Jon Adler Named Senior Vice President, Original Series at CNN

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorRachel Maddow doesn’t seem to have much in common with John Oliver.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorWarner Bros. Discovery wants to interest Madison Avenue in everything from “Full Frontal” to “90 Day Fiancé.”The newly merged media conglomerate will fold what we’re once two separate upfront presentations into one, the company said Monday, reserving May 18 for a.showcase of both the Warner and Discovery properties as part of a unified portfolio.The new event essentially takes over the spot in May’s upfront week preciously occupied by WarnerMedia.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThere’s a new contender in the arena.As Discovery begins its new era of operating Warner Bros., HBO and Turner, all eyes are on how the new company will navigate the media sector’s streaming wars with thousands of hours of content from popular TV brands like TLC, TBS, TNT, CNN and HBO. Behind that effort, however, could look a new sports giant that is poised to add another deep-pocketed player vying for major league negotiations that it previously ignored.Warner Bros.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorOne reward for a successful journalism career at The Washington Post might be a move into a different medium, like NBC News. Leigh Ann Caldwell is reversing the dynamic.Caldwell, who has been with NBC News since 2014, will join The Washington Post as one of the two writers on its morning newsletter, “The Early 202,” as well as an interviewer of newsmakers and Congressional leaders on Washington Post Live, the news outlet’s streaming-video forum.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNorah O’Donnell and CBS News have come to terms on a new deal that will keep the anchor at “CBS Evening News” beyond the 2024 election, according to three people familiar with the matter.A CBS News spokesperson declined to offer immediate comment, and a spokeswoman for O’Donnell declined to make the anchor available for comment. O’Donnell disclosed her new contract Friday evening while having a toast with her crew at CBS News’ Washington, D.C., facility, according to these people.The deal was cemented despite growing speculation that CBS News, under the direction of co-president Neeraj Khemlani, might seek to replace the anchor, who has seen her profile grow during a stint co-anchoring the formerly-titled “CBS This Morning” and a tenure at a “CBS Evening News” that has moved its main operation to the nation’s capital.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorJon Steinlauf will oversee U.S. ad sales for the new Warner Bros.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorDisney has over the past two years spent billions to snare new rights deals with top sports properties like Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, the PGA Tour and others. But in months to come, the company may place new emphasis on programming around those big properties.New research from the company indicates more sports fans are interested in “the game around the game,” says Lisa Valentino, executive vice president at Disney Advertising Sales, in an interview, and that could manifest itself increasingly in sports content that is found on smartphones; activity related to fantasy sports; or content related to sports-betting.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAMC Networks has some big TV events to sell in the months ahead, but the company realizes advertisers who might like to be associated with those programs will want new kinds of advertising around them.This next cycle of programming will bring with it TV events like the final episodes of “Better Call Saul’ and “The Walking Dead” that ought to command high prices in TV’s next “upfront” market, along with the debut of a show based on Anne Rice’s popular “Interview with the Vampire,” but without digital opportunities around them, marketers may not engage fully, suggests Kim Kelleher, AMC Networks’ president of commercial revenue and partnerships.“We are seeing an increased appetite for digital inventory, and we have spent a lot of time working to break down the walls between digital and linear,” she says in an interview. “Those are table stakes now.” While AMC is one of the sector’s smaller players, it has unveiled some eye-opening initiatives in recent months, including the launches of a handful of so-called FAST, or free, ad-supported streaming channels and a commitment to sell addressable ad inventory in each linear hour of original programs on its AMC and We TV cable networks.The company is poised to expand its efforts.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorStreaming-video outlet Fox Nation will launch “Kelsey Grammer’s Historic Battles for America,” a multi-part documentary series that takes viewers inside eight key U.S. battles led by the popular star of series like “Frasier” and “Cheers.”During the series, Grammer will examine the strategies and inner workings of such landmark skirmishes as the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolution, the fight for the Alamo and the First Battle of Bull Run during the Civil War.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorFor at least one evening, worlds are colliding in late-night TV.Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel decided to switch up their hosting duties on April 1, with Kimmel traveling to New York to lead NBC’s “Tonight Show” and Fallon journeying to California to host ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” The studio audiences attending each broadcast were not informed of the move ahead of time, leaving them just as surprised as the TV viewers who tuned in Friday night. The Red Hot Chili Peppers served as musical guests for both programs.While such stunts are rare — each late-night program vies with the others for viewership and social-media activity — they are becoming less unique.