Good afternoon all. Sorry I did not get my thought in yesterday. That is because I spent all day at Disneyland with my brother, his daughters, my son and his girlfriend. It was a great day. We all got up early and left the house around 715am in order to get there by the 8am opening. Wow it was so crowded when we got to the parking area. So today I am writing to you about my day yesterday and then later on either tonight or tomorrow I will write about my trip today (Tues 31 May).
So like I said we tried to get there early but no matter how much you plan, if you don't get up really early, your just not going to make it. So we arrived there (Disneyland) around 810a, which really is not bad considering we had 6 of us to get ready which included two young girls. Although I have to give them credit along with everyone else, they were ready to go when it came time. I guess just the thought or knowledge of going to Disney had them ready to go. So once we arrived, it was a little crazy of course. Everyone is getting there at the same time. All lanes going into the parking garage were open and ready to go. Things is two of the lanes were not being utilized for some reason. Then when they did open things started flowing a little better. So we moved forward and then all the sudden we stop and don't move at all. WTH is going on. All the other lanes are moving except us. Who knows but our guess is someone did not have the parking fee ready or did not know they had to pay or something. Well we got past that and finally were able to park. Yeah on to the tram.
We took the tram to the park and went in with no problems. In fact the ticket takers were pretty good to us. So off we are going. But first things first. We hit up Hyperspace Mountain as its called now because they added some Star Wars stuff to it. There was already a 30min wait on it so we got fastpasses. Come back at 1015 it said. Cool. No one really wanted to do Star Tours except me, plus it was a 20 min wait so we skipped it. Then we split up. I did the Buzz lightyear shooter with my son and his girlfriend while by brother and his daughters went to Toon Town. Then we all met up again at 1015 to go on Hyperspace Mountain. It was really fun. Throughout the day we split up and met up again. Going on the different rides. One thing that stuck out in my mind though was the fact that Star Tours wait time got up to 2+ hours while Hyperspace Mountain only got up toe 75 min at its peak. Interesting. No worries though it was all fun and we enjoyed our time together and the park.
After we were all winding down and tired we left and went shopping in downtown Disney, then we all decided to go see a movie before heading home for the night. We didn't get home until around 11p which kinda sucked since I had to be up at 445a. Oh well thats the way things go I guess. I hope you all have a good day. Thanks for taking the time to read.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Overscan Adjusting
How to Adjust Overscan on the SHIELD Android TV
If you have an older TV and an NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV, you may notice that some content gets cut off around the edges. This is called overscan, and it can be incredibly annoying in a number of situations, not excluding one of SHIELD’s primary features: gaming. Fortunately, it’s an easy fix.
Overscan, as we’ve explained before, is a remnant of old-school CRT (cathode ray tube) TVs that crops off the outer portion of the image, to ensure you don’t get any black bars on old TVs. If you have a modern HDTV, though, this just means you aren’t seeing the full picture–and what you are seeing will be a little lower quality.
Many modern TVs have built-in options to adjust overscan or disable it completely. But if your set-top box has it turned on, you’ll need to disable it there, too. Thankfully, NVIDIA included an overscan adjustment in its SHIELD Android TV box. Here’s how to access it.
How to Adjust Overscan on SHIELD
Once in Settings, head over to the fifth entry, “HDMI.”
The fourth option in this menu is “Adjust for overscan,” which is exactly what you’re looking for. Go ahead and select that.
This is just a basic move the arrows until you can see everything sort of thing, so just follow the on-screen instructions to get all four arrows in the correct place.
Once everything looks good, you can back out of this menu—the new settings will stick immediately, so you’re finished.
Overscan be incredibly frustrating, especially if your TV doesn’t have a built-in setting to adjust it. And while this isn’t a feature included in stock Android TV, it’s nice to see NVIDIA taking things like this into consideration.
By How to Geek
Microsoft Office Upload Center
What Is the Microsoft Office Upload Center, and Should You Disable It?
The Office Upload Center is part of Microsoft Office. Install Office on your computer, and this tool will appear in your system tray. Sure, you can hide this icon, but should you? What exactly does it do, anyway?
What Does It Do?
