The nation’s largest DMA, and almost certainly its busiest, is getting back up to speed after the pandemic had New Yorkers shut in. Broadway’s theaters are open, tourists are flocking to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and offices are reopening. While everyone awaits the next phase of COVID-19, the streets are getting crowded. 

New York news gatherers welcome the revivification. “There’s always something happening in New York,” WNBC VP of news Amy Morris said, “and there’s a New York connection to any story in the nation.”

Disney’s ABC Owned Television Stations holds WABC. CBS Stations has WCBS-WLNY. NBCUniversal Local owns WNBC and Telemundo station WNJU. Fox has WNYW and MyNetworkTV station WWOR. Mission Broadcasting owns The CW affiliate WPIX and Nexstar Media Group operates it. Univision has WXTV. 

Spectrum News NY1, which turns 30 next fall, is owned by the cable operator. In November, NY1 launched weekday newscast News All Day in the noon slot, anchored by Ruschell Boone, with News All Day updates at the top and bottom of the hour through 4 p.m. 

Besides Spectrum, Optimum and Verizon Fios TV are other pay TV options. 

ABC7 Leads the Way

WABC, known locally as ABC7, is the team to beat. With an Eyewitness News brand, the station won the 6 a.m. race in November. WABC won 5 and 6 p.m. in households and viewers 25-54, and scored a 3.8 in 11 p.m. households and a 1.5 in 25-54. WCBS got a 2.9 and 0.8 at 11, WNBC a 2.3/0.9, WXTV a 1.7/1.1 and WNJU a 1.6/0.9. WNYW and WPIX have news at 10 to 11 p.m. 

Chad Matthews, who was WABC news director, was named president and general manager in February, with Debra OConnell moving up to president of networks for Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution. Rehan Aslam came on as WABC VP of news in April. 

Matthews is off to a strong start. In June, WABC pulled off an in-person mayoral debate. The plan was for a virtual debate amidst COVID concerns, and the call to go in person came about a week before the eight-candidate event. “The team did a really, really great job,” said Matthews. 

As with all the ABC-owned stations, WABC features a data journalism team to give stories extra heft, and a race and culture reporter finds neighborhood stories a general assignment reporter may miss. 

“WABC just looks and feels like our market, more than our competitors,” Matthews said. “I think our viewers see that as well.”

WNBC launched a 7 p.m. news in June [see sidebar].”I don’t think anybody is doing a truly local anything at 7 p.m., even on the cable side,” said Eric Lerner, WNBC president and general manager. “We saw an opportunity.”

In April, WNBC debuted a 10-minute weekday OTT newscast called News 4 Now. Views exploded when the Gabby Petito case took off in September, according to Benjamin Berkowitz, VP, digital, WNBC and WNJU. It’s for viewers “who want to engage with our brands, but they don’t have 30 minutes to sit on the couch at 6 o’clock,” he said. 

WNJU (Telemundo 47) offers early morning, midday, early evening and late news. Cristina Schwarz, president and general manager, said the station appears to be set for news, but non-linear product launches may be coming.

Fox 5 Makes People Moves

Over at WNYW, known as Fox 5, Bianca Peters shifted from Good Day Wake Up to Good Day New York, airing 7 to 10 a.m., November 1, alongside Rosanna Scotto. “She played herself into that position,” said Lew Leone, WNYW-WWOR senior VP and general manager. “When you hire someone from outside, you never really know if there’s chemistry.”

Lori Stokes left the morning show to anchor evenings and 10 p.m. in June, when Dari Alexander departed. Dan Bowens slid in as Good Day Wake Up anchor.

WNYW launched The Vault, a digital initiative that offers historic news videos on demand. Byron Harmon, VP of news, referred to it as “a Netflix of news.”

Last month, Morgan McKay joined WNYW from NY1 to cover politics. “No one produces the amount of content or the varied amount of content that we do,” said Harmon.  

Johnny Green Jr. was named president and general manager of WCBS-WLNY in July, succeeding Peter Dunn, who was also president of CBS Television Stations. Green had been WCBS interim news director and VP of news services at CBS News. He noted that CBS2 now has a general manager focused only on the station, not the group. “We’re targeting more coverage and wider communities that we may not have touched before,” he said. “It’s time to give certain issues that are more important more time.”

Sarah Burke came on as WCBS VP and news director in late September, joining from WLS Chicago. WCBS is looking to hire a producer the group calls executive producer, Impacting Communities in early 2022. 

The station occasionally dedicates the 5:30 p.m. news to a lone topic. Mental health and suicide prevention took over the newscast one day in July. “It didn’t feel like it needed to be cut down,” Green said. “We ran it in its entirety.”

Social justice and COVID also got dedicated 5:30 newscasts. 

WXTV (Univision 41) offers morning, midday, early evening and late news on weekdays, and 6 and 11 p.m. on weekends. Univision New York president/general manager Roberto Yanez oversees two TV stations and three radio stations. “We’re providing news around the clock,” he said. “We’re on TV, we’re on radio, we’re on digital.”

In April, WXTV announced Sabados Con Los New York Giants, hosted by former Giant Victor Cruz and WXTV’s Damaris Diaz. The weekly show is designed to bring  football — “not fútbol,” or soccer, said Yanez — to Hispanic viewers who may not follow the game. 

“It has been very well-received by our community,” he added. 

New York stations are hustling to get ahead in the busy market. WNBC and WNJU are moving in together. WNBC is in Rockefeller Center and WNJU in Fort Lee, New Jersey. They will share the second floor of 30 Rockefeller Center starting in fall 2023, with the massive workspace extending from 49th Street to 50th Street.

It represents the final duopoly in the NBC group to co-locate. “We are excited about the collaboration that will happen between departments and department heads,” said Schwarz, who noted that WNJU will maintain a presence in New Jersey. “I’m excited to be next to Eric every day.” 

Lerner mentioned a “gorgeous, state-of-the-art, open news operation. It’s two television stations coming together in a way that we’ve never been able to before. Both stations really deserve a new home.” 

Business Is Reviving

General managers said business is picking up as New York gets back on its feet. Vaccination spots are all over the air. “It’s been a huge source of revenue for the marketplace,” said Leone, who added that sports gambling is also boosting revenue. 

