CNBC said Deep Bagchee has become CNBC International president, effective Monday.

Bagchee returns to CNBC after a stint at ITV, where he was chief product officer. 

He succeeds John Casey, who last year stepped down from the post after nearly three decades at the network.

Bagchee reports to CNBC president KC Sullivan and will oversee CNBC’s business operations in Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. He will be based in London and Singapore.

“Deep’s experience and expertise in news media combined with his ability to strategically identify and grow new audiences while maintaining brand identity, will be a huge asset to our international business,” Sullivan said in a statement. “I’m pleased to welcome Deep back and look forward to working with him to further cement CNBC’s position as the global leader in business news.” 

Before moving to ITV, Bagchee was chief product officer at The Economist. Earlier at CNBC, he was senior VP of product and technology, where he oversaw CNBC’s technology, product and design teams.   

“I’m thrilled to return to CNBC at what is an exciting and transformative time for the media industry,” Bagchee said. “I’m looking forward to working with the talented international  team as we innovate to become increasingly essential to our audiences and serve those interested in markets and global business news as well as financial well-being content.” 

CNBC and The More You Know debut a bilingual social media campaign on financial literacy April 2. The spots feature Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money; Sharon Epperson, CNBC senior personal finance correspondent; Jon Fortt, Closing Bell: Overtime co-anchor; and Bertha Coombs, CNBC senior healthcare reporter, among other CNBC talent. Besides appearing on CNBC and in The More You Know public service announcements, the spots will run on NBCUniversal’s social platforms.

“Providing financial information to audiences around the world is core to our business as we believe it can help put people on a path towards financial security and financial growth," said KC Sullivan, CNBC president. "I want to thank the NBCU The More You Know team for partnering with us to highlight the importance of financial literacy.”

The campaign targets viewers and users who may not have a level of financial literacy one might associate with a CNBC viewer. 

“You need to be literate about money, which means you have to let money compound for you,” Cramer said in the spot titled Financial Literacy 101, which debuted at 11 a.m. ET April 2. “Put it in something that goes up over time and keep reinvesting.”

Silvana Henao and A.J. Vielma appear in the spot “La Educación Financiera Es Poder”, which debuts April 4 at 10 a.m.  

The minute-long spots feature more than a dozen CNBC journalists, including network anchors, and reporters for CNBC en Español and CNBC Make It. Melissa Lee, Nick Vega and Bob Pisani are among the figures who appear. 

Other promos are entitled “Save It For Later,” “Making Good Financial Decisions” and “Financial Literacy is Empowerment.” 

The campaign is running to coincide with Financial Literacy Month, which is April. 

CNBC and The More You Know both turn 35 this year. 

CNBC will air a one-hour documentary on weight-loss drug Ozempic on February 29.

Big Shot: The Ozempic Revolution features reporter Melissa Lee, who travels to Denmark for an inside look at Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical firm that makes the drug, which was created to fight diabetes.

With the uptake of Ozempic by people looking to lose weight, Novo Nordisk is facing intensifying competition in an obesity drug market projected to grow from $6 billion in 2023 to $100 billion by 2030.

The special looks at the consequences of the brand name drug’s price tag, the struggle to get the medications to those who need them, and the controversial role of compounding pharmacies and telehealth services competing to meet the demand and capture a share of the market.

Lee also talks with doctors and patients to reveal the pros and cons of these cutting-edge medications.

CNBC debuts the documentary Inside Track: The Business of Formula 1 Thursday, November 16. The film goes for an hour and CNBC anchor Sara Eisen hosts. 

CNBC calls the special “an exclusive behind-the-scenes analysis of the business behind the world’s most prestigious racing series that is driving prominent companies to take notice.” 

Eisen looks at how the international motorsports league has achieved rapid growth in attendance, viewership and market value, and looks at the sport’s future, including the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which takes place on the Vegas Strip next month. 

Eisen speaks with Stefano Domenicali, Formula One Group CEO; Greg Maffei, Liberty Media CEO; Toto Wolff, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team principal and CEO; and Christian Horner, Oracle Red Bull Racing Team principal, among others. 

“This is a true passion project for me, and I am so excited to give the CNBC audience and Formula One fans alike a closer look at the business of this global phenomenon–one that stands firmly at the intersection of sports, technology and culture,” Eisen said. “I was initially drawn to F1 because my two young children love the sport, but once we started watching the races together, I realized there was something undeniably fascinating from a business perspective that demanded a full exploration of the sport as it reaches new heights in America.” 

CNBC Pro subscribers can stream Inside Track at 7 p.m. ET, an hour before its linear launch. 

The Rugby World Cup is headed toward its conclusion, with just the third-place match and the grand final remaining. The consolation match has Argentina against England, Friday, October 27, with a 3 p.m. ET kickoff. Argentina lost to New Zealand 44-6 in their semifinal, and England lost to South Africa 16-15. 

Peacock has the third-place match. 

And then New Zealand faces South Africa in the final, scheduled for 3 p.m. ET Saturday, October 28, on Peacock and CNBC. The match happens at the Stade de France outside Paris. New Zealand’s team is called the All Blacks and South Africa’s is known as the Springboks. 

Peacock will have a 30-minute pre-game show, which will include the New Zealanders’ famed Haka ceremonial dance that is an homage to Maori culture. Peacock will have a post-game show too, featuring the trophy ceremony. 

NBC shows the final a day later, kicking off at noon ET on Sunday, October 29.  

Leigh Diffey is the studio host and former USA Rugby captain Dan Lyle and former England player Alex Corbisiero are the analysts.  

In the 2019 World Cup final, South Africa beat England 32-12. New Zealand won the 2019 consolation match, defeating Wales. 

South Africa defeated New Zealand in the 1995 World Cup final. After the match, then-President Nelson Mandela handed the Webb Ellis Cup to Springboks captain Francois Pienaar. 

Both South Africa and New Zealand have three World Cup trophies. 

CNBC will re-air its documentary on ExxonMobil with the oil and gas colossus making headlines. ExxonMobil announced this week that it will acquire the shale giant Pioneer Natural Resources in the all-stock deal with a price tag of nearly $60 billion. CNBC will air ExxonMobil at the Crossroads Thursday, October 12, at 8 p.m. 

The hour-long documentary features David Faber’s “exclusive access,” the network said, to the oil fields of the Permian Basin, where ExxonMobil’s Permian production volume will more than double once the Pioneer deal closes.

“Once seen as untouchable, the company is now facing shareholder challenges over its direction and criticism that it fostered public uncertainty about global warming,” according to CNBC. “As gas prices skyrocket around the world, Faber gains unprecedented access to company executives, workers, and facilities to examine ExxonMobil’s efforts to lower its carbon emissions and find out whether the company is ready for the energy transition.”

ExxonMobil at the Crossroads premiered in June 2022. 

Faber is co-anchor of Squawk on the Street and anchor and co-producer of documentaries and long-form programming at CNBC. 

The deal for Pioneer Natural Resources solidifies ExxonMobil’s reliance on fossil fuel production as much of the industry turns to cleaner energy. 

The lineup of live TV sports events set for the Memorial Day weekend stars on the racetrack as  the 107th Indianapolis 500 revs up on Sunday.

NBC will televise the annual flagship IndyCar Series auto race Sunday afternoon from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Nine former Indy 500 champions will compete in the race, including last year’s champion Marcus Ericsson. 

Also on Sunday, Fox will air the NASCAR Cup Coca-Cola 600 race, while ESPN carries the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix event. 

On the basketball court, the Miami Heat will look to close out the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of their NBA Eastern Conference Finals series on TNT. If the Celtics win, TNT will televise Game 7 of the series on Memorial Day.

On the ice, the Vegas Golden Knights will look to advance to the NHL Stanley Cup finals with a win against the Dallas Stars in Game 5 of their Western Conference Finals series on ABC. If Dallas extends the series to a Game 6, ESPN will televise the action on Memorial Day. 

In WNBA action, CBS on Saturday will televise the Connecticut Sun-New York Liberty game. 

On the pro football field, Fox Saturday will air the USFL game between the Birmingham Stallions and the New Orleans Breakers and FS1 will televise the Philadelphia Stars-Pittsburgh Maulers contest. On Sunday, USA Network televises the Houston Gamblers-Memphis Showboats game, while FS1 offers the Michigan Panthers-New Jersey Generals game. 

On the links, CW will air final round coverage of the Trump National LIV pro golf tournament, while CBS airs the Charles Schwab Challenge PGA tournament and NBC televises the Senior PGA Tournament.

On the soccer field, USA Network, Bravo, CNBC, Syfy and Peacock will team to carry all 10 of the Premier League's “Championship Sunday” schedule of games. 

NBC Sports has the 2023 Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship starting February 4-5. The event sees the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales all play each other over the course of six weeks. All matches are live on Peacock. CNBC will have seven matches live, while it and NBC will air an assortment of matches on delay. 

On Saturday, February 4, Wales versus Ireland is live on Peacock, with a 9:15 a.m. ET kickoff. CNBC has the game at 12 p.m. Peacock has England versus Scotland live at 11:45 a.m., and CNBC has the game starting at 2 p.m. 

On Sunday, February 5, Italy faces France at 10 a.m., live on both Peacock and CNBC. 

CNBC will also have live coverage February 25 and 26 and March 18. 

NBC will air delayed coverage of the Ireland-England match March 18, the last day of the competition. 

Dan Lyle, who was a captain on the U.S. team, is in the studio with Alex Corbisiero, who played for England from 2011 to 2016. Lyle played No. 8 and represented the U.S. from 1994 to 2003. 

In last year’s Six Nations Championship, France won with a perfect 5-0 record. Ireland was 4-1, England and Scotland were 2-3, and Wales and Italy were 1-4 . 

The event was known as the Five Nations Championship, until Italy joined in 2000. Italy has never won the Six Nations Championship. ■

ABC was the network most people favored for their news, according to a poll of 1,126 Americans conducted by research site CableTV.com, barely edging out Fox News Channel for second place though essentially a dead heat given the average margin of error of about 3% for that sample.

Poll participants were asked, “Which TV network do you prefer to get your news from?” Including both broadcast and cable network news, ABC was first at 20%, followed by Fox News at 19%, CNN at 15%, CBS at 13% and NBC at 10%.

