Live-Streamed CNN Channel With New Shows Set to Debut on Max

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 NPR veteran Lakshmi Singh has signed with CAA for representation.; Singh, who has been with NPR for 23 years and has one of the public-broadcasting service’s most familiar voices, anchors midday coverage for NPR Newscasts, some of the most-heard content produced by the news outlet. Her work has drawn recognition from Women of Color in Communications for “contributions to the field, mentorship to other women in communications and broad impact on the promotion of ethnic diversity in journalism”, as well as the Asian American/Asian Research Institute and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Disney and Charter have decided to let ESPN sports take the field on traditional cable after all. The two media giants, battling for the past week over a renewal for carriage of Disney’s various cable networks on Charter’s major-market cable systems, have come to new terms, according to the companies.

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 Jen Psaki is stretching beyond her weekend shift at MSNBC. The former Biden White House Press Secretary turned Sunday commentator is expanding her purview at the NBCUniversal-backed cable outlet. She will begin anchoring MSNBC’s 8 p.m.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor When Megyn Kelly launched a new podcast via her own production company in 2020, she feared it would have an audience of only two: her husband and her therapist. Three years later, her worries appear to have been unfounded. In a sign of how her listenership has grown, she is extending a multi-year deal she has in place for the program to run first on SiriusXM — which has raised her visibility — that will keep her broadcasting “The Megyn Kelly Show” live on the company’s Triumph channel live between noon and 2 p.m.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Streaming fans may associate NBC’s Peacock with original shows like “Poker Face” or a place to watch “Saturday Night Live” when one lacks a cable subscription. But the hub’s backers would like people to consider it along with live sports ranging from Premier League soccer to IndyCar racing.

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 Here’s an act of counting that isn’t going to be as easy as 1-2-3. Representatives of 80 different parties will at some point on Wednesday hear the latest about technology that will help tabulate the number of people who watch a streaming presentation of “Thursday Night Football.” Such a task is typically left to Nielsen.

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 Selling commercials for the Super Bowl, once one of the least complicated processes in modern media is growing infinitely more complex. In 2024, Paramount Global will air Super Bowl LVIII on CBS and, in a first, on a separate kids-focused broadcast on Nickelodeon. In doing so, the company has created a few new wrinkles that TV networks in charge of televising the game typically don’t have to face.

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.

CNN, whose brief foray into subscription streaming was snuffed out shortly after the close of the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger in April 2022, is officially getting real estate on Max.

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 CNN anchor Laura Coates has moved to CAA for representation, a move that could signal a new era of influence for the talent-agency giant at the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed news outlet. In a broad overhaul of CNN’s schedule, Coates was recently named to anchor a new 11 p.m.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Technology giant IBM seems to think the wind is blowing in a different direction. The company said Tuesday that it had agreed to sell its Weather Company — a collection of digital and analytical assets it originally acquired in 2016 that were previously part of the Weather Channel — to Francisco Partners, a private equity fund that is focused on technology.

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.