Chris Wallace
CNN
Chris Wallace, the 77-year-old broadcast news vet and Fox News alum, announced his departure from CNN after three years at the network. The split appears to be an amicable one, but Wallace’s aim to move into streaming or podcasting, where “the action seems to be,” couldn’t have boosted morale at CNN and other struggling broadcasters.
Comcast
CNBC
MSNBC
Megaconglomerate Comcast announced this month that it would spin off cable networks including CNBC and MSNBC “in a bid to unshackle its movie studio and theme parks from the waning fortunes of traditional television,” as the New York Times put it. The move, once it passes muster with shareholders and regulators, will create a $7 billion public company that also includes E!, Oxygen and USA, among others. Comcast’s NBC Universal will hold onto the NBC broadcast network and reality TV juggernaut Bravo.
The decision acknowledges that while cable news, for the moment, remains hugely profitable, it’s long-term viability is in doubt as viewers flock to streaming platforms. The steep drop in cable news ratings following the reelection of Donald Trump has compounded worries about the format’s future. The change also raises questions about how MSNBC and CNBC will maintain journalistic credibility once separated from NBC’s mighty news division. Finally, the rumblings, however fanciful, about Elon Musk purchasing liberal darling MSNBC have stoked fears of that network undergoing a Twitter-style makeover that alienates much of its traditional base.
Fox News
Rupert Murdoch’s cable news giant has proven immune to the declining fortunes of the format, with its ratings surging 40% since the November 5 election as MSNBC’s and CNN’s slumped by 38% and 27%, respectively. Fox accounted for nearly 75% of all cable news audiences during that period.
Netflix
As streamers increasingly wade into live programming, the leader of the pack notched a big win as roughly 108 million viewers around the world tuned in to the boxing match between influencer Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. Despite grumblings about buffering issues and accusations that the fight, which 27-year-old Paul handily won, was rigged, the Super Bowl-sized numbers show that livestreamed events, when cleverly promoted, can deliver mammoth results.
Universal Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Universal’s Wicked and Paramount’s Gladiator II didn’t quite deliver Barbenheimer numbers during their concurrent opening weekends this month, but their combined $385 million global results delivered some much-needed good news to Hollywood, whose 2024 grosses had so far trailed 2023’s by 11% amid continued panic about the industry’s health amid losses to streaming entertainment.
Spotify
Vinyl Records
On that note, the music industry netted bigger revenues ($45.5 billion) last year than cinema’s pre-pandemic global peak of $41.9 billion in 2019. Those surging fortunes are attributed to a steaming boom at platforms like Spotify and the unlikely comeback of physical sales led by vinyl records, which spiked 15.4%. Meanwhile, box office grosses sagged to $33.2 billion.
The Washington Post
The Post, still in turmoil over management’s move to end endorsements of presidential candidates, announced a policy to bring back all employees to the office five days a week starting in the New Year. The newspaper’s guild immediately denounced the decision as an “inflexible and outdated” policy that would “further disrupt our work rather than improve our productivity and collaboration.”