New York attracts the finest news gatherers in America, and it makes for a hot news scene. “All the stations in town have really strong journalists,” said Morris, “and do strong journalism.”

Johnny Green’s newsroom days are behind him, but he still sees things from a news perspective on occasion. For reporters anywhere, “there’s always the element of something new every day,” he said. In New York, “that something new every day may just be down the street.” ■

About a year after its parent company, Astound Broadband, was purchased by private equity firm Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners in a deal valued at $8.1 billion, RCN said it has made several management changes within its operating areas.

Astound has been on an acquisitions tear over the past few months, and the management changes are also intended to help with that expansion. In November it closed on its $661 million purchase of systems in Indiana, Illinois and Maryland from WideOpenWest. The Maryland portion of that deal — in Anne Arundel County — is expected to increase RCN’s Washington D.C. footprint by one-third.  In July, Astound’s Grande Communications unit said it would purchase central Texas-based broadband provider Harris Broadband for an undisclosed sum.

RCN said it hired former Comcast cable executive Doug Guthrie as senior VP and general manager of its New York system, replacing long-time New York market VP and GM Bruce Abbott, who announced his retirement. Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., senior VP and general manager Sanford Ames will add oversight of the Boston market to his duties, taking the reins from retiring Boston SVP and GM Jeff Carlson.

Guthrie has more than 34 years experience in the communications industry and will be responsible for residential and business customer operations, technical support, and developing and implementing marketing and sales strategies in RCNs New York market. Guthrie had been a SVP at Comcast Cable, where he worked for nearly 20 years and was one of the few executives to serve in all three of the cable giant’s operating divisions and its corporate headquarters.

Ames has been with RCN since 2011, and under his tenure, Lehigh Valley subscribers have increased by about 40%, the company said. 

Twenty-year RCN veteran and vice president of customer care Tori Faulkenberry has been promoted to senior VP of customer care, taking over for retiring customer care SVP Bill Sievers. She will spearhead customer service, training, performance management, sales, and operational efficiencies. In addition, RCN said Michael McPhillips has joined the company as VP of Business Solutions for RCN’s Central Region, taking the spot vacated by retiring exec Ted White.

Also retiring after long tenures with the company are VP of human resources Ken Conrad and VP of regulatory & public affairs Tom Steel.

“We are excited Doug and Michael are joining the RCN team and thrilled to elevate Sanford and Tori’s roles within the company,” said RCN chief operating officer Chris Fenger in a press release. “These colleagues are highly trusted and respected veterans in the industry and have successful track records in their fields.  Sanford, Tori, Doug and Michael are very accomplished individuals with extraordinary abilities to transform, inspire and drive positive change. Through their leadership and strategic insights, our company can expect to continue to deliver growth and innovation with an unwavering commitment to our customers. We also want to thank Bill, Jeff, Bruce, Ted, Ken and Tom for their dedication and hard work over the years. They have been instrumental in guiding our business in their respective areas for many years and we wish them a happy, healthy, and well-deserved retirement.” ■

The T. Howard Foundation will return to New York City in September for its Diversity Awards Dinner after holding the event virtually in 2020 due to the pandemic.

The 28th Annual Diversity Awards Dinner will be held Sept. 28 at Cipriani's Restaurant in New York City, according to the diversity organization. Further information, including dinner award winners, will be announced at a later date. 

Also Read: Virtual Diversity Week to Return in October

The Foundation’s annual Diversity Awards Dinner recognizes and celebrates industry leaders and companies committed to increasing diversity and inclusion in the media and entertainment industry.

A New York court has blocked a law that would have required ISPs to provide low-cost broadband to low-income households, issuing an injunction that temporarily blocks the enforcement of the new law and signaling that the ISPs are likely to win the underlying case that the law should not go into effect at all.

The court signaled that ISPs are likely to prevail on the argument that imposing such rate regulation was a form of common carrier regulation that conflicted with the FCC's most recent decision that internet access is a Title I information service not subject to common carriers regs, and so the New York State law is preempted. "To be clear, the ABA is rate regulation, and rate regulation is a form of common carrier treatment," said Judge Denis R. Hurley of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Seeking the injunctions were ACA Connects, CTIA, The New York State Telecommunications Association, USTelecom, NTCA-the Rural Broadband Association, and the Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Association.

Affordable Broadband Act was to have gone into effect June 15. It would require ISPs in the state to offer low-income households high-speed broadband--at least 25 Mbps download speeds-- for $15 per month, or of 200 Mbps for no more than $20. About 2.7 million households would qualify, or more than a third of all the households in New York. The service had to be offered as a standalone and must be advertised and promoted so people know it is available.

Prices could be raised according to a statutory formula, but only once every five years.

The associations sued to block the law April 30 and sought the injunction May 6.

In granting the injunction, Judge Hurley also agreed with ISPs that they would suffer irreparable harm--potentially facing civil penalties or losing their franchise if they don't comply with the law, or if they do, having to supply broadband at a loss, which would "raise advertising expenditures, impose administrative costs due to providers’ need 'to develop a system for validating customers’ eligibility,' force them to cancel preexisting business plans for upgrades to, and expansion of, their broadband networks, and inflict reputational harm," said the court.

The court concluded the harm was actual and imminent not remote or speculative, one of the tests for a preliminary injunction.

Hurley said the threat of monetary harm was most persuasive argument since trying to redress that harm later by getting money back from the state government would be difficult since it has sovereign immunity. "Though monetary damages would usually supply an adequate remedy at law negating the availability of preliminary injunctive relief, the harm takes on special import where, as here, the Eleventh Amendment precludes redressability."

ISPs are already offering a variety of low-cost broadband plans using the FCC's Lifeline broadband subsidies, and will be offering more with COVID-19 aid money.

Notably absent from the suit was NCTA-the Internet & Television Association. A spokesman had no comment on the injunction and said NCTA had not signed on to the suit because "plenty of others already had."

Verizon Communications settled a three-year-old lawsuit with New York City on Tuesday, agreeing to add 500,000 low-income households to its broadband footprint, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

New York sued Verizon in 2017, claiming the telco reneged on a promise to extend its Fios fiber-optic broadband, TV and voice service to 100% of the city’s residents by 2014, part of the franchise agreement Verizon signed with the city in 2008.  

