Why Broadcast Television Won’t Die

The Town with Matthew Belloni

The Ringer

Society & Culture

4.3 • 847 Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Matt is joined by Amy Reisenbach, the president of CBS Entertainment, to talk about how broadcast networks continue to succeed despite living in a world of streaming and social media. She discusses why these linear networks are still surviving, how a hybrid broadcast-streaming model can be beneficial for legacy networks, and the challenge of programming shows for audiences of different age ranges on linear vs. streaming (02:55). Matt finishes the show with a prediction about a new sports bundle from DirecTV (25:31). Click HERE to help those affected by the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles. For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, ‘What I’m Hearing ...,’ click here. Email us your thoughts! [email protected] Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Amy Reisenbach Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jessie Lopez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Bill Simmons. I am thrilled to announce our newest YouTube channel. It's called
0:03.7	Ringer Movies. If you're a fan of our movie coverage here at The Ringer, then you're in luck,
0:08.0	because every episode of The Rewatchables and The Big Picture, now on YouTube.
0:13.0	Like Bill said, Ringer Movies will feature full episodes of my show, The Big Picture, the
0:16.4	rewatchables, as well as special live episodes, deep dives into movie history, and a bunch of other fun stuff featuring other movie-loving ringer personalities.
0:22.6	Search Ringer movies on YouTube and experience the joy. Chris Ryan impersonating Wayne Jenkins on camera.
0:29.6	It is Wednesday, January 15th. Broadcast network television, remember that? We've been talking about the death of
0:39.2	linear TV so long. It's easy to forget the enduring popularity of these funky old over-the-air
0:44.6	channels. I'm not kidding when I say that I once had to explain to producer Craig the concept
0:50.1	of bunny ears. And the broadcast networks are free if you've got an antenna that was foreign to him.
0:56.6	Nielsen has started providing combination ratings for broadcast and streaming after a week of
1:01.7	appearing on both. And if you look at the numbers, broadcast actually has had a pretty good season
1:07.0	so far. Matlock, which I also had to explain to Craig, is a reboot of a legal show from
1:12.6	the 80s starring Kathy Bates. That is generating 13.5 million viewers on CBS and Paramount Plus combined
1:20.2	after a week of release. Tracker and Ellsbeth are both big shows for CBS and Paramount Plus. Fire Country, very relevant now.
1:29.4	There's a new comedy, Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage, a spinoff from the Big Bang Theory.
1:34.7	That's got an average linear audience of 8.1 million weekly viewers, and it bumps up to 10.1
1:40.8	million with the streaming factored in.
1:43.3	Those are recording to Nielsen via Vulture.
1:46.0	These linear audience keep getting older, of course, and these hits are nowhere near the
1:50.4	heyday of broadcast when 30 million people were watching friends in ER when they aired on Thursday
1:56.3	nights. But it's a testament to the hybrid broadcast and streaming model that kind of seems to be working
	...

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