CBS Faces New Super Bowl Ad Plays Thanks to Nickelodeon Simulcast

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music It’s been 17 years since Sean “Puff Daddy/ Diddy/ Love” Combs made a solo album, and he’s more than made up for lost time with “The Love Album: Off the Grid.” In the conversation below, he describes the album as a “Super Bowl of R&B,” and the list of guests bears out that title: everyone from the Weeknd and Justin Bieber to Summer Walker and H.E.R. to Babyface and Mary J. Blige make featured appearances, but it sounds like a Puff album every step of the way.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor NBC News may trump its rivals when it comes to interviewing a certain former Commander-in-Chief. David Muir, Lesley Stahl, John Dickerson, Chris Wallace, Bill O’Reilly, Kaitlan Collins and Jim Acosta have all tried their hand at interviewing Donald Trump; lobbing questions at him; or moderating a debate or event in which his participation was key. Some have drawn blood and others have been bloodied (and some others left agog as Trump walked out unexpectedly).

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Bill Maher will soon be operating by some “New Rules” — and not just the ones he makes up in the signature segment of his HBO program. The comedian and commentator plans to re-start production of “Real Time” on HBO without writers, the first of TV’s phalanx of late-night hosts to try and do so despite the continuing Hollywood strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. “Real Time is coming back, unfortunately, sans writers or writing.” Maher said on social media Wednesday night.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The popular sitcom “Modern Family” is picking up some new real estate — while keeping its other homes. Warner Bros. Discovery’s TBS cable network will start showing a three-hour block of the landmark comedy, which ran on ABC for 11 seasons between 2009 and 2020.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox News opinion host Mark Levin is getting a bigger perch on the network’s weekend schedule. Fox News said it plans to expand his program, “Life, Liberty & Levin” so that it will air at 8 p.m.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The battle between Charter Communications and Walt Disney, spurred due to cord-cutting, is now getting very tangled. Charter suggested last week that it might be ready to cut Disney networks from its programming lineup after the two companies reached an impasse in talks to extend their carriage contract Now Disney is hinting to Charter subscribers that they might want to cut their connection with the large cable distributor.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Cable giant Charter Communications and content titan Disney are squabbling over about $2 billion in programming costs, but the price of their battle for the media industry overall could be exponentially higher. Disney on Thursday yanked its popular TV networks, which include ESPN, ABC and Disney Channel, from Charter’s Spectrum cable service, which reaches nearly 15 million homes, including many in big markets like New York City and Los Angeles.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Shares of several big media and entertainment companies tumbled Friday as investors considered the potential fallout from an impasse between cable giant Charter Communications and media titan Walt Disney Co. On Thursday, Disney said it had pulled major networks such as ESPN and ABC from Charter systems after the two companies could not come to terms on a renewal of their carriage license. Charter’s systems reach a little under 15 million subscribers in markets that include New York City and Los Angeles.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Charter Communications, enmeshed overnight in a massive carriage dispute with Walt Disney Co., said Friday it hopes it can turn the breakdown into a new fix for the media industry as cable subscribers keep migrating to streaming alternatives. “This is not a typical carriage dispute,” said Christopher Winfrey, Charter’s CEO, during a call with Investors Friday morning.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Warner Bros. Discovery is widely expected to name Mark Thompson, the former New York Times Co. and BBC leader who has demonstrated a knack for guiding media into digital realms, as the latest executive to oversee CNN, according to a person familiar with the matter, putting in place the fifth executive structure around the news giant since early 2022.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Kristen Welker’s tenure at NBC News’ venerable “Meet The Press” won’t start until September 17, but the network isn’t waiting to tell viewers about it. On Saturday, during the NBC News journalist’s last time co-anchoring the Saturday broadcast of “Today” with Peter Alexander, those who tune in will see a new promo alerting them to Welker’s imminent move.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube is teaming with MrBeast, the platform’s biggest creator, to push the pricey NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market games package for the 2023 season. MrBeast (real name: Jimmy Donaldson) on Friday kicked off a characteristically over-the-top challenge for fans. From Aug.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The Republicans don’t need Donald Trump to get people to pay attention to their causes. Approximately 12.8 million viewers tuned in Wednesday night to see a telecast of the first Republican primary debate in the race for the 2024 presidential election, according to data from Nielsen, with 11.1 million viewers watching the event on Fox News Channel and another 1.7 million viewing it on sister outlet Fox Business Network. Eight candidates took part.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor You might call it CNN Headline News — for the streaming era. Warner Bros. Discovery plans to unveil a 24/7 live-streamed news service called “CNN Max” on September 27, and indicated the outlet would focus initially on breaking news.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Warner Bros. Discovery is back in the hunt for a new executive to oversee CNN. Mark Thompson, the former CEO of New York Times Co.

2024 Super Bowl is around the corner on February 11, 2024, at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. Rihanna, who just gave birth, left fans in awe last year with her amazing performance, which included a pregnancy reveal.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor When Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum moderate Wednesday night’s Republican primary debate, they won’t be running for office. But they will be at the forefront of a very important popularity contest. The Fox News duo will kick off a coverage cycle that every TV-news executive hopes will reverse some of the recent trends of the medium, which has contended, like many other TV formats, with downturns in viewership and advertising dollars.

It doesn’t look like Taylor Swift will be at the Super Bowl any time soon.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Chloe Melas, a journalist whose work covering the entertainment industry has helped her gain traction at CNN, will join NBC News starting August 21. Melas will be charged with coverage of “the intersection of entertainment, business and culture and report for all platforms of NBC News, including Digital, and MSNBC,” according to a memo from Catherine Kim, senior vice president of NBC News Editorial.

stricken from the official consideration list as a result of the recent allegations made by her ex-dancers. But which world class pop star might do it? Ed Sheeran? Not bloody likely!The problem, you see, is that the halftime show is a big American event and Ed just doesn’t have the pizazz to pull it off. Or at least that’s what critics of the idea of him playing the show are saying.