A 2015 audit conducted by the city showed that Verizon had fallen far short of that goal, and found the telco had failed to install the necessary equipment in several areas where it said the buildout was completed. In addition, the study claimed Verizon had failed to consistently document service requests and said that 40,000 requests for service were pending, some for a year or more. 

Verizon had denied those claims, countering that it had lived up to its commitments and that the dispute centered on semantics, basically the definition of a “passed home.” 

As part of the Nov. 24 settlement, Verizon agreed to extend its fiber broadband service to an additional 500,000 households within the New York City Housing Authority.

“Internet access is an economic right in New York City, no matter your ZIP code. Tech giants will not stand in our way to deliver high-quality broadband to New Yorkers – they must be a part of the solution,” Mayor de Blasio said in a press release. “COVID-19 has further exposed the inequalities in internet access while changing the way New Yorkers work, learn, and live. We will continue to hold any corporation that fails to deliver on its promise to New Yorkers accountable.” 

According to the Mayor’s Office, many of the neighborhoods that will be earmarked for the expansion include Community Districts that are hit hardest by the pandemic.

They include: 

According to the settlement, Verizon will make broadband connections available to a minimum of 125,000 additional households in these Community Districts. That means if a resident requests paid Fios service, Verizon is required to make it available within seven days. 

Verizon also will report quarterly on their progress, and the city will make the list of newly eligible households public. The settlement is subject to approval from the NYC Franchise and Review Commission and the Public Service Commission.

"We're grateful for the opportunity to bring Verizon Fios service to an additional 500,000 New York City consumers,” Verizon spokesman Rich Young said in a statement. “Currently about 2.5 million NYC homes and businesses benefit from all that Fios has to offer. This agreement builds upon Verizon's base, and will make this premier broadband service available to even more consumers." 

New York Attorney General Letitia James has called on cable and satellite carriers serving the state to cut consumers a break on their bills by reducing or eliminating the portions assigned to live sports programming since there really isn't any. 

Related: ESPN Cancels X Games 

The letters went to Altice USA, AT&T Inc., Charter Communications, Comcast Cable, DISH Network, RCN Corporation, and Verizon. She wants the MVPDs to provide “appropriate refunds, discounts and reductions of charges and fees, payment deferrals, and waiver of termination fees, at least until live sports programming is resumed.”  

In one of the letters, James said it is "simply inappropriate for New Yorkers to be burdened by high costs for services that cable providers are not able to deliver, and programming that is a mere vestige of what has been expected. Reducing those burdens is not only legally and practically appropriate, it is clearly the right thing to do." 

She said she did want to hear the argument that cable contracts don't guarantee any particular service, so there is no guaranteed of live programming. "[T]hese contractual provisions did not envision the current situation," she said, which is that an entire category of key programming is now AWOL. 

For its part, Dish is looking to ESPN, the 800 pound gorilla pf live sports rights, for help, reportedly trying to refund customers with money it withholds from the sports programmer, given Dish has paid for a live sports net with very little live sports--outside of the odd HORSE game or remote eating contest. 

New York State, which took the lead in the state attorneys general suit trying to block the T-Mobile-Sprint merger, has decided not to appeal the court decision upholding the deal, saying it will instead work to make sure it is the best merger it can be. 

A U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York concluded the deal was in the public interest. 

Related: T-Mobile-Sprint Decision Draws Crowd 

That is according to New York attorney general Letitia James. 

"After a thorough analysis, New York has decided not to move forward with an appeal in this case. Instead, we hope to work with all the parties to ensure that consumers get the best pricing and service possible, that networks are built out throughout our state, and that good-paying jobs are created here in New York," she said in a statement. "We are gratified that this process has yielded commitments from T-Mobile to create jobs in Rochester and engage in robust national diversity initiatives that will connect our communities with good jobs and technology. We are committed to continuing to fight for affordability and access for all of New York’s mobile customers.” 

T-Mobile and Sprint have said the deal would be a net gain for jobs, boost the competition to AT&T and Verizon and speed the rollout of next-gen wireless. 

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is putting David Schwimmer's #That'sHarassment videos on Taxi TV and NYC Media (the city's TV network) for the rest of 2018.

Schwimmer (Friends, American Crime Story) and writer/director Sigal Avin produced the short films last year before the wave of #MeToo revelations, according to the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment commissioner Julie Menin. The filmshave been converted into 30-second spots for screens in about 13,000 taxis.

Related: Starz to Air #ThatsHarassment Videos in Half-Hour Special

“My mother, my sister, countless female colleagues and friends have all experienced some form of sexual harassment in their lifetime,” said Schwimmer of the videos. “Now I’m a father of a young daughter and I’m angry and concerned about the rise in, and our culture’s acceptance of, totally unacceptable behavior by men towards women. Men who demean, deride, discredit, harass and assault women – no matter what their position of power – need to be held accountable.”

Five #ThatsHarassment spots will be airing on the city's television network and in taxis. They are also currently airing -- thanks to the Ad Council, which is making them part of a national campaign -- on ABC, Amazon, CBS, The CW, Fox, FX, Hulu, Starz and Showtime. There were six short films, but someone familiar with the PSA campaign said that the city chose the five videos that would both have the most impact in taxi TV and that wsere suitable for that wide audience.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed an executive order that mandates net neutrality in state contracts for broadband service.

That follows a similar order signed earlier this week by Montana's Gov. Steve Bullock, also a Democrat.

The New York order's "whereas" clauses include a knock on the FCC and the ISPs who support the FCC's network neutrality regulations rollback: "Whereas the FCC recently chose to do away with fee and open internet protections in order to satisfy corporate interests that are not aligned with those of New Yorkers," it says.

On Dec. 14, a divided FCC -- the Democrats fiercely dissented -- voted to eliminate the FCC's rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization of internet traffic, saying the Federal Trade Commission could enforce any violations of fairness or competitiveness in the delivery of broadband service. ISPs have almost universally pledged not to block or throttle, while leaving the option open of paid prioritization.

The New York order requires that contractors adhere to network neutrality principles, defined as: "ISPs will not block, throttle, or prioritize internet content or applications or require that end users pay different or higher rates to access specific types of content or applications."

State entities can only enter into contracts with ISPs who sign that pledge, as it were.

