Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, April 26th, 2021
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, April 26th, 2021. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities suburbs, where AllYourScreens HQ is powered by Holiday Blend coffee and lots of grapes.
CAN LOCAL TV REMAIN RELEVANT AS VIEWERS SHIFT TO STREAMING?
CNBC's Alex Sherman has a look at how local TV stations are trying to remain relevant in a era where an increasing number of viewers are shifting their primary TV habits to streaming. There is a lot in the article and to be honest, it could have been broken up into several different pieces that are more focused on specific aspects of the story. But two things jump out at me. First, is the issue of retransmission fees. It's hard for me to see how these fees are sustainable in the long run. Which is a problem, given how much revenue they provide to the station groups:
For the past decade, broadcast station groups have collected fees from pay-TV operators -- Comcast, DirecTV, Dish, Charter, etc. -- for the right to carry their stations. The trend began around 2006 when station groups realized consumers wanted access to their local TV channels just as much as -- if not more than -- they wanted the most popular cable networks (such as ESPN or CNN) which had long charged carriage fees.
So station groups began turning down so-called “must carry” provisions, which required pay-TV operators to carry local stations and share ad revenue with them, and instead began taking direct payments from the pay-TV operators -- with the risk that, someday, the pay-TV operators could change their minds and drop these channels.
That shift led to a booming industry. Total paid retransmission fees paid to station group owners grew from about $200 million in 2006 to more than $10 billion by 2018. They’re still rising. Research firm S&P Global expects fees to top $15 billion by 2023.
Nexstar, the largest U.S. owner of local TV stations, took in nearly $2 billion in retransmission fees last year -- about 44% of the company’s total annual revenue. Buoyed by soaring retransmission revenue, Nexstar’s total return between 2010 and 2020 was nearly 3,000 percent, making the company the fifth-best performing stock of the decade in the The Russell 1000 large-company index.
And while it's not mentioned in the article, some of the retransmission fees are clawed back from the stations by the broadcast networks. Which means that these retransmission fees are financial underpinning of the broadcast network TV ecosystem right now. And any slowing or decrease in those fees will have a profound impact on the industry.
The other interesting aspect of this story is the challenges of adding local TV station feeds to free, ad-supported streaming networks. These AVOD's can't afford to pay retransmission fees. So there are all sorts of clunky workarounds popping up in hopes of creating the Netflix of local TV:
There are also free advertising-supported national streaming services, such as Fox Corp.’s Tubi, which have begun to offer local news feeds. ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV has begun asking local stations for access to their news programming as well, according to people familiar with the matter, but the digital feed wouldn’t be live -- which would avoid retransmission payment.
Sinclair Broadcast executive Adam Ware said Pluto executives have asked for access to Sinclair’s 186 stations, but thus far, the company has turned them down. Instead, he’s using this moment in time to develop a streaming service for Sinclair Broadcast Group called Stirr.
Stirr is a free linear service that includes Sinclair station local news programs and other local content specifically made for streaming -- and it’s the company’s plan to go direct to consumers. Sinclair has also started making original local content for the service, such as Stirr City, a linear feed of news, sports, lifestyle and entertainment programming based on where a person lives.
One problem any service like Stirr faces is that this is not like the mid-1950s, when local TV stations were creating all sorts of original programming that could be shared with a wider national audiences. For the most part, local TV stations produce daily newscasts, a light lifestyle magazine or two and maybe some sort of local sports programming. And little of that is of interest to anyone outside the area.
NEXSTAR TO LAUNCH NEW CLASSIC TV DIGINET
Nexstar Media Inc. is launching a new classic TV diginet on September 1st called Rewind TV. Here is the list of shows they expect to carry at launch and while there are a number of familiar titles, the big surprise for fans is the addition of The John Larroquette Show, which has never been available for streaming and hasn't been seen in syndication for close to 20 years.
This move is actually an interesting play for Nexstar, which also owns the diginet Antenna TV. The company is apparently shifting a bunch of the 1980s & 1990s comedies from Antenna to Rewind and then it will refocus Antenna TV as the home for 1960s-1970s era comedies along with nightly reruns of The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson.
ODDS AND SODS
* Sports Business Journal is reporting that NBC has officially pulled out of the bidding for the NHL’s second TV package, according to U.S. and Canadian sources. Next season will now mark the first time since the '05-06 campaign that the network will not carry any NHL games. Speculation is that the games may end up on TNT.
