News

Add NewsNation to the growing list of TV-news outlets hoping to telecast a presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

In letters to sent to each candidate’s campaign staff Sunday that were reviewed by Variety, Nexstar executive Sean Compton, who oversees the NewsNation for parent Nexstar Media Group, proposed that both sides consider the cable outlet after Trump said Saturday he would not take part in an event already scheduled with ABC News for September 10 and instead proposed one with Fox News for September 4.

“I’d like to offer an alternative that would satisfy both candidates — not to mention the American public — a fair, respectful and even-handed debate on NewsNation, co-sponsored by The Hill,” said Compton, referring to the political-news media outlet also owned by Nexstar. He added: “We of course are flexible on the timing, format and location of the debate,...

Winners of the 2024 CrimeCon Clue Awards were announced tonight at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tn during the third annual awards gala, which aired live on Law&Crime Network. Award-winning journalist and NewsNation anchor Ashleigh Banfield hosted the ceremony, celebrating excellence in true crime content, with Netflix, Hulu, NBC, Black and Missing, Hachette Books and CBC Podcasts among the trophy recipients.

Clue’s 2024 “Crimefighter of the Year” recipient, John Walsh, accepted the special honor from last year’s recipient, The Gabby Petito Foundation. Walsh, the iconic host and creator of Fox’s America’s Most Wanted, is celebrating the 40-year anniversary of his non-profit organization, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (Ncmec).

Meanwhile, Law&Crime revealed the 2024 “America’s Greatest Detective” honoree: Laura Tierney, senior inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service in the missing child unit. Tierney is also the agency’s liaison to Ncmec, through...

Hulu, NBC, Netflix, Black and Missing, Hachette Books and CBC Podcasts were among the winners on Saturday night at the CrimeCon convention’s annual Clue Awards.

Among top prizes, Dateline NBC’s “The Murdaugh Murders: Inside the Investigation” was named outstanding docuseries, while Huly’s “Me Hereafter” was top episodic series and Netflix’s “Cyberbunker: The Criminal Underworld” was top documentary film.

“America’s Most Wanted” host and creator John Walsh accepted the “Crimefighter of the Year” prize, handed to him by last year’s recipient, The Gabby Petito Foundation. Also, the “America’s Greatest Detective” honor was given to Laura Tierney, senior inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service in the missing child unit. Kimberly Arnold and Katie Mitchell, co-hosts of the Dateline recap podcast “A Date with Dateline,” won Clue’s “People’s Choice Awards: Creator of the Year” honor.

NewsNation anchor Ashleigh Banfield hosted the ceremony. The winners in...

NewsNation offers reports and analysis on current events, political affairs, true crime and pop culture. (Courtesy image)

For the first time, NewsNation is going all-in on news programming.

The cable network that relaunched from the ashes of WGN America will finally ditch its predecessor’s re-runs of sitcoms and dramas when it introduces a new schedule consisting entirely of news and political affairs programming in June.

Starting June 1, NewsNation will offer a new weekend evening news program called “NewsNation Now with Adrienne Bankert,” hosted by the news outlet’s former morning show host. The show debuts several months after NewsNation revamped its weekend schedule to include more news programming and a Sunday morning political affairs show hosted by Christ Stirewalt.

“We are immensely proud to announce that NewsNation [will soon be] a 24-7 cable news network,” Sean Compton, the President of Nexstar’s Networks division, said in a statement on Wednesday. “This milestone...

Three years after rebranding the channel formerly known as WGN America to NewsNation, the Nexstar-owned channel will officially be a 24/7 cable news outlet.

NewsNation says that with the addition of NewsNation Now with Adrienne Bankert on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the channel will officially be programming news 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

NewsNation had been programming reruns of the CBS series Blue Bloods during the 4-7 p.m. weekend hours. Bankert will now anchor the window.

“We are immensely proud to announce that NewsNation is now a 24/7 cable news network,” said Sean Compton, president of Nexstar’s networks division, in a statement. “This milestone marks the culmination of our efforts to continue expanding and growing the network since launching it in 2020. It reaffirms our commitment to delivering unbiased news coverage, a mission that resonates deeply with our viewers, fostering their trust in the brand, and strengthening their loyalty to NewsNation.

NewsNation anchor Ashleigh Banfield is set to host this year’s Clue Awards, which will take place on June 1 in Nashville, Tenn., during the annual CrimeCon event. The ceremony, which announced this year’s nominees on Thursday, will also air live on the Law&Crime Network and stream on that channel’s social platforms.

As part of the event, John Walsh will be honored with the “crimefighter of the year” award for his work on “America’s Most Wanted” as well as his help in creating the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Last year’s recipients, the Gabby Petito Foundation, will present Walsh with his honor.

