Top ‘CBS This Morning’ Producer Quietly Stepped Away in Summer

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPresident Donald Trump has done two interviews for “60 Minutes” with its veteran correspondent Lesley Stahl. The third, as it turns out, may be the last.Trump cut short an interview with Stahl Tuesday at The White House that was being taped for presentation on the CBS News program this Sunday, according to a person familiar with the matter, confirming reports posted earlier on Twitter.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorWarnerMedia wants to take another swing at celebrity golf.The AT&T-owned media operation unveiled plans Monday for another of its golf telecasts featuring two celebrity teams squaring off against one another. The new foursome will feature Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley taking on Stephen Curry and Peyton Manning.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorHGTV, known for dozens of programs that focus on home makeovers, is doing some remodeling work on a non-traditional structure: its programming lineup.The next spate of series from the cable network – one of the biggest properties in the stable of parent company Discovery –  will add new elements to the outlet’s usual spate of fix-it shows and flip-your-house programs, including soapy storylines and a new recognition of the nation’s fragile economic state.In  one

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorIn a different era, the sportscaster winding down after a long night of calling balls, strikes, first downs, field goals or what have you might be eager to get to the bar.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorExecutives at NBCUniversal, NBC News and the NBC broadcast network are not-so-quietly thanking an employee who has only limited command over the Comcast-owned company’s corporate direction: Savannah Guthrie.Guthrie’s handling of President Donald Trump during a town-hall broadcast organized in last-minute fashion by NBC News helped blunt waves of criticism of the media conglomerate, which scheduled the event directly opposite one with Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPresident Trump wanted to run and ramble. Savannah Guthrie wouldn’t let him.In what may be the performance of a career, the popular “Today” anchor kept a tight rein on the proceedings of a controversial town-hall event with President Donald Trump that put NBC in the cross-hairs of critics and Hollywood A-listers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe election coverage will be from CBS News.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPublic-affairs media outlet C-SPAN said Thursday it had placed host and producer Steve Scully on administrative leave after he falsely suggested his Twitter feed had been hacked as he was preparing to moderate a second presidential debate between President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.“These actions have let down a lot of people, including my colleagues at C-SPAN, where I have worked for the past 30 years, professional colleagues in the media,

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPresident Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will no doubt make news when they take part in dueling town halls this evening on NBC and ABC. But the networks broadcasting their events may be looking less at headlines the two politicians will generate and more at the money they will draw.NBC and ABC hope to take in hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising revenue from their 8 p.m.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAngela Ruggiero, a sports-business entrepreneur and a four-time Olympic ice-hockey player, will join the board of directors of TheScore, the mobile-focused sports-media company that has placed emphasis on both sports content and sports betting.Ruggiero is CEO and co-founder of Sports Innovation Lab, a market-research firm and a medal winner in four successive Winter Olympics as a member of theUnited States Women’s National Ice Hockey Team.  In 2015 she became

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNBC News and ABC News regularly feud in the morning and fight in the early evening. Now they are taking their scorched-earth battle for news viewers to primetime.Little love is lost between the two news divisions, one an integral and massive part of the Comcast media empire, and the other, smaller rival an instrumental piece of Walt Disney.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNBC News will move forward with an 8 p.m.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorWatching TV and going to the mall were once separate experiences. But NBCUniversal continues to work to combine them.The Comcast-owned media conglomerate is moving forward with its efforts to give TV viewers the chance to shop while they watch their favorite programs, bringing a technology it calls ShoppableTV to its Telemundo Spanish-language broadcasting operations.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNBCUniversal consolidated ad sales for its local stations and regional sports outlets under its ad-sales chief Linda Yaccarino, adding to her duties at the large Comcast-controlled media conglomerate.Yaccarino will continue to oversee the company’s national advertising sales, as she has done since the fall of 2012. She joined NBCUniversal in September of 2011 from the former Time Warner to oversee cable and digital ad sales.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorC-SPAN producer Steve Scully and controversy aren’t usually mentioned in the same sentence, but this is 2020, so anything is up for grabs.Scully – or, perhaps, someone emulating him – raised eyebrows on Friday when his Twitter feed appeared to be asking a question of Anthony Scaramucci, the former Trump White House communications director.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPaula Reid has, for the moment, moved from the White House to her house.The CBS News White House correspondent is still working her job full-time.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorJean-Paul Colaco, an experienced hand in the emerging practice of gaining ad support for streaming-video content, will serve as the new head of advertising sales at WarnerMedia, filling a role that has been left open for more than a year.Colaco, known to many as “JP,” has a history with WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCBS wants to pivot from telling people it’s the nation’s most-watched TV network to making them more aware of the programs it distributes across many different screens.The network, the flagship business of ViacomCBS, wants to make sure modern viewers continue to recognize the outlet behind “Blue Bloods,” “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and “Survivor” as a force for big-audience entertainment.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe second presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic  candidate Joe Biden will be “virtual,” with the two participants holding forth from separate remote locations, a new twist to the event added in the wake of the president being exposed to the coronavirus.The debate’s “town hall” format will remain in place, the Commission on Presidential Debates said Thursday, with the moderator, Steve Scully, staying at the event’s original location,

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorDepending on who is doing the talking, TV’s 2020 “upfront” market was absolutely horrendous or merely awful.Advance advertising commitments for the next year of TV could be down as much as 15% to 20%, according to six media executives and ad buyers familiar with parts of the industry’s annual negotiations for commercial support for its next programming cycle.