NEW YORK—The world’s largest prediction market Kalshi and Fox Corporation have announced a major deal that will see Kalshi’s data and forecasts integrated across Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Weather and the Fox One platform.

"Prediction markets have quickly become an essential data point and a compelling new experience across our live content portfolio," said Paul Cheesbrough, CEO, Tubi Media Group. "By integrating Kalshi's real-time data into our fast-growing streaming platform Fox One and across Fox News Media's leading networks, we're giving audiences both deeper insights and a more engaging way to follow the stories that matter most."

In announcing the deal, Fox stressed that prediction markets create data that can complement polling and expert opinion. Kalshi data has been adopted by newsrooms to provide nonpartisan data on the likelihood of current events across politics, economics, and culture. Institutions like the Federal Reserve have also adopted Kalshi data, calling it “valuable to researchers and policymakers.”

Trading on data from prediction markets has, however, proved to be controversial in cases where people have used prediction markets to bet on such issues as the possibility of a war. This has prompted reporting from The New York Times and others about the possible abuse of inside information to profit from bets on upcoming events or trends.

Kalsi noted that millions of people come to Kalshi each month, primarily to see the forecasts. Roughly 70% of people who visit Kalshi use the site to check market odds, while about 30% of people use it to trade. By providing another data point to supplement reporting, Kalshi said it is quickly becoming an additional way for people to understand and follow current events.

As part of this sponsored integration, relevant Kalshi data will be incorporated into Fox’s linear and digital content. Kalshi will also work directly with Fox data and production teams to provide real-time data access for seamless data visualization around key political, economic, weather and cultural storylines.

“More people are watching Kalshi’s forecasts than trading them, which says a lot: our data effectively complements news and polls,” said Tarek Mansour, co-founder and CEO of Kalshi. “As misinformation grows more common, Kalshi offers accurate, unbiased data to help people better understand what’s going on in the world.”

NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES—Fox has finally announced a launch data and pricing for Fox One, with the direct-to-consumer streaming service set to launch Aug. 21 for $19.99 per month or $199.99 a year.

As previously reported, Fox One will bring all of Fox's news, sports and entertainment branded content together in one streaming platform, including the Fox broadcast network, Fox-owned television stations and Fox News Channel.

Fox One for the first time will provide cord-cutters and cord-nevers with full streaming and on-demand access to the company’s full brand portfolio, including Fox News, Fox Business Network, Fox Weather, Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes, Big Ten Network, its local TV stations and the over-the-air Fox network.

Subscription streaming services Fox Nation and Big Ten+ will also be available on Fox One. Subscribers can bundle Fox One and Fox Nation for $24.99 per month or the equivalent of $19.99 per month when purchasing the annual plan at launch, the company said.

“We’re eager to launch Fox One in just a few weeks and super-serve our viewers with the best in live news, sports and entertainment content all in one place,” Fox CEO, Direct to Consumer Pete Distad said. “In bringing together the full power of the Fox content portfolio in one service, we have created a great value proposition and user experience that will appeal to the cord-cutter and cord-never fans currently not served by conventional pay TV packages.”

Fox also said the streaming service will feature advanced, AI-powered personalization technologies that seamlessly integrate live and video-on-demand content in a cohesive experience.

More information is available at www.FoxOne.com.

Fox Corp. is planning to launch a direct-to-consumer streaming service sometime later this year, Executive Chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch told analysts on an earnings call Wednesday.

Details of the Fox DTC service, which would target cord-cutters and cord-nevers, remain sparse.

The news comes in the wake of the collapse of the Venu sports streaming service, which Fox had been planning to launch in partnership with The Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery.

“We'll announce more … in the … future, but we would see that package as a package that's holistic of all of our content of sports and news,” Murdoch said when asked if the DTC service would include the cable-distributed Fox News Channel or subscription streamer Fox Nation, as well as the company’s other brands. Those brands include pay TV-distributed sports channels such as FS1 and Big Ten Network.

In discussing the service, Murdoch noted that it is part of a larger strategy to ensure “maximum distribution of our content, whether that be traditional, digital streaming or our own D2C offering in the near future.”

“By really driving our engagement with consumer viewers across traditional linear platforms, across cable distribution, across the digital MVPDs and across our own D2C services targeting these cord- cutters and cord-nevers, that will put us in absolutely the best position with the broadest reach,” Murdoch said.