Presenters at the event will include “CSI” franchise creator Anthony Zuiker and Chris Hansen. among the roster of presenters.

As for this year’s “America’s Greatest Detective” award finalists include sonar technology investigative specialists Sandy and Gene Ralston; US Marshals Services Liaison with Ncmec,...

Will Ronna McDaniel land another TV gig? There is already interest in the former Republican National Committee chair brewing from a couple of cable news outlets.

Sources at both Newsmax and NewsNation tell The Hollywood Reporter that they would be interested in pursuing a deal with McDaniel, should she ultimately finalize a separation agreement with NBC News.

McDaniel has been seeking a lawyer to negotiate an exit from NBC, which announced her hire as an NBC News contributor last Friday and reversed course just a few days later after facing backlash from MSNBC stars like Rachel Maddow and the Morning Joe team, not to mention an on-air rebuke from Chuck Todd on Meet the Press just minutes after McDaniel’s debut appearance.

McDaniel is likely to receive a hefty payout from NBC, given her two-year, $300,000 per year deal, though sometimes negotiations result in a lower payout in exchange for a shorter noncompete.

Journalist Ashleigh Banfield. (Courtesy photo)

Ashleigh Banfield is sticking with NewsNation.

On Wednesday, the Nexstar Media Group-owned cable news channel said it had successfully negotiated a multi-year extension of Banfield’s contract, which will keep her eponymous prime-time conversation program on NewsNation for a while longer.

Banfield was one of NewsNation’s first hires, back when the channel was still operating under its previous branding, WGN America. She took over a slot occupied by a nightly news program in prime-time, vowing to resurrect the conversation-style chat show made popular by Charlie Rose and Larry King (CNN).

“I’m an avid news junkie,” Banfield said in an interview with Variety. “Something that’s been missing for me as a consumer has been the center lane — I’m exhausted by the breathless fights in cable news, and I long for the days when I could just be informed of what was...

(Inlay graphic courtesy Nexstar Media Group, overall graphic by The Desk)

Nexstar Media Group has launched a new audio network that aims to bring news reports and other content from its NewsNation brand to radio station listeners.

The NewsNation Audio Network provides ready-to-air audio clips for Am, FM and streaming radio stations and other audio platforms across the country.

“Leveraging the vast newsgathering resources of NewsNation, the new audio service provides radio stations access to NewsNation content,” a Nexstar spokesperson said in a press release on Monday. “The NewsNation Audio Network will offer an ongoing daily service of audio clips featuring coverage from its reporters and breaking news stories from across the nation and around the globe.”

Eligible Am, FM and streaming radio stations and other news audio content distributors can sign up for an account through the NewsNation Audio Network portal by clicking or tapping here. Content from NewsNation...

A year ago NewsNation — the Nexstar-owned cable news channel — rebooted its primetime lineup, bringing Chris Cuomo to 8 p.m., leading into Dan Abrams at 9 p.m. and Ashleigh Banfield at 10 p.m.

The idea of launching a new cable news channel in the 2020s, and in particular a cable news channel that isn’t seeking out a hyper-partisan audience, seemed like a crazy one when Nexstar announced it in 2020.

NewsNation still has a ways to go, with cable news stalwarts Fox News, MSNBC and CNN still regularly beating it, but executives at Nexstar are unperturbed. Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said as much at the opening of the company’s new New York City studio back in April.

“This network two years in is further ahead than both Fox and CNN were in their journey 40-plus and 25-plus years ago two years in, and they had a whole lot less...

Kevin Federline is offering support to his ex-wife, Britney Spears, on the heels of her divorce from Sam Asghari.

The former dancer’s lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, shared Federline’s well-wishes to Spears on his behalf while speaking with both Et and NewsNation’s “Banfield”.

While appearing on “Banfield”on Wednesday — a news and talk show hosted by Canadian-American journalist, Ashleigh Banfield — Kaplan clarified that he doesn’t know the “inside track” of Spears and Asghari’s breakup, but does know that Federline “hopes” the two will “work it out.”

Read More: Sam Asghari Speaks Out About Divorcing Britney Spears: ‘Sh-t Happens… I Wish Her The Best Always’

“He just hopes that everything works out for the best, whether that’s being together or not being together,” Kaplan explained. “He just hopes that they make good decisions and work out, either go their separate ways or get back together.”

The...

In the middle of what is one of the most consequential weeks for media in years, Michael Corn, the president of Nexstar’s NewsNation cable news channel, took a moment to gloat.

“We are as you probably know the fastest growing news channel in America right now,” Corn told a crowd of a few dozen assembled in the channel’s new New York studio Tuesday afternoon. “We are also the fastest hiring news channel in America right now. In fact, some of our competitors have been dramatically downsizing this week. We are upsizing, and hiring quite a bit.”

