Nick Bilton speaks EPIX “Berlin Station” LA premiere at Milk Studios on Sept. 29, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.
Joshua Blanchard | Getty Pictures
Paramount Skydance’s CBS Information has employed Nick Bilton as the brand new government producer of “60 Minutes,” ushering in a brand new period for the No. 1 rated information broadcast for the previous 52 years.
Bilton replaces Tanya Simon because the present’s government producer. Simon had spent greater than 30 years at “60 Minutes.” In distinction, Bilton has no expertise working a TV information present.
Bilton is a former New York Occasions know-how columnist and has made a number of documentaries for HBO and Netflix. He instructed CNBC he first met CBS Information editor-in-chief Bari Weiss socially in Los Angeles and later frolicked together with her engaged on two documentaries — “Unknown: Killer Robots” and “Largest Heist Ever.”
One among Bilton’s greatest preliminary challenges can be successful over CBS Information staff who consider most of the modifications being applied within the newsroom are politically motivated.
Skydance and Paramount merged final 12 months, placing new management answerable for CBS and different Paramount properties together with the storied movie studio and extra nascent streaming enterprise. Paramount Skydance Chief Government Officer David Ellison is now making an attempt to merge Paramount with Warner Bros. Discovery, and he wants the Trump administration’s regulatory approval to finish the deal.
In 2024, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump sued “60 Minutes,” alleging this system deceptively edited an interview together with his opponent, Kamala Harris. Paramount settled the lawsuit for $16 million, which irked some veteran “60 Minutes” staff, together with longtime correspondent Scott Pelley. One other notable anchor, Anderson Cooper, introduced he was leaving the present earlier this month.
Bilton stated in a cellphone interview on Thursday that he is dedicated to demonstrating his hiring is not a political maneuver.
“I’ll show it with the work,” Bilton stated. “I am devoted to holding folks in energy to account.”
The “60 Minutes” change is the newest main programming shakeup by CBS, which earlier this month aired its final episode of “The Late Present With Stephen Colbert” after 11 seasons, having declined to resume the present.
Bilton stated Weiss is bringing him in now, whereas “60 Minutes” scores are nonetheless rising — up 9% from the 12 months prior, in accordance with Nielsen — to pivot the present earlier than it is too late.
“It is nonetheless the No. 1 information broadcast in America. However historical past tells you disruption would not occur instantly when new know-how comes alongside — it is normally a number of years later,” Bilton stated. “We’re on the precipice of this occurring to broadcast TV. What was one of the best 12 months of gross sales for Nokia? It was 2008, one 12 months after the iPhone got here out. Blogs got here out in 1997-98. The New York Occasions had its greatest 12 months of gross sales in 1999.”
Bilton declined to disclose how he plans to disrupt the present, although he stated it will not be a whole overhaul. He stated he needs to fulfill the staff of “60 Minutes” earlier than revealing his plan “in a number of weeks.”