Among cable news networks only, Fox was the winner, with 39.12% preferring that network. CNN was second with 30.14%, followed by MSNBC at 9.67% and CNBC with 4.65%.

When responses were broken out by census region, Fox News led in the Pacific, Mountain, West South Central, South Atlantic, and East South Central regions and tied with ABC News in the West North Central region.

According to CableTV.com, Fox News was tops with baby boomers polled (24% preferred the network) and Gen Xers (22%). ABC was tops with Gen Z (26%) and millennials (21%). ■

Anchor Shepard Smith is out at CNBC following cancellation of his primetime nightly program The News with Shephard Smith. 

“After spending time with many of you and closely reviewing the various aspects of our business, I believe we must prioritize and focus on our core strengths of business news and personal finance,” newly installed CNBC president KC Sullivan said in a memo to staff. (The missive was leaked to Deadline and other pubs in the Penske showbiz trade monopoly.)

“We need to further invest in business news content that provides our audiences actionable understanding of the complex developments in global markets and the implications on institutions, investors and individuals,” Sullivan added. 

Smith, 58, joined CNBC two years ago from his longtime perch at Fox News Channel. 

“We aim to deliver a nightly program that, in some small way, looks for the signal in all the noise,” just-departed CNBC chief Mark Hoffman said at the time.

Smith, who’d been with Fox News since it launched in 1996, was given a reported annual salary of $10 million and a staff of around 25 underlings. But similar to the fates of Smith's former Fox News colleagues, Megyn Kelly and Greta Van Susteren, who also flamed out in their unsuccessful respective transitions to NBC News and MSNBC, Smith couldn't get his sizable audience at far-right network Fox News to follow him to his new perch at more centrist and business-focused CNBC. 

In his first two months on CNBC, Smith's show averaged only around 280,000 viewers, and the show never found traction from there. 

"The News set out on a bold mission of providing non-partisan, fact-based reporting on the most important stories of the day in the U.S. and around the world,” Sullivan added. “The quality journalism Shep and his team delivered each weeknight was exemplary and not lost on us or our 7 p.m. audience. The News increased CNBC’s 7 p.m. viewership average and attracted the most affluent audience of any primetime cable news program.  At a time when misinformation and disinformation is rampant, The News succeeded in providing audiences with the clearest understanding of the facts.” ▪️

This weekend’s lineup of live TV sports events begins on the baseball diamond as Major League Baseball’s first-ever Wild Card Series round concludes.

On Saturday, ESPN will televise the second game of the best-of-three game series featuring  the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays, after Seattle won the first game on Friday, as well as the second game of the San Diego Padres-New York Mets series.

Also Saturday, ESPN2 will air the second game of the Tampa Bay Rays-Cleveland Guardians series as the Rays look to even up the matchup, and the Philadelphia Phillies-St. Louis Cardinals series, in which the Phillies lead one game to none. 

On Sunday, ESPN, ABC and ESPN2 will combine to provide game three coverage from the four MLB Wild Card Series if necessary.    

On the racetrack, NBC on Saturday will air the NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250 race, and on Sunday will televise the NASCAR Cup Roval 400 race. Also on Sunday ESPN2 will televise the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix race. 

College Football enters its sixth week of the regular season with top-ranked Alabama matching up against Texas A&M on CBS, second-ranked Georgia hosting Auburn on CBS, third-ranked Ohio State battling Big Ten rival Michigan State on ABC, fourth-ranked Michigan traveling to play Indiana on Fox and fifth-ranked Clemson facing  Boston College on ABC. Other games featuring top 10-ranked teams include No. 6 USC-Washington State (Fox), No.7 Oklahoma State-Texas Tech (FS1), No. 8 Tennessee-LSU (ESPN) and No. 9 Ole Miss-Vanderbilt (SEC Network).

In the boxing ring, Showtime will televise a super welterweight title fight between champion Sebastian Fundora and challenger Carlos Ocampo and a junior bantamweight championship bout between titleholder Fernando Martinez and Jerwin Ancajas.

USA, NBC, CNBC and Peacock will continue its weekend coverage of Premier League soccer matches with nine live game telecasts combined.

Sunday’s pro football coverage features a NFL Network Sunday morning telecast from London featuring the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers, afternoon regional game coverage on Fox and CBS, and an NBC Sunday Night Football game telecast between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens. ■  

Peacock has had a pretty good last two months, according to Jeff Shell, the CEO of the streaming service’s parent company, NBCUniversal.

Shell told CNBC’s Squawk Box Tuesday morning that paid Peacock subscribers have now surpassed 15 million and active users have reached 30 million. 

This is a significant turn in fortune given that on July 28, NBCU reported stagnated growth for Peacock of 13 million paid customers and 27 million active users. 

“It’s really driven by the content,” Shell told CNBC’s David Faber. 

Also read: The New, New Fall Season Brings Big Questions For Hulu, Peacock … and Everyone Else (Bloom)

In September, Peacock received a major content infusion, with NBCU moving many of its most streamed shows on joint venture Hulu over to its own streaming service. 

“If you want to watch Saturday Night Live, if you want to watch Real Housewives, if you want to watch The Voice, all of our ‘Chicago’ shows, Dick Wolf shows … those are now coming to Peacock,” Shell said. 

The NBCU CEO also cited the draw of Universal Pictures theatrical titles coming to Peacock over the past few months, including the latest “Minions” and “Jurassic Park” movies, as well as Blumhouse-produced horror film The Black Phone, starring Kevin Bacon. 

And Shell cited the contribution of Peacock’s nonlinear sports rights to the NFL and English Premier League, among other sports entities, too.

Meanwhile, after Q2 losses of $467 million for Peacock took a bite out of NBCU’s stock valuation, Shell also put a positive spin on the financials. 

He noted that Peacock ARPU has reached $10 and that total revenue will reach $2 billion this year. 

“I don’t know a lot of businesses that you’ve covered that in two years have reached the point of $2 billion,” Shell said. 

Asked about the fate of the suddenly very-mortal-appearing linear TV business, he remarked: “Linear is still an incredibly important business — an incredibly important business to consumers, incredibly important business to advertisers. Just look at the NFL, you know, which we just renewed last year. Look at the numbers of the NFL or the Olympics.”

Shell also conceded that NBCU is once again pondering the strategy of giving back the 10 p.m. hour to its affiliates. 

“We’re evaluating a lot of things,” he said. “I mean, when you look at the investment in Peacock — as I mentioned most of the investment is for our own programming putting it on Peacock — but if we’re being prudent operators, which we try to be, right, if you’re allocating a bunch of resources to one part of the business, you have to look at the allocation of resources to another’s. I don’t think we’re ready to make any decision on 10 o’clock or anything else.

“We have a lot of great shows at 10 o’clock,” Shell added. “We make a lot of money at 10 o’clock. We still have a lot of viewers at 10 o’clock. There’s no question throughout the day as linear declines, you’re going to have to make some trade-offs and we’ll be looking at that as our investors would want us to look at.”

Finally, asked about the pending negotiations between NBCU and The Walt Disney Co. over the former’s 30% stake in Hulu, Shell painted NBCU as a seller interested in driving up the price of the asset. 

“It’s a great asset,” he said. “If it was put on the auction block, it would fetch a high price, it would be a pretty robust auction. We would want to participate in the auction; we, like a lot of other people, would want to own Hulu.” ▪️ 

NBC Sports covers the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series August 27-28 from Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles. “Sevens” rugby is a faster version of the traditional game, with seven players a side, versus the usual 15, and shorter match lengths. NBC Sports will feature more than 15 hours of live coverage. 

The World Rugby Sevens Series features ten tournaments around the world, with national teams competing. Los Angeles is the final stop of the 2021-22 season. The U.S., Australia, Spain, Argentina, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Fiji, Ireland, France, Wales, Samoa, England, Scotland and Kenya compete.

South Africa is in first, followed by Australia. The U.S. team is in sixth place. 

Peacock streams all the matches live, starting at 12:10 p.m. ET on August 27, with a break at 8 p.m., then 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. August 28 coverage on Peacock is 11:30 a.m. to 6:20 p.m., then 7 to 9 p.m. 

CNBC has rugby 3-8 p.m. Saturday and 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday. ■

CNBC Chairman Mark Hoffman is stepping down from his post, effective September 12, he said in a note to staffers Tuesday.

Hoffman, who was named president of the business news network in 2005, said he is staying on with the company to help with the transition. 

KC Sullivan is becoming president of CNBC. Sullivan has been with NBCUniversal for 13 years and most recently spent the last two years as president and managing director of NBCU Global Advertising and Partnerships based in London. 

Hoffman brought Sullivan to CNBC in 2009 to serve as CNBC's CFO and later appointed him president and managing director of CNBC International where he spent seven years running the international business.

CNBC’s  was troubled at the start, with notable figures in its early history including David Zaslav, now CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery and Roger Ailes, who went on to launch Fox News and Fox Business Network.

“Once defined as a moribund domestic cable channel that many thought would never fully recover from the dotcom bubble bursting, CNBC is today a global multimedia powerhouse, punching far above its weight, in the digital age,” Hoffman said in his memo.

“We are in the business of business so it’s important to note we’ve never been more profitable, setting record after record in financial performance, year after year, as we maneuvered through economic cycles, exogenous events and the historic secular change that accompanied the information age," he said.

Hoffman first joined CNBC in 1997 after stints as general manager of KNDL-TV, St. Louis; VP news of KNBC-TV, Los Angeles and news director at WBBM-TV, Chicago and WAGA-TV, Atlanta. 

He served as VP and managing editor of CNBC and acting president and general manager of CNBC Europe before leaving in 2001 to be president and GM of NBC’s WVIT-TV in Hartford. He returned to CNBC in 2005. He was named chairman in 2015.

“I’m humbled and grateful to have had this time with all of you and so proud of what we have done together,” Hoffman said. “No matter where life takes me, professionally and personally, I’ll be rooting for CNBC!”  ■

CNBC show Mad Money will move to the New York Stock Exchange starting July 18. Jim Cramer hosts. 

The new set will be on the trading floor, next to the bell podium. It will incorporate architectural elements of the New York Stock Exchange, CNBC said. 