It’s something of an understatement for the news channel, which has stacked its lineup with familiar faces for TV news viewers, including ABC News and MSNBC veteran Dan Abrams, former CNN and ABC News anchor Chris Cuomo, former NBC News and ABC News anchor Elizabeth Vargas, Fox News alumni Leland Vittert,...

Breaking news at NewsNation: The cable net is about to go round-the-clock during the work week.

The Nexstar-owned cable news outlet said today that it will launch a 24-hour weekday programming schedule on April 24. The new sked will include a new live four-hour weekday programming block called NewsNation Now.

Airing from 1-5 p.m. Et Mondays through Fridays, NewsNation Now will cover the day’s top headlines with live reports from network correspondents around the country. It will be anchored by a rotation of journalists from 1-3 p.m. Et, followed by anchor Nichole Berlie from 3-5 p.m. Until a permanent anchor is named, guest anchors will include weekend anchor Natasha Zouves, chief Washington correspondent Blake Burman and correspondents Markie Martin, Keleigh Beeson and Brooke Shafer.

“From the start, our mission has been to inform and enlighten our viewers with balanced news programming and we will continue...

Elizabeth Vargas thinks there’s room for a new evening newscast.

“I think a lot of people feel like they’re just being ignored or they’re turned off by the extreme nature of just one side, or the two extremes arguing with each other,” Vargas tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I think there’s a way to cover what’s happening right now in this country and around the world in a smart way. That doesn’t devolve into shouting matches or, you know, political talking points that aren’t really even related in many cases, to the events that we’re covering.”

Vargas, a veteran TV news correspondent and anchor (she succeeded the legendary Barbara Walters as the anchor of ABC’s 20/20), will launch her new show Elizabeth Vargas Reports on NewsNation Monday during the critical evening news window of 6 to 7 p.m.

“It’s the newscast of record for NewsNation every day.

Former 20/20 anchor Elizabeth Vargas is back on the news beat.

Vargas — who left ABC News’ 20/20 in 2018, after 14 years at the newsmagazine — has joined Nexstar’s upstart cable news network NewsNation (formerly known as WGN America). She will host the daily 6 pm evening news program Elizabeth Vargas Reports, beginning April 3, in addition to serving as a regular contributor for the network.

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Elizabeth Vargas is the latest news veteran to join Nexstar’s NewsNation, with plans to launch a weekday news program on April 3.

The hourlong Elizabeth Vargas Reports will be based in New York and will air at 6 Pm Et/5 Pm Ct. Vargas also will serve as a regular contributor to daytime and primetime news, analysis and talk programming.

Vargas currently hosts the syndicated crime series iCrime, airing on Wpix-tv in New York and other stations, and will continue on that show as well, according to a NewsNation spokesperson. She also served as the host of Fox’s revival of America’s Most Wanted in 2021.

In 2018, Vargas departed ABC News after a long tenure that included 15 years as host of 20/20, as well as stints as co-anchor of World News Tonight and news anchor on Good Morning America. She also hosted A&e Investigates, a series of documentaries that stream on Hulu.

CNN’s cost-cutting efforts are expected to have significant effects on the cable network Hln, according to four people familiar with the matter, with potential ramifications for one of the nation’s longest-running morning programs.

Hln, the cable network once known as CNN Headline News, is home to a bevy of true-crime series, endless showings of “Forensic Files,” and “Morning Express with Robin Meade,” with a host who has been at the network since 2001. Now, all of that is under the microscope. In addition, a number of popular correspondents and journalists were terminated from the Warner Bros. Discovery backed outlet Thursday.

CNN will no longer produce live programs for Hln, according to one of these people, and will simulcast “CNN This Morning” in place of “Morning Express,” the A.M. news program that takes up most of Hln’s daytime schedule. Hln’s true-crime programming will be placed under the...

Chris Cuomo debuted his new NewsNation show on Monday with a pledge that his nightly hour “won’t be typical.”

Cuomo, who was fired from his CNN primetime show in December, also said that he had “learned lessons good and bad” since then.

“I’ve relied on my friends, my family, my therapist, and thankfully, it’s been the case that what doesn’t kill us, does make us stronger,” Cuomo said in an extended, 15-minute opener. “I’ve been humbled by what happened but I am also hungry to do better in a way that I have never done before. So this show is going to be different from what I have done in the past because I’m different.”

His pitch to viewers was that too much of the national conversation is being framed as left or right, especially in media, when the “extremes are not America’s majority.

Chris Cuomo’s nightly NewsNation show will debut on October 3, with Alexandra “Dusty” Cohen named as its executive producer.

Cuomo announced during the summer that he was joining the network, following his abrupt firing from CNN, where he hosted their top primetime program.