The order affects any new contracts or contract renewals after March 1, 2018.

Actor/director Tyler Perry took to Facebook Tuesday to chastise Altice USA for removing Starz from its systems as part of an ongoing carriage dispute between the two parties.

Related: Altice Fires Back at Starz FCC Petition

Perry referred Altice USA's customers upset over the Jan. 1 removal of Starz to visit the website keepstarz.com to register their complaints or to call the MSO directly. Perry specifically referenced the loss of Starz’s popular drama series Power, adding that New Yorkers in particular make their dissatisfaction with the removal of Starz known to the MVPD.

The Starz premium channel has been dark to Altice USA’s Optimum subscribers in the greater New York City area as well as to Suddenlink customers since Jan. 1 after the parties failed to reach a carriage agreement. 

 “This is not right – you’re just going to take Power off the air – we love this show and you’re just going to take it off the air, and we’re paying the same amount?” Perry said in the Facebook post. “It ain’t cool.”   

Altice reacted by sending a previously released statement calling such tactics “unproductive public spin” to mislead consumers regarding the dispute. That statement follows.

"We are disappointed and surprised that Starz continues to engage in unproductive public spin to mislead consumers after they spent the last few months insisting on terms that would force the majority of our customers to pay for programming that they don’t watch. Despite numerous attempts by Altice USA to reach a deal, Starz refused all offers, including many offers to extend our current arrangement. We would be delighted if Starz would allow us to offer and promote their channels to any and all of our customers who want them, which they have rejected.  At the heart of this issue is our customers’ desire for greater flexibility and choice in our video bundles, and we will continue to advocate for their interests and to change the current model imposed by programmers. Luckily, any of our customers who want to watch Starz can do so by subscribing directly to their OTT service, which makes it all the more surprising that Starz wouldn’t enter into an agreement with us to help them promote their own product.”

Related: Starz’s Chris Albrecht Calls Altice USA ‘Disingenuous’ in Carriage Dispute’

The video comes after Power producer/star 50 Cent’s video post on Instagram this past Friday of him contemplating ramming an Optimum cable technician van in New Jersey.

Altice USA said Starz wanted rate increases that would make it difficult to compete with the channel’s own standalone app, which is available for $8.99 per month. Optimum charges $11.95 per month for Starz service.

With the expected closing of its $14.6 billion purchase of Scripps Networks Interactive just a few months away, Discovery Communications is planning to shut down its Silver Spring, Md., headquarters over the next two years and move its base of operations to New York.

In a memo to employees Tuesday, issued prior to an 11 a.m. Town Hall meeting for workers at the headquarters site, Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the plan was to shut down the Silver Spring location and sell it by 2019.

“This was one of the toughest calls we have made in our company’s history, and we do not take it lightly,” Zaslav said in the memo. “I felt strongly about sharing the news with all of you as quickly as possible once the decision was finalized. Maryland is where the magic of Discovery first began. It also is where many of you, and your loved ones, call home. Where so many wonderful ideas, stories and innovations were first imagined. After much discussion, analysis and debate, however, we believe this move is the right choice, at the right time, for the long-term success of our company.”

Discovery also plans to make Scripps’ current Knoxville, Tenn., headquarters a National Operations headquarters for the entire company and to transform Discovery’s Sterling, Va., facility ito a Technology Hub for the company. Scripps built a 150,000 square-foot operations facility in Knoxville in 2010.

Knoxville is where Scripps first launched HGTV and Food Network in 1994.

Discovery also plans to maintain a small Network Hub in Maryland to house select networks and roles that support them.

But at the center of Discovery’s new blueprint is New York. In the employee memo, Zaslav said the plan will be to consolidate Discovery and Scripps team members currently scattered between four locations in the city into a new Global Headquarters, for which planning is underway. Discovery hopes to move into the new building in the second half of 2019.

The moves come about three months after Discovery earmarked $10 million for a renovation of the Silver Spring HQ, relocating workers from surrounding areas and consolidating buildings. While some saw that September investment as proof that Discovery intended to keep its base in the area even after the Scripps deal closed, the company stressed that no final decisions had been made. On Tuesday, that final decision was made.

Discovery, which opened its Silver Spring headquarters in 2003, has about 1,300 employees in Maryland.

The Scripps deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year.

Following is Zaslav’s memo in its entirety: 

Today I am announcing plans for a new Discovery global real estate strategy and footprint.

Chief among these changes, we have made the decision to move our global headquarters to New York City. We have therefore made the difficult decision to reduce our footprint in Maryland over time, with the ultimate closure and sale of our One Discovery Place headquarters building in Silver Spring, expected in 2019.

This was one of the toughest calls we have made in our company’s history, and we do not take it lightly. I felt strongly about sharing the news with all of you as quickly as possible once the decision was finalized. 

"Maryland is where the magic of Discovery first began.  It also is where many of you, and your loved ones, call home. Where so many wonderful ideas, stories and innovations were first imagined. 

"After much discussion, analysis and debate, however, we believe this move is the right choice, at the right time, for the long-term success of our company.  I will use the rest of this note to explain why, and ask you to please join me for a Town Hall at 1DP at 11AM ET today and live on workplace to discuss these changes in greater detail.

Responding to the Changing Landscape
You have heard me talk extensively about how dramatically the media industry is changing.  An industry that is more global, more consumer-focused and more multi-platform. We are constantly challenged by changing viewer tastes, behaviors and new entrants in the marketplace offering competing products. 

To compete, survive and grow, Discovery must continue to change as well.

For the past several years, we have started the journey to transition from a linear TV company with great cable distribution to a leading IP media company with world-class programming across all screens and services. Our investment in original content created new brands and fueled our expansion into sports, kids, short-form and direct-to-consumer products. The acquisitions of SBS, Eurosport and the rights to the Olympic Games in Europe expanded Discovery beyond our original nonfiction roots.  

The most recent milestone on our journey is Scripps. The pending acquisition has allowed us to undertake an in-depth analysis of where we work and how we work, and the chance to create the most efficient locations for our best-in-class creative, technology, production and operating functions to thrive now, and into the future. 

Beyond the headquarters move to New York and eventual closure of 1DP, we also plan, contingent on the deal closing, to create a National Operations Headquarters at Scripps’ current Knoxville, Tennessee campus and a Technology Hub at our Sterling facility in Northern Virginia.  We also plan to maintain a small Network Hub in Maryland to house select networks and roles that support them.