When you save a Microsoft Office file to an online location–for example, when you save a file to Microsoft OneDrive or a SharePoint server–Office doesn’t just save the file directly to that server. Instead, it saves the file to the “Office Document Cache” on your computer. Office then uploads that cached file to the server and handles any connection or file conflict problems.For example, if you’re working with a spotty Internet connection, you can save a file to the remote server and Office will upload that file later on, when you have a solid Internet connection. If there’s a problem uploading a file, Office can keep that local copy and inform you of the problem. If the remote server itself has a problem, Office can hold onto its local copy and upload the file when the server comes back online.
The Office Upload Center gives you a way to view these upload tasks and interact with them, which is especially helpful if there’s a problem. If there’s a problem, you’ll get a notification and you can deal with it. You can view pending uploads, view completed uploads, and view all cached files.
This tool does feel a bit redundant if you’re using Microsoft OneDrive, as Windows 10 and 8.1 both include built-in support for OneDrive. But it’s used for more than just OneDrive.
How to Use the Office Upload Center
You can also open your Start menu, type “Office Upload Center,” into the search box, and click the Office Upload Center shortcut that appears.
From the Upload Center window, you can view and manage these uploads. When you open it, you’ll see a list of “pending uploads.” If everything has been uploaded successfully, you’ll see the message “No files are pending upload.” Click the menu button at the top-right corner of the window and select “Recently Uploaded” to view recently uploaded files instead, or select “All Cached Files” to see both recently uploaded and pending files
The “Upload All” and “Pause Upload” buttons allow you to begin or pause uploads, but you shouldn’t normally need to use these functions–it happens automatically.
The “Actions” button allows you to perform actions on the current file, such as opening the local copy, opening the remote file server’s website, saving a copy of the cached file to your computer, or discarding the cached copy.
Click the “Settings” button to manage display and cache settings. By default, Office Upload Center will display notifications when an upload fails or is paused, notifying you so you can take action from here. It won’t display notifications for normal pending uploads.
Uncheck the “Display icon in notification area” option if you want to hide the Office Upload Center so you don’t have to think about it.
The Office Upload Center keeps copies of cached files for fourteen days unless you select another time period. It also keeps copies of files that are successfully uploaded, allowing you to reopen them more quickly in the future. You can disable this or clear the cache from here.
How to Hide the Office Upload Center
It’s easy to hide the Office Upload Center by unchecking that “Display icon in notification area” box. Alternatively, you can leave it in your notification area, but hide it in the popup system tray–just drag and drop the icon onto the up arrow to the left of your notification area.
If you only save Office documents to your own computer’s local storage and never deal with remote services like OneDrive, you can hide it without any problems. Even if you save Office documents to other remote storage services–like Dropbox or Google Drive–the Office Upload Center isn’t involved.
It’s only when you save an Office document to a remote server (or open one from a remote server) that the Office Upload Center is involved. It’s also an essential part of Office’s real-time collaboration features. However, you only need to open the Office Upload Center if it notifies you of a problem. There’s no reason the Office Upload Center icon should even appear in the notification area at all if everything is working properly. But it does.
This doesn’t completely remove the Office Upload Center from your system, of course–it just hides it so you won’t be bothered unless there’s a problem. It’s safe to do this if the Upload Center icon there is bugging you. There’s no official way to completely disable the Office Upload Center beyond just uninstalling Microsoft Office, as this tool is a part of Microsoft Office. You could attempt to remove it from the file system and disable it in the Task Scheduler, but this could break things–and updates to Office will reinstall it, anyway. Go ahead and hide it, but there’s no real way to disable it.
The Office Upload Center does have a clear function, but it also seems like needless complexity. With Windows 10 offering built-in OneDrive integration, why does Microsoft Office need its own, completely separate way of working with OneDrive? That’s a question for Microsoft, not us–but at least now you know what that icon does.
By How to Geek
Enable Status Bar in Notepad
How to Enable the Status Bar and Word Wrap at the Same Time in Notepad
The status bar in Windows’ Notepad displays the current line number and column number of the cursor location. However, if you find that the Status Bar option on the View menu is grayed out, it may be because you have Word Wrap enabled.
If you’ve enabled word wrap, which keeps your columns restricted to the Notepad window, you cannot also enable the status bar. That is because word wrap screws up line breaks, making the line number and column number on the status bar not accurate all the time.
However, if you want to enable the status bar anyway, despite its possible inaccuracy, we’ll show you an easy trick to make the status bar option available even when word wrap is on.