Cuomo will air weeknights at 8 Pm Et/7 Pm Ct, and will be produced live at Nexstar’s midtown Manhattan production studios.

He’s the latest figure from one of the larger cable news networks to join NewsNation, which bills itself as an unbiased alternative. Dan Abrams and Ashleigh Banfield also anchor nightly shows.

In a statement, Cuomo called Cohen “an absolute dynamo who has assembled an editorial staff with the experience, drive and grit to make big things happen.“

Cohen spent nearly 20 years at The View, where she worked closely with Barbara Walters and Bill Geddie.

Other hires include Jonathan Faulhaber as senior supervising producer; Renee Cullen...

Chris Cuomo is returning to cable news after a ten-month absence.

The former CNN and ABC News correspondent will launch his new program, “Cuomo,” on October 3 on NewsNation, backed by TV-station giant Nexstar Media. The show , which will air at 8 p.m. on weekdays, has begun production in New York, the company announced Wednesday.

Alexandra “Dusty” Cohen has been tapped to serve as executive producer. Cohen, a former top producer on ABC’s “The View” will lead the show behind the camera. Other top producers have worked for CBS News, CNN+ and ABC News.

Cuomo will have something to prove. His departure from CNNi n late 2021 was less than amicable. The anchor was caught up in an investigation of sexual harassment claims against his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and in late 2021, New York State Attorney General Letitia James released documents showing the younger Cuomo took an active...

Chris Cuomo has a new primetime TV show on a new cable news channel, but he won’t be bringing his former CNN audience over with him. Not in its entirety, at least — not nearly.

The “Cuomo Prime Time” alum is joining Nexstar Media Group’s cable network NewsNation this fall as the host of his own primetime show there. The channel has not yet said which hour Cuomo will occupy; he had the 9 p.m. hour at CNN, which is now “CNN Tonight’s” timeslot. NewsNation is built on the concept of leaning neither hard left nor hard right, instead targeting the meaty middle between left-of-center and right-of-center. Unfortunately, thus far, the channel has not found a sizable audience there.

This year, the relative newcomer NewsNation is averaging a paltry 50,000 total viewers in primetime; only 8,000 of those viewers come from the 25-54 age range, which is considered the key...

Former CNN host Chris Cuomo will be making his return to television news as he joins the subscription television network NewsNation, owned by the Nexstar Media Group. As reported by Variety, Cuomo will join the NewsNation prime-time line-up in the fall. He is the latest big-name news anchor to land at the fledgling news channel, following Leland Vittert from Fox, Dan Abrams from ABC News and MSNBC, and Ashleigh Banfield from CNN. “Chris joins our growing team of seasoned, award-winning journalists and will further our efforts to continue to ensure fairness and transparency in our news reporting and talk shows,” said Nexstar Media’s president of networks Sean Compton (via Variety). Cuomo was let go from CNN last year after evidence showed that he had advised his older brother, Andrew Cuomo, throughout the then-governor’s sexual harassment scandal. The news anchor is currently attempting to secure a 125 million payment from...

Chris Cuomo is returning to the TV news desk: Seven months after being fired by CNN, the anchor has signed on to host a primetime show for NewsNation starting this fall.

NewsNation, the Nexstar Media channel formerly known as WGN America, is an upstart cable news network that has already signed a number of familiar names including Ashleigh Banfield and Dan Abrams. “Chris joins our growing team of seasoned, award-winning journalists and will further our efforts to continue to ensure fairness and transparency in our news reporting and talk shows,” Nexstar Media president of networks Sean Compton said in a statement.

Update: Chris Cuomo will join Nexstar’s NewsNation this fall, landing at the fledgling news outlet after his dismissal from CNN late last year.

The announcement came at the end of an hourlong interview with Dan Abrams on NewsNation’s Dan Abrams Live. The wide-ranging interview, his first since exiting CNN, covered his firing after the disclosure of the extent to which he advised his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, as he faced sexual harassment allegations.

“I really believe that this outlet has a chance to reach who I call free agents — not right, not left, reasonable. Regular, open mind, open heart, willing to listen when someone disagrees,” Cuomo said.

Abrams’ sit down, taking place during the timeslot that Cuomo previously occupied at CNN, seemed designed to address his firing and other issues, including a claim of sexual assault, in advance of the NewsNation announcement.

NewsNation reaches a...

After a long and much-publicized interruption, Chris Cuomo wants to get after it again.

Cuomo, who made that phrase the mission statement for his 9 p.m. program on CNN, is taking his bulldog demeanor and lean-in anchoring style to NewsNation, the still-nascent news outlet backed by large station owner Nexstar Media, which has in recent months made a series of acquisitions aimed at bolstering its presence in the media sector. Cuomo will join the NewsNation primetime lineup in the fall.

