Fox News Nabs Historic Cable Ratings Victory

9/30/2014 by Michael O'Connell

Bill O'Reilly

No one would say the summer of 2014 suffered any shortage of breaking news.

From the crisis in Ferguson, Mo., to the cultural impact of Robin Williams' and Joan Rivers' sudden deaths and all the way up to recent round-the-clock coverage of U.S. strikes on ISIS, cable news has been heavily occupied. The last three months have been so big, Fox News Channel just clocked its first quarter with the most-watched primetime across all of cable in more than a decade — even besting USA and ESPN.

The average 1.79 million viewers between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., Monday through Friday, gave FNC its first quarter atop the dial since the Iraq War broke out in 2003. Expanding that block by an hour, which includes Greta Van Susteren at 7 p.m., FNC was the most watched in primetime for the first time ever. And in the targeted demographic of adults 25-54, FNC was up 12 percent from the same period a year ago, with an average 313,000 viewers.

It's the last time the cable network will be compared to its previous primetime. Oct. 7 marks the one-year anniversary of FNC revamping a decade-old lineup with Megyn Kelly's move to 9 p.m. The third quarter marked Kelly's best since launch, up a significant 27 percent (year over year) in the time period previously occupied by Sean Hannity. (Hannity, who airs at 10 p.m., enjoyed a high of his own).

Bill O'Reilly remained the top performer across cable news, despite Kelly's advances, and 14 FNC shows continued to sit atop the cable news roster — while the only other network to see year-to-year improvement, CNN, saw a rather unexpected series perched atop its own rankings. Documentary series The Sixties stands as CNN's most-watched show of the quarter, edging pasting Anderson Cooper with an average 650,000 viewers — 186,000 of them in the key demo. After ratings spikes for the anchor's on-the-ground coverage of Ferguson, his show ranked as CNN's top show in the demo.

CNN's gains from the comparable quarter last year were modest, but they were still gains. Its 186,000 adults 18-49 in primetime (8-11 p.m.)  marked a 4 percent improvement and even outpaced MSNBC — now back in third place. MSNBC, still holding slight second-place edge in total viewers, was down 21 percent in the key demo compared to last year. Pulling just an average 150,000 adults 25-54 in primetime, it meant quarterly lows for Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell in the key demo.

The wondrous anomaly of Shark Tank encores also continues. With the ABC reality competition in heavy off-net rotation on CBNBC, those repeats are outperforming much of cable news and ranking No. 14 in primetime where adults 25-54 are concerned — besting every telecast on MSNBC.

Third-Quarter 2014 Primetime Averages

FNC: 1,797,000 viewers, up 12 percent (313,000 adults 25-54, up 12 percent)
CNN: 555,000 viewers, up 2 percent (186,000 adults 25-54, up 4 percent)
MSNBC: 557,000 viewers, down 2 percent (150 adults 25-54, down 21 percent)
HLN: 352,000 viewers, down 4 percent (120 adults 25-54, down 12 percent)

Summer Ratings Slump Should Have TV Execs Sweating

Viewing habits are changing, and the industry needs to keep up

Daniel Wroclawski

I'm probably a TV exec's worst nightmare.

A twenty-something fresh out of grad school, I don't have a cable subscription, I love my Apple TV, I subscribed to the now-defunct Aereo, and I have both Netflix and Amazon Instant Video accounts.

For the longest time, this setup perfectly served my needs. So it was with shock and anger that I watched the Supreme Court strike Aereo down at the behest of broadcasters desperate to preserve the status quo.

Still, Aereo's fall hasn't brought me back into cable's fold. If anything, it's strengthened my resolve to cut the cord. As a result, I haven't been watching much TV this summer. And thanks to all of the available streaming and DVR services, it looks like I'm not alone.

This July, broadcast viewership was down about 3.7 percent and cable viewership dropped 6.8 percent over the same period last year.

Re/code reports that TV ratings have been falling steadily since April. That's not unusual: Viewership typically drops in the summer months, when networks are showing repeats and reality shows. But it's the year-over-year trends that should have TV execs concerned.

For the month of July, broadcast viewership was down about 3.7 percent and cable viewership dropped 6.8 percent compared to the same period in 2013. And some are forecasting that the erosion will only accelerate next year.