With regard to distribution, Murdoch noted that Fox has also been capitalizing on a trend towards skinny bundles. “Three distributors have announced new skinny packages in recent months, and we expect this trend to continue,” he said. “We see this as a positive initiative by both our distribution partners and other content owners. The inclusion of our suite of channels, sports and news in each of these offerings is a real economic benefit to us, even more so than the sports-specific Venu, and so gives us greater confidence for Fox over the long term.”

In terms of strategy, Murdoch stressed: “We see the traditional cable bundle as still the most value for our consumers, and frankly, the most value for the company. So we're huge supporters of the traditional cable bundle and we will always be. But having said that, we do want to reach consumers wherever they are. And there's a large population, obviously, that are now outside of the traditional cable bundle, either cord-cutters or cord-nevers.”

As a result, Fox is “designing an offering to really target those cord-cutters and cord-nevers that are not traditionally in the cable bundle,” Murdoch said. “We don't want and we have no intention of churning a traditional distribution customer into our D2C customer. And so our subscriber expectations will be modest, and we're going to price the service accordingly. And it's also important to note with those modest expectations, we do not expect any exclusive rights costs or additional incremental rights costs.”

“This service will be a package of our existing content on our existing brands targeted to consumers that are not currently in the bundle,” he added. “So the incremental cost will be relatively low, certainly relative to what our peers have spent in this space. And we’re excited to be able to talk about it more in the coming weeks months. In terms of timing and launch, we're certainly targeting a launch by the end of this calendar year.”

NEW YORK—The Fox News Channel has debuted a new studio for its “Gutfeld!” late night show. 

The studio, which went live on May 2, was designed predominantly for Greg Gutfeld’s live audience late night show and was purpose built to operate more like a Broadway theater than a traditional broadcast studio. 

A key part of the design is flexibility. Every set piece including the audience seating is movable. The new studio build includes a series of six high resolution LED media walls that move along a track system and can be angled, positioned independently or joined together to create a single video mosaic. 

The studio also has a massive 40 foot long ultra high definition LED media wall as a centerpiece of the set design.

The background of show's scenic design features a combination of detailed 3D models of buildings along with a striking architectural interior.

Fox News reports that design was created to surround the Host and guests with a comfortable and inviting atmosphere and provide a whimsical backdrop that is tailored to Greg Gutfeld and his personal style.

In his opening monologue, Gutfeld discussed the new studio here. 

Much like everything else that has transpired in 2020, election-night coverage promises to test news organizations as they have never been tested before. 

“I’ve been part of election teams since the 1980s,” said David Bohrman, executive producer of CBS News’s 2020 election-night coverage. “I’ve run election coverage at CNN and NBC, and now here at CBS, and this is the most complicated election I’ve ever been part of.” 

Marc Burstein, senior executive producer of ABC News Special Events, agreed, citing the difficulties of producing a major election-night special in the middle of a major pandemic: “We are having to prepare for anything and everything. It could be the longest night or it may not be. No one knows and we have to prepare for every possible contingency.” (NBC News, the other Big Three broadcast network news arm, did not provide executives to be interviewed.)

Or, as "PBS NewsHour" executive producer Sara Just observed: “It’s like trying to tie your shoes while riding a bicycle. We are confident we have a good plan for keeping everyone safe, but it is challenging. This is going to be a night like none other.”

Much of this reflects a 2020 news cycle that has produced a slew of once-in-a-lifetime stories and tragedies. “I’ve been at CNN for almost 30 years and this is the most intense news environment I’ve ever seen,” Sam Feist, senior VP and Washington bureau chief at CNN, said during B+C’s News Technology Summit. “We are covering an election, maybe the most anticipated election in our lifetime, along with a pandemic and a national reckoning over race.”

“When we look back on 2020 we will think, ‘Wow, that was the most extraordinary news year ever,’ and we did it with an arm and a half tied behind our back,” Feist added.

These national calamities and controversies have also spiked viewer interest in the results and significantly raised the competitive stakes for news organizations. 

“There are more eyes on this election than we’ve had in our lifetimes,” Cherie Grzech, VP of politics and the Washington bureau at Fox News, said. 

THE MOST UNUSUAL ELECTION NIGHT

The heightened scrutiny comes as news organizations are grappling with what might on Nov. 3 be the most unusual election night in television history.  