Cuomo has something to prove. His departure from CNN was less than amicable. The anchor was caught up in an investigation of sexual harassment claims against his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and in late 2021, New York State Attorney General Letitia James released documents showing the younger Cuomo took an active hand in helping his brother defend himself, an act that is anathema to most journalism organizations.

Cuomo...

Chris Stirewalt, who was a veteran politics editor at Fox News until he was let go in the aftermath of the 2020 election, is joining NewsNation, Nexstar’s non-partisan news venture.

Stirewalt will “provide balanced and accurate political analysis throughout the election season,” NewsNation said in announcing the hire, adding that it also had established a broadcast partnership with Decision Desk HQ for election data and polling results.

Stirewalt was dropped from Fox News in January 2021, in what the network said was a restructuring. But Stirewalt later wrote that he was fired from the network after defending the Fox News decision desk’s call of Arizona for Joe Biden on Election Night, the first major signal that then-President Donald Trump would lose his bid for re-election. That triggered a backlash against the network by Trump and his supporters.

Since then, Stirewalt has been outspoken about the nature of cable news and...

Political columnist George Will is joining Nexstar Media’s NewsNation as senior contributor.

Will will started on Jan. 15. He will appear across NewsNation’s shows, including coverage of the midterm elections.

A columnist for The Washington Post, Will has been a contributor for MSNBC and NBC News. He previously was a contributor to Fox News, and was a longtime analyst for ABC News, where he appeared on the Sunday morning show This Week.

Will said in a statement,“NewsNation meets a national need for news delivered without political agendas, clenched fists, and raised voices. It offers news leavened by a sense of the complexity and grandeur of American history: this nation was not made by flimsy people, and it is not flimsy.”

In 2020, Will received the National Society for Newspaper Columnists 2020 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award, and published his latest book, American Happiness and Discontents, last year.

In a statement,...

Donald Trump wasted no time inviting Kyle Rittenhouse to his resort at Mar-a-Lago. The former president appeared in a Fox News interview Tuesday night in which he revealed that the teen and his mother met with him, mere days after he was acquitted of homicide and other charges for shooting three people, killing two, at a racial justice protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

“I got to know him a little bit,” Trump said. “He called, he wanted to know if he could come over and say hello. He was a fan.

Katie Couric’s upcoming memoir has made waves for shocking excerpts that have ruffled feathers in TV news circles.

Now, in her first interview about the new book, Couric gives more detail on some of the headline-making pieces — most notably, her former “Today” show co-anchor, Matt Lauer — saying that her words have been “cherry-picked and twisted” by leaked excerpts.

Couric no longer speaks to Lauer, she reveals in a new cover story with People magazine, released on Wednesday. She says she was “shocked” by the allegations, calling Lauer’s behavior “callous” and “grossly inappropriate.”

That’s not the Matt I knew,” Couric tells the magazine. “There’s a duality in human beings, and sometimes they don’t let you see both sides.”

Couric’s book says that after learning about Lauer’s behavior, she came to realize that he was a professional partner and friend to her, but a predator to others.

Nexstar Media Group’s fledgling NewsNation cable network is shuffling its programming lineup to add a nightly live show hosted by Dan Abrams and a three-hour morning news block anchored by Adrienne Bankert.

Both shows begin Sept. 27. “Dan Abrams Live,” to air at 8 p.m. Et, is described as a news analysis program that he asserts will be “less overtly partisan” that other cable news primetime hours. Abrams is a former anchor of ABC’s late-night mainstay “Nightline.” He will continue in his role as chief legal analyst for ABC News even with his new nightly berth on NewsNation.

Abrams emphasized that the goal is not to score partisan points but to examine complicated issues, from foreign policy to domestic battles such as the current state and federal conflicts over voting rights legislation.

“I want to have a civil conversation that I hope the audience walks away from with more...

Michael Corn, the former top producer of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” has joined Nexstar Media Group’s “NewsNation” as president of news, the latest attempt by Nexstar to boost a programming initiative that has faced tremendous headwinds.

Corn will oversee NewsNation’s current news programming and new efforts as well. The company recently indicated it would launch a morning program in addition to the evening hours it currently maintains. NewsNation takes up a good chunk of the schedule on the cable outlet once known as WGN America. Nexstar, one of the nation’s largest owners of TV stations, is betting it can operate news programing based on the efforts of its local stations and make a better profit than it did with hours of syndicated repeats that come with hefty licensing fees.

So far, the experiment has fizzled. Ratings for “NewsNation” programming, billed as a down-the-center alternative to the...

Jim Acosta’s mother recently sent him a text about his first stint as a weekend anchor for CNN. She loved his expression, perhaps with good reason. “I think my mother hasn’t seen my smile on TV in four years,” he says.