New York Global Headquarters
At the center of our new blueprint is New York. New York always has been home to the global media industry…our ad partners on Madison Avenue, investors and analysts on Wall Street, many of our creative and production community and, increasingly, our new short- and mid-form content partners, are based in New York. 

The plan would be to bring together the strength of all current Discovery and Scripps team members, currently spread across four different facilities in NY in a new Global Headquarters.  Planning for the space and location in New York is underway and we hope to move into a new building there in the second half of 2019. 

National Operations Headquarters in Knoxville
From an operating and financial perspective, it became clear that, pending closure of the Scripps transaction, we could not operate three large facilities in the U.S.  Since the announcement of the deal, we have evaluated the strengths, capabilities and advantages of the Knoxville, Tennessee campus, which houses the major Scripps brands and creative digital teams along with corporate functions. 

Featuring a compelling environment and infrastructure, Knoxville is a self-contained campus with many amenities and benefits for a National Operations Headquarters, including low cost of living, built-in facilities, and operational capabilities.

Northern Virginia Technology Hub
Discovery’s state-of-the-art media distribution facility in Sterling, Virginia, where we have originated over 80 feeds nearly flawlessly the last 13 years, will become a global technology center. 

The Northern Virginia Technology Hub, as it will be called, has been built as a model for the future. Our technology infrastructure is a competitive advantage and the team has done a terrific job investing for growth. It features modern digital technology, recently upgraded to take full advantage of flexible computing in the cloud, live playout capabilities, increased nonlinear publishing and much more. 

Beyond our global technology operation in Northern Virginia, we also plan to have a technology footprint in Knoxville and maintain several other international locations to service our global operations.

Global Creative Hubs & Regional Offices
Finally, we will continue bolstering our fantastic creative hubs in Los Angeles, New York, London, Miami, Warsaw and Milan, as well as in the Nordics, Brazil and Argentina, among others.  Over the past several years, we have benefited greatly from our expanded presence in these major global markets, offering closer proximity to robust local production communities and providing us more options for global content sourcing. 

To continue to support and draw from the community in Maryland, and to house select network and support functions, we will create a Maryland Network Hub. The Maryland location also will house other select functions, such as government relations, that are logically based in the Metropolitan DC area, as well as our Discovery Education division.

Since we wanted to tell you all as quickly as possible about these important decisions, we have not yet embarked on all the planning to determine which functions will be moved to which location.  For example, there is also duplication of facilities in other cities around the world, and we will continue the evaluation process following the closing of the Scripps acquisition regarding the most efficient and effective plan for housing our combined company employee base.

What This Means for You
We recognize this is challenging news, and that sharing it early would create some uncertainty, but we felt the benefit of more time, planning and transparency was important to help everyone impacted evaluate your own personal considerations.

After we close and begin the integration of Scripps, we will have a much clearer sense of timing and will regularly update you on any decisions that are made, and how and when your department will be impacted.

Our promise is to provide all the resources and support possible, and answer your questions as quickly as we can.

To that end, we will launch a host of resources and tools to help all employees navigate through this changing time. We will share more information about these resources in today’s Town Hall and over the upcoming weeks and months.

As always, thank you for your commitment and hard work for this great company.

David

Four marquee boxing and UFC pay-per- view events over the next two months could salvage what has been an otherwise weak year for the category.

After generating more than $500 million in revenue last year — some $400 million from just the May 2, 2015 Floyd Mayweather- Manny Pacquiao welterweight title fight — the live PPV-event category has garnered less than half of that take through the first 10 months of 2016, industry sources said.

Distributors hope a flurry of big PPV events in November and December will help pad the category’s revenue take. The latest addition to the PPV category is the Dec. 30 return of UFC star Ronda Rousey to the octagon, more than a year after her shocking loss to Holly Holm in last November’s UFC 193.

UFC CARRYING THE LOAD

The show joins UFC’s Nov. 12 PPV event from New York’s Madison Square Garden, which will feature popular UFC fighter Conor McGregor. In Demand senior vice president of programming and business development Mark Boccardi said that the appearance of Rousey and McGregor in two of the final three UFC PPV events -- the MMA outfit will also distribute its UFC 206 event on Dec. 10 -- will cap off what has been one of the most lucrative years for the UFC in terms of PPV revenue, although he would not disclose specifics.

“Clearly, this is a year where the UFC is helping the entire category,” Boccardi said. “Everyone sees that boxing is down — we had no Mayweather and one Pacquaio fight so far [this past April against Timothy Bradley Jr.] — so the UFC’s really strong performance is good for the overall health of the business. The events feature two tentpole athletes for PPV in Rousey and McGregor — the two are by far the biggest UFC PPV stars — and the crossover appeal that Ronda has you can’t overstate.”

Related > UFC: Too Legit to Quit

Two high-profile PPV boxing events will also take place within two weeks of each other in November. This Saturday ([Nov. 5) Pacquiao will step into the PPV ring for a fight against WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas, while Nov. 19 will pit Sergey Kovalev against Andre Ward in a battle of undefeated light heavyweight boxers.

Boxing promotion company Top Rank, which is distributing the Pacquiao-Vargas fight, isn’t concerned about cannibalization, given the back-to-back-to-back marquee PPV events, company president Todd duBoef said.

DAILY DOC SERIES KICKS OFF

Top Rank recently turned to the Web to promote the fight. The network last week launched ALL IN: Pacquiao-Vargas, a daily documentary series on Top Rank’s Facebook page and Twitter feed that it said will give boxing fans an inside look at each fighter’s daily preparations.

Related > Building Boxing's Next PPV Champ [subscription required]

HBO will push the lion’s share of its promotional efforts for the Kovalev-Ward fight to the week before the event in an effort to avoid the marketing noise from the Pacquiao-Vargas and UFC 205 events. While there is a concern about potential cannibalization of viewers, HBO vice president of programming Tony Walker said the network is confident its event would appeal to boxing fans looking for a competitive matchup between undefeated fighters.

“There are some [cannibalization] concerns, but we think our fight is of a quality that will make people watch it,” Walker said.

"What kind of joke is that?"  I asked incredulously.