Unlike other presidential elections, where networks covered voters casting ballots and reported the results the same day, early voting this year is hitting record levels. Mail-in voting is also expected to hit record levels, and many votes might not be counted until after Nov. 3. That, in turn, could delay results and make the process of reporting and calling races a much more complex and uncertain process. 

Technology and production plans have also been upended by a pandemic that has killed more than 220,000 people. In addition to having many people work from home, networks are using more studios and control rooms to spread out employees and are revising coverage plans by recruiting additional legal experts to explain potential voting irregularities and rethinking how to deploy journalists. Many typical election-night gatherings are likely to be canceled and travel restrictions will make it more difficult to get boots on the ground. 

One thing that hasn’t changed is election night’s importance. All the major commercial TV news organizations are investing millions of dollars in new sets and technology to stand out from the competition and attract new viewers.

“Election night, for us and for all the news networks, is our Super Bowl,” Fox News senior VP of news and politics Alan Komissaroff said. “It is our biggest night and we are determined to put our best foot forward. There isn’t a nook and cranny of the building that we are not using. We’ll be using every piece of technology we have been using in the past and a few new ones as well.”

As in earlier years, many networks will broadcast their coverage from new sets, studios or facilities that feature the glitziest graphics and massive, high-resolution, floor-to-ceiling walls and screens for data and results. 

Coverage will include big touch screens where correspondents and anchors take deep dives into results and augmented reality systems. Some networks, such as Fox News, will even be debuting virtual reality systems. 

The challenges facing news organizations this year may also improve the quality of coverage. For example, COVID-19 restrictions limiting in-studio guests will result in using a much wider array of sources and voices from remote locations, network executives said. “This has been kind of a breakthrough moment this year in terms of adding more people to the conversation,” Fox News’s Grzech said. 

Another positive development is the rapid expansion of streaming services. Their growing availability means viewers will be able to easily access a much wider array of stories and coverage, both on digital media and on broadcast networks, where TV anchors can draw on the expertise of digital teams.

The difficulties of election coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic have also forced news organizations to integrate their operations more tightly with local stations, digital outlets and even radio organizations rather than fly reporters into key battleground states. This reporting from seasoned local journalists could provide national audiences with a better understanding of the results in those locales. 

CBS, for one, will add extensive coverage to CBSN by streaming 10 local feeds, while Newsy will draw on coverage from parent company Scripps’s 60 TV stations. 

“We have a team of four or five people who will be monitoring the local stations and we’ll be able to carry their feeds at key times,” said Matt Simon, supervising producer for PM content at Newsy, who is also overseeing election-night initiatives.

"PBS NewsHour" will also be drawing on the expertise of local reporters. “One of the great advantages of public broadcasting is that there are over 350 stations across the country that we work with,” Just said. “They know their communities best, and throughout our programming we will be turning to a lot of those reporters for their expertise.”

BUILT FOR PRIMETIME

The complexity of predicting races and explaining voting trends is likely to make networks even more cautious and thoughtful when providing context or caveats in their reporting. 

“Transparency is the watchword for us,” ABC’s Burstein said. He said coverage will explain what is known as well as what isn’t known, so viewers understand why certain information or vote totals aren’t available. “The decision desk [which calls races] is always careful and conservative, but this year we will be more conservative than ever.” 

For its election-night coverage, ABC News will use a renovated studio that has been expanded to 5,500 square feet. It features 28 new video screens with about 35 million pixels, including a high-resolution video floor. 

A variety of features that enables moving video walls and screens will provide more flexibility to tell the story from different angles. Enhanced capabilities for augmented reality and other graphics are also part of the mix. 

“We will have tools to tell the story in ways we’ve never had before,” Zach Toback, VP of news and nonfiction production and studio operations at ABC News, said. “There is video everywhere, there is video on the ceilings, all across the walls, that creates a very immersive space. It is the largest renovation that we’ve done in any facility since the early 1980s.”

"PBS NewsHour" will be upping its production values with new LED walls that allow anchors and reporters to better display graphics and analyze results, VP of operations Matt Speiser said.

Univision will show off a new set that improves its graphics capabilities and helps it follow COVID-19 restrictions. “We are trying to simulate as much as possible the expansiveness of the coverage we’ve had in the past and do an even better job this year,” said Lourdes Torres, senior VP of political coverage and special projects for the Spanish-language broadcaster. “We have a huge newsroom and the idea is to expand the set into the newsroom and basically have all the elements—video walls, touch screens—embedded in the newsroom.” 