Wearing a grim visage might have come naturally. Acosta spent the past few years as CNN’s chief White House correspondent. The job is already a tough one that typically demands round-the-clock focus. In addition to covering the previous administration, however, Acosta frequently clashed with President Donald Trump on camera, and generated more than a few headlines about the network and himself in the process.

But Trump didn’t win a new term in office. And Acosta did.

The CNN veteran this past weekend was set loose on new terrain. As part of an overhaul of some parts of CNN’s daytime schedule, the network gave Acosta...

Nexstar’s NewsNation channel is in turmoil as it faces staff defections amid concerns that the outlet is being pushed by management to lean to the right in its news coverage.

The simmering controversy for the channel previously known as WGN America gained steam on Tuesday when Nexstar confirmed that Jennifer Lyons, the WGN-tv Chicago news veteran who led the launch of the primetime “NewsNation” block last September, has resigned her post as VP of news. That follows several lower-level departures last week that appear to have been prompted by concerns that former Fox News executive Bill Shine is leading a charge to steer the channel to the right. Shine is a consultant to Nexstar and NewsNation but does not have a formal role at the company.

Nexstar chairman-ceo Perry Sook held an in-person session with NewsNation staffers at the channel’s Chicago headquarters. Sook reaffirmed Nexstar’s commitment to...

NewsNation relaunched on Monday, not that you would know it from these TV ratings.

According to Nielsen, NewsNation’s first primetime back on the cable airwaves drew just 37,000 total viewers, on average, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. In the key news demo, adults 25-54, the average across those three hours was only 8,000.

It gets worse: Ashleigh Banfield’s new program settled for a mere 17,000 total viewers at 10 p.m., according to Nielsen. Just 5,000 viewers aged 25-54 tuned in to that hour.

The NewsNation channel was previously known as WGN America, prior to the rebranding announced in January. Wgna was not always wall-to-wall news, airing just a two-hour primetime newscast under the “NewsNation” banner. (The primetime segment has since been renamed “NewsNation Prime.”)

Upon its relaunch and the addition of Banfield’s show, the channel also added “NewsNation Early Edition,” hosted by Nichole Berlie at 6 p.m. Et, and “The Donlon Report,...

Ashleigh Banfield says her new primetime show on NewsNation has “the health of the viewer” in mind more than its competitors do.

“It’s been 20 years since I really felt like there was a news channel out there that launched solely for the purpose of delivering fact-based, unbiased journalism to a very hungry audience,” the on-air veteran told TheWrap by phone ahead of Monday’s “Banfield” premiere.

She went on, “Right now as a news consumer, I find it exhausting to try to find a full story out of the half stories that I see on each channel. It requires channel surfing in order to find out why there’s such outrage, but the outrage is manufactured a lot of times and once the other ingredients of the story are added to the mixing bowl, the outrage abates, and that’s not good for viewers or ratings. When I say...

Two new faces are stirring up trouble on Big Sky: Ted Levine (Monk) has joined the ABC drama in the series-regular role of Horst Kleinsasser, a “once-powerful man [who] has suffered a stroke and can only whisper, and knows he has to pass the ranch throne on to one of his children,” our sister site Deadline reports.

Additionally, Kyle Schmid (Six, Being Human) will recur as John Wayne Kleinsasser, who “has used his father’s illness to grab the reins of the ranch and steer it away from his brother Blake, the eldest son who turned his back on the family years ago.

WGN America is rebranding as NewsNation in March when the cable network adds new programming. The move is the next step in the channel’s mission to compete with cable news leaders CNN and Fox News.

Two new hour-long shows are joining the roster, bringing the total hours of daily news content on the network to five: “NewsNation Early Edition” will be hosted by Nichole Berlie at 6 p.m. Et, and “The Donlon Report,” will follow at 7 p.m., hosted by current WGN America anchor Joe Donlon.

Berlie has been the Nexstar Media Group channel’s weekend anchor since last year.

“I’m excited to be a part of the NewsNation team and thrilled to be part of ‘Early Edition,'” she said in a statement. “Our mission of delivering fact-based, unbiased news is resonating with viewers, and I’m looking forward to building on NewsNation’s solid start with this expansion.

Nexstar’s WGN America will rebrand itself NewsNation as of March 1 when the cabler expands its volume of daily newscasts to five hours a day.

The move is another commitment from Nexstar to turn WGN America into a full-fledged news channel. WGN America launched a three-hour primetime newscast on Sept. 1. The plan is to add news hours at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Earlier this month, Nexstar tapped veteran journalist Ashleigh Banfield to host a 10 p.m. talk show that also begins March 1. At that time, Nexstar executives said the arrival of “Banfield” would coincide with an expansion of news programming.