Standard warning: This procedure involves making changes to the Registry Editor, which is a powerful tool. Using the Registry Editor incorrectly can render your system unstable or even inoperable. This is a pretty simple hack and as long as you follow the instructions carefully, you shouldn’t have any problems. That said, if you’ve never worked with it before, consider reading about how to use the Registry Editor before you get started. And definitely back up the Registry (and your computer!) before making changes.
Open the Registry Editor by clicking on Start and typing “regedit.” Press Enter to open Registry Editor, or click on regedit under Best match.
Give regedit permission to make changes to your PC.
NOTE: You may not see this dialog box, depending on your User Account Control settings.
In the tree structure on the left, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad
The Notepad key stores all the settings for Notepad. In Notepad’s initial state, the only values for that key are window position values. Notice that there are no values for the word wrap and status bar settings. Leave the Registry Editor open.
Open Notepad and turn on “Word Wrap” in the Format menu. This adds the word wrap ( fWrap ) and status bar ( StatusBar ) values to the Notepad key in the registry.
Notice that the status bar goes away and the “Status Bar” option in the View menu is grayed out. Close Notepad to save these settings into the Notepad registry key.
Now, the fWrap and StatusBar keys have been added to the Notepad key. Currently, the StatusBar value has zero as it’s value data, indicating it’s disabled. Double-click on the StatusBar value.
On the Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value dialog box, enter 1 in the “Value data” edit box and click “OK”.
Close the Registry Editor by selecting “Exit” from the File menu.
Now, word wrap and the status bar are enabled at the same time. However, If you turn off word wrap and then turn it back on, the status bar will be disabled again. You must set the StatusBar value to 1 again to be able to have both enabled.
If you want to put word wrap and the status bar back to their normal settings, reset Notepad. Simply changing the value of the StatusBar value back to zero only seems to confuse Notepad and the values and what’s set in Notepad won’t necessarily match.
By How to Geek
Adopted into the Family
Christianity: Adopted into the Family
Christianity: Adopted into the Family
By Rick Warren
By Rick Warren
“You will all be joined together, and you will give glory to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God”(Romans 15:6-7 NCV).
There are only two ways to get into a family: You can either be born into it, or you can be adopted into it. God does both for you! It’s called being born again, and it’s called being adopted into the family of God. God does both.
In Roman law, which people followed in the New Testament, you could disown a child you birthed. But if you adopted a child, you were forbidden to ever disown them. God says you are not only born again into his family, but he has adopted you, and there is no way he will ever disown you. That’s good news!
You may ask, “No matter what I do? Really?” No matter what you do!
Once you’re born, you cannot be unborn. Once you are born again, you cannot be unborn again. The fellowship may be broken, but no matter what your parents say, everybody knows you are still their child. In the same way, once you become a child in the family of God, you remain in the family of God!
The Bible says in 1 Timothy 3:15, “I want you to know how people who are members of God’s family must live. God’s family is the church” (GW). We are the family of God. Church is not something you go to. Church is something you belong to. You’re grafted into the vine and the tree of life. You’re born again and adopted into the family of God. He’s saying all these things. You’re joined into the body of Christ.
Most people think that Christianity is a belief system. There are beliefs involved, but it’s more than that. It’s about connection and belonging. Being a Christian means you belong to the family of God. It means you are a part of the Body of Christ.
The Bible says it’s like being born into a family.
Romans 15:6-7 says, “You will all be joined together, and you will give glory to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God” (NCV).
And this was God’s plan all along — to make you part of his family!
If you have never accepted Jesus as your Savior, and want to learn more, visit theKnow God section on the Daily Hope website.
Talk It Over
- What are the benefits to belonging to the family of God?
- What is the evidence in your life that you belong to the family of God? Do you represent your family well?
- How can you use your gifts and abilities to serve the Body of Christ and show the world what it means to belong to God’s family?
Weekend Box Office
'X-Men' & 'Alice' Lead Soft Memorial Day Weekend; Disney Tops $4 Billion Worldwide
by Brad Brevet
Monday AM Update: Estimates for the four-day holiday weekend are in and X-Men: Apocalypse appears to be right on track to hit pre-weekend expectations. The studio is reporting an estimated $80 million four-day holiday weekend, placing the film atop the weekend chart. For Disney's Alice Through the Looking Glass things only continue to look worse as the film's three-day estimate dropped from $18.1 million yesterday to $26.9 million today with the studio now anticipating a $34.1 million four-day weekend, well off the $60 million tracking the film was targeting heading into the weekend.