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, many Univision staffers have been working from home, with only about 25% of the typical newsroom staff on-site. For election night, though, Univision will be bringing more people into the building to supplement the remote workers. 

To keep staff safe, Univision will place staff in additional control rooms and spaces to maintain social distancing, a strategy many other networks and news organizations are adopting. “We will have training, special cleaning teams, security to remind people about masks to keep people safe,” Torres said. “It is really a pretty elaborate plan.”

SAFETY MUST COME FIRST

Since the start of the pandemic, the Associated Press has decentralized video production operations and set up systems for people to work at home, AP deputy managing editor for visual and digital journalism Derl McCrudden said. But for the final days of election coverage, AP will be bringing a small video production crew back into the New York and London hubs. 

That will allow AP to provide live election coverage for customers with the curated AP Direct channel and four other live channels that provide outlets with HD-quality video. “Many broadcasters air these feeds live around the world,” McCrudden said. 

ABC will be spreading out staff over four control rooms and three studios. “We are being very careful with our COVID protocols,” Katie den Daas, executive producer at the streaming service ABC News Live, said. “We will have more control rooms than we’ve ever had, so we can be socially distant. We have added HEPA filters to our control rooms. Everyone wears a mask and some people in the control rooms will be getting the N95 masks of the sort used by medical professionals,” she said.

Said CBS’s Bohrman: “Everyone involved is being tested every day, everyone in the studio, everyone in the control room.” Network coverage will originate in a new high tech set at the ViacomCBS headquarters in Times Square, a first for the news division on election night. “The studio is zoned off to separate people and to make sure there is not any movement between the zones,” Bohrman said. “This is the biggest team effort in broadcast news, but we are finding ways to do it in a COVID-safe way.”

All of these efforts, executives said, will help to keep staff members safe as they report on the most unusual election of our lifetimes. Bohrman stressed the importance of overcoming obstacles and getting the story right—both for the networks and for the country. 

“We and all the broadcast networks know that we need to help restore the faith in the electoral system,” he said. “It has been put under a lot of doubt by a lot of people and we need to be open and above board and clear as to the numbers to provide viewers with information they can trust.”

“This is our night,” den Daas at ABC News Live said. “That night might drag on for a while, but that’s OK, because this is what we do. This is why we got into journalism: To make sure we are here when Americans need someone to bring them the big story.” 

NEW YORK—Fox News Media plans to go big with its election day coverage on Nov. 3, previewing immersive 3D graphics and enhanced studio technology that are designed to provide linear and digital viewers comprehensive coverage into the election process.

Fox News Channel’s flagship broadcast space, Studio F, is the home of Brett Baier’s “Special Report” and Martha MacCallum’s “The Story,” both of which will use real-time 3D graphics and visual effects to create a digitally-constructed White House as the set’s backdrop for presenting information on various races and other developments from FNC’s live coverage.

Graphics have also been created to visually breakdown the races in the House and Senate, including the “Balance of Power” and “Net Gain” indicators that will illustrate turnovers of Democrat and Republican held seats. The network’s Presidential Race Scoreboard, National Popular Vote and Electoral Vote count will be visually represented on the virtual set and special effects technology in Studio F. The studios’ video chandelier, which features 528-square-feet of high-resolution graphics around its 14-foot diameter, will work in tandem with the space’s video floor to display digital effects showcasing election information and graphics.

Returning for Fox News’ election coverage is Bill Hemmer’s “Bill-Board,” which provides viewers an interactive presentation platform. New capabilities provided for the 2020 election will provide a dynamic view into all election data, census data and historical data to follow different races.

Fox News Digital’s coverage will serve as a complement to the network’s linear coverage. There will be user tools that offer state-by-state visual representation of the vote, giving users the ability to zoom in on maps or look up specific data on current or past races. A “dial” page will be available to track the predictability and probability of the presidential, Senate and House races. The website will also provide a pop-out video player option for users to continue watching the channel while browsing the site. Personalization features to follow specific races and a real-time ticker at the bottom of the screen will also be available.

On the Fox News Mobile App, real-time data and developments will be provided for up-to-the minute election news, results and information. Users can also follow live update pages throughout the day as races are called and reactions come in.

NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES—Practically anyone can now access Fox TV stations to stay up to date with the latest information regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19). The Fox Corporation has announced it is offering unlimited access to Fox News Channel and its Fox-owned TV stations to anyone, subscriber or not, for no fee.