“Jim Cramer and the New York Stock Exchange are two of the most recognizable names on Wall Street,” CNBC chairman Mark Hoffman said. “Jim is always pushing for new and engaging ways to share his investing insights, from Squawk on the Street in the morning to this year’s launch of the CNBC Investing Club to today’s announcement marking an exciting new chapter for the Mad Money franchise.”

Mad Money is currently shot at CNBC headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 

Cramer is co-anchor of the 9 a.m. ET hour of Squawk on the Street. The CNBC Investing Club is a subscription product for investors. 

“I came to Wall Street 40 years ago and fell in love with it instantly,” said Cramer. “The New York Stock Exchange is the pinnacle of capitalism, and I am ecstatic and elated to be back home.”

The New York Stock Exchange is on Wall Street in lower Manhattan. 

“The trading day is framed by the NYSE’s opening and closing bells, but anyone who sees Jim come through our turnstiles in the early morning hours knows how closely he tracks the open,” said Lynn Martin, president of the NYSE. “With Mad Money at its new home on our floor, we can’t wait to see Jim wrap the day for CNBC viewers in his peerless style from the world’s greatest financial stage.” ■

This weekend’s lineup of TV sports events starts on  the golf course with coverage of the final rounds of the PGA Championship golf tournament.

ESPN and CBS will offer third round coverage on Saturday and championship round coverage on Sunday from Tulsa. Will Zalatoris, Mitro Pereira, Justin Thomas, Rory Mcllroy and Bubba Watson are among the golfers in the hunt for the top prize.

The NBA and NHL continue their respective playoff runs with games on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, ABC Will air game three of the Miami Heat-Boston Celtics Eastern Conference Finals series, while on Sunday, TNT will televise the third game of the Golden State Warriors-Dallas Mavericks Western Conference series.

The NHL Playoffs continue Saturday with second round coverage with TNT’s Colorado Avalanche-St. Louis Blues game on TNT. On Sunday, ESPN will televise the Florida Panthers-Tampa Bay Lightning contest, ESPN will air the Carolina Hurricanes-New York Rangers match and ESPN2 will showcase the Calgary Flames-Edmonton Oilers contest. 

ESPN will travel to the Big Apple for its Sunday Night Baseball telecast between the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees. 

The USFL enters its sixth week with coverage of the Tampa Bay Bandits-Philadelphia Stars on NBC and the Michigan Panthers–Birmingham Stallions. On Sunday, FS1 will carry the Pittsburgh Maulers-New Orleans Breakers game and Fox will televise the Houston Gamblers-New Jersey Generals contest. 

On Sunday CBS will televise the Professional Bullriding World Finals, while NBC begins its coverage of the French Open tennis tournament. Also Sunday, NBC, CNBC, Golf Channel, SyFy and USA Network will all carry live Premier League contests. ■ 

This weekend’s schedule of TV sports events begins on the basketball court with second round coverage of the NBA Playoffs.

ABC on Sunday will televise Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal matchup between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics. Milwaukee enters the second round having defeated the Chicago Bulls four games to one, while Boston enters the series having swept the Brooklyn Nets.

In other sports, ESPN on Sunday will travel to New York for its Sunday Night Baseball telecast featuring the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets.

ESPN will step into the boxing ring Saturday with a primetime fight card featuring junior lightweights Shakur Stevenson and Oscar Valdez. Also Saturday, DAZN will televise the women's lightweight unification bout between champion Katie Taylor and contender Amanda Serrano.

In the octagon, ESPN on Saturday will televise a UFC Fight Night main event bout featuring bantamweights Rob Font and Marlon Vera.

In pro football, ESPN and ABC will continue its coverage of the NFL Draft, while the USFL enters its third week with two games on Fox, including the Tampa Bay-Houston and Pittsburgh-Michigan matchups. On Sunday, USA Network will televise the Birmingham-New Orleans game.

The Golf Channel and CBS will offer final round coverage of the PGA Mexico Open pro golf tournament. On the auto racing track, NBC on Sunday will televise the IndyCar Grand Prix of Alabama and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

On the soccer field, USA, CNBC, NBC and Peacock will all feature Premier League games throughout the weekend.

The TV sports lineup for the last full weekend of April begins on the basketball court as the first round of the NBA playoffs rolls on. On TNT Saturday, the Philadelphia 76’ers will look to eliminate the Toronto Raptors in the series’ fourth game, while the Utah Jazz will look to even up its series at two wins each with the Dallas Mavericks.

On ESPN, the Boston Celtics will look to take a 3-0 lead in its best-of-seven game series with the Brooklyn Nets, while the Memphis Grizzlies will look to take a 3-1 lead on the Minnesota Timberwolves. 

Sunday’s action includes ABC-televised games featuring game four of the Milwaukee Bucks-Chicago Bulls and Golden State-Denver series, while TNT will telecast game four of both the Miami Heat-Atlanta Hawks and the Phoenix Suns-New Orleans Pelicans series. 

In the ring, ESPN Plus will distribute a Saturday afternoon pay-per-view boxing match between heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and contender Dillon Whyte.

Also: Errol Spence, Tyson Fury, Canelo Alvarez to Step into PPV Boxing Ring

On the track, Fox on Saturday will air the Xfinity Ag-Pro 300 auto race and on Sunday the NASCAR Cup GEICO 500 race. 

The final weekend of the NHL regular season will feature an ABC televised matchup between the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins and a Sunday TNT telecast of the Pittsburgh Penguins-Philadelphia Flyers matchup. 

On the soccer field, USA Network, CNBC, NBC and Peacock will feature Premier League games throughout the weekend, while ESPN and FS1 will offer MLS games on Sunday. 

The USFL will enter its second week with three weekend telecasts, including Fox’s Pittsburgh-Philadelphia and FS1’s Birmingham-Houston games on Saturday and NBC’s New Orleans-Tampa Bay game telecast on Sunday. 

ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball matchup will feature the Milwaukee Brewers and the Philadelphia Phillies. ■

Six Nations Rugby action happens on Peacock and CNBC March 11 and 12. The annual tournament features the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. 

Wales plays France at 3 p.m. ET Friday, March 11, live in Peacock. CNBC has the match on delay Saturday, March 12 at 10 a.m.

Italy plays Scotland March 12 at 9:15 a.m. ET on Peacock, and CNBC has the game on delay at 12 p.m. England and Ireland face off live March 12 at 11:45 a.m. on Peacock, shown at 2 p.m. on CNBC. 

France sits atop the Six Nations table at 3-0. England and Ireland are 2-1 and Scotland and Wales are 1-2. Italy is 0-3. 

The studio hosts are Dan Lyle, who was the longtime captain of the U.S. team, and Alex Corbisiero, who played for England.

England has won the Six Nations title 29 times, and Wales has won 28. The championship was the Five Nations, dating back over a century, until Italy was added in 2000. ■

The TV sports lineup for the weekend leading into the President’s Day holiday starts on the basketball court with the 2022 NBA All-Star Game from Cleveland. 

On Saturday TNT will provide live coverage of the All-Star Skills Challenge, which features the 3-point contest and the Slam Dunk Contest. On Sunday TNT and TBS will offer alternative live feeds of the All-Star Game.

NBC Sports will wrap up its Winter Olympics coverage on Saturday with coverage of the finals in figure skating, ice hockey, speed skating and women’s curling across networks USA, CNBC and NBC. On Sunday NBC will air the closing ceremonies live at 7 am (ET) and repeat in primetime.  The full schedule of Olympics events can be found here.

In other sports, FS1 hits the auto racing circuit Saturday with live coverage of the ARCA Menards Series Lucas Oil 200 race and the Xfinity: Beef. It’s What’s For dinner 300 race.

On the greens, CBS and Golf Channel will provide weekend coverage of the PGA’s Genesis Invitational golf tournament. On the soccer field, USA, NBC and Peacock will offer live Premier League game coverage on Saturday, while USA will offer a Premier League doubleheader on Sunday.

Fox on Sunday will rev up coverage of the NASCAR’s Daytona 500 race, while CBS saddles up to telecast the Professional Bull Riders’ Ticketmaster Invitational championship round. 

ESPN Plus will offer a live Saturday night boxing card headlined by a welterweight matchup between former champions Amir Khan and Kell Brook. The streaming service will also telecast live a UFC Fight Night card featuring a light heavyweight tilt between Johnny Walker and Jamahal Hill.

Top-10 college basketball teams in action on national TV nets Saturday include second-ranked Auburn against Florida on ESPN, third-ranked Arizona facing Oregon on ESPN, and fourth-ranked Kentucky battling No. 25 Alabama on CBS. Also on tap are No. 6 Kansas-West Virginia (ESPN), No. 7 Baylor-TCU (ESPN 2), No. 9 Duke-Florida State (ESPN) and No. 10 Villanova-Georgetown (Fox). Sunday’s lineup includes No. 5 Purdue-Rutgers (FS1) and No. 8 Providence-Butler (FS1).

This weekend’s lineup of TV sports events begins at arguably the biggest sporting event of the year, Super Bowl LVI. NBC’s telecast of Sunday’s NFL Championship matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams is expected to be the most watched television event of 2022.

Following the Super Bowl, NBC will air live coverage of the 2022 Winter Olympics, part of the NBC Sports’ weekend-long coverage of the games across such networks as USA Network and CNBC. The full schedule of Olympics events can be found here.

In other weekend sports action, ABC will continue its Saturday night primetime NBA telecasts with live coverage of the Los Angeles Lakers-Golden State Warriors game. The network on Sunday afternoon will televise the Atlanta Hawks-Boston Celtics contest. 

On the soccer field, NBC and Peacock will offer Saturday morning Premier League coverage, while FS2 on Saturday begins Club World Cup coverage. On the links, CBS and the Golf Channel will offer weekend coverage of the PGA Phoenix Open golf tournament. 

ESPN Plus will distribute the UFC 271 pay-per-view mixed martial arts event featuring a main event rematch between middleweights Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker. In the squared ring, DAZN will carry live the Daniel Jacobs-John Ryder super middleweight boxing match.