In the lobby of the Comedy Central offices, a little after 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, we were in a happy mood. So when the VP we were to meet came out and said, "They just blew up the World Trade Center," reality didn't register. My colleagues and I thought we had stumbled into some dark jokes at the humor headquarters near Columbus Circle.

Our host just pointed to the TV monitor in the lobby, and we watched the flaming, smoking towers.

For the rest of the morning.

Like you and people around the world, we became spectators at an event we'll never forget.

My colleagues and I had been walking up Broadway during the critical moments, and saw some speeding police cars with sirens blaring just after 9 a.m. What's so unusual about that around Times Square in Manhattan?

But the chaos of the next few hours -- and weeks and months -- gave us our first glimpse of the new world order. At Comedy Central HQ, there was confusion about how to handle the situation. At the time, Comedy Central was co-owned by Viacom and Time Warner Inc. One of the parent companies had locked down and required all employees to stay inside until they knew what was happening around New York; the other company sent employees home right away. Where we sat, people were not sure which policy to follow.

Just a few hours earlier, I had been having breakfast with another cable pal at his Midtown Manhattan club. He saw a familiar face a few tables over: the then-president of Time Warner Cable of Manhattan. We exchanged a few pleasantries, and then I thought about him throughout the day as I knew his team was tending to the local cable facilities to keep people connected and informed. I saw him interviewed later in the week, describing his team's heroic efforts to keep communications flowing.

Like you, I have countless memories of the personal and professional aftermath of that horrendous day. The only rare experience I had is that I was one of the relatively few people who was in both New York and Washington on that tragic day. I had arrived in Manhattan on Monday night and I eventually got to Penn Station and caught a train back to my D.C.-area home by Tuesday evening. Among my indelible memories: the smoky plumes of lower Manhattan as seen from a Metroliner in New Jersey.

Needless to say, no business was conducted between my colleagues -- Israeli producers pitching a game show -- and Comedy Central that day. Perhaps the most memorable words I heard were from the chief of the Israeli team, who said, "This is much worse than anything we've faced, but now you know what we go through all the time."

A decade-and-a-half later, against the background of tributes and memorials, the terrorism conversation that ramped up in the autumn of 2001 continues unabated and has grown more volatile. With new media platforms that have fed our ability to obsess over live news, we're more connected -- if not more informed -- than ever. As I look ahead to what the next wave of technology, information and ideas will bring us -- digitally and instantaneously -- we need more of the dedicated commitment that we saw on 9/11 of 2001.

(Pictured: Gary Arlen's copy of the 9-17-2001 issue of Multichannel News)

With a couple of dozen rounds of the forward portion of the FCC spectrum auction in the books, the bidding stood at $22,704,101,100, up just under $700 million from round 23's $22,077,875,100.

The magic number, which is the bid total minus discounts and bidding credits, stood at an even $22 billion.

That is the number that must be quadrupled (plus a bit) to the $88,379,558,704 that will cover payments to broadcasters and the cost of the auction and post-auction TV station repack.

Demand in the top two markets -- New York and Los Angeles -- continued to drop, though in both cities demand still exceeded supply. In both cases, the FCC was still getting its asking price, which it is increasing by 10% in each round.

Related:Spectrum Auction Bids Up Over $860M After Round 22

If the FCC does not raise enough to cover the $88-plus billion figure, it will move to stage 2 of the auction, where it will lower the spectrum clearing target from 126 MHz to 114 MHz, continue the reverse auction at that lower figure--winnowing out some of the broadcasters that would have been paid at the higher spectrum-clearing total--then try to cover that new figure in a forward auction.

The FCC has nine possible spectrum clearing targets down to a low of 42.

After a relatively quiet year thus far on the pay-per-view boxing front, November is shaping up to be a knockout month for the category with two high-profile events scheduled over a three-week period.

The latest event to join the November PPV lineup is Top Rank’s scheduled Nov. 5 bout featuring top PPV draw Manny Pacquiao against welterweight champion Jessie Vargas.

The fight will take place two weeks before HBO’s Nov. 19 Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev light heavyweight championship fight card.

Further crowding November’s fight schedule is UFC’s high-profile Nov. 12 event from New York’s Madison Square Garden — the organization’s first event in the Big Apple since New York State legalized UFC events as part of a bill signed this past April.

One hiccup in the lineup is that HBO — which has distributed most of Pacquiao’s PPV fights throughout his career — has decided not to distribute Pacquiao-Vargas due to the fight’s proximity to its Ward-Kovalev fight, according to sources close to the network.

HBO officials would not comment on the matter.

Top Rank CEO Bob Arum told the Los Angeles Times last week that he is considering other potential companies, including Showtime, to distribute the Pacquiao PPV fight.

Showtime Sports officials told Multichannel News the network would consider talking to Top Rank about distributing the fight. Showtime and HBO teamed in May 2015 to distribute the Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather PPV event, which set an all-time PPV record with more than 4 million PPV buys for more than $400 million in revenue.

Top Rank president Todd duBoef told Multichannel News could also distribute the fight on its own to the industry as well as via online to consumers though its TopRank.tv website. “I think there are a lot of options for us,” he said. “I think it has a great opportunity for us to explore different creative ways that have not necessarily been looked at in the past.”

Overall, Pacquiao has generated the second-highest level of PPV revenue within the boxing category, behind only Mayweather.

November’s two scheduled pay-per-view fights would add to a 2016 PPV boxing lineup that has already featured HBO’s April Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley Jr. bout, its May Canelo Alvarez-Amir Kahn bout and last month’s Terrance Crawford- Viktor Postol fight.

HBO also has a Sept. 17 Alvarez-Liam Smith PPV fight on the docket.

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has joined the parade poking the Federal Communications Commission for what many see as Google-friendliness on various fronts.

The Tom Wheeler-led FCC is hardly the first commission to generate speculation about the influence of the powerful search engine. One media wag, for example, once christened Julius Genachowski “Googlechowski,” suggesting he was a kindred regulatory spirit when it came to imposing network-neutrality regulations on Internet-service providers while not regulating edge providers. Genachowski told then-National Cable & Telecommunications Association president Kyle McSlarrow that the focus was not Google, but “the next Google.”

