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2014 was a year of disruption for television, an industry that’s both in a Golden Age and in an age of constant flux. It makes for both an exhilarating and confusing time to be in the business, but those who best understand what’s happening now will prosper in the future. With that in mind, Brief offers the following as the stories that most impacted TV in 2014.
NBC Takes Over TV with Winter Olympics from Sochi
On Feb. 7, NBC began its biannual TV takeover with its multi-platform broadcast of the Winter Olympics from Sochi, Russia. NBCUniversal widely used the event, which was watched by an average of 21.4 million viewers, to promote Jimmy Fallon’s ascension to host of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which premiered Feb. 17.
Late-Night TV Becomes Game of Musical Chairs
2014 was a year of change for the usually very settled realm of late-night TV, with Fallon taking over for the retiring Jay Leno, David Letterman also announcing his retirement in April, and CBS quickly announcing that Steven Colbert would replace Letterman in 2015. Craig Ferguson also stepped down from CBS’ The Late, Late Show, and will be replaced by Brit James Corden on March 23, 2015.
Ellen’s Oscar Selfie Seen Round the World
Ellen Degeneres, 2014’s Oscar host, once again demonstrated that she understands the power of social media better than almost any celebrity out there. Degeneres’ selfie seen round the world —featuring movie stars Jennifer Lawrence, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Bradley Cooper, Lupita N’yongo, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey and Meryl Streep — was retweeted nearly 3 million times on Twitter, and talked about for weeks afterwards. Eventually, the stunt came to define success for entertainment social media campaigns.
Ben Sherwood Succeeds Anne Sweeney at Disney
Like Jeff Zucker at NBC before him, Sherwood rose from news to eventually head the Disney/ABC Television Group. Later, Sherwood would name James Goldston his successor at ABC News.
Also like Zucker, Sherwood was successful at turning around Good Morning America, eventually supplanting NBC’s Today at the top of the morning show heap. Whether he will have that same kind of success with ABC remains to be seen.
Changes at the Top of Fox
It was a tumultous year at Fox, with Entertainment Chairman Kevin Reilly stepping down in June and Dana Walden and Gary Newman adding Fox Broadcasting to their portfolio as well as 20th Century Fox Television to become co-chairs and CEOs of the Fox Television Group.
In August, Joe Earley, co-chair of the PromaxBDA board, was promoted to chief operating officer of Fox Television Group, while David Madden was named president of entertainment for Fox Broadcasting Company.
Reilly in November was named president of TNT and TBS and chief creative officer of Turner Entertainment.
Time Warner Deflects Fox Acquisition
Meanwhile, Time Warner managed to avoid being acquired by 21st Century Fox in a deal worth an estimated $80 billion.
“We viewed a combination with Time Warner as a unique opportunity to bring together two great companies, each with celebrated content and brands,” said Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corp., and chairman and CEO of 21st Century Fox in a statement at the time. “Our proposal had significant strategic merit and compelling financial rationale and our approach had always been friendly. However, Time Warner management and its Board refused to engage with us to explore an offer which was highly compelling.”
Deflecting the deal kept Time Warner intact, but it also forced Time Warner management to cut costs via layoffs and other tactics that had wide-ranging ramifications across the company that are still playing out.
Supreme Court Rules That Aereo Violates Broadcasters’ Copyright
Would-be OTT broadcast streamer Aereo fought the good fight, but last June was ultimately struck down by the Supreme Court. The nation’s high court ruled that the start-up did in fact violate broadcasters’ copyrights in spite of Aereo’s arguments arguing that.
As Aereo’s backer, Barry Diller, predicted, Aereo was forced out of business and declared bankruptcy in November
TV Takes Over Comic-Con
Every year, San Diego Comic-Con has grown just a little bit bigger, and now the once comic-book-only convention is fairly bursting at the scene with fan boys and girls come to see the objects of their obsession.
Following the fans, TV studios’ and networks’ have descended upon the San Diego Convention Center and the Gaslight District, turning the week into a TV marketing extravaganza.
HBO, CBS Announce OTT Services
Concepts such as TV Everywhere and a la carte came closer to being the norm as both HBO and CBS announced they would offer standalone streaming services separate from cable subscriptions. The announcements may force cable operators to rethink the way they bundle programming, which currently forces customers to take some channels they may not want to pay for, such as ESPN.
Shonda Rhimes Assumes Command of ABC’s Thursdays
ABC handed over Thursday night to Shonda Rhimes and she delivered with the trio of veteran Grey’s Anatomy, social hit Scandal and rookie How to Get Away with Murder. The triumph is not just one of ratings, although that is significant in this fragmented TV age, but also one of diversity.
“Today, at age 44, Rhimes reigns as a hitmaker unmatched in TV history, just days from not only ruling a full night of ABC real estate, but also stewarding two broadcast-network dramas with black women as protagonists,” wrote the Associated Press in September.
The CW Breaks Out with Male-Oriented Action Programming, Arrow, The Flash
Similarly, The CW is having a break-out season with Arrow and The Flash — both heavily promoted at Comic-Con - and Jane the Virgin all performing well. In fact, Jane the Virgin is The CW’s first show to be nominated for a Golden Globe.
Sony Pulls The Interview After Hack Attack
The year closed out on a paranoid note, with Sony fighting off hackers — and losing. On December 17, the studio decided to pull its film, The Interview, from release on any platform, after receiving terrorist threats directed at movie theaters that planned to carry the film. The Interview, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, tells the story of two tabloid newsmen who are tasked with assassinating North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The attack is thought to have come from North Korea, although that has yet to be proven.
The whole affair led former presidential candidate Mitt Romney to tweet:
.@SonyPictures don’t cave, fight: release @TheInterview free online globally. Ask viewers for voluntary $5 contribution to fight #Ebola.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) December 18, 2014
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