Saturday’s college basketball schedule features top-ranked Auburn battles Texas A&M on ESPN, second-ranked Gonzaga takes on No. 22 Saint Mary’s on ESPN2, and fourth-ranked Arizona travels to play Washington on Pac 12 Network. Other games include No. 5 Kentucky-Florida (ESPN) No. 6 Houston-Memphis (ABC), No. 7 Duke-Boston College (ACC Network), No. 8 Kansas-Oklahoma (CBS), No. 9 Texas Tech-TCU (Big 12 Network) and No. 10 Baylor-No. 20 Texas (ESPN2). On Sunday, third-ranked Purdue faces Maryland on CBS.

Six Nations rugby continues on Peacock and NBC. Peacock has Wales versus Scotland live February 12, kicking off at 9:15 a.m. ET in Cardiff. CNBC has the game on delay at 1 p.m. 

France plays against Ireland that same day, on live at 11:45 a.m. ET on Peacock, then 3 p.m. on CNBC. The match happens outside of Paris. 

On Sunday, February 13, Italy faces England in Rome at 10 a.m. ET on Peacock, with CNBC showing the game on delay at 3 p.m. 

The Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship features England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, with each team playing the other ones over the course of six weeks. The action began February 5.

France, Ireland and Scotland claimed wins in the first round of action. 

Peacock and CNBC are both part of NBCUniversal. ■

With no NFL games scheduled for this weekend, NBC’s coverage of the 2022 Winter Olympics highlights this weekend’s top TV sports events. 

USA Network, CNBC, NBC and Peacock will feature live weekend coverage of the Olympics from Beijing. Events to be featured include men’s and women’s speed skating, women’s ice hockey, team figure skating, freestyle skiing and curling. The full schedule of Olympics events can be found here.

In other sports, ABC will continue its Saturday primetime NBA telecasts with coverage of the New York Knicks-Los Angeles Lakers contest. On the ice, ABC on Saturday will air the NHL All-star Game.

In the squared ring, Fox Sports will distribute a pay-per-view boxing card featuring a main event fight between welterweights Keith Thurman and Mario Barrios. 

Also, NBC Sports will provide weekend coverage of the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship on CNBC and streaming service Peacock. 

On the college basketball court Saturday, top-seeded Auburn faces Georgia on the SEC Network, second-ranked Gonzaga plays BYU on ESPN, and third-ranked UCLA battles Arizona State on ESPN2. Other games include fifth-ranked Kentucky-Alabama (ESPN),  seventh-ranked Arizona-No. 19 USC (Fox), eighth-ranked Baylor-No. 10 Kansas (ESPN), and ninth-ranked Duke-North Carolina (ESPN). On Sunday, sixth-ranked Houston will battle Cincinnati on ESPN2.■ 

Forty-eight hours after one of the media business' more stunning executive exits in recent memory, speculation continues to swirl as to who, if anyone, put the knife in the back of former CNN chief Jeff Zucker, and what will happen now to the cable news network and its soon-to-launch digital offshoot, CNN Plus. 

On Friday, in separate CNBC appearances, Discovery CEO David Zaslav and AT&T chief executive John Stankey each, somewhat indirectly, addressed those concerns. 

Also: Now What For CNN Plus Amid Jeff Zucker’s Hasty Departure?

Zaslav, who will oversee the combined Warner Bros. Discovery once the $43 billion deal to spin off CNN parent WarnerMedia from AT&T and combine it with Discovery closes in the next several months, dismissed an emerging rumor suggesting that Zucker was pushed out by the powerful John Malone. 

The mogul sits on the Discovery board and has expressed frustration with CNN's perceived leftward repositioning on the political spectrum under Zucker. (This is actually a debatable narrative, given the extreme rightward reorientation of Fox News and other conservative cable channels in recent years.)

Notably, the approval of WarnerMedia's acquisition by AT&T faced rugged regulatory seas back in 2018, with the Trump White House far more unhappy with CNN's coverage than Malone ever was. Discovery and AT&T are obviously hoping the regulatory process goes smoother this time around. 

“None of us had anything to do with it,” Zaslav said when asked about those Malone rumors. 

Zucker abruptly resigned Wednesday morning, citing his failure to disclose a romantic relationship with a top-level CNN marketing executive under his command, Allison Gollust. 

Zaslav said he learned about Zucker's departure only hours before it was announced. 

“Jeff is a good friend of mine, but I can’t speak to this issue,” he told CNBC.

Zaslav, however, did tip his hand as to how he views CNN's political orientation, a view that seems to align with comments made last year by Malone, who has been openly critical about Zucker's programming strategy. 

“We have this great entertainment menu, which should keep people in the home, from the kids to the grandparents. Why would they go anywhere else? And then we’re the leader in news to the left,” Zaslav said. 

Meanwhile, away from the Discovery board room, speculation has swirled that Zucker's relationship with Gollust -- long a not very well-kept secret -- became an issue only recently amid the acrimonious firing of top-rated CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.

Did Cuomo exact revenge on his former boss, who refused to pay him a severance? Did the relationship merely provide an excuse for WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, who was widely reported to have a chilly relationship with the popular newsroom leader, a reason to fire Zucker?

“I am not going to speculate on your theory,” Stankey said during his CNBC appearance. “I have always had a practice of not commenting on personnel decisions, and I’m not going to do that here.”

If the unreported romantic relationship between a supervisor and subordinate was a fireable offense, why is marketing chief Gollust still employed by CNN, Stankey was also asked?

“Allison, her circumstances are different, and I don’t want to get involved in discussing her situation," Stankey added. ■

Hometown TV stations were a mixed bag when it came to broadcasting President Joe Biden's press conference Wednesday from the White House, one of few such extensive solo media availabilities the President has provided during his presidency so far.

They did all stream it on their websites, however.

While the cable news nets -- CNN, Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC -- all carried the press conference, among the Big Four TV station affiliates, only CBS affiliate WUSA-TV and Fox affiliate WTTG-TV broke from regular programming -- Dr. Phil on WUSA-TV and local news on WTTG-TV -- to carry the news conference live on their air.

ABC affiliate WJLA-TV and NBC's WRC-TV stuck with local news.

WUSA-TV and WTTG-TV did cut out at 5 p.m., before the conference ended, for their local news. WUSA-TV pointed out that it was continuing to stream the press conference on its website, as did WTTG, as well as WJLA and WRC-TV.

ABC had previously announced it would be supplying its affiliates with special report coverage of the news conference, hosted by World News Tonight anchor David Muir with reporting from chief White House correspondent Cecilia Vega, chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl, senior White House correspondent Mary Bruce and congressional correspondent Rachel Scott.

Among some of the pieces of news out of the conference were that the President says he will probably have to break up his massive Build Back Better social spending package to get some of it done now, and more later; that he thinks Vladimir Putin will probably make some move into Ukraine--"My guess is he [Putin] will move in," the President said, adding: "He has to do something"; and that Vice President Kamala Harris would be on the ticket if he ran again in 2024. He also said that his administration has done a good job with handling the pandemic and that there was a potential that the 2022 election could be illegitimate.

"How many more hours am I doing this," the President asked, before answering a question from Fox's Peter Doocy, whose questions Biden joked historically did not make much sense to him. He then pointed out it had been an hour and 20 minutes and that he would go another 20 minutes.

Most of the questions were pointed given the rise in inflation, the COVID-19 spike, the inability to secure congressional passage of voting rights legislation or his Build Back Better package, and his dropping poll numbers, eliciting sometimes defensive and combative responses from the President. He repeatedly said Republicans, intimidated by former President Donald Trump, were bent on obstructing anything he tried to do that might make him look good in advance of the midterms next year. ■

Jay Leno’s Garage begins season six on CNBC Sept. 22. There are 12 episodes, and his guests include Tiffany Haddish, Kelly Clarkson, James Corden, Mark Cuban, Ashton Kutcher, Michael Strahan, Margaret Cho, Trevor Noah, Kevin Bacon, Rick Ross, Ray Liotta, Scott Eastwood, Tim Allen, Sebastian Maniscalco, Offset, Cedric the Entertainer, Sugar Ray Leonard, Jeff Gordon and James Brolin.

“Our primetime programming is designed to inspire and no one does it better than Jay Leno and his unyielding passion for cars and the stories behind them,” said Denise Contis, executive VP and head of content, CNBC Primetime.

The season premiere sees Leno and Drew Carey play “car soccer,” and Leno share some laughs with Corden, Gary Sinise and comedian Tammy Pescatelli. 

“The fun part of going into your sixth season is people know the show and they are excited to come on and talk cars, share stories and do a couple of burnouts,” said Leno. “I’m thrilled to see guests come back like Kelly Clarkson, Trevor Noah and Tim Allen. We are also getting a lot of first-timers like Tiffany Haddish, Mark Cuban, Offset, James Corden and more.”

Jay Leno’s Garage is produced by Original Productions, a Fremantle Company, and Kitten Kaboodle, with Jay Leno, Jeff Hasler, Jeff Bumgarner, Ernie Avila, Brian Lovett and Abby Schwarzwalder the executive producers. Adam Barry is the executive producer for CNBC.

Money Court, a primetime series hosted by Kevin O’Leary, began on CNBC Wednesday, Aug. 11, in primetime. O’Leary is best known as tough-love entrepreneur Mr. Wonderful on Shark Tank. On Money Court, he’s essentially the judge, presiding over financial disputes between partners. 

O’Leary, who spoke at length about Money Court and Shark Tank on the B+C/Multichannel News podcast Series Business, said cases on the program will be instantly relatable to viewers. “Everybody sees themselves in these cases. They have this story somewhere in their background,” he said. “These are not unique. People fight about money all the time in America.”

The litigants on Money Court include business partners, husbands and wives, and siblings. Trial attorney Katie Phang and former judge Ada Pozo help O’Leary come to his verdict. 

“This is not my first rodeo on television,” O’Leary said. “You really want to cast it right. We went through dozens of different combinations to get the right mix with Katie and Ada. You just know when you’re testing, when it clicks.”

Managing what he called a “huge portfolio of private investments,” O’Leary called Money Court “an extension of what I do every day.” 

Partner tension has been around as long as partners have been around, but disputes have become more common in the COVID era, he said, with the economy in turmoil, businesses transforming on the fly and partners often unable to meet face to face. “The pandemic has created a logjam of cases that are not getting to court,” he said. “So arbitration is the only solution.” 