Fox said it is working with its pay-TV partners to make its national and local news coverage available to all Americans. This will also include Fox using its own distribution platforms to stream its channels across different streaming options for free.

Specifically, Fox News will be available at no charge on FoxNews.com, the Fox News app, Fox.com and the Fox Now app. Fox’s 29 owned and operated TV stations will be available for free at Fox.com and the Fox Now app.

Fox has also created special content around the coronavirus. Every weeknight at 6 p.m. ET, a three-minute live report from Fox News’ Bill Hemmer provides national perspective, facts and context on the coronavirus. Fox also launched CoronavirusNOW.com, a free-to-use website that provides breaking news, updates and interviews with health officials.

“Our highest duty as a company is to provide the individuals and communities we serve with information and analysis to help educate and protect them during dangerous times,” said Lachlan Murdoch, Fox’s executive chairman and CEO. 

LOS ANGELES—There was no blackout of Fox-owned broadcast stations and networks for National Cable Television Cooperative members and subscribers when the clock struck midnight on 2019, as the two sides reached a new carriage agreement.

Fox shared the news on its site www.keepfoxnewsandsports.com, which features the following statement:

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the NCTC that avoids any disruption to our viewers. All of the NCTC’s members will continue to carry our portfolio of leading sports, entertainment and news programming for years to come.”

The Fox programming referred to in that statement includes Fox-owned broadcast stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes and Fox Soccer Plus.

The NCTC represents more than 700 small and rural cable operators that cover around 3 million subscribers.

Fears of a blackout were raised by NCTC as it claimed that Fox was seeking a rate increase 10x its current rate. The financial terms for the agreement have not been disclosed.

LAS VEGAS—Fox News Channel will launch its Quick Response Vehicle Program during the NAB Show next week in Las Vegas. In partnership with LiveU and Accelerated Media Technologies, the program centers around a Nissan NV 3500, which Fox News said is “a one-stop shop for a photographer and crew covering and chasing down a breaking news story.”

The vehicle has enough cargo space for a full ENG photographer kit, said Fox News, and enough workspace for a correspondent and field producer to toil away as well. The NV 3500 is built on an entirely IP platform and equipped with bandwidth efficient HEVC bonded encoding from LiveU, said Fox News, with satellite technology to guarantee transmission from anywhere in the U.S.

Fox News plans to have the vehicle in multiple domestic bureaus this year, meaning “more in-depth breaking newsgathering and reporting across FNC and O&O stations,” it said.

Sharri Berg, chief operating officer, news & operations at Fox Television Stations and senior VP of news operations at Fox News, is overseeing the program. “Bonded cellular works great, but we knew we needed the reliability of satellite when the biggest breaking news hits,” she said. “We also listened to our field folks and built an IP-based vehicle with simple, auto-acquisition satellite technology that could be operated by one photographer, while also giving the rest of the team the workspace they require.”

The vehicle also features a roof camera for on-the-go streaming, LiveU Xtender for improved cellular throughput and Cobham satellite dish and Newtec satellite modem for satellite IP throughput up to 20 Mbps. 

NEW YORK—Fox News Channel is the latest cable network to test the subscription video-on-demand waters this year with its new Fox Nation streaming service set to launch later this year, according to network officials.

The stand-alone streaming service will debut in fourth-quarter 2018 and will take an in-depth look at the issues of the day, with exclusive daily streaming content and long-form programming only available to subscribers. The cost of the service will be announced at a later date.

Fox News Channel, which has topped the cable ratings charts for the past two years among total viewers, will also include access to 20-plus years of its archival programming not available anywhere else—as well as interaction with all of the network’s opinion hosts and personalities—as part of its new SVOD service, according to network officials.

[ESPN Plus Service Will Cost $4.99 Per Month] 

Fox Nation will be based at Fox News's headquarters in New York, according to the network.

“With our traditional cable viewership at an all-time high, we are proud to announce a new digital offering geared entirely toward the FOX News superfans, who represent the most loyal audience in cable, if not all of television,” said John Finley, senior vice president of development and production for the network in a statement. “This initiative will capitalize on providing that viewer, who is among the most affluent and well educated in cable, with a highly specialized content experience on a platform they can watch anytime, anywhere.”

Fox Nation is the first announced cable news OTT service, and joins other standalone OTT services from such media companies as ESPN, Disney and CBS set to launch this year.

This story first appeared on TVT's sister publication Multichannel News.