Fox News’ Dana Perino to Launch ‘Perino on Politics’ Podcast for 2024 Election Cycle

Fox News Media’s Stuart Varney and Dana Perino and Univision’s Ilia Calderón will moderate the next Republican presidential debate, set for Sept. 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Mark Marshall, the executive who led NBCUniversal’s ad-sales outreach on an interim basis, will take the role officially. Marshall, who was given oversight of NBCU’s ad-sales after former leader Linda Yaccarino departed abruptly to take the CEO role at X, the social-media company previously known as Twitter, will report to Mark Lazarus, chairman of the company’s media operations.

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.

Donald Trump’s multiple indictments helped propel MSNBC to significant viewership gains during the month of August, while its rivals lost audience compared to the same period a year earlier.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Having just wrapped up a short tour of U.S. arenas, Zach Bryan has plans to go much bigger in 2024, both in tour length and, in several cases, venue size.

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.

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.

Fox News drew more than 12.8 million viewers in its coverage of the first 2024 Republican presidential debate.

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.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CNN+ may not have worked, but perhaps CNN on Max will. Warner Bros. Discovery is planning to launch new original programs from CNN that will stream on its Max streaming service, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor When Amazon’s Prime Video streams a new “Black Friday” NFL game later this year, viewers won’t be greeted solely by a live match. The company plans to offer commercials featuring its talent around the event, according to Danielle Carney, who heads up NFL sales for Amazon. During remarks made at an industry conference, Carney envisioned different “talent” being tapped to talk to viewers about possible buying opportunities.

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.

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.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Selina Wang, who served as CNN’s only reporter on the ground during the coronavirus-challenged Beijing Winter Olympics, will soon become one of ABC News’ key personnel in a very different arena: The White House. Wang, who had been with CNN since 2020, was named ABC News’ new senior White House correspondent Tuesday, during the Disney news unit’s daily editorial meeting.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Sage Steele, the veteran ESPN sportscaster who became better known in recent years for her stances on hot topics like coronavirus vaccinations, has left the Disney sports giant. Steele, who joined ESPN in 2007, said on social media that she had recently settled a lawsuit with her employer after she was suspended in 2021 for comments she made on an outside podcast about getting vaccinated, how women dress and former President Barack Obama’s lineage.

Dana Perino is launching a Fox News Audio podcast tied to the 2024 presidential election.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews will take direct oversight of CBS News, the latest move in a broader restructure of operations at Paramount Global’s CBS business. Matthews, a CBS News veteran who once supervised the Washington bureau and had been put in charge of overall newsgathering, will now have top editorial oversight for CBS News across all platforms. She will oversee all CBS News programs, bureaus, global newsgathering, streaming and digital editorial, as well as standards and practices, special events, politics, elections and surveys, social, the race and culture unit and CBS News Radio.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Wendy McMahon has been elevated at CBS, placed in charge of the company’s CBS News, local stations and syndicated production, now all combined under her aegis. McMahon takes sole oversight of programs ranging from “CBS Evening News” and “60 Minutes” to “Wheel of Fortune” and “The Drew Barrymore Show,” suggesting CBS and its parent Paramount Global see new opportunities to wring synergy from programming that has typically been managed separately.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The headlines coming out of CBS News will soon be guided by a new executive. Neeraj Khemlani, who arrived at the Paramount Global unit in 2021 to oversee CBS News and local stations along with Wendy McMahon, is leaving his role running the unit that produces “60 Minutes,” “CBS Evening News” and “Face The Nation,” among other programs.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Viet Dinh, the influential general counsel of Fox Corp. who is believed to have played a significant role in the company’s failed legal strategy against a massive defamation suit filed against it by Dominion Voting Systems, is leaving his role at the media conglomerate at the end of the year.