The six-episode series is produced by Anvil 1893 Entertainment, with O’Leary, Eric Schotz and Myeshia Muzuno executive producing along with Luke Bauer of CNBC.

A new season of Shark Tank starts on ABC Friday, Oct. 8. 

O’Leary said greed is typically at the heart of financial disputes. “You’ll see it on Money Court, mothers suing daughters, siblings suing each other,” he said. “It makes for really remarkable TV.”  

Series Business is a new podcast from Broadcasting+Cable and Multichannel News, featuring candid conversations with executive producers about launching a new show or new season.

In our latest installment, Broadcasting + Cable's Mike Malone chats with Kevin O'Leary about CNBC's Money Court, which sees "Mr. Wonderful" judge on partners' financial disputes.

More Series Business: Valerie Armstrong on 'Kevin Can F**k Himself', a Dark Comedy From AMC | Samantha Strauss on 'The End', a Dark Family Comedy From Australia

Amid a jagged but steeply upward trajectory that has seen its market capitalization increase to just below $50 billion, Roku has often been compared to Netflix, a company that also had its roots in physical goods (DVDs) but made its real bones in streaming content. 

With Roku executing a somewhat similar pivot — branching out into original shows and movies, and making far more selling advertising on the Roku Channel than selling hockey-puck-style OTT players and licensing smart TV OS — CNBC interviewed company founder and CEO Anthony Wood. 

Writer Alex Sherman penned a can’t-miss 3,365-word deep dive into a Roku company history that’s inextricably tied to Netflix, blended with some essential forward-looking analysis that requires unmistakable comparisons to the world’s most profitable streaming company. 

Also: Wood Says Samsung, LG, Vizeo Will Eventually License OS From Elsewhere 

Again, we’re just aggregating a darned fine piece of media-tech journalism here — so here’s that CNBC link again. And for the sake of abstracting this lengthy read, and justifying our posting on it, here are six nuggets that we thought were particularly interesting. 

> The Manchester-born Wood, who ended up living in Texas and getting an electrical engineering degree from Texas A&M, founded ReplayTV in the 1990s. As you may recall, ReplayTV had a kind of “betamax” role vs. TiVo in the formative years of the DVR. (Although, unlike Sony’s seminal "format war" with JVC's VHS two decades before that, ReplayTV wasn’t necessarily the superior device.) Wood did end up selling ReplayTV to SonicBlue for $120 million, affording him the ability to up his game as a video tech entrepreneur. 

> In the early aughts, more than a decade prior to the emergence of Spotify, Wood created a music streaming device to compete with Apple’s download-focused iPod player. “I was a little early on that one,” he conceded to CNBC. 

> After meeting Netflix founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings at conference events, Wood nagged -- and convinced -- Hastings to let him build a connected TV gadget for Netflix. “There was Xbox and PlayStation and Samsung and Apple TV,” Hastings said, describing the limited number of devices available 2008 that would allow users to stream internet video on their TVs. “Frankly, we didn’t think Roku had much of a chance.” Wood worked as a part-time Netflix employee for nine months, while also still leading the 15-person Roku team. Ultimately, Hastings bailed on the project, fearing that other platform providers wouldn’t support the Netflix app if the company had its own proprietary connected TV device. 

> Roku crafted a simple, elegant user interface, with an equally simplistic remote control design. “Many companies just don’t really understand the attitude people have when they’re watching TV,” Wood said. “People want to sit there, drink their beer, and watch TV.” Roku hardware achieves niche popularity, but Wood’s pitch was — then and to this day — about the platform. Once it’s infiltrated, Roku will become an essential arbitrator of content and ad sales. But Silicon Valley investors still see Roku as a hardware company, one whose tech can be easily copied. “We’ve had less acquisition offers than is normal for a company as successful as Roku,” Wood said.

> But there some venture capitalists who believe in Roku, notably Menlo Ventures’ Shawn Corolan, who helps lead the company to its successful IPO in 2017, mainly by focusing it on growth of its platform revenue. And there were some suitors. In 2012, Intel, which was developing the OnCue video tech platform that it eventually sold to Verizon, offered to pay $450 million to Roku. Wood wanted $1.5 billion, a number he arrived at based on the money he thought he’d need to fulfill his dream, founding a university in his home state of Texas. Later, Amazon offered $300 million: Roku was willing to go down to $690 million, but the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement. 

> With Wood now focused on building the Roku Channel, and starting to license and purchase original content to feed that beast, CNBC makes inevitable comparisons to Hastings and Netflix, who bought pretty much any piece of content they could get their hands on in the more formative “Albanian Army” years of Netflix streaming. MoffettNathanson principal analyst Michael Nathanson has advice for any media company which might offer support to Wood’s latest pivot: “I’d argue companies giving Roku content are digging their own grave,” he said. ■ 

El Chapo gets his close-up when season 14 of American Greed premieres on CNBC June 7. “Inside El Chapo’s Empire” examines the drug lord, a.k.a. Joaquin Guzman Loera, and how he ended up in U.S. custody. “Meet the Flores twins, Chicago-born drug dealers who earned the trust of the boss of the Sinaloa cartel – then helped the Feds put him away for life,” teases CNBC. 

There are six new episodes. Others are about California Congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife Margaret, insurance fraud schemer T.R. Wright and utility company Pacific Gas & Electric. 

The series “goes inside the dark side of the American Dream -- where money seduces, power corrupts, and smooth criminals will stop at nothing to get rich,” said CNBC. “Their complex scams leave victims’ lives in shambles. Each episode is a deep dive into the minds and actions of heartless crooks who live lives most people can only dream of. But how many luxury homes and exotic cars does it take to justify these white-collar crimes?”

Kurtis Productions produces American Greed. Mike West executive produces, while Luke Bauer does so for CNBC.

Empires of New York premieres on CNBC Nov. 29 with a two-hour premiere. The limited series examines “the meteoric rise of five icons who not only reshaped the city but contributed mightily to the world we live in today,” according to CNBC. Empires chronicles the rise of Wall Street tycoon Ivan Boesky, real estate maven Leona Helmsley, former U.S. attorney Rudy Giuliani, crime boss John Gotti, and real estate player Donald Trump. 

Paul Giamatti hosts. 

CNBC promises “exclusive interviews, never-before-told stories and secret tapes” in the six episodes. 

Empires of New York is produced by Industrial Media’s The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC) and Fairhaven Films, with IPC’s Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman, and Fairhaven’s Matthew Galkin the executive producers. Luke Bauer is the executive producer for CNBC.

Kevin O’Leary is on Shark Tank, analyzing products and services alongside fellow Sharks Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec and Daymond John, and deciding if he wants to invest. O’Leary has made a bundle of smart investments in his career, including selling a climate-controlled storage facility business for $110 million and a software company for a cool $4.2 billion. 

O’Leary answers to Mr. Wonderful, the moniker reflective of an occasionally charming manner mixed in with his austere assessments of products and the entrepreneurs standing next to them. 

Shark Tank debuts season 12 on ABC Oct. 16. It airs in syndication on CNBC. O’Leary spoke to Multichannel News about how the show captures the American dream. An edited transcript follows. 

MCN: Do you make money on most of the entrepreneurs you invest in on Shark Tank?

Kevin O’Leary: I have, actually. What people don’t understand about the Shark Tank platform, if you look across the continuum of venture capital today, the No. 1 issue for startup companies is customer acquisition costs, because the majority of them have done the digital pivot to online. A typical startup company in America, 20-25% make it and the rest die over three years — they’re never able to get their customer acquisition costs below the lifetime value. 

That’s the big advantage Shark Tank has. You get 3 or 4 million people seeing the show and you get eight minutes of exposure for your product or service. 

Then it goes into syndication. It’s continually brought forward year in and year out on TV, in addition to the millions of [social] followers that each of us Sharks has. We change the equation completely. We can get companies zero customer acquisition costs and they really, really, really thrive with that. Our returns are significantly higher than the industry’s because of this weapon, if you want to call it that. 

I would argue we’re the most successful venture capital firm that ever existed. We have capital, we have Sharks, we have fantastic products, and we have tens of millions of people watching the show all over the world. 

MCN: What has been your most successful investment on Shark Tank?

KO: The largest in history was actually a Shark deal [involving all Sharks], when [meal-kit business] Plated sold to Albertsons for over $300 million. That was extraordinary for me, and paid for a lot of mistakes. 

My assumptions are always wrong. What I think is the hottest deal of the season doesn’t necessarily end up that way. Some crazy things I did like Potato Parcel — putting people’s faces on a potato and mailing it to them — who would’ve thought that would have such an extraordinary return? During COVID it went crazy. How about cat DNA? Basepaws. You swab your cat’s cheek — why would that be a business? It’s huge. There are 100 million cats sitting at home with people beside them, wondering, where did you come from? 

That’s why you have to do a bunch of deals, because you never know the outcome of any single one. 

MCN: Give us a teaser for the new season. 

KO: No. 1, and I say this practically every season — I can’t believe how big the deals are getting. Valuations over $50 million coming into the Shark Tank. Five years ago, I would’ve said, that’s insane. I actually invested in one this year. It’s such an incredible project that it deserved that valuation. I get criticized all the time for being the mean Shark. I tell the truth. When I see a great value, regardless of the valuation, I invest in it. 

No. 2, I call it the Great Digital Pivot, America 2.0. Everything we saw this year had a digital strategy, ship direct to the customer anywhere in the U.S. or abroad. They’re starting to realize the world is shifting and people want the convenience of having products and services delivered right to their door. Every entrepreneur gets that. All of these new deals talk about that channel. They’re not abandoning retail, but they’re focusing most of their energy on direct-to-consumer. 

MCN: What keeps viewers watching? 

KO: I was there when the show was made. I love to see how the editors take an hour pitch down to eight minutes. I’m glued to the TV like everybody else. It’s the essence of the American Dream. It’s the visceral power of success and failure and drama and human desire — all those things are encapsulated in eight minutes. 

We don’t see those cameras anymore. Every Shark, we are so engrossed in the competition, the pitch, the deal, what’s happening in front of us, we forget we’re making television and just go after it. 

