The Hollywood Reporter (Weekly)
CHRIS WALLACE’S FOX EXIT MAY SPARK STREAMING-FIRST DEALS
Staffers in Fox News Channel’s D.C. newsroom, and guests on Fox News Sunday who were speaking with Chris Wallace
on air just minutes before, were kept in the dark until the anchor revealed the news on Dec. 12 on air: It was his last show, and he was leaving. “I’m ready for a new adventure,” he told viewers.
That new adventure was revealed quickly: Wallace is headed to CNN — but, in a twist, his primary job will be on the network’s forthcoming streaming service CNN+. “It’s a stunner,” a senior executive at another TV news division texted THR after the Wallace news hit. “There’s no way Chris is the last” big name to join CNN+, this source predicts.
Every TV news division has begun to invest in streaming, balancing that investment with the slow decline of the linear TV business. Fox Corp. says it is committing $200 million to $300 million to invest in its streaming efforts, which include Fox Nation and Fox Weather, while CNN and NBC News are hiring hundreds of employees to bulk up their streaming offerings. Some new hires, like CNN’s Kasie Hunt and NBC’s Tom Llamas,
have jobs that are streaming-first, with linear roles on the side.
But no streaming hire thus far has the name recognition of Wallace, who has moderated two presidential debates and served in high-profile roles at NBC and ABC. With former NBC News and MSNBC anchor Brian Williams now available and other big names occasionally bubbling up ahead of contract renewals, the Wallace hiring served as a shot across the bow that CNN is serious about streaming.
“This speaks volumes about our commitment to journalism and CNN+, and we are thrilled to have Chris on the ground floor of helping us build the next generation of CNN and news,” CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker said about the hire. Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who has pivoted his company to be streaming-first, has said in recent months that every new sports deal ESPN signs will include full streaming rights. It doesn’t mean ESPN will stream everything on ESPN+, but it has that option when the time comes to break free of the cable bundle.
There’s increasingly an expectation in the business that TV news outlets will follow suit, with any major hire expected to have streaming duties alongside any linear responsibilities. And as the Wallace, Hunt and Llamas hires show, streaming-first deals could become the new TV news norm.
But CNN also will have a challenge unlike its network news competition, or Fox News. The NBC, ABC and CBS streaming services are free, while MSNBC’s is tied into Peacock. In other words, CNN+ will be the only paid streaming news service. It’s a new market, with demand uncertain. Wallace, Hunt and the high-profile hires sure to follow will test its thesis. — ALEX WEPRIN