jrogo

MSNBC has officially switched its logo over to the new NBC typeface, which kind of looks like the old one, and of course certain feathers of the peacock disappear depending on the background color. I hate to post a picture taken from a tv but that’s a good as it’s gonna get for now.

Another weekend shake up, literally too much to list, so find it all here: https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/msnbc-makes-significant-changes-to-weekend-lineup-launches-ensemble-show/542518/ Im still not sure why they can’t begin live programing before 8AM? Would’ve been easy to make the new morning show start at 7. We’re also losing an hour of programming as Ayman will end at 9PM now. Good to see Alex getting 3 hours again, but sad to see Yasmin leaving weekends. The “best of” seems like a cheap filler until they find something permanent for the 4PM hour.

Some awkward days lie ahead for MSNBC, Senator Bob Menendez has been indicted by the U.S Department of Justice on serious charges, the senators daughter is MSNBC Host Alicia Menendez, her show, American Vocies airs weekends at 6PM ET. The big question is how will MSNBC handle this story while employing his daughter, will she comment on it or not, we all remember the Cuomo nightmare at CNN less than 2 years ago. The following article makes a few good points regarding the media landscape and how these types of things have been handled in the past; https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/how-will-msnbc-handle-its-menendez-family-conflict-of-interest/amp/ IMO, Alicia should be off this weekend, I would not allow her to host her show, either someone can fill in or it can be a special edition of MSNBC Reports. The network has not done a good job of disclosing the conflict they find themselves in, every single anchor/host should be saying something along the lines of; “in the interest of transparency we need to tell you that Senator Menendez is the father of our colleague, MSNBC host Alicia Menendez.” MSNBC & NBCU talk a big game about being better than orgs like CNN & FOX, so they should prove it and take this seriously. It doesn’t matter that she’s (as far as we know) innocent and un-indicted, she needs to be put on a short leash or they will have the Cuomo situation on their hands. also if you want an insight into the work politics at MSNBC just look at the different statements from the hosts/anchors, some ranging from demanding the senators resignation and others supporting him, always fun to see it in the open.

My exact thought was “oh sh*t they actually wanna do News?” If he can lead CNN in the direction of the BBC in terms of straight forward, hard hitting reporting, no opinion, unmatched global resources and stories viewers won’t find elsewhere, CNN will survive and thrive. I hope it ends up being the best decision they’ve ever made.

I’m wondering the same thing following this article, he’s still listed as a NBC News Corespondent, so I’m assuming he’s moving to a new role, hopefully something on streaming or news on MSNBC. https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/zinhle-essamuah-joins-kate-snow-as-co-anchor-of-nbc-news-nows-afternoon-block/534464/

Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. But the more intresting part of that article is: “One possible deal recently floated in media circles involves a merger between NBCUniversal parent Comcast and Paramount. The two companies reportedly had been in talks in 2021. If that merger happens sooner or later, (the newly acquired company under the ownership of) Comcast would likely be forced to get rid of the CBS network due to antitrust violations. Warner Bros Discovery, in turn, might then swoop in and combine CNN with CBS News, seeking to reap efficiencies between the two networks under its umbrella, some insiders have speculated.” That would honestly make a lot of sense and be a huge benefit for CBS which just can’t seems to stand up straight and address the problems at CNN.

I’m assuming Nightly News will move into a renovated studio 3K sometime next year (well before the election) since WNBC is moving to studio 3B. NBC could get a flagship studio for elections and specialty coverage out of the deal and Nightly News will finally have a real home. Studio 3C stays with MSNBC & NBC News Now and studio 1A can get a full, and needed, renovation.

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.

Long overdue but hopefully this will be a good change. I would’ve preferred someone who is actually independent and a true moderator, since Chuck has blurred that line, but those days seem to be long gone. It will be interesting to see who they chose to replace Kristen on Saturday Today.