This ongoing change in viewing habits has even prompted FX to stop distributing "live plus same day" ratings numbers. The channel will now only publicize "live+3" ratings—numbers for same-day and time-shifted viewing up to three days after airing.

"Live+7" ratings are also frequently bandied about, though a recent study by Bloomberg Businessweek and marketing firm Ebiquity argued most viewers watch shows within the live+3 period. According to their numbers, the extra four days only provide only small gains.

But while the industry is steadily heading toward global acceptance of ratings models that include time-shifted viewing, advertisers remain skeptical. Viewers who watch DVR'd TV can skip ads, and if networks can claim a larger viewership, ad rates could quickly rise.

The other factor in the overall ratings decline is pretty simple: time spent elsewhere.

Aside from DVR viewership, the other factor in the overall ratings decline is pretty simple: time spent elsewhere.

Peter Kafka of Re/code suggests that we may be spending more time on both streaming services and activities unrelated to TV viewing, like Facebook.

He notes that BTIG Research found Netflix subscribers now watch an average of 103 minutes a day on the service. That's 103 minutes when TV networks (and the advertisers who sustain them) can't count on capturing crucial pairs of eyeballs.

At this point, it's clear that TV advertising needs to get with the times. With live viewership steadily declining, advertisers need to find ways to get their ads in front of modern viewers. How that's going to happen is anyone's guess, but we'd put our money on more prominent product placement.

After all, viewers want to watch shows on their own schedule, not the network's. And one way or another, they're going to do it.

Via: Re/code, Bloomberg Businessweek

DreamWorks-SoftBank talks may augur Hollywood dealmaking wave

BY LISA RICHWINE

(Reuters) - DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc could soon have a new Japanese owner in a deal that highlights the challenges facing Hollywood's smaller studios in remaining independent and could prompt a string of other deals.

Over the weekend, a source said DreamWorks, the studio best known for movie franchises including "Shrek" and "Madagascar," was in talks about a possible sale to SoftBank Corp, the cash-rich Japanese communications and media company.

The development could make other independent studios the targets of larger players, or prompt them to seek outside buyers or investors.

Many smaller, independent studios produce only a handful of movies each year, making them especially vulnerable to box office disappointments, such as those that DreamWorks has produced lately with "Rise of the Guardians," "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" and "Turbo." And they don't have the other businesses like cable channels or theme parks to help ride out film flops.

Movie studios have also faced a decline in DVD sales and increased competition from digital entertainment options likeNetflix Inc.

The industrywide challenges make it harder for smaller studios without partnerships to tap the cash and distribution networks of larger companies, said Hal Vogel, the chief executive officer of Vogel Capital Management and an entertainment industry analyst. 

"The movie business is capital intensive," he said. "You need a lot of cash just to stay in business."

Independent studios that are currently riding hot streaks could become targets for purchase or investment from larger media companies - some of them China-based - that want to acquire proven content.

"Other mid-tier Hollywood studios could become targets," B. Riley analyst Eric Wold wrote in a research note. "While any studio could be a target, we actually believe mid-tier standalone Hollywood studios that do not have a number of other divisions or businesses that could prove to be distractions or need to be divested would likely be preferred."

"Hunger Games" producer Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, the largest independent studio with more than a dozen films already released this year, could draw interest, Wold said, echoing other analysts.

Although analysts have mentioned China as a key source of potential buyers, French media group Vivendi SA may also be looking at a deal with Lions Gate as it seeks to bolster its own content offerings, sources have said.

Lions Gate shares were up 4 percent to $32.43 at midday, while DreamWorks surged 25 percent to $28.01.

A Lions Gate spokesman declined to comment.

Speculation about smaller content providers being targets was recently fueled by Twenty-First Century Fox Inc's attempt to acquire Time Warner Inc - both own movie studios - although Fox has dropped its pursuit for now.

Another company, MGM, the storied studio with the roaring lion logo, has found success co-financing the James Bond and "Hobbit" franchises after it emerged from bankruptcy in 2010.

Investors in MGM are waiting to see if the company will seek an initial public offering or a sale to a media conglomerate that wants to expand its television and movie properties and acquire its film library.

Both Lions Gate and MGM also produce television shows.

Reports of Softbank's interest in DreamWorks highlight the value of content to media players, said Steven Azarbad, chief investment officer of Maglan Capital, which owns about 1 percent of MGM.