Every year it gets more intense. You really have to hand it to Sony and ABC and Mark Burnett and MGM. The first year, people said, this will never work, nobody’s interested in watching a business show. How wrong were they? Look at it now. It’s insane. I get pitched every single day, everywhere I go: I want to get on Shark Tank, how do I do it? Can you look at
my deal?

I’m not talking about just adults. I’m talking about 10-year-old kids who are inspired by this and want to pursue their own deal. I think it’s fantastic.

The News with Shepard Smith has launched on CNBC. Smith joined CNBC after a 23-year run at Fox News Channel, where he was chief general news anchor. The live, hour-long program starts weekdays at 7 p.m. Smith described it as “a full-plate newscast” that will not have pundits or opinion. “There’s plenty of that — I don’t hate on anybody for it,” he said. “But it’s not what we’re going to do.” 

He spoke with Multichannel News senior content producer Michael Malone about launching a newscast during COVID, and what he offers that viewers can’t get elsewhere. An edited transcript follows.

Tell me about launching a show during a pandemic. It’s not something that I needed to prepare for a few months ago. It didn’t come with a road map. I have launched a number of shows but never anything like this. 

I’d met only one person at CNBC in person before COVID and that was [chairman] Mark Hoffman. We’d had many conversations to make sure this is what I wanted to do. Once we reached that conclusion and I was positive and ready to go, by then we were in lockdown. Every decision, everyone I met, has been by Zoom or Teams. Every discussion about sets, about correspondents, about editorial, about philosophies, about history, about the future, everything, by Teams.

We had more than 2,000 applicants for 27 positions. We took that as an enormous compliment and an enormous challenge to find the very best ones in the bunch. 

What will viewers get from your show they don’t get anywhere else? We seek the truth, find the truth and tell the truth and let chips fall where they may. We speak truth to power. We cover all the big stories that are part of our lives right now. Most fit into politics, COVID, information age, social justice, income inequality and climate. We want to go a little deeper and report a little harder on stories that really impact people’s lives. 

What’s a 2020 story that isn’t getting enough attention? Lake Charles, Louisiana. People were decimated by the storm. Those stories aren’t being told nationally and they should be. There are towns in the west that have been removed from the face of the earth by fires. People are looking for shelter in a pandemic. Their stories deserve to be told. 

What are you watching for fun? [Bravo’s] Million Dollar Listing Los
Angeles. [Netflix’s] The Home Edit for reasons I can’t describe to you. Two hilarious people rearranging people’s closets is somehow entertaining to me. I spend a lot of time watching the Yankees. I like football on Sunday, but I really love football on Saturday. 

For those who go to CNBC at 7 p.m. for Shark Tank reruns, what do you say to them? [Laughs.] Wait an hour! I love Shark Tank. We have Jim Cramer on at 6 and after us is reality/aspirational money shows. There’s a place for a newscast in there. This is a loyal audience. It’s influential. To the degree that they’ll come watch us, we welcome them. 

There are people who’ve been watching me in times of great happiness and great sadness for decades. If they want to come check us out at 7 o’clock, we’d love to have them, too.

The News with Shepard Smith premieres on CNBC Sept. 30, the hour-long program, which Smith called “a full-plate newscast,” in the 7 p.m. slot. CNBC described it as “providing deep, non-partisan coverage and perspective on the day’s most important stories,” going “beyond the headlines to give its viewers sharp context into the world around them in real-time.”

Smith spent 23 years at Fox News Channel, where he was chief general news anchor. Topics covered on the new show mostly fall into politics, COVID, the information age, social justice, incoming inequality and climate. Journalists from the NBCUniversal stable--NBC News, Sky News, Telemundo, owned and affiliated stations--will contribute. Correspondents include Eamon Javers, Jane Wells and Kayla Tausche. 

“We seek the truth, find the truth and tell the truth and let chips fall where they may,” Smith told B&C. “We speak truth to power. We cover all the big stories that are part of our lives right now.”

Whether it’s COVID, social justice or climate, there’s a giant story or two every darn day. “We want to find the truth about those things as we know it, and tell viewers what we don’t know,” he said. “Sometimes what we don’t know is just as important as what we do.”

Smith said The News seeks to “find that hero in the carnage”--the person who saves others in the wildfires, the researcher responsible for the breakthrough in the pandemic. 

What The News won’t do is spend a lot of time on what newsmakers are tweeting. There won’t be opinions or punditry either. “There’s plenty of that — I don’t hate on anybody for it,” he said. “But it’s not what we’re going to do.”

There is, of course, plenty of that at Fox News. Smith did not refer to his old employer by name, calling it “old co.” a few times instead. 

Smith is portrayed in Brian Stelter’s new book Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth as an essential news-gatherer and fact checker at Fox News, at times contradicting the pundits to set the record straight for viewers. Smith called Hoax an interesting read, but did not say anything more about it, other than that he did not participate with Stelter on the book.

Smith’s news sources include The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Washington Examiner and The New York Post. “I’m a consumer as the sun comes up and I’m still consuming when the sun goes down,” he said. “I go to trusted sources and when I see something that does not make sense to me, I’m fortunate to have research people that I send things to and say, is this right? We begin reporting on that if it’s something we as a team want to do.”

Smith said The News had over 2,000 applicants for 27 positions. “We took that as an enormous compliment, and an enormous challenge to find the very best ones in the bunch,” he said.  

The News with Shepard Smith, anchored by the former Fox News Channel anchor, premieres on CNBC Sept. 30. The live, hour-long program starts at 7 p.m. It will be produced at CNBC headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 

Smith spent 23 years at Fox News Channel, where he was chief news anchor. He joined CNBC July 13 as chief general news anchor and chief breaking general news anchor.

“The News with Shepard Smith will deliver the day’s news that goes well beyond headlines and political punditry,” said Dan Colarusso, CNBC’s senior VP of business news. “We are going to tell stories and show images that make sense of an increasingly complicated world.”

CNBC described The News as “providing deep, non-partisan coverage and perspective on the day’s most important stories. Featuring on-the-ground reporting from around the globe, The News with Shepard Smith will go beyond the headlines to give its viewers sharp context into the world around them in real-time.”

Sanford Cannold is senior executive producer and Sally Ramirez joins CNBC as executive producer of the program. Cannold has spent more than 19 years at CNBC. Ramirez comes to CNBC from KHOU Houston, where she was executive news director. 

“In my more than 30 years in journalism, there has never been a better or more critical time to launch a non-partisan, fact-based evening newscast,” said Shepard Smith. “From the ongoing pandemic to the election and the economy, the mission of this program is to cover the most important news of the day with depth and clarity. Each night, we will be bold, we will be direct and we will deliver the truth to our viewers.”

CNBC has signed former Fox News veteran and anchor Shepard Smith to lead a one-hour evening news program, the network said Wednesday.

Smith, who left Fox News last October after more than two decades at the network, will begin his stint at CNBC on July 13. The new show, The News with Shepard Smith, will launch in the Fall and will cover the most significant news stories of the day, according to network officials

“Information is coming at us from every direction. If we’re not careful life-altering decisions will be made based on half-truth, rumor, misdirection or worse,” said Mark Hoffman, Chairman of CNBC in a statement. “We aim to deliver a nightly program that, in some small way, looks for the signal in all the noise. We’re thrilled that Shep, who’s built a career on an honest fight to find and report the facts, will continue his pursuit of the truth at CNBC.”

Smith most recently served as Fox News chief news anchor of the network and managing editor of the breaking news division after servicing as anchor of news series Shepard Smith Reporting. Before joining Fox News Channel, Smith was a Fox News Edge correspondent based in Los Angeles.

Shepard Smith joins CNBC starting July 13. The former Fox News anchor, Smith will be based at network headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. He will anchor one-hour The News with Shepard Smith Monday through Friday at 7 p.m., starting in the fall. The newscast “will cover the most significant news stories of the day and will feature the well-respected, fact-based storytelling that has been the hallmark of his 30-year career,” said CNBC. 

Smith will be chief general news anchor and chief breaking general news anchor. 

“Information is coming at us from every direction. If we’re not careful, life-altering decisions will be made based on half-truth, rumor, misdirection or worse,” said Mark Hoffman, chairman of CNBC. “We aim to deliver a nightly program that, in some small way, looks for the signal in all the noise. We’re thrilled that Shep, who’s built a career on an honest fight to find and report the facts, will continue his pursuit of the truth at CNBC.”

Hoffman added: “Shep’s newscast will tap into his extensive experience and deep passion for breaking news, in-depth storytelling and incisive interviews and serve as the perfect bridge between CNBC’s daytime investor-focused news programming and the network’s aspirational business-oriented entertainment programs in primetime.”

Smith spent 23 years at Fox News Channel, where he was chief news anchor. 

“Gathering and reporting the news has been my life’s work. I am honored to continue to pursue the truth, both for CNBC’s loyal viewers and for those who have been following my reporting for decades in good times and in bad,” said Smith. “Mark Hoffman, a journalist himself at his core, presented me with CNBC’s vision for a fact-based, hour-long evening news program with the mission to cut through the static to deliver facts, in context and with perspective. I know I found a great home for my newscast. I am excited to be working with the exceptional talent at CNBC and eager to build a team focused on uncovering the news behind the headlines.”

Earlier in his career, Smith worked at WSVN Miami, the former WCPX Orlando and WBBH Fort Myers, among other stations. 

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson is stepping down from his long-held position as CEO, the telecom has confirmed

Chief operating officer John Stankey, who up until recently ran the telecom’s entertainment division, will assume Stephenson’s chief executive role.

Notably, amid a recent conflict with shareholder Elliot Management, Stephenson had pledged to stay with AT&T through 2020. Stephenson will remain executive chairman of the board until January 2021. The departure of Stephenson, 60, is being billed by AT&T as a retirement. 

Also read: AT&T Told to Sell DirecTV by Hedge Fund Investor

Amid a flurry of expensive acquisitions and tough calls in the competitive U.S. wireless industry, AT&T's stock is down around 15% since 2015. Stephenson had served as CEO since 2007. 

During AT&T's first-quarter earnings call earlier this week, the telecom struck a tone of a company in recession. Having loudly touted under Stephenson the benefits of the Trump Administration's corporate tax cut program in 2017, AT&T is now pledging $6 billion worth of spending cuts by 2023. 

