Broadcast TV is Dying. Trump threatens it anyway

Belt-tightening has already hit network TV’s other big money driver: the morning show. In early January, Hoda Kotb left Today Show after 17 years. The broadcast journalist reportedly earned more than $20 million a year as an anchor, and NBC didn’t want to continue paying that. The network team also axed because of it Late Night with Seth Meyers and reduced the number of weekly episodes The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon from five to four. These are all signs of what Variety calls “TV’s new politics of austerity.”

“We have viewers who travel to different places to watch their programs.” An agent told Variety. “Some of these businesses are seeing a decrease in revenue. It’s just a fact of life.”

But broadcast TV’s audience is now fragmented between streaming, cable and social media, so why not? Donald Trump threatens its existence? “This is a political tactic used against national news networks,” said David Greene, director of civil liberties at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Greene noted that Trump’s ire was directed more at national news outlets than at local stations that actually hold broadcast licenses.

Some networks have local stations. Paramount, which also produces CBS 60 Minutesowned a handful and was even investigating 12 pieces for sale back in August before Trump issued his latest threats towards the net. But when I asked Oberman about those threats, he said he had “not really heard that it was an area of ​​concern” for the industry. “If anything, the incoming administration is closer to broadcasters.”

Perry Sook, CEO of Nexstar, the largest U.S. television station owner, hopes the new administration will eliminate rules that limit the number of local stations a company can own. Active November 2024 earnings callSook made it clear how he wants to see journalism in these stations. “(I) think there could be a kinder, gentler consensus that maybe fact-based journalism would come back into vogue, and also eliminate that level of activist journalism,” he said.

Sinclair, the second-largest owner of TV stations in the U.S., is also seeking more consolidation and has gained a reputation for reorienting its local stations to cover the news with more POVs. Sinclair’s own conservative political leanings. Sinclair was the subject 2018 viral video It showed dozens of news anchors from across the US repeating common conservative talking points that criticized the media for reading the same script.

But the Trump administration and the big holders of broadcast licenses are not just friends because of their shared political leanings. According to Orman, local stations also tend to have better access when it comes to political ads. “Digital doesn’t seem to be giving political advertisers the revenue they expect, and TV still does,” Orman said told Ad Exchanger late last year. Broadcast TV actually saw ad revenue grow 9 percent in 2024, driven by increased spending on political ads during key election periods.

With the election in the background, those ad dollars are drying up. One of the world’s oldest media institutions has its back against the wall as viewership declines and streaming overwhelms the networks. Even if the incoming administration fails to follow through on its promise to punish media outlets that broadcast news it deems offensive, broadcast TV is entering a period of existential uncertainty.

“Broadcasting is so vulnerable right now that any threat to it is seen as a threat,” says EFF’s Greene.