Too Much TV: A Lesson I Learned At SRCCON
Some business problems transcend the industry you happen to be working in.
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, July 10th 2025:
DEPARTMENT OF CLARIFICATIONS
No, it is not your imagination. I did not send out a newsletter last night. I was attending the SRCCon and it was a late evening. Which was the concern I mentioned earlier in the week. On the upside, I met some interesting people and attended some really helpful sessions (more on that below).
I'm not sure if it's technically a correction or a clarification, but I wanted to mention that when I mentioned that The Pitt was the only "current HBO Max" original series, I was attempting to differentiate between shows that were original IP instead of existing IP. But I ended up being unclear and confusing, a fact a number of you pointed out to me. I'll try and do better in the future.
A LESSON I LEARNED AT SRCCON 2025
In some ways, the job I do is very singular - there aren't a lot of people who are successful independent journalists covering the entertainment industry. There are the Penske trades, there are some digital outlets who want to be the next generation of the Penske trades and a few medium-sized digital outlets. But there aren't a lot of solo journalists who make a living or anything close to it writing about the industry.
Because of that, I sometimes struggle to find peers at journalism conferences. But what I've found is that we all share commonalities, sometimes in places where you don't expect to see it.
For instance, there was a panel this morning entitled "Beyond ‘Going Viral’: How To Define What Content Is Good Content," and here is part of the description of what you could expect to hear:
"At the Minnesota Star Tribune, we found that defining our content’s success only by the volume of traffic it received did not lead to the outcomes we wanted for our audience and business. Instead, we introduced a metric called New Subscriber Paths, which looks at the stories a reader consumed before subscribing, and are working on building a suite of metrics to understand what types of stories are effective for different journalistic and business goals."
It was a fascinating conversation - and a reminder that despite a lot of money invested in change, it still comes slowly even in the best of newsrooms. But what really struck me is that a lot of the methods were no different than what you will hear if you speak to someone in the streaming television business. Both industries are trying to figure out what content can lead to increasing their paid subscriber base. They are both trying to crunch metrics in the way that allows them to create content that best suits their business goals of the moment.
It was a great reminder that while we tend to think of the television business as unique, many of its challenges are the same ones being face by other industries, albeit in slightly differing ways.
CBS RELEASES ITS FALL SCHEDULE
It's that time of year, when broadcast networks begin announcing their new fall schedules. CBS released its schedule on Friday, and the the biggest unexpected move is that season two of Watson is moving from midseason to the fall and the Dick Wolf FBI spin-off CIA is moving from the fall to midseason. Part of the reason might be that the show is also changing showrunners, with Law & Order: SVU's Warren Leight taking over from FBI: Most Wanted’s David Hudgins.
Here is the complete CBS fall schedule:
Sunday, September 7th:
2025 Video Music Awards
Sunday, September 14th:
77th Emmy Awards
Sunday, September 21st:
A Grammy Salute To Earth, Wind & Fire: The 21st Night Of September
Wednesday, September 24th:
Survivor Season Forty-Nine Premiere
Thursday, September 25th:
The Amazing Race Season Thirty-Eight Premiere
Saturday, September 27th:
48 Hours Season Thirty-Eight Premiere
Sunday, September 28th:
60 Minutes Season Fifty Eight Premiere
Big Brother Season Twenty-Seven Premiere
Sunday, October 12th:
Matlock Season Two Sneak Peek
Elsbeth Season Three Sneak Peek
Monday, October 13th:
The Neighborhood Season Eight Premiere
DMV Series Premiere
FBI Season Eight Premiere
Watson Season Two Premiere
Tuesday, October 14th:
NCIS Season Twenty-Three Premiere
NCIS: Origins Season Two Premiere
NCIS: Sydney Season Three Premiere
Thursday, October 16th:
Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Season Two Premiere
Ghosts Season Five Premiere
Friday, October 17th:
Fire Country Season Four Premiere
Sheriff Country Series Premiere
Boston Blue Series Premiere
Sunday, October 19th:
Tracker Season Three Premiere
The Road Series Premiere
PENSKE MEDIA'S PLAN FOR A ROLLING STONE-BRANDED HOTEL AND CASINO SEEMS DEAD
PMC is a private company, which means that outsiders have no way of determining how well it is doing financially. But what we do know is that it's going through a bit of turmoil right now.
Besides its massive portfolio of Hollywood and music trade publications, the company has a number of live event holdings as well as a growing number of real estate investments. And that part of the business has - at least from the outside - been through a chaotic period. Earlier this year, the Austin TV Festival (ATX) "separated itself" from PMC after 2 1/2 years in a deal where it's still not clear if PMC was bought out or walked away.
In April, PMC laid off around ten people at the South by Southwest festival, including longtime employee and current president Hugh Forrest.
In July, The Ankler's Richard Rushfield reported the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) had voted to reconstitute itself with the intent of reexamining the deal that transferred control of the organization over to Penske Media Eldridge (PME), a joint venture between Penske Media and Boehly’s Eldridge Industries, and the owner of Golden Globes producer Dick Clark Productions. This comes more than two years after the asset transfer was approved by the HFPA. A transfer which has yet to be approved by the State of California.