Overall a underwhelming and interesting mix of textures, but it looks nice and clean. The desk is a bit wonky, if they used better insert graphics on the front (better logo placement, movement and added info like the date or something) it would look really good. Desk in question so you don’t have open the link:

That was downright gross, if any of us spoke that way to someone in our workplace we’d be fired, it’s becoming increasingly obvious and will only get more obvious that this was a long overdue decision. I feel bad for what Poppy & Kaitlan have had to endure for the last 6 months. This is the “why the f**k did I take this job” face, my favorite part was her unlocking her phone, completely checked out from what was going on.

I can’t echo this enough. I know people weren’t always a fan of her style but Robin and MXP had two things CNN will never have in the morning, consistency and friendship, which brought in a core group of viewers everyday and when the show was properly promoted they had expanded viewership. I expect CNN to find an out of network replacement for Don. Maybe someone from CBS since Chris Litch knows everyone there?

Update on Laura Coates, CNN reportedly told Laura they wouldn’t staff the 11PM hour from D.C. due to higher costs, as a result Laura would have to chose between moving to NYC or the hosting gig. I don’t blame her for not wanting to move, sounds like both parties could’ve been more transparent about what was going on/intentions. Instead “CNN is concentrating its efforts on setting permanent plans for the 9 and 10 p.m. hours”. Sounds to me like a great opportunity for CNN International broadcasts of Newsroom at 11PM, and if they were smart they’d extent that to 1AM to compete with Trace Gallagher’s midnight show on Fox. More here: https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/laura-coates-planned-11-pm-show-unlikely-to-go-forward-at-cnn/528547/

Ana Cabrera is officially joining MSNBC, her new show, Ana Cabrera Reports starts Monday April 10th at 10 AM ET. The rest of the daytime schedule will be remain the same since she is filling an open hour. https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/ana-cabrera-joins-msnbc/527632/

And her show needs to take an hour away from Alex Witt why? Oh because MSNBC doesn’t want to do News anymore. Good for Jen but what a kick in the face to Alex. There will now be just 3 hours of news on Sunday, the other 11 hours of live programing will be opinion. How will Jen’s show be different from any of the others? Weekends are already the same small group of commentators and same topics just with a different face.

That would be news as Kris just left KARE 11 all together. Seems he may have landed a lot quicker than most thought he would, good for Kris. https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-lifestyle/kris-laudien-leaving-kare-11-after-four-years-on-sunrise

A programing shake up at MSNBC: Weekday changes: José is leaving 10AM and moving to 11AM, Chris expands to 2 hours, Katy moves to 3PM and Hallie leaves to focus on NBC News Now, the open 10AM hour is expected to be given to Ana Cabrera who is joining MSNBC. 10AM: MSNBC Reports (rotating anchor) 11AM: José Díaz-Balart Reports 12N: Andrea Mitchell Reports 1PM: Chris Jansing Reports 3PM: Katy Tur Reports Weekday changes begin Monday, February 13. Weekends are also getting a shake up: Live programs now being a hour later with Katy Phang at 8AM (moving from the 7AM hour), Johnathan now gets both days but only 1 hour, and Ali moves to a new spot. 8AM: Katy Phang 9AM: Johnathan Capeheart 10AM: Ali Velshi Weekend changes begin Saturday, February 18. I’m happy to see consolidation of dayside hours but unclear as to why Andrea still has an hour, could’ve really cut costs by going to three 2 hours shows with 1 anchor. Weekends now have even less news, I’m hoping they put Saturday/Sunday Today at 7AM, to at least have an offering. Full email from Rashida Jones here: https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/msnbc-announces-dayside-programming-changes/522058/