"There aren't too many assets left with the scale of MGM Studios that can be acquired," he said.

An MGM spokeswoman declined to comment.

As for DreamWorks, which has recently stumbled after churning out hits including "Madagascar" and "Kung Fu Panda," an investment from or buyout by an Asian player like SoftBank could be a shot in the arm in a year when its shares have tumbled 37 percent through Friday.

(Additional reporting by Liana Baker; Editing by Christian Plumb, Eric Effron and Jeffrey Benkoe)

FILED UNDER:

ENTERTAINMENT

DEALS

FILM

JAPAN

Drones Are Coming To Hollywood: FAA Set To Announce Approval For Use In Filming

Gregory S. McNealContributor

The FAA will approve Hollywood’s request to use drones for filming, government and industry sources familiar with the process have told Forbes. On Thursday afternoon the FAA will announce its decision, and explain the procedures under which production companies will operate and the aviation rules which they are exempted from, the sources say.

In May, seven aerial photo and video production companies asked for regulatory exemptions (known as a 333 exemption) that would allow the film and television industry to use drones with FAA approval. Those seven companies and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), were asked by the FAA to develop the guidelines and safety procedures under which they planned to operate. The FAA reviewed those procedures and is expected to approve the drone-specific rules and standards that will enable Hollywood to be exempt from existing aviation regulations.

The process was an onerous one that began more than four years ago with aerial cinematography companies working to develop internal guidelines. After filing their request for an exemption, the industry began drafting rules and guidelines, with the participation of pilots, lawyers, consultants, unmanned aviation experts, cinematographers, representatives from the studios, and experienced cinematography companies including Aerial Mob, Astraeus Aerial Cinema Systems, Flying-Cam Aerial Systems, Heli Video Productions, PictorVision, Snaproll Media and Vortex Aerial.

A representative from Vortex Aerial, one of the companies involved in the exemption process, said, “We are very proud to be a part of this monumentally historical event. Being the result of over 4 years of industry leader collaboration we can only hope that this most daunting and financially taxing of tasks will finally come to fruition and not be yet another false start for our industry.”

Aerial Mob, one of the aerial cinematography companies involved in the exemption process features this image on their website.

The exemption is expected to specify detailed procedures under which companies may operate. The companies involved expect to release clear safety rules and guidelines that will set the standard for other companies to follow. The exemption allows the companies to fly pursuant to specific rules for the types of flights film productions plan to conduct. By definition, the exemption means that Hollywood will not need to to comply with some of the general flight rules covering pilot certificate requirements, manuals, maintenance and equipment mandates and certain airworthiness certification requirements.

Hollywood is an appropriate industry to be granted one of the first exemptions, said Tony Carmean of Aerial Mob, because it can address the FAA’s two major concerns: safety and privacy. “Most studio productions take place on closed sites with an established perimeter, ensuring that personnel on those sites are affiliated with the production and are aware of inbound aircraft,” he said. Aerial Mob has worked with clients such as the BBC, Nike, Harvard University and MTV.  The company suspended all operations inside the United States while awaiting FAA approval, oftentimes filming in Mexico, which has a more permissive environment for aerial cinematography.

The companies involved in the exemption process have extensive flight experience with both manned and unmanned aircraft, suggesting that certification as a pilot of manned aircraft may be a criteria that the FAA believes is important for the operation of unmanned aircraft.  To date, the FAA has received 45 requests for exemptions from large and small companies across a range of industries including agriculture, oil and gas, pipeline inspectors and surveyors.  “We have even received an exemption request from a realtor, and a person asking for permission to use a UAS for news gathering,” said FAA spokesman Les Dorr.

Currently, Certificates of Waiver or Authorization are available to public entities that want to fly drones in civil airspace.  The FAA says that commercial operations are authorized on a case-by-case basis. Such operations require a certified aircraft, a licensed pilot and operating approval. The exemption process under Section 333 provides an additional avenue for commercial UAS operations.

Gregory S. McNeal is a professor specializing in law and public policy.  You can follow him on Twitter @GregoryMcNeal or on Facebook.

Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling and More Celebs Who Have Been Friends Since They Were Kids

Ryan Gosling (left) and Justin Timberlake in The All-New Mickey Mouse Club

WALT DISNEY CO./EVERETT

BY NATE JONES

 @kn8

If you're a Hollywood star, your childhood friends usually have a limited number of roles available to play. They can be a loyal sidekick, your crew's comical mascot, or maybe the personal assistant who will eventually take you down in a bloodless celebrity coup. 

But for a lucky few stars, the people they grew up with became celebrities themselves, with their own fans, their own love interests and their own trending topics. 

It must be a welcome surprise. After all, it's lonely at the top, but it's a little less lonely when your childhood friends are there, too. 

In honor of International Friendship Day – commonly celebrated on the first Sunday in August – we're rounding up the celeb pairs who have known each other since before they were famous. 

Ryan Gosling and Justin Timberlake
Most celebs who knew each other as kids went to school together; Ryan Goslingand Justin Timberlake were co-workers. As cast members on the revampedMickey Mouse Club, Gosling and Timberlake were self-confessed "partners in crime," hanging out between shoots and even living together for a spell after Gosling's mom moved back to Canada. 

"We were crazy," Timberlake told The Jonathan Ross Show in 2013. "We, like, skipped tutoring. Going to the park, to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids set. We'd have milkshakes. Oh man, we were so gangster." 

Gwyneth Paltrow and Maya Rudolph

Gwyneth Paltrow (left) and Maya Rudolph

SETH POPPEL / YEARBOOK LIBRARY

Bruce Paltrow and Dick Rudolph became best friends as students at Tulane University; after graduation, they both moved to L.A., where they began successful careers in Hollywood and started families. Their daughters both attended the tony St. Augustine by the Sea School in Santa Monica and, either by coincidence or subtle parental nudging, became friends as well. 

Decades later, when Bruce's daughter Gwyneth was hosting Saturday Night Live, she used her monologue to give a shout-out to Dick's daughter Maya, who had recently joined the cast. 

"This week has been real extra-special to me because one of my best friends is on the show now, and I'm so proud of her," Gwyneth gushed. "She's super-funny and talented, and I'm so glad she's in the cast." 

Jonah Hill and Adam Levine

Adam Levine (left) and Jonah Hill

NOEL VASQUEZ / GETTY

This is another second generation friendship; as their fathers were best friends, the young Adam Levine and Jonah Hill knew each other almost from birth. 

"Our dads met at the principal's office in junior high," Hill told Howard Stern. "We basically lived together – we were in carpool, sleepovers at each each other's houses, everything." 

Hill's first concert was a show featuring Maroon 5 predecessor Kara's Flowers, which nabbed a record deal while Levine was still in high school. Still, the 21 Jump Street star swears that fame has not changed his old friend: "That is a guy who is exactly who he ever was, in a great way." 

Besides those kind words, Hill was able to do PEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive an even better favor, officiating Levine's wedding to model Behati Prinsloo in July. 

Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire

Tobey Maguire (left) and Leonardo DiCaprio

MARTHA NOBLE / GLOBE

Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire's friendship was already detailed in a lengthy Grantland profile, but we'll do our best to summarize. 

The pair met as child actors in the late '80s, often auditioning for the same roles (which Leo almost always won). Both sons of divorced parents, the two bonded over what DiCaprio later called their "humble beginnings." 

As the Aviator star later told the Associated Press, "We both were these young, very enthusiastic, ambitious young men that really wanted to get our foot in the door." 

In the '90s, the pair collaborated to make (and then hide) the little-seen filmDon's Plum, before forming the center of a pack of young actors with an unprintable name that ran wild around New York City in the post-Titanic era. (Other members of the crew included Entourage's Kevin Connolly, magician David Blaine and Stan from Mad Men.) 

"Every project we do, we talk about," DiCaprio told the AP. "Every single choice I've made, I've talked to Tobey about and vice versa. We've had endless conversations about certain projects and argued with one another and supported one another along the way." 

In 2013, DiCaprio and Maguire teamed up to play one of literature's most famous best-friend duos: Glittering millionaire Jay Gatsby and his loyal sidekick Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby. 

"I got to work on one of the great American novels with my best friend," Maguire told PEOPLE. "It was great!" 

John Krasinski and B.J. Novak

B.J. Novak (left) and John Kraskinski

MICHAEL BUCKNER / GETTY

Office costars John Krasinski and B.J. Novak have experience spending long hours together. The pair were on the same Little League team, then went to the same high school, where they acted in the same school plays. 

