11a. The move means that Mike Francesa will now move to FOX Sports 2 and FOX Sports GO where he will run weekdays from 1-6p, according to FOX.