Some interesting changes... So after reading the press release the new schedule will be: 5AM-6AM: Early Start (NYC) 6AM-9AM: CNN This Morning (NYC) 9AM-12N: New 3 hour show co-anchored by John Berman, Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner (NYC) 12N: Inside Politics (WDC) 1PM-4PM: New 3 hour show co-anchored by Brianna Keilar, Boris Sanchez and Jim Sciutto (WDC) 4PM-9PM remains unchanged The 9PM hour still doesn't have a permeant host. 10PM: Alisyn Camerota (NYC) 11PM: Laura Coates (WDC) Victor Blackwell will return to Atlanta for This Morning Weekend, Pamela Brown leaves her weekend show (new chief investigative corespondent), so Jim Acosta will expand til 7 on Saturdays and 8 on Sundays, I'm interested to see what programing they put on after that, obviously too early to end coverage, maybe CNN International? I'm curious as to why CNN thinks they need 3 co-anchors and 3 hour blocks during the day, I'm glad they didn't go the MSNBC route of a new anchor every hour but it seems overdone. The changes will roll out over the next few months but are expected to be done by the end of Q1, I wonder if the newsroom set has been taken off the air for these changes and not CNN This Morning like many thought. Anyone else think Licht could launch new graphics with these changes? The current look is almost 9 years old and works fine but since he's changing everything else...

NBC continues to roll out it’s new on air branding centered around the new peacock, and we’ve got a new vanity card, which the network calls a “curtain raiser”, complete with the new logo, update chimes and animation. After seeing what they plan to do with the peacock animation and color variations, I really like the route they’ve gone with it, the new vanity card has some of that “in living color” vibe to it in my opinion and comes off less corporate-ish than the last one. Full article here: https://www.The Other Site.com/2022/12/30/nbc-rebranding-vanity-bug-snipe/ New vanity card:

Oh that's an interesting idea. Switching the ABC affiliate. I was raised in SD so I find this very interesting. I'd like to note that its not a duopoly, more like a trioploy. Gray owns 3 stations in Sioux Falls and a total of 5 in the entire state, the only 2 they don't own are KNBN and KELO. The Sioux Falls market is not big enough to have 5 local news options if forum adds independent newscasts. No matter what happens all the rest of the stations in SD won't be able to compete at the same level KELO does as they have 2 things the rest never will, Legacy and Patience. KELO is number 1 for a variety of reasons but the main reason is they're consistently reliable. They have the best of everything and always have the best coverage, I remember as a kid anytime severe weather was passing through, my Dad would say "better turn on KELO" and thousands of people across the state said the same thing. KELO also has the advantage of being the only station available across the entire state. I wouldn't be surprised to see an affiliation switch, it'd be fun watching a shake up happen in that market/state. Forum seems to have a plan, one that hopefully make sense soon.

Just realized I typed a 3 instead of a 5. They both average around 500,000 - 560,000. For comparison CNN does 600,000 - 650,000 for the same slot both days and Fox does 1.4 +/- M (sat) & 1.7M +/- (sun). Either way MSNBC is in last, at this point I have no faith in them adding any news, they've passed up several opportunities to do so. I'm sure they'll have an opinion host announced by the end of the year. I'd love to see David Gura come back, "UP" was very popular before they placed Ali Velshi in his spot. I've corrected my mistake in the initial post. • • • • • • • MSNBC has a nice new desk for its election coverage. Seems to be a digital display in the front, hopefully they can change out the flag/stars and use it for normal programs. They are also using update election lower thirds, clearly inspired by NBC News NOW’s graphics, and I actually like them, very simple and clean, just imagine how good they’d look without the election info below it, make a few tweaks regarding the time and live (which is awkwardly placed) and they’d be very nice L3’s.

The Cross Connection didn’t get good numbers anyways, seems like a great opportunity to shake up the entire weekend schedule which is posting horrible viewer numbers. Crazy to think Tiffany & Johnathan inherited Joy Reid’s former time slot and viewers of 1 Million+ and now the same slot has 500,000. Clearly it’s not working.

Had to go back and look, a CNBC Original called “Generation Gamble” is airing instead.

It appears to be the same desk just with a different base, specifically the base from the “What to Watch” table. Secondary table: Normal glass top with updated base: