Happy Friday! Programming note: I'm surprising my family with a weekend getaway (no, not to the UFC fight in DC) so this newsletter will be off on Monday and back on Tuesday. In this edition: Bari Weiss poaches Trevor Phillips, JD Vance begins his book tour, and Jimmy Kimmel consolidates the late night TV audience. |
A 'once in a generation' week of TV |
We're witnessing a "once in a generation confluence of incredible events," Fox analytics boss Michael Mulvihill says, calling this "the kind of week sports documentaries get made about."
The World Cup is underway, with the US playing Paraguay in prime time tonight. Game 5 of the NBA Finals is tomorrow night. The UFC's highly controversial fight night at the White House is on Sunday, and so is Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.
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US fans at a Qatar 2022 match against Wales. (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
If the World Cup seems like an even bigger spectacle than it was four years ago, that's because it is.
"The decision by FIFA to nearly double the size of the World Cup has not drawn universal praise, but it is an undeniable boost to U.S. media rights holders Fox and Telemundo," Deadline's Dade Hayes writes. "The most recent men’s edition of the Cup, held in Qatar in 2022, featured 32 nations and 64 matches. This one, played in 16 cities across North America, will see 104 matches played by 48 nations."
"For media partners, that extra inventory has been a significant boost," Hayes adds. "In what tends to be a sleepy time of year, the tournament will provide daily, ad-friendly programming with a larger footprint than the Olympics." Fox Sports exec Zac Kenworthy says it is "the biggest production Fox Sports has ever put on in our company's history."
>> CNN's Ben Church compiled an excellent "World Cup beginner's guide" for anyone who wants to know the basics, while Kyle Feldscher wrote about the bad vibes around the world's biggest sporting event, and why "the matches have arrived just in time..."
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There's already a bit of controversy about Fox's World Cup coverage. Yesterday, Fox "cut away to full-screen commercials during the hydration breaks that FIFA has introduced for the 2026 World Cup, and even missed some match action during the second half of the opener between Mexico and South Africa," The Athletic's Henry Bushnell reports. Soccer fans "lamented" the breaks, and Telemundo highlighted the fact that it's not cutting away like Fox is.
But for Fox, it's simple math: The hydration breaks open up "more than 800 additional spots" for ads, "with about four commercials per half for each of the 104 matches," Bloomberg's Hannah Miller notes.
>> In the UK, ITV "is set for a record World Cup advertising windfall as a significantly expanded tournament and an influx of demand from AI companies provide a welcome boost to broadcasters in an otherwise weak ad market," Daniel Thomas reports. (FT)
>> Overnight, James Corden kicked off his pop-up late-night show, "FIFA World Cup on FOX After Hours," Bill Carter writes. (LateNighter)
>> "YouTube, podcasts and live events are opening new ways to monetize the tournament," Samuel Agini reports. (FT)
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'It's the hottest ticket in Trumpworld by far' |
☝️ That's what one longtime Trump ally tells CNN for this story about how the White House UFC fight came together.
The event is another reflection of Paramount's cozy relationship with Trump, since Paramount and UFC have a long-term partnership, and MMA fights are helping to build up Paramount+ streaming service.
>> "With the streaming of sports being a big political issue these days, the 'Freedom 250' UFC fight would be one that you might think would show up on CBS, so the nation could see it free of charge," The Athletic's Andrew Marchand wrote... "But no, to watch Sunday's show, a viewer will need a Paramount+ subscription, where the event will be exclusively streamed."
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The fact-checking ranks shrink |
The Duke Reporters' Lab, led by PolitiFact founder Bill Adair, conducts a census of fact-checkers every year. "The number had been going up steadily until a couple of years ago when it flattened out. This year, it began to drop," Adair told me. "The most stark indicator is in the openings/closings we see. This past year, there were only 10 new fact-checking organizations, but 33 shut down."
The 2026 census, out today, notes that "the number of fact-checking projects is still more than double what it was 10 years ago." My personal favorite, of course, is CNN savant Daniel Dale. His latest report, which he shared on "The Lead with Jake Tapper" yesterday, is about "how, according to Trump, Trump's conspiracy theories can never be disproven, only proven..."
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Bari Weiss hires Trevor Phillips |
Trevor Phillips, a prominent British broadcaster and former politician, is joining CBS News as senior global affairs correspondent. "Phillips' reporting will appear on all CBS News programs and platforms," the network says. He'll leave his Sky News show, "Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips," in July.
Phillips' "decades-long career is a masterclass in seeing beyond groupthink and pursuing the truth," CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss said in a statement shared first with CNN. "Trevor's deep knowledge of geopolitics and history will be an incredible asset at CBS News, where he'll quickly become an indispensable voice for audiences across all platforms."
It's easy to see why Weiss wanted to poach Phillips: He's won attention for probing interviews of politicians on both the left and right; has written for decades about race, identity and social justice; and has chaired the Index on Censorship, which publishes the work of censored writers. "Trevor is a renowned interviewer who has proven that he's not afraid to buck any side," a CBS News insider remarked.
It's also easy to see Phillips having his own CBS show down the line. In any case, the hiring, first reported by Breaker last night, comes at an intriguing time...
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Lots more talent news out of CBS |
A top television agent recently told me they couldn't possibly encourage a client to join CBS News right now. And this morning, Ben Mullin reported on another "60 Minutes" departure: Producer Michael Gavshon "is leaving the show at the end of June."
But the Phillips' hiring shows that Weiss is still steadily reshaping the news division. Yesterday, The Guardian's Jeremy Barr tweeted a scoop about a potential "try out" for "CBS Mornings": Conservative commentator Elisabeth Hasselback, still remembered for her time on "The View" more than a decade ago, "will be guest-hosting an hour of the CBS morning show next week from Monday to Wednesday — though she won't be doing hard news segments."
>> The LAT's Stephen Battaglio has a new story about who might be added to the ranks of "60," mentioning Tony Dokoupil, Holly Williams and Matt Gutman among others...
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