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe nation’s biggest TV-news outlets have made it increasingly easy for top officials in the White House to have a presence in your house.If White House press secretary Jen Psaki joins MSNBC as expected, she will be the second Biden official to land at the NBCUniversal-owned network in the space of less than a year. She will join Symone Sanders, a former campaign adviser to President Biden and Sen.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorFox News Channel named Caitlyn Jenner, a reality star, former Olympian and one time California gubernatorial candidate as a contributor.“Caitlyn’s story is an inspiration to us all.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe people who make NBC’s “Dateline” are trying to solve another mystery — but this one will likely never be seen on TV.The show has become known for presenting true-crime stories on NBC’s Friday nights, when Lester Holt and correspondents including Andrea Canning, Josh Mankiewicz, Keith Morrison and Dennis Murphy take viewers across difficult emotional terrain. A crime has been committed and the victim’s loved ones want justice.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAfter more than eight years, the weekday and weekend editions of PBS’ signature evening newscast are finally getting together.Washington’s WETA has long produced the venerable “PBS NewsHour,” the show once known as the “McNeil-Lehrer Report” and now anchored by Judy Woodruff, while New York’s WNET has since 2013 produced the Saturday and Sunday editions of the program. Starting April 2, all seven days will be under the auspices of WETA, with Geoff Bennett, a former NBC News and MSNBC correspondent and anchor who was named the program’s chief Washington correspondent in November, taking the reins of a re-titled half-hour “PBS News Weekend.”“I think we are going to build on ‘NewsHour’s’ traditional mix of news and interviews and in-depth features,” says Bennett, in an interview.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorTony Dokoupil has recently traveled to Medyka in Poland, Miami and Minneapolis, too. Over the course of a career in journalism, he has visited all 50 states in the U.S.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCBS News hasn’t put the same kind of spotlight on weather as many of its rivals, but that may all be about to change as quickly as a shift in the wind.The Paramount Global news unit is teaming with The Weather Channel to bring more reporting on weather and climate to CBS News programs including “CBS Mornings” and “The CBS Evening News,” as well as the division’s streaming efforts. Some of the most popular Weather Channel personalities — including Stephanie Abrams, Jim Cantore and Mike Bettes — are likely to turn up on CBS News programs in reports that originate from Weather Channel’s Atlanta headquarters.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorOne of the automobile sector’s newest players is making a big bet on the Oscars at a time when many other car manufacturers are staying away from the glitzy event.Lucid Motors, a manufacturer of luxury electric vehicles that believes it can compete with traditional auto companies like Mercedes-Benz, has typically spent most of its TV-advertising money for  around sports and news programming. On Sunday, it will sponsor the Oscars, an entertainment program, for the first time, part of a bid to get its name out to a broader audience.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorHeather Riley was named executive editorial producer of political programming and affairs at ABC News, and has been assigned to help develop political-news programming for both the Walt Disney Co. unit’s linear programming as well as for Hulu and the streaming-video outlet ABC News Live.She will report to Wendy Fisher, ABC News, senior vice president of newsgathering.“Heather will oversee the development of new political series on Hulu and ABC News Live plus special political projects across television, audio and digital as we gear up for the midterms and beyond,” Fisher said in a memo on Thursday.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe TV industry is getting ready for its annual “upfront” market, when billions of dollars in advertising trade hands. And almost everything is in place — except a firm backing of the economics that guide all the deals.Both Nielsen and its rival, Comscore, are unlikely to win accreditation of their national TV ratings services in time for the upfront, which typically kicks off in May and lasts through much of the summer.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorFans of “Thursday Night Football” will next season hear one of TV sports’ most recognizable voices calling the games for a rather sizable upstart hoping to gain new yards off his play.Michaels, who has offered play-by-play patter for “Monday Night Football” and “Sunday Night Football” since 1986, will lead a new effort by Amazon’s Prime Video, which has gained sole rights to telecast the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” in the fall. Starting Thursday, September 15, Michaels will team up with analyst Kirk Herbstreit, known for his college football prowess at ESPN, to lead coverage of the games as Amazon becomes a bigger player in TV sports rights — which have largely been the domain of traditional broadcasters.