Statement: Rashida Jones becomes president of MSNBC
Andrea Paraquat-Taylor CBS
Broadcast: The new VP and news director at KCBS-KCAL Los Angeles, along with CBSN Los Angeles will be Andrea Parquet-Taylor. Previously she was news director at WNCN Raleigh-Durham, WXYZ Detroit, WRAL-WRAZ Raleigh-Durham, and WMAR Baltimore. She also has VP experience, as she was VP and station manager at KTVT-KTXA-TV, since June 2018.
Sony has three new shows they are rolling out: The Good Dish, a Dr. Oz spinoff starring Daphne Oz, Gail Simmons, and Jamika Pessoa; Common Knowledge; and People (the TV Show!). The shows will leverage existing brands and infrastructure. In addition, they are pre-tested with an audience and advertisers.
The financially struggling South African public broadcaster SABC's top executives have decided to cut some of SABC News current affairs shows such as Zwa Maramani in Tshivenda and Ngula ya Vutivi in Xitsonga on SABC2. SABC is also going to cut the broadcaster's communication corps of TV channel publicists.
DuJuan McCoy - Circle City Broadcasting
Cable: Tamera Mowry-Housley is expanding her connections with Crown Media Family Networks. She is signing a new deal allowing her to star in and executive produces original films for Crown Media. The first show is holiday-themed Christmas Comes Twice, which premiered Sunday, December 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. In addition, Mowry-Housley is joining Home & Family as a contributor.
NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde shared on Monday that Rashida Jones will become president of MSNBC. Currently, Jones is senior vice president at NBC News and MSNBC. She also supervises MSNBC's daytime and weekend programming. Jones will take over at MSNBC on Feb. 1.
DuJuan McCoy, CEO, and owner of Circle City Broadcasting has teamed up with Cox Media to launch the Multicultural News Network (MNN). McCoy said the network will be "just like CNN and Fox News." MNN will include live daily news representing diverse communities.
Bloomberg
Streaming: Bloomberg Media is expanding Bloomberg Quicktake from its original format as a social news service to a streaming news network aimed at younger adult viewers. Initially, the 24-hour channel was made available on Apple TV, Roku, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, and Amazon Fire through the new Bloomberg App. Quicktake is available on Comcast’s Xumo as well. Quicktake will be available on Fox’s Tubi later this year.
Oprah interviewed Barack Obama on her show The Oprah Conversation on Apple TV+. The episode premiered Tuesday, November 17, and was free to stream until December 1.
FCC
Industry: President-elect Joe Biden has begun to select the members of the FCC transition team. So far the team includes several FCC vets including Mignon Clyburn. Clyburn was a former commissioner and acting chair. Additionally, Clyburn's father, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) had endorsed Biden's campaign.
In a memo Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch shared that the company’s original target date to start to reopen offices and facilities in January has been pushed back until “no earlier than” April 2021. Murdoch wrote that Fox Corp. has been working harder than ever before in the last eight months, and that “In March 2020, [they] began paying full-time employees’ health insurance premiums and will now continue to do so through December 31, 2021.”