Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
Mollie Hemingway, Ed. ·
Apr 6, 2011 at 9:45am
From the New York Times:
Glenn Beck will end his daily Fox News Channel program later this year.
His departure was jointly announced on Wednesday by Fox and Mr. Beck’s company, Mercury Radio Arts. The companies said they would “work together to develop and produce a variety of television projects for air on the Fox News Channel as well as content for other platforms including Fox News’ digital properties.”
A daily TV show is a grind, particularly when you're also doing three hours of radio a day. But still, this was an unbelievably popular show for FOX, so the news is surprising. Why do you think the show is ending and what do you think the effect will be?
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Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
Why do you think the show is ending...
$
and what do you think the effect will be?
More $
May '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
Tommy De Seno: Why do you think the show is ending...
$
and what do you think the effect will be?
More $ · Apr 6 at 9:56am
We can only hope the words "for Emily" are appended to both your answers.
May '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
I'm not sure that Fox wasn't nervous about the little nut-factor stuff that keeps coming up. Ron Radosh did a good piece on this regarding Skousen.
Fox doesn't need him to win the ratings war, and they do not need to have some far out stuff bite them unanticipated. Beck is basically fairly sound, but the religious-based libertarianism, combined with the odd conspiracy theory, can get you into Father Coughlin/BJ Hargis territory at some inopportune moment.
Jun '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
...it's because he's running for President.
Now, wouldn't that be a fun rumor to spread?
May '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
Radio and television are two vastly different mediums. I've known successful radio play-by-play guys who hated television because they're suddenly not the one driving the bus.
And in the news business, the narrative is too often controlled by the simple availability of visuals. Remember the dust up Rush had on his syndicated TV package about Chelsea Clinton? Too many people control your destiny in TV. Radio is the control-freaks medium of choice.
From FNC's standpoint Beck may be a ratings winner but it interrupts the flow of the schedule. It's hard news from Fox & Friends in the AM until the opinion shows that start the primetime block at 8pm. But smack in the middle of it is this opinionated radio guy at 5et. They will probably work out a deal for Beck to supply some weekend programming and all will be happy.
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
He might be tired.
Mar '11
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
Even a live horse dies if it's beaten too frequently.
Nov '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
I am inclined to think that he will be even more effective with scheduled or unscheduled productions of some length that show the results of his investigations. He seems to unearth some remarkable information and to present it well. Too much exposure leads him into some of his rambling diversions.
Jun '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
By expanding TheBlaze.com or GlennBeck.com and adding more in-house video, he can do there most of the things he was doing on the TV show.
Edited on Apr 6, 2011 at 12:53pmAug '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
Bingo. I've watched him since long before his Fox gig, and he's done an enormous amount of work at tremendous personal cost to expose the dark and dangerous networks of the Soros-Obama-crypto-Marxist 'progressives'. Van Jones and other White House czars have felt his heat. Beck's 9/12 Project and other initiatives helped launch the whole Tea Party movement; and anyone who took his advice about gold has almost tripled their money.
But America is closing its ears, and things have reached a saturation point. Too often he's just repeating himself. It's an enormous drain, emotionally and mentally, being a constant object of ridicule; and his personal life is damaged. He has to have armed protection 24/7 because of the thousands of death threats he's received. The FBI has counseled him on the situation.
Money has nothing to do with it; he's made more than he can spend for the rest of his life. His radio show is a big success, and he'll continue doing special features for Fox.
Feb '11
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
Apparently most of Becks major advertisers have bailed, and the show was increasingly carried by Fox in-house ads. And his ratings have dipped by 30%. It will be interesting to see what, if any, major advertisers he can interest in his new gig.
Jun '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
[Cable news ratings, April 1, 2011: On Friday, Glenn Beck easily won the 5 p.m. hour with 344,000 viewers 25-54, well ahead of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer (181,000) and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews (120,000).]
If Beck has fallen that much, how pathetic is his competition? Together, CNN and MSNBC can't beat him. In my time zone he's on at 4:00 in the afternoon. Not exactly prime time.
May '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
Advertisers are no longer the most important part of television. It's really subscriber fees. Currently, all of the news networks see their revenue streams split almost evenly between ads dollars and sub fees.
To set the bar, understand that ESPN is the 800 lb gorilla in cable and gets almost $4 per subscriber per month. The only other networks above or near the $1 mark are TNT and Disney.
Fox News is currently closing on new carriage deals that would place them in the $1 - 1.25 territory. Consider that CNN/HLN is bundled at 51¢ and MSNBC at 16¢/sub.
With a total penetration of 102 million households that would give FNC a guaranteed income of $1.53B. Roger Ailes is not worried that Beck isn't drawing top ad dollars.
May '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
It wouldn't matter if Beck painted himself orange and worshiped Gozer. It is simply beyond belief that no companies would be willing to advertise on a show with ratings like that.
Dec '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
I think that River is closest. I have been "watching" him since he was a local host here in Tampa. He's always been on the edge, but (I believe) sincere. Despite published reports to the contrary, he is still very popular with the radio people that he left, here.
Beck is not doing anything he is doing, for the money, except to the extent that it allows him to hire more staff to support hs efforts. That is my belief.
His departure has been telegraphed, by him. He has an increasingly stronger religious conviction that he needs to do things that will make others uncomfortable. He has said so and is probably, politely, offering Fox a way to create some distance.
I would guess he wants a bit more freedom to make more people, more uncomfortable, and he is too polite to inflict that on Roger Ailes. I sincerely doubt that any aspect of his decision is dollar-related. My opinion, for what it is worth. It's also his; he has said he was going to change things up this year and has made clear that it was apt, if anything, to cost him money.
May '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
Advertising for daily shows are not sold the same way as primetime or sporting events. And even that's changing. Increasingly, ads are sold across networks. NBC bundles with MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo and USA. ABC does the same with Disney, ESPN, ABC Family, SoapNET and A&E.
Total numbers across networks is what is being sold. For example, this was the first year that CBS did not have exclusive coverage on the NCAA Tournament. They knew ratings would take a hit. So, the deal with Time-Warner was that CBS would sell the games across the networks for a combined rating and profits for the early rounds would be split accordingly. If CBS got a 16 rating, TBS a 5 and TNT a 7, the advertiser was delivered a 28 rating. If CBS promised a 32 there would be rebates or make-goods.
Most of what everybody thinks they know about television, advertising and ratings is wrong.
Jul '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
". . . MSNBC at 16¢/sub."
How can they get such an inflated price? Somebody must be getting a kickback.
Mar '11
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
Great. And just when I decided to get cable again.
May '10
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
When I talk about cross-network synergy, here's another way this works: Cable and satellite companies must also pay local broadcasters a fee to retransmit their over-the-air stations. They may also take other considerations. Disney used this to launch their myriad of ESPN channels. You want to carry ABC in their O&O (owned and operated) markets? All you have to do is carry ESPN2, ESPNews and ESPNU.
NBC can do the same with MSNBC and CNBC. The more coveted property is used to propagate carriage of the lesser one. The networks love to time the end of their carriage agreements to coincide with parent networks coverage of the Super Bowl.
Feb '11
Re: Breaking: Beck TV Program to End
I got my numbers from a recent article in Advertising Age, where Rupert Murdoch is quoted denying to Newcorp Stockholders that Fox is subsidizing Beck. Im too lazy to find the link, but the gist of the article was that Beck was losing ratings/advertising revenue and the downward spiral it was expected to continue, not plateau. Which is a cause for concern, esp if Ailes has a juicy replacement in the wings (i.e. The Palin Family Variety Show)