But with chairman Wheeler insisting edge providers are beyond the FCC’s regulatory reach, and proposing a set-top box regime that could give Google access to multichannel video providers’ set-top data, the chatter about this Google’s rise as a lobbying power inside the Beltway has become something of a drumbeat.

Beating that drum last week in a blog post, with accompanying cartoon, was the TPA, which illustrated a blog by its president, David Williams, with a cartoon (pictured) depicting a particularly telling renovation at FCC headquarters.

Asked about Wheeler’s alleged Google-centricity, a spokesperson for the chairman responded: “Chairman Wheeler’s proposals aim to give consumers access to increased innovation, improved access to critical communications networks and more competition. These policies — from preventing fast lanes on the Internet to opening up wireless airwaves for new mobile technologies — are intended to empower consumers rather than favor any particular company.”

— John Eggerton

NCTA Talks to NAB, Hopes Confabs Can Minimize Conflicts

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association and the National Association of Broadcasters often find themselves on opposites sides of policy arguments.

Next April, their main conventions also are in (partial) conflict. The next NAB Show is April 22-27 in Las Vegas, and NCTA’s next INTX: The Internet & Television Expo is April 26-28 in Washington, D.C.

The NAB Show is far bigger than INTX, with a reported 103,012 attending and 1,874 exhibiting this past April. The NCTA doesn’t report INTX figures but predicted at least 8,000 would attend the May gathering in Boston. A non-NCTA source told The Wire about 6,500 attendees and 170 companies ended up being there. But when INTX is in NCTA’s hometown of D.C., the attendance numbers rise as government figures can attend easily.

NCTA officials recently thanked speakers who helped out at NCTA and said they were working to minimize conflicts resulting from the schedule clash. (INTX booked its D.C. date in 2010.) How so? Mainly by working with the broadcasters’ group on when to book key public-policy speakers, NCTA senior director of communications Joy Sims said.

NAB executive VP of communications Dennis Wharton confirmed the effort at convention comity, saying, “We are working closely with our friends at NCTA to make sure FCC commissioners and other public policy folks can attend both the NAB Show 2017 and INTX.”

If only Congress could be so cooperative.

— Kent Gibbons

‘Versailles’ in NYC: Ovation Sends French Fare to Ad Agencies

To promote the Oct. 1 premiere of costume drama Versailles, Ovation TV is sending a French street-food truck to New York City ad agencies this week. On Monday it’s at MediaCom USA, Mindshare, Maxus and Meta, 498 Seventh Ave.; Tuesday, it’s at OMD at 195 Broadway; Wednesday, Carat at 150 E. 42 St.; Thursday, Mediavest and Starcom at 1675 Broadway; and Friday, UM, Initiative and BPN at 100 W. 33 St., per the network.

Bon appétit!

Thousands of Comcast subscribers across the country were without Internet and TV service for a few hours Monday morning, but the company said most customers had been restored as of Monday afternoon.

According to website Downdetector.com, more than 17,000 Comcast customers lost service at about 11:30 a.m. on Monday. By 1:22 p.m., most customers were back in service.  cause fo eth outage wasn't immediately determined.

According to Downdetector.com, which monitors telecom outages across the country, affected areas included New York, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

“We have repaired the temporary network interruption that impacted some of our services this morning,” Comcast said in a statement.  “Our engineers continue to work on this issue and almost all services have already been restored.  We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused our customers.”

Comcast also kept customers informed about the outage and the work to restore service through its website and social media.

One America News Network’s effort to use the government’s merger review of Charter Communications’s purchase of Time Warner Cable to leverage carriage on Charter has gone into hyperdrive, with a little help from an agency process that does not weed out duplicative comments.

A check of the Federal Communications Commission’s comment docket on the deal reveals page after page of people saying the merger should be nixed unless it includes a carriage deal for OANN, or otherwise professing their love for the channel. In fact, at press time the docket had more than 44,000 comments in the last 30 days — more by a factor of 30 than the next most populous proceeding (special access rates at 1,387), fueled in part by the OANN fan club.

But if anyone tries to use the total number of OANN comments as argument for a groundswell of input, it will need to be with a grain or two of salt added. The docket contains numerous double, triple, and in some cases quintuple and sextuple postings of the same comments from the same people, so a total of those pro-OANN carriage comments would not be an accurate gauge.

A top FCC spokesperson signaled the agency takes that mirroring factor into account when vetting the docket. “As with all proceedings, the commission values public participation and takes a careful look at the feedback it receives,” FCC press secretary Kim Hart told The Wire. “In fully assessing the record, commission staff analyzes substantive arguments and accounts for comment patterns and anomalies.”

OANN parent Herring Networks initially praised Charter’s treatment of its networks and independent networks in general, but has since changed its tune, citing the hot-button issue of over-the-top carriage.

Charter does not carry OANN, which Herring has pointedly pointed out to the FCC, saying it was an example of Charter’s unfriendliness to independent networks. But OANN is also not carried by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox or most other major MVPDs — with the exception of Verizon Communications’s FiOS TV and AT&T’s U-verse TV.

Vyve Pulls Surprise On ‘Spirited’ Artist Who Wins Contest

Vyve Broadband cooked up a fun surprise for 11-year-old Alexander Griffin, who’d entered Vyve’s first Christmas Card Art Contest. System manager Lloyd Walker, wearing a yellow Santa hat, made a surprise announcement at a Dec. 10 assembly at Griffin’s Forge Ridge Elementary School in Harrogate, Tenn., that the fifth grader had won the contest.

Griffin received a gift bag of prizes including an iPad Mini. The school got a check for $200 for art supplies. Students at the school were treated to cookies from a local bakery and hot chocolate. And Vyve partnered with Hallmark to use the artwork as the basis of its Christmas card this year.

More than 500 students in the nine states where Vyve operates submitted images of “The Spirit of Christmas.” Vyve’s New York-based ad agency selected the winner among seven finalists.

Auction Accounting: Who’s Got the Money?

Because The Wire loves arcana, here is some.

The Senate Commerce Committee quietly passed a bill (S. 2319, for fellow arcanians) that made a slight tweak to the Communications Act of 1934 and its 1996 update.

According to a committee staffer familiar with the bill’s progression, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) conferred with the Federal Communications Commission before offering up S. 2319 — it passed the subcommittee unanimously in a wink on Dec. 9 — that would change the way the agency deposits upfront payments from spectrum auction participants.