As Novak wrote in his Reddit AMA session, "I sometimes think that if I were to wake up and it turned out The Office was all a dream, the fact that John Krasinski was in it with me would be what I'd realize afterward should have been the obvious tip-off. 'Oh! And John Krasinski was in it, too! But they called him Jim!' " 

Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts

Naomi Watts (left) and Nicole Kidman

JEFF VESPA / WIREIMAGE

When they met at an audition for an Australian bikini ad, Nicole Kidman andNaomi Watts became fast friends. "We had to sit and wait, both in swimsuits, feeling incredibly embarrassed," Watts later told PEOPLE. "And neither of us got the job!" 

The pair later stared together in the 1990 film Flirting, but while Kidman's star rose quickly, Watts toiled along in obscurity. She later credited Kidman with helping her through this tough time: "She kept saying, 'It's just going to take one thing … if you're in a hit film [then] everything changes.'" 

The pair reportedly hit a rocky patch in 2013, with dueling biopics and a spat over Kidman's refusal to take part in a celebration of Watts's Oscar nomination. In September, Kidman took over the lead role in Werner Herzog's Queen of the Desert after Watts dropped out, which can be interpreted as a favor, a power move, or nothing at all. 

Kate Hudson and Liv Tyler

Kate Hudson (left) and Liv Tyler

THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION / GETTY

Take Gwyneth Paltrow and Maya Rudolph, make their parents even morefamous, and you've got the story of Kate Hudson and Liv Tyler. The respective daughters of Goldie Hawn and Steven Tyler attended Crossroads School together in the early '90s, but they didn't become super-close until they played lovers in Robert Altman's Dr. T and the Women. 

The experience was slightly awkward for them. As Tyler told Metro UK in 2008, "We were always so shy about the kissing, but in retrospect we were like, 'We should have just totally made out and tongued each other.' But we never did, we were just too scared to do it." 

Jennifer Aniston and Chaz Bono

Jennifer Aniston and Chaz Bono

SPLASH NEWS ONLINE; ARAYA DIAZ / WIREIMAGE

Jennifer Aniston and Chaz Bono were classmates together at New York City's LaGuardia High School when they posed for these photos together. As the child of Sonny and Cher, Bono had the best house of the gang. 

"Every day a group of us would go to Chaz's house after school," Aniston toldAllure. "I haven't spoken to him in a while." 

Lauryn Hill and Zach Braff

Lauryn Hill and Zach Braff

VALLERY JEAN / WIREIMAGE; MILLENNIUM / TODD WILLIAMSON / AP

Zach Braff isn't the only star to grow up in the Garden State. (Sorry.) When theScrubs actor was a small child in Maplewood, New Jersey, one of his neighbors was none other than R&B singer Lauryn Hill. The pair later went to the same high school, but Braff's most lasting memory of the future Fugee came at his bar mitzvah, where she undoubtedly received quite the miseducation. 

"There was a game called Coke and Pepsi: You'd have a partner, and one person was Coke and the other Pepsi," Braff recalled to Jane magazine. "Depending on what the DJ would yell, you had to run and get on that person's lap. And Lauryn was my Coke and Pepsi partner." 

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck (left) and Matt Damon

You think we'd forget about them? Hollywood's most famous bromance began on the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the early '80s, when a youngMatt Damon moved in down the street from 8-year-old Ben Affleck. The two became fast friends, connecting over their shared acting ambitions. Once they got to high school, they were nearly inseparable. 

"Before Matt, I was by myself," Affleck told Parade. "Acting was a solo activity where I'd just go off and do something, act in a little TV show or something, and no one understood it. … All of a sudden I had this friend Matt, and he gets it and wants to do it and thinks it's interesting and wants to talk about it." 

The pair split up once Affleck went away for college – Damon, two years older, had gone to a local school called Harvard – but they reunited in the early '90s in L.A. Both had dropped out of college and were trying to make it as actors. Frustrated by their lack of success, they decided to write their own movie, tossing around ideas for a script about a working-class genius and his townie friends. The rest is history.

Melissa McCarthy (left), Jenny McCarthy

TAMMIE ARROYO / AP; DESIREE NAVARRO / WIREIMAGE