That reexamination could prove to be problematical for the PMC/Eldridge Industries partnership, which has already begin rolling out pop-up Golden Globe events in other countries.
And then there is the PMC division PMR Bahamas Limited, which signed a letter of agreement in January 2023 for for the development of a $170 million upscale resort and residential community for Torch Cay on Exuma’s southern tip.
Penske is listed is a primary investor in PMR Bahamas Limited, but I haven't been able to uncover much more about the company. It seems to have been created for this project and it's unclear the state of the project right now. I reached out unsuccessfully to PMR, and I've spent a couple of weeks making calls to the Bahamas, hoping to get at least a bit closer to the truth.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister's office insisted the development plans were still active and that at least some construction had begun on the project. But local real estate brokers insisted what work that had taken place has stopped. So it's a bit difficult to know what is going on, although I will continue to work on this.
This week came news that a PMC plan to buy the troubled downtown Las Vegas Downtown Grand and turn it into the Rolling Stone Hotel and Casino project had fallen through. Although according to reporting by Casino.Org's Scott Roeben, the decision apparently had something to do with what PMC discovered when it was doing its due diligence on the deal:
The purpose of due diligence is for a buyer to get a look at the financial documents the rest of us aren’t privy to. What did Penske find?
It’s unclear if Downtown Grand has ever generated a profit.
A casino sale can break down during due diligence due to any number of reasons, including financial irregularities, legal issues, operational risks, property concerns, reputational damage or misalignment between buyer and seller expectations.
This was some of that. Let’s just file it under “unforeseen entanglements.”
So in this case, the problem seems to be with the seller, although the collapsed deal is just the latest in a string of strange and unfortunate corporate challenges at PMC.
And on a last, somewhat tangential note, Oliver Darcy's Status is reporting PMC is ending its work-from-home option for employees:
Penske Media Corporation—the parent company of Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone and other major trade publications—is also rolling out a similar policy, opting to abruptly end remote work for corporate staffers. In a June 27 internal memo obtained by Status, the Jay Penske-led company announced to employees it would “eliminate all remote-only roles across PMC corporate by August 31, 2025,” and that “all corporate remote positions will officially transition to 4-days-per-week in-office roles by Tuesday, September 2.” PMC added that it would end all commute and department exceptions, requiring corporate staff to work from the office four days a week.
Naturally, PMC framed the decision as a cultural necessity, citing the need for a “highly interactive, cohesive, and nimble organization” amid “unprecedented changes” driven by A.I. “Our most significant progress and unique developments come about when we're together," the memo said. "This is the agile, one-step-ahead style of work that has always set PMC apart.”
As always, if you have any comments or tips PMC, you can contact me confidentially by email at rick@allyourscreens.com or on Signal at allyourscreens.24.
TWEET OF THE DAY
ODDS AND SODS
* George Takei's animated book They Called Us Enemy has been banned by school officials in Tennessee for being "divisive." The book is about Takei's childhood, part of which was spent as a prisoner in an Arkansas detention camp for Japanese-American citizens.
* If you live in the Twin Cities and miss Blockbuster, one man is stepping into the void by running a pop-up video rental store.
* Is Julia Sweeney's character from It's Pat & SNL problematic? Sweeney has some thoughts about that question.
* Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), members of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, wrote to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Olivia Trusty, urging the FCC to hold a full Commission vote on the pending Paramount Global and Skydance Media merger.
WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND THIS WEEKEND
FRIDAY, JULY 11TH:
* Aap Jaisa Koi (Netflix)
* Almost Cops (Netflix)
* Dani Rovira: It's Worth It (Netflix)
* Foundation Season Three Premiere (Apple TV+)
* Madea's Destination Wedding (Netflix)
* Murderbot Season One Finale (Apple TV+)
* One Night In Idaho: The College Murders (Prime Video)
* Operation: Aunties (ALLBLK)
* Push (Shudder)
* Rage Series Premiere (HBO MAX)
* Taste Of His Own Poison (LMN)
* The Great American Recipe Season Four Premiere (PBS)
* The Wild Ones (Apple TV+)
* Tougen Anki Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
SATURDAY, JULY 12TH:
* Buried In The Backyard Season Premiere (Oxygen)
* Little Girl In The Woods (Lifetime)
* Mysteries From Above (History)
* Sharks Of The North (NatGeo)
SUNDAY, JULY 13TH:
* Billionaire Boys Club (CNN)
* Dexter: Resurrection Series Premiere (Showtime)
* If I Go Missing (Lifetime)
* Kings Court Series Premiere (Bravo)
* Live Aid: When Rock 'n' Roll Took On The World (CNN)
* Love Island: Beyond The Villa Series Premiere (Peacock)
* Shark Quest: Hunt For The Apex Predator (NatGeo)
* Theatre Of Darkness: Yamishibai (Crunchyroll)
* The Institute Series Premiere (MGM+)
MONDAY, JULY 14TH:
* A Killer Among Friends Series Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
* Apocalypse In The Tropics (Netflix)
* Life After People Season Premiere (History)
* Sakamoto Days (Netflix)
SEE YOU ON MONDAY!