Nielsen Accreditation Was ‘Threatened’ by Performance Issues Before Hiatus Request, Media Rating Council Says

The Media Rating Council has suspended Nielsen’s accreditation for national ratings, the latest twist in a long-running drama over the effort for a third party to effectively measure viewing.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNielsen’s decades-old track record of measuring the TV business was dealt a serious blow Wednesday after an industry organization decided to suspend its backing of the company’s national ratings service and also cancel an agreed-upon hiatus for its support of Nielsen’s local TV efforts as well.The suspension is the latest salvo in a months-long joust between TV networks and the company that has long tabulated its viewership, and is the latest sign of the

undercounted viewers during the pandemic. Nielsen’s total usage of television by adults 18-49 — the demographic a majority of ad prices are based on — was understated by 2% to 6% during February, which was the timeframe the MRC used to conduct the audit.

EXCLUSIVE: Shout Studios and Hideout Pictures’ Old Henry has been set for a U.S. theatrical release on October 1. This will follow the western’s world premiere as an out of competition official selection title at the Venice Film Festival on September 7. Check out the trailer above.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe TV industry has for decades relied on a single yardstick: Nielsen ratings.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorFox News said it has helped to evacuate four Afghan freelancers and their associates — 24 people in all — as part of a larger move by media organizations to secure an exit from the country for nationals who have helped their on the ground efforts in the region.In a memo to staffers on Sunday, Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said the company, part of Fox Corp., had “evacuated three Afghan nationals who formerly served as freelance associates, as well as an Afghan

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorRachel Maddow will stay at MSNBC, according to two people familiar with the matter, after negotiating a new pact that will keep her at the cable-news outlet beyond 2022.Maddow, who is the linchpin of the network’s primetime lineup, had been considering her own independent content ventures, and had enlisted top executives at Endeavor to make her case to MSNBC and senior managers at NBCUniversal.

If you’ve been paying attention to Instagram lately, you’ll have noticed more and more of our favourite celebrities are ditching their usual hair colours in favour of the money-piece trend. The nineties-inspired look, which made its comeback during the first lockdown, is a favourite amongst celebrities like Beyoncé, Dua Lipa and Kylie Jenner.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCNN mid-morning anchor Poppy Harlow is going to take a hiatus from working on her program to tend to a legal matter: studying the law at Yale University.Harlow, who has been with CNN since 2008, will be pursuing Yale Law School’s one-year Master of Studies in Law, a program aimed at people who are not attorneys but want to become more familiar with legal studies and apply knowledge of the law to the work they do. The degree is open to journalists.

Ratings controversy is nothing new in the TV trenches, but the streaming shift is amping up the level of angst all around.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNielsen said it would move forward without the backing of the media industry’s Media Rating Council, the latest eyebrow-raising maneuver in a months-long feud between the media-measurement giant and the TV networks whose viewers it has counted for decades.“We believe hiatus is the best course of action at this time and will allow us to focus on innovating our core products, continuing to deliver data that the industry can rely on and ultimately creating a better

NEW YORK -- Patricia Hitchcock O’Connell, the only child of Alfred Hitchcock and an actor herself who made a memorable appearance in her father’s “Strangers on a Train” and championed his work in the decades following his death, has died at age 93.Hitchcock died Monday in her sleep at home in Thousand Oaks, California, her daughter Tere Carrubba said Wednesday.

Forbes just released their annual list of Richest Self-Made Women, and for the first time ever, Dolly Parton was included.