Payments include those from wireless companies that bid $40 billion-plus in the AWS-3 auction and are expected to bid in the broadcast incentive auction.

The FCC has been putting those payments in an interest-bearing account before turning them over to the Treasury. The interest went to the Telecommunications Development Fund. But the cost of administering that interstitial financial step did not justify continuing it, given how low interests rates are.

Up-front payments from the upcoming incentive auction will now go directly to the Treasury. Some of it will cover buyout bids to broadcasters or moving expenses for stations and cable operators, some of whom will have to retune headends to pick up the repacked TV stations after the auction.

The payments can be in the billions in aggregate. For example, a wireless company that wanted to bid on spectrum blocks in New York and Los Angeles would have to put up more than $1 billion just to be eligible to bid.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a Request for Information (RFI) last week (hat tip: DSL Reports) to help finalize the guidelines for the New NY Broadband Program,  which aims to “substantially" expand  high-speed broadband service in the state by the end of 2018.

New York has committed $500 million in capital for the initiative. Responses to the RFI, made available a week ago, are due Friday, Oct. 30.

Among the goals, the program aims to provide access to broadband speeds of at least 100 Mbps “in most places,” and 25 Mbps “in the most remote underserved and unserved parts of the State.” The latter figure lines up with the FCC’s new broadband definition for the downstream.

The plan also calls for public/private sector partnerships and a required private sector co-investment, and the use of state-owned fiber and other assets.

The RFI (PDF) seeks to identify strategies for structuring and/or implementing the program, and to stimulate, how New York can tap into partnerships, utilize existing assets, and coordinate broadband deployment with other infrastructure improvements.

The RFI also acknowledged that access to broadband in New York has improved, but presents data showing that about 500,000 homes in the state lacked access to speeds of at least 25 Mbps as of July 2014, and that 3 million homes and 113,000 businesses can’t get 100  Mbps.

“Many of these coverage gaps exist due to the challenge of deploying broadband to New York State’s rural communities,” the RFI states.

“High speed internet access has become an essential ingredient of any strong economy and New York is leading the nation to close the broadband gap,” Cuomo said, in a statement. “With this action, we are engaging providers, municipal leaders and other stakeholders to help ensure the New NY Broadband Program leverages the State’s investment in the best way and fulfills its goal of providing access to high speed Internet to every New Yorker in every corner of this state." 

Much of the notable President’s Day weekend programming is airing live from New York, at a uniquely relevant time, with networks giving viewers on-air and online tastes of the city’s cultural diversity.

From Lincoln Center to Rockefeller Center, Madison Square Garden to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center (and back again), TV network and production teams are running all over town to cover the runways of Fashion Week, the show ring at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the NBA 2015 All Star Weekend and the 40th anniversary of cultural institution Saturday Night Live.

The most anticipated is Sunday’s three-and-a-half hour SNL40, NBC’s on-air birthday party for the show that made “Live from New York” an iconic phrase. Originally scheduled to last three hours, NBC said late Thursday the special would go an extra 30 minutes; the network then continued over the next few days to announce a growing A-list of returning cast members and favorite hosts who will join the show.

In addition to ample advance coverage on NBC’s local affiliates and national news programs, SNL40 has benefitted from buttress marketing; NBC released an SNL app on Thursday, while the Tribeca Film Festival announced it will open its 14th annual edition on April 15 with the SNL documentary Live From New York.

The live broadcast begins at 8 p.m. (ET) Sunday (Feb. 15) from Studio 8H at 30 Rock, following a 7 p.m. live red-carpet lead-in hosted by the Today team.

SNL40’s red carpet-worthy all-star line-up rivals the NBA’s All-Star roster, which hits the court 30 minutes later across the river and across the cable dial on TNT and TBS. The Turner networks are simulcasting the 64th NBA All-Star Game at 8:30 p.m., with Marv Alpert, Reggie Miller and Chris Webber calling the game from Barclays Center. That follows a live pre-game concert on TNT at 6 p.m. (ET) and the pre-game show at 7 p.m. (ET). TNT also has its own Saturday night live line-up tonight (Feb. 14) with NBA Tip-Off at 8 p.m. (ET) and All-Star Saturday Night at 9 p.m., both originating from New York.

ESPN and TNT got the live coverage of the NBA All-Star Weekend going on Friday night (Feb. 13), with the sports network’s 7 p.m. (ET) broadcast of the Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game 2015 from MSG and TNT’s 9 p.m. broadcast of the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge from Barclays Center.

Back at Madison Square Garden, a wholly different kind of competition will unfold live on CNBC Monday night (Feb. 16). As the three-day weekend winds down, the evening portion of the 139th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show gets underway at 8 p.m. (ET) with Best of Breed judging of the hound, toy, non-sporting and herding groups. Perennial voice of the show (this is his 26th year) David Frei and NBC Sports analyst Mary Carillo will co-host, with NBCSN’s Kelli Stavast reporting from the floor.

The same crew is back Tuesday night (Feb. 17), when USA has the live broadcast of the finale, including the sporting, working and terrier groups plus Best in Show. Meanwhile, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on both days, Westminster will livestream judging of all 192 breeds — taking place at Piers 92 and 94 on the Hudson River — on its website and via the 2015 Westminster Show App for Android and iOS devices.

FoxSports 1 is also going to the dogs. On Sunday at 12 p.m. (ET), it will air taped coverage of the championship round in Westminster’s 2nd Annual Masters Agility Championship, which takes place Saturday at Pier 94. The network’s Justin Kutcher and Jennifer Hale, along with dog behaviorist Cesar Millan and dog agility trainer and competitor Terry Simons, will call the event.

Meanwhile, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, E! Entertainment’s newly unified News & Digital unit is covering the catwalk at New York Fashion Week, where it kicked off its live coverage on Feb. 12 and will continue through Feb. 18. E! Online is livestreaming exclusive runway shows at its Fashion Week microsite and the nightly E! News is taping on-location under the tents at Lincoln Center. Additionally, Fashion Police will tape a special episode in New York to air Monday night at 9 p.m., and the network is producing an on-location Secrets of Fashion Week special to air next Thursday (Feb. 19) at 8 p.m.