“Rebranding WGN America as NewsNation underscores the network’s clearly defined mission of delivering fact-based and unbiased news, while making it easier for viewers to find this new informative source for news,” said Sean Compton, president of Nexstar’s networks division. “At the same time, expanding our news programming...

Nexstar-owned cable network Wgn America will rebrand as NewsNation on March 1, debuting an expanded lineup of five hours of nightly news programming.

The shift completes a significant change of direction for the network, which Nexstar took over as part of its acquisition of Tribune Media, a $4.1 billion deal completed in 2019. Tribune had run Wgn America as a general entertainment network, filling its pipeline with pricey original dramas like Underground and Manhattan.

After completing recent distribution deals giving it access to 8.5 million U.S. households, Wgn America’s penetration now stands at 75 million.

Two new hour-long shows are joining the weeknight lineup: NewsNation Early Edition at 6Pm Et, and The Donlon Report, anchored by Joe Donlon, at 7Pm Et. Weeknights will be capped off by Banfield, an hour-long news and talk show at 10Pm Et hosted by TV news vet Ashleigh Banfield. The new lineup will begin airing March 1.

Wgn America’s previous,...

Rhys Darby is saying “Ahoy mateys!” to HBO Max’s pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death, which counts Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows) among its executive producers.

Per our sister site Deadline, the Flight of the Conchords vet will headline the series, which is loosely based on the true adventures of Stede Bonnet (Darby), a pampered aristocrat who abandoned his life of privilege to become a pirate.

More from TVLineYear in Review: The Daytime Soaps' Most Shocking Plot Twists, From Sudden Siblings to Explosive ExitsCan the Search Party Find Dory? Get Season 4 Premiere Date and TeaserSearch Party...

Ashleigh Banfield is leaving Court TV and joining Wgn America as the host of her own news and talk show, “Banfield,” which will air at 10 p.m. Banfield says “Banfield” is a “reboot” of “Larry King Live.”

On Tuesday, Banfield told TheWrap she is “winding down production with Court TV,” where she has already stopped doing the live broadcast weeknights. Her magazine show, “Judgment with Ashleigh Banfield,” will finish out the current season of 48 episodes, she said.

There will not be a second season of “Judgment with Ashleigh Banfield” as Banfield’s Wgn America contract comes with an exclusivity clause.

The news comes about as Wgn America (Wgna) is “expanding its programming lineup in the coming weeks with additional news, talk and current events shows that complement ‘NewsNation,’ the country’s only live nightly primetime national newscast,” the cable channel said on Tuesday.

Owned by Nexstar Media Group, Wgna is currently available in 75 million homes.

Broadcast journalist Ashleigh Banfield made her mark in cable news during 9/11 and its aftermath. She’s reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria and other far-flung hot spots. But there’s one form of TV she’s never had the chance to try, until now.

Banfield has signed on with Wgn America to host a 10 p.m. Et talk show on weeknights starting March 1. “Banfield” is billed as a new take on the style of program that Larry King hosted for CNN in the 9 p.m. hour for 25 years. The interview-driven show will focus on newsmakers and issues but also celebrities and human interest stories.

“I’m an avid news junkie. Something that’s been missing for me as a consumer has been the center lane,” Banfield told Variety. “I’m exhausted by the breathless fights in cable news and I long for the days when I could just be informed...

With Hollywood production sideswiped by the coronavirus pandemic for five months, TV networks and streamers’ pipeline is starting to dry up. There are promising signs, with a handful of series already back in production and a couple of dozen more on track to start filming in the next couple of weeks.

While the situation remains fluid as we swing into the fall season, here are the fall premiere dates for new series and new seasons of returning shows that have been set so far. It covers nearly 200 broadcast, cable and streaming series bowing from September 1 through December 31 in various dayparts but does not include specials or movies.

The list includes two series whose production was impacted by Covid-19 and have just resumed filming, the CW’s Supernatural and FX’s Fargo. We will continue to update the roster as more new and returning fall series begin filming and set premiere dates.

In today’s TV news roundup, Nickelodeon announced plans to bring YouTube’s Tiny Chef to its preschool platforms, and Court TV revealed that “Judgment With Ashleigh Banfield” will premiere Sept. 13.

Dates

Court TV has announced that “Judgment With Ashleigh Banfield” is set to premiere Sept. 13, with weekly episodes Sundays at 8 p.m. The show will delve into well-known and provocative trial cases, featuring interviews and information reveals meant to expand viewers’ knowledge bases on the famous court cases. Ashleigh Banfield, the show’s lead, was previously a legal analyst for CNN and MSNBC. She was also formerly a special contributor on Court TV. Featured cases on the show include those involving Casey Anthony, Jodie Arias, O.J. Simpson and Conrad Murray.