It was Stankey who introduced that reduction program in Wednesday earnings call. 

"We're not backing off our cost and efficiency transformation initiatives that remain largely under our control," he said.

“I congratulate John, and I look forward to partnering with him as the leadership team moves forward on our strategic initiatives while navigating the difficult economic and health challenges currently facing our country and the world," Stephenson said in a statement. "John has the right experiences and skills, and the unflinching determination every CEO needs to act on his convictions. He has a terrific leadership team onboard to ensure AT&T remains strong and continues to deliver for customers and shareholders for years to come.”

Stankey, 57, recently relinquished his title as CEO of AT&T's WarnerMedia division to newly hired former Hulu chief executive Jason Kilar. His appointed as AT&T's top executive officially begins June 1.

AT&T said Stankey's selection "completes the final phase of a succession planning process that AT&T's board began in 2017, which included a thorough evaluation of internal and external candidates." 

AT&T's human resources committee in charge of the search was led by Director Beth Mooney, and was comprised entirely of independent directors and supported by outside consultants, the company said. The group conducted "an extensive five-month search process to ensure that the company's next CEO possessed the vision, experience, talent and leadership qualities necessary to deliver on AT&T's strategic plans," AT&T added. 

During his tenure as AT&T's top media executive, the telecom lost more than 30% of its pay TV scale to cord-cutting. The telecom seemingly has little to show for its $50 billion purchase of DirecTV in 2015. And its ambitious effort to create an SVOD service to compete with Netflix has a long way to go before it's proven successful. 

Still, Elliot Management--which has pushed for changes at AT&T--has apparently signed off on Stankey.

“We have been engaged with the company throughout the search process, which was a robust one, including a range of highly qualified outside candidates and overseen by independent directors,” Elliot Management said in a statement. 

Added Stankey: “I’m honored to be elected the next CEO of AT&T, a company with a rich history and a bright future. My thanks go to Randall for his vision and outstanding leadership during a period of tremendous change and investment in the core capabilities needed to position AT&T well for the years ahead. And I appreciate the Board’s confidence in me leading the company during our next chapter of growth and innovation in keeping people connected, informed and entertained. We have a strong company, leading brands and a great employee team, which I’m privileged to lead. I couldn’t be more excited about the new opportunities we have to serve our customers and communities and create value for our shareholders.”

Lionsgate-owned premium programmer Starz said its overall viewing is up 35% since March 14, the beginning of pandemic-based shelter-in-place viewing consumption.

Average viewership on the Starz app is up 44%, while usage of the Starz premium cable channel has increased 33%.

Starz CEO Jeffrey Hirsch made the revelation on CNBC over the weekend, where he discussed Starz’s overall strategy. You can see the short interview with Hirsch here. 

Starz, he said, is sold as a “premium add-on,” which “compliments” Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu or any of the “broad-basic” SVOD services that looking to “replace pay TV.”

Rather than being driven by individual hits, Starz is benefitting from a “portfolio approach,” Hirsch said, whereby movies like recent Quentin Tarantino box office smash Once Upon a time in Hollywood compliment tentpole series like Outlander and keep viewers coming back to the platform week after week. 

Also notable: in a direct-to-consumer world in which the Starz app is sold directly to consumers instead of the service being peddled through pay TV operators, Hirsch said, “Starz does become a more profitable company.” 

Hirsch, meanwhile, addressed another common video programming topic amid the pandemic—a shortage of shows caused by production stoppages. He said that since Starz works a year ahead, “most shows that come online this year are already in post production,” and that things like “virtual editing and virtual sound mixing” are doable amid “an unprecedented time for our industry.” 

Quibi CEO Meg Whitman said the Quibi app was dowloaded 1.7 million times in its first week, representing “one of the most successful launches of a completely new brand and a completely new app.”

Declaring Quibi’s tally in an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street Monday morning, Whitman’s number was significantly greater than one also released this morning by tracking firm Apptopia, which counted 1.15 million Quibi app downloads.

Visit Next TV to read more stories like this one. 

“It turns out people have in-between moments at home, in-between Zoom calls, in-between wrangling the kids, in-between taking care of the house and things like that. We don’t actually think [the pandemic] hurt us. We’re delighted by the launch,” Whitman said.

Whitman conceded that when COVID-19 hit, the company had to make “a whole host of changes” to its launch strategy. Among the most notable, she said, was to establish a 90-day free trial period. After the 90 days, users will be charged $4.99 for a version with ads and $7.99-a month for an ad-free version.

“There will certainly be belt-tightening. It’s impossible to predict. But I think the fact that this is mobile-only, very personalized and relatively inexpensive I think will stand us in good stead,” Whitman noted.

She also noted that Quibi is largely immune to the current impact to the ad market, given that it’s sold out its first-year inventory. “We’re set until April of next year,” Whitman said.

At CES, Whitman valued that first-year haul at $153 million. Quibi has raised $1.75 billion in private funding.

She added that the median Quibi user is in their mid-thirties, and that 80% of users who initiate a 10-minute-or-less Quibi series episode finish the installment.

Whitman’s public statement’s probably couldn’t come soon enough, given that the narrative on Quibi’s launch week has been largely spun—perhaps unfairly—negative.

As The Verge noted, analysts had been expecting first-week downloads in the range of 1 million to 1.5 million.

Related: Tough First Day? Quibi Generates Only 300K App Downloads, Gets Battered by Critics

Research company Sensor Tower reported 300,000 app downloads on the first day for Quibi, April 6, inspiring a number of media outlets to compare the service—which is intended for use only on mobile phones—to the highly successful Disney Plus and its 4 million first-day app downloads. .

Not only is Disney Plus a lean-back OTT experience designed for living room consumption, it’s built on the backbone of very established, very popular entertainment brands like Star Wars and Marvel.

In his interview with Next TV in early March, Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, a former Disney executive, took pains to differentiate Quibi from Disney Plus, noting that the former is a new brand targeted to adult consumers featuring mostly new intellectual property.

Related: Katzenberg on Quibi: 'If You Make It and It's Good, They Will Come'

Quibi, which doesn’t have an OTT app, or support for AirPlay or Chromecast, caught flack from users who wanted to port Quibi video on to their living-room TVs.

“We had always planned to be able to cast to your TV, so we’re going to see if we can accelerate that in the engineering roadmap,” Whitman said on CNBC. “We’ll eventually get there, but it was never a part of the launch. If we had known about COVID, maybe it would have been.”

Meanwhile, critics were hard on the service, as well, as they reviewed content meant for viewing in short bursts in public places in quarantined, very traditional circumstances.

That outlook could change. Quibi—which launched with 50 original shows and just announced the debut of seven new shows this morning—has banked a big supply of original content that will keep rolling out over the course of the late-spring and summer. Perhaps there’s a Mandalorian-style breakout hit in there somewhere?

“We feel great we have enough content to last us now through November, and this is important because all of Hollywood is shut down like the rest of the country, and we’ll see how our users consume,” Whitman said.

Quibi CEO Meg Whitman said the Quibi app was dowloaded 1.7 million times in its first week, representing “one of the most successful launches of a completely new brand and a completely new app.”

Declaring Quibi’s tally in an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street Monday morning, Whitman’s number was significantly greater than one also released this morning by tracking firm Apptopia, which counted 1.15 million Quibi app downloads. 

“It turns out people have in-between moments at home, in-between Zoom calls, in-between wrangling the kids, in between taking care of the house and things like that. We don’t actually think [the pandemic] hurt us. We’re delighted by the launch,” Whitman said. 

Whitman conceded that when COVID-19 hit, the company had to make “a whole host of changes” to its launch strategy. Among the most notable, she said, was to establish a 90-day free trial period. After the 90 days, users will be charged $4.99 for a version with ads and $7.99-a month for an ad-free version. 

“There will certainly be belt-tightening. It’s impossible to predict. But I think the fact that this is mobile-only, very personalized and relatively inexpensive I think will stand us in good stead,” Whitman noted. 

She also noted that Quibi is largely immune to the current impact to the ad market, given that it’s sold out its first-year inventory. “We’re set until April of next year,” Whitman said. 

At CES, Whitman valued that first-year haul at $153 million. Quibi has raised $1.75 billion in private funding. 

She added that the median Quibi user is in their mid-thirties, and that 80% of users who initiate a 10-minute-or-less Quibi series episode finish the installment. 

Whitman’s public statement’s probably couldn’t come soon enough, given that the narrative on Quibi’s launch week has been largely spun—perhaps unfairly—negative. 

As The Verge noted, analysts had been expecting first-week downloads in the range of 1 million to 1.5 million. 

Also read: Tough First Day? Quibi Generates Only 300K App Downloads, Gets Battered by Critics

Research company Sensor Tower reported 300,000 app downloads on the first day for Quibi, April 6, inspiring a number of media outlets to compare the service—which is intended for use only on mobile phones—to the highly successful Disney Plus and its 4 million first-day app downloads. .

Not only is Disney Plus a lean-back OTT experience designed for living room consumption, it’s built on the backbone of very established, very popular entertainment brands like Star Wars and Marvel. 

In his interview with Next TV in early March, Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, a former Disney executive, took pains to differentiate Quibi from Disney Plus, noting that the former is a new brand targeted to adult consumers featuring mostly new intellectual property. 

Also read: Katzenberg on Quibi: 'If You Make It and It's Good, They Will Come'

Quibi, which doesn’t have an OTT app, or support for AirPlay or Chromecast, caught flack from users who wanted to port Quibi video on to their living-room TVs.

“We had always planned to be able to cast to your TV, so we’re going to see if we can accelerate that in the engineering roadmap,” Whitman said on CNBC. “We’ll eventually get there, but it was never a part of the launch. If we had known about COVID, maybe it would have been.”

Meanwhile, critics were hard on the service, as well, as they reviewed content meant for viewing in short bursts in public places in quarantined, very traditional circumstances. 

That outlook could change. Quibi—which launched with 50 original shows and just announced the debut of seven new shows this morning—has banked a big supply of original content that will keep rolling out over the course of the late-spring and summer. Perhaps there’s a Mandalorian-style breakout hit in there somewhere?