* Netflix has launched a companion interactive web site for its new YA drama Shadow & Bone, which premiered last Friday.
* Cinedigm is launching a new children’s animation streaming video channel called Fantawild, which is in partnership with Fantawild Animation, a Chinese producer of children’s animation.
ICYMI
Here are links to some of the stories that were posted over the weekend on AllYourScreeens.com
* Roku Warns Customers They May Lose Access To YouTube TV
* First Look: 'Devils' Series Two
* New On Amazon Prime Video: May 2021
* Fortnite Adds Vikings Wide Receiver Justin Jefferson Locker Bundle
* First Look Video: 'The Mosquito Coast' - Episode One
* New On IMDb TV: May 2021
TODAY'S PREMIERES
1) Backstrom Series Premiere (Acorn TV)
This intrepid series based on the popular Swedish crime novels by Leif GW Persson follows smug detective Evert Bäckström (Kjell Bergqvist), an occasional TV expert famous for having solved 99% of all cases he has taken on. But when a bullet-ridden skull is found in the Stockholm archipelago, DNA results confirm it belongs to a victim of Thailand’s 2004 tsunami. Bäckström is faced with an inexplicable mystery that not even he could have imagined.
2) Deliciousness Season Premiere (MTV)
Host Tiffani Thiessen and panelists Angela Kinsey, Kel Mitchell and Tim Chantarangsu celebrate the funniest food moments on the internet from home cooking disasters to barbecue fails.
3) Exposure Series Premiere (Hulu)
Eight talented and ambitious photographers competing for a $250,000 prize and the title of America’s best mobile photographer.
4) $50K Three Ways Series Premiere (HGTV)
Interior designer Tiffany Brooks helps renovation-ready homeowners decide how to best spend their hard-earned $50,000.
5) In Search Of Darkness: Part II (Shudder)
Building on the hit 2019 superdoc that Forbes called “a scary good magnum opus,” In Search of Darkness: Part II dives deeper into the fabled practical-effects decade of iconic and eclectic ‘80s horror movies that changed the course of film history. Packed with over four hours of brand-new interviews, including such legendary horror icons as Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Nancy Allen (Dressed to Kill), Linnea Quigley (The Return of the Living Dead), and special-effects wizard Tom Savini (Friday the 13th), Part II features 15 new faces alongside 40-plus returning members of the original In Search of Darkness cast to delve into more fan-favorite titles of ‘80s horror, year-by-year, expanding its scope to cover more international releases and spotlighting horror-career retrospectives.
6) Inside Out Series Premiere (HGTV)
The seven-episode series follows Carmine, a real estate agent and interior designer, and Mike, a landscape designer, as they each pitch their design plans to clients. The budget is set, so the guys must be persuasive to score a bigger chunk of the dollars to either max out the interiors or make the most of the outdoor spruce up.
7) One Lane Bridge Series Premiere (Acorn TV)
The series follows ambitious young Māori detective, Ariki Davis (Dominic Ona-Ariki, The Commons), who arrives in Queenstown with high hopes for his future. When local legend Grub Ryder is found dead at the bottom of the infamous One Lane Bridge, Ariki joins the investigation led by his boss, respected stalwart, Detective Senior Sergeant Stephen Tremaine (Joel Tobeck, The Luminaries). During the investigation, Ariki inadvertently unlocks his Matakite – a supernatural ability akin to second sight that he hasn’t experienced since his youth. As ONE LANE BRIDGEtwists and turns and the pressure to solve the crime heats up, Māori metaphysics collides with Southern Man scepticism and Ariki’s spiritual gift threatens to endanger the case, his career and his life. And at the centre of it all sits the mysterious One Lane Bridge, a historic Queenstown landmark synonymous with murder, suicide and fatal accidents. Grub’s death wasn’t the first. And it won’t be the last
8) Sesame Street: 50 Years Of Sunny Days (ABC)
First Lady Jill Biden leads an impressive list of special guest appearances including W. Kamau Bell, Gloria Estefan, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Whoopi Goldberg, CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Christopher Jackson, UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie, John Legend, Lucy Liu, Olivia Munn, John Oliver, Rosie Perez, Questlove, Chrissy Teigen and Usher. Stevie Wonder will perform his re-imagined version of “Sesame Street” classic “Sunny Days” for the documentary.
I'll be back with another one tomorrow. If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.