Greenlights

Nickelodeon has announced that “The Tiny Chef Show,” a viral YouTube channel, will be brought to the television network’s preschool platforms via a new series produced in association with Imagine Kids+Family,...

Ashleigh Banfield is headed back to Court TV with a new true-crime series. The new TV show is set to hit the network in September. Each week, the series will take a look back at some of the biggest trial cases in recent history.

Court TV revealed more about Judgment with Ashleigh Banfield in a press release.

“Judgment With Ashleigh Banfield, an all-new original series hosted by original Court TV alum and respected former CNN and MSNBC legal analyst Banfield, who made her Court TV return as a special contributor earlier this year. Judgment With Ashleigh Banfield will be a weekly hour-long series taking viewers on a deep dive into the most provocative and talked about trials and cases of all-time.

With brand new interviews and exclusive first-time ever reveals, each installment will look to further explore everything people only thought they knew...

Bounce has greenlighted a pair of scripted series — one produced by Cedric the Entertainer and fronted by D.J. Hughley and another starring Vivica A. Fox — and Court TV unveiled a new show with Ashleigh Banfield as the sibling networks unveiled their 2020-21 slates at Ctam today.

Along with the Hughley-led dramedy Johnson and Fox’s sitcom Secrets of the Salon, Bounce has renewed Saints & Sinners for Season 5; set premiere dates for In the Cut and Family Time; and announced the true-crime docuseries Dying to Be Famous: The Ryan Singleton Mystery and three original movies.

Along with the series renewal, Bounce has set a stand-alone Saints & Sinners movie — a first for the drama. Read details about those and the network’s other shows below.

Meanwhile, Court TV announced Judgment With Ashleigh Banfield, a weekly hourlong series that brings the original Court TV host back to the network. Premiering at 8 p.

Court TV announced plans to cover the live trials for the cases of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Robert Durst, R. Kelly, and the “Doomsday Cult Mom” Tuesday as part of its 2020-21 programming slate.

Leading the network’s upcoming roster will be the new “Judgment With Ashleigh Banfield” series, hosted by the former CNN and MSNBC legal analyst who recently returned to Court TV. The hourlong series will take viewers on a deep dive of the most provocative and talked about trials of all-time, including Casey Anthony, Jodie Arias, O.J. Simpson, and Conrad Murray. That’s set to premiere on Sept. 13 with new episodes on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. Et.

Titled “The Death of George Floyd,” Court TV’s coverage will follow the trial of Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin, who suffocated Floyd by kneeling his neck for eight minutes on May 25, and the officers who assisted him that day,...

YouTube TV is rounding out its channel lineup in quarantine.

The service has added Court TV to its programming offer -- a newly-rebooted network devoted to legal news and analysis of headline-grabbing trials.

“We’re thrilled to have Court TV added to YouTube TV at a time when consumer appetite for the real-life drama of true-crime and courtroom trials has never been greater,” Jonathan Katz, president and CEO of Scripps-owned Katz Networks -- which is the parent company of 20-year-old Court TV -- said in a statement.

Court TV counts a team of seasoned anchors -- including Vinnie Politan, Julie Grant, Ted Rowlands, Chanley Painter, and Julia Jenae -- with a top legal analyst Ashleigh Banfield serving as a special contributor. Recent coverage has included: Scotus cases of national impact, the rape trial of Harvey Weistein, and the criminal trials of Amber Guyger, Brooke Skylar Richardson, and Mark Sievers.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

Ashleigh Banfield, a host on the original Court TV, is returning to the rebooted network as a special contributor.

Banfield will appear nightly on Court TV’s live primetime show at 8 Pm Et, joining anchors Vinnie Politan, Julie Grant and Ted Rowlands in discussing the legal news of the day.

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“Ashleigh’s Court TV reunion appearance with Vinnie during the Harvey Weinstein trial sparked a conversation and mutual-interest in working together. We’re thrilled to have her back on the network on a regular basis,” said Court TV Vice President Scott Tufts.

Following her stint on Court TV, Banfield went on to anchor CNN’s Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield and...

Ashleigh Banfield is having a reunion of sorts with Court TV.

Banfield, who rose to fame covering the 9/11 tragedy and war zones around the world for MSNBC, will appear as a special contributor on Court TV’s live primetime programming each night at 8 p.m. eastern, starting this evening. She will join anchors Vinnie Politan, Julie Grant and Ted Rowlands in discussing the legal news of the day.

Banfield had a presence on Court TV back just after the former Time Warner took control of it. Banfield co-hosted a daytime program and continued to work for the network after Time Warner renamed it TruTV in 2008. She would move on to host programs for CNN, do a stint at ABC News, and anchor an evening show for Hln. The new Court TV is seen over broadcast stations and other media outlets and is owned by Katz Broadcasting, part of E.W.