“We feel great we have enough content to last us now through November, and this is important because all of Hollywood is shut down like the rest of the country, and we’ll see how our users consume,” Whitman said.

The Walt Disney Co. is reportedly lining up banks to provide a substantial cash boost to its offer for 21st Century Fox assets it previously agreed to purchase, in an effort to best any competing bids from Comcast, CNBC’s David Faber said Tuesday (May 29).

Citing sources familiar with the company, Faber said on CNBC’s The Faber Report  that Disney is prepared to add “significant cash” to its all-stock bid for the assets, currently valued at about $68 billion.

Comcast made public its intentions for the Fox assets, issuing a formal statement May 23 that is considering an all-cash offer that would be superior to the Disney bid. While Comcast did not specify how big that bid would be, some analysts have speculated it could be as much as $10 billion more than the Disney offer. 

But that bid apparently hinges on the outcome of AT&T’s proposed $108.7 billion takeover of Time Warner Inc. That deal, which the U.S. Dept. of Justice sued to block in November, is expected to receive a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon on June 12. If the deal is approved, and most analysts expect it will, Comcast is anticipated to make its offer shortly after.

Fox agreed in December to sell its cable channels FX, FXX, National Geographic; its movie and TV production studios 20 Century Fox, 21 regional sports networks, its 30% interest in Hulu and its 39% interest in British satellite TV company Sky to Disney in a deal valued at $66.1 billion at the time. Fox will keep its broadcast network, as well as its cable channels Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network and sports networks FS 1, FS 2 and the Big Ten Network. In April, Comcast made a formal offer for all of Sky for $31 billion. Sky is still evaluating the offer although British regulators said earlier this month they would likely have no difficulty in approving a deal.      

CNBC said it has launched an app for devices powered by Android TV.

In addition to the live stream, the authenticated TV Everywhere app also offers full episodes from select business day programming, including Mad Money with Jim Cramer, Squawk Alley and Fast Money, as well as primetime shows such as Secret Lives of the Super Rich, The Profit and Jay Leno’s Garage.

Android TV users can also stream select short form content from CNBC without having to authenticate.

The app also integrates with Google Assistant, which lets users conduct searches by specific CNBC programs, anchors and reporters and topics and people of interest, and also is integrated with its voice navigation system. 

CNBC will expand its primetime lineup of unscripted programming with a slate of three new original series, the network announced Tuesday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour.

Read More: Complete Coverage of #TCA18

The new original series include BYOB: Be Your Own Boss, which follows entrepreneur Dennis Mulgannon as he helps people escape the rat race and become their own boss in a week by buying the existing small business of their dreams; Staten Island Hustle, which follows a group of long friends and businessmen from Staten Island who've yet to come up with an idea or product too far-fetched for them to invest in; and Deadly Rich, which goes inside murder cases involving rich suspects and victims. 

The network also announced several renewals, including a fourth season of Jay Leno’s Garage, a 12th season of American Greed and a seventh season of Secret Lives of the Super Rich.

“It’s an exciting time for CNBC as we build our primetime brand, grow our audience and draw in an even younger crowd,” said Jim Ackerman, executive vice president of alternative programming for CNBC in a statement. “The world of business will always be a great backdrop for storytelling and we’re committed to serving up more titles and characters that capture the entrepreneurial spirit in all of us.” 

Other CNBC projects in development include: an Aaron Kirman Project; Cash Pad; Billions By Design; American Hustler; Million Dollar Judgement; Sex & Business; and Teen Entrepreneur.

When NBC dropped the puck on its coverage of the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Playoffs earlier this week, it did so with the hopes of boosting viewership by offering wall-to-wall live coverage across several networks and platforms.

Along with airing every first-round playoff games across four networks — NBC, NBCSN, USA Network and CNBC — its telecasts were not blacked out for the first time in local-team markets since NBC Sports Group acquired the NHL’s rights in 2005. Boston and Pittsburgh were the only markets where first-round blackouts remained in place, NBC said.

 “The fans are the real winners here,” NBC Sports and NBCSN president of programming Jon Miller said of the side-by-side telecasts. “They now have more options than ever to watch first-round playoff coverage of their local teams.”

The losers could be the regional sports networks, which will now have to compete with national network coverage for eyeballs — although for most hockey fans, local-team telecasts are often more palatable than national network coverage.

At worst, NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood said the new setup should eliminate the confusion over which games are blacked out in which markets. “Now you know where to go,” Flood said during a pre-playoffs conference call with reporters. “We like that. Simplicity is a good thing.”

 On the digital side, the NBC Sports app will provide live streaming of every NHL playoff game televised by NBC, NBCN, USA and CNBC, giving hockey fans multiple points of entry to watch live playoff games on multiple platforms.  

With baseball season in full swing — and with the LeBron James and Kevin Durant-led NBA Playoffs launching this weekend — NBC Sports is hoping its one-stop shop approach to distributing the chase for the Stanley Cup will keep hockey’s post-season excitement competitive in a crowded TV sports arena by streamlining the fan experience and making the competition easier to find.

One of the more fascinating ratings trends developing thus far in 2017 has been the strong, post-presidential election performance of cable news networks.

Not surprisingly, ratings for Fox News Channel, CNN, CNBC and MSNBC trended up in 2016 during a year that featured a particularly intense and heavy news-driven presidential campaign. Adult viewers spent more than 73.5 billion minutes consuming news in an average week last year, an 18% increase from the prior year, according to Nielsen’s Total Audience Report for fourth quarter 2016.

Most of the increases were generated by the national cable news networks. Viewers consumed 27.1 billion minutes of news from those channels during the year, compared to 18.8 billion in 2015, according to the report. By comparison, national broadcast TV news drew 14.3 billion minutes of news consumption in 2016, while local broadcast TV news generated 15.1 billion minutes.

The increases were solid across all age demos, including the elusive millennial audience. In fact, millennial viewers spent more time on a weekly basis in 2016 getting their news from national cable news channels than from any other source, with the exception of local radio, according to Nielsen. Ethnic groups also preferred to get their news fix from national cable news outlets compared to any other source, according to the report.

Overall, viewers spent more than six hours per week consuming cable news in 2016, up from more than four hours a week during the year of the 2012 campaign, according to Nielsen.

Once the election was over, most industry observers believed that cable news network viewership would return to traditional levels. Yet the strength of cable news network ratings has continued after the election and into President Donald Trump’s first 100 days.

Viewer fixation on cable news spilled into the first month of 2017 through Trump’s inauguration and the official transfer of power. Adult viewers averaged more than two hours per week watching national cable news in January, which was 20% higher than in January 2016, according to Nielsen.

Well into the first quarter of 2017, the appeal of cable news has yet to abate. Fox News was easily the most watched cable network in primetime and on a total day basis during the quarter, with MSNBC and CNN finishing among the top 15 most watched networks in primetime during the period, as the health-care law battle, investigations over alleged Trump administration Russian ties and wiretapping charges dominated coverage.

It’s arguable whether the cable news genre can continue its torrid ratings pace for the rest of 2017. But if the first quarter is any indication, it’s certainly possible that cable news networks could remarkably match or surpass their 2016 election ratings tallies.

PHOTO:Reports on the Trump administration's first 100 days -- such as CNN's coverage of the $21.6 million the president's golf trips to his Mara Lago Resort have cost taxpayers in the first 80 days vs. the $97 million President Obama's travel cost over his two terms -- are keeping cable news network ratings up.

CNBC is stepping further into the world of A.I. as a launch partner for “Actions” for Google Assistant, a feature for products such as the Google Home hub that competes with platforms such as Amazon Alexa, used in smart home products such as the Echo.

RELATED: Google At Home With WiFi, Smart Hub, 4K Chromecast

To fuel the feature, the business net has debuted @CNBC, a “Conversation Action” for Google Assistant that lets viewers get information about the markets and shows that are running on CNBC. Per the FAQ, It's free to all U.S. consumers who have Google Home devices. 

CNBC said the new offering will offer market commentary from the network’s on-air stocks editor, Bob Pisani, and real-time market snapshots from the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq, as well as news updates from CNBC Radio.

Users can also use @CNBC to ask Google Assistant specific questions, such as: “Ok, Google, let me talk to CNBC about the markets,” or “Ok, Google, ask CNBC to tell me when The Profit is on next.”

 “As a launch partner for Actions on Google for the Google Assistant, we are very excited to offer users CNBC’s unparalleled content,” Deep Bagchee, SVP of CNBC product and technology, said in a statement. “With @CNBC, we are able to provide consumers with the information they want – from the latest business news to unique insights into the markets.”

It will be a tech-heavy couple of days for President-elect Donald Trump, who is scheduled to meet with Microsoft founder Bill Gates Tuesday (Dec. 13) and other technology executives on Wednesday (Dec. 14), the Trump transition team said.

"The President-elect has said that we need to get back to innovators inventing things here in America and make sure that we have the business climate where companies [that] are just starting or people who have these ideas can get out there and have access to capital and the tax structure that fosters innovation," transition team spokesman Jason Miller said of the meetings. "This is the type of president we're going to see from Donald Trump. We want to make sure that we are leading on the world stage and brining the best and the brightest together."

 He would not comment on which of those "best and brightest" are scheduled Wednesday.

He did not comment on the Gates meeting beyond referring reporters to a Gates interview with CNBC Tuesday in which Gates likened Trump to JFK and had "very favorable things to say about the president-elect's dedication to innovation," Miller said.

According to a CNBC transcript, Gates said: "[I]n the same way President Kennedy talked about the space mission and got the country behind that. I think whether it's education or stopping epidemics ... [or] in this energy space, there can be a very upbeat message that [Trump's] administration [is] going to organize things, get rid of regulatory barriers, and have American leadership through innovation."

According to the New York Times, tech companies expected at the meeting include Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Cisco, Facebook, IBM, MIntel, Microsoft, Oracle, and Tesla.

According to Open Secrets, which tracks campaign contributions to candidates, those nine tech companies contributed a total of $4,169,828 to the campaign of Hillary Clinton and $28,225 to Trump (all from Oracle). Bill Gates may think Trump could be good for innovation, but Microsoft gave $710,000 to Clinton (the second most behind Alphabet/google's $1,315,000, while it gave none to Trump.