You can browse the complete four and three-day estimates right here and we'll update our charts with weekend actuals on Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday's look at the three-day estimates follows below.
Three-day Memorial Day weekend results are in and while the numbers at the top are soft compared to franchise predecessors, the weekend was an overall improvement compared to 2015 when Memorial Day took place one week earlier. X-Men: Apocalypse led the weekend charge, matching the studio's expectations, followed by Disney's Alice Through the Looking Glass, which fell well short of what the studio was hoping for. That said, Disney's coffers aren't exactly barren as the studio is expected to pass $4 billion at the global box office by the end of the day as three of its films currently rank as the highest grossing worldwide releases of 2016.
Beginning with the weekend #1, X-Men: Apocalypse brought in an estimated $65 million three-day and is looking at anything from $77-80 million for the four-day holiday. The result is pretty much what the studio was anticipating heading into the weekend, but still has to be looked at as something of a disappointment. The four-day total is approximately $30 million less than 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past with a three-day that ranks sixth when compared to the rest of the films in the X-Men franchise.
Looking ahead, outside of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Apocalypse received the worst RottenTomatoes score compared to any film in the X-Men franchise. However, opening day audiences seemed to like it well enough, scoring it with an "A-" CinemaScore, which is just below Days of Future Past's "A" and ahead of the "B+" for X-Men: First Class. In fact, First Class is a solid comparison domestically as it opened with $55.1 million back in 2011 and went on to gross $145.4 million domestically and just over $200 million internationally.
Speaking of international results Apocalypse is already encroaching on First Class' overseas total as the film brought in another $55.3 million this weekend from 79 markets, bringing its international cume to $185.8 million. The film added four territories this weekend, most notably South Korea where it finished #1 in the market with an estimated $12 million. The film retained its #1 position from last weekend in Brazil where it dropped only 17% as well as in the UK and Australia. Apocalypse arrives in China, where First Class was not even released and Days of Future Past brought in $116 million, on June 3 and won't be released in Japan until August 11.
Securing a second place finish is Disney's Alice Through the Looking Glass, which brought in an estimated$28.1 million for the three day and is expected to post a $35+ million four-day total. Reviews for the film were brutal and the four-day performance is approximately $25 million less than tracking suggested and $17 million less than Mojo's weekend predictions.
In attempting to figure just how much of a miss Looking Glass is for the studio, it would have been unreasonable to expect a repeat performance of 2010's Alice in Wonderland as it landed in the sweet spot of 3D and visual effects. This becomes even more evident once you consider 59% of the opening weekend audience saw Looking Glass in 2D despite more than 82% of the film's 3,763 opening weekend theaters premiered the film in 3D.
That said, the best comparison for Alice isn't exactly a flattering one as last year's $190 million disappointment Tomorrowland comes to the forefront. Tomorrowland brought in $42.6 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend before going on to finish with $93.4 million domestically. Alice should finish with $90-100 million domestically if not a bit more, but given the $170 million budget, and the success Disney has seen with its live-action fairy tale features as of late, this isn't the result the studio was hoping for.
Internationally, Alice brought in an estimated $65 million as it opened day and date across 72% of the international market. The top performing market was China where the film brought in an estimated $27.1 millionfollowed by Mexico ($5.0m), Russia ($4.6m), Brazil ($4.1m), UK ($3.2m), Germany ($2.5m), Australia ($2.4m), Italy ($2.2m), Spain ($1.6m) and Argentina ($1.6M). It still has yet to open in France (June 1), Japan (July 1) and Korea (Sept. 8).
In its second weekend, Sony's The Angry Birds Movie dropped 51% for an estimated $18.7 million three-day with the studio expecting a Monday bump and a four-day total to rise to $24.5 million. Angry Birds also brought in $31.8 million internationally this weekend as its international cume now sits at $157.2 million with a global gross-to-date of $223.5 million.
Disney's Captain America: Civil War took fourth position with an estimated $15.1 million three-day and an anticipated $19.4 million four-day weekend. Universal's Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising rounded out the top five though it dropped a steep 58.2% for an estimated $9.1 million three-day and an anticipated $11.19 millionfour-day.
One bright spot in this weekend's top ten is Amazon and Roadside's Love & Friendship, which expanded into 493 theaters (+446) and brought in an estimated $2.49 million. The film will continue to expand next weekend as it continues to take advantage of strong word of mouth and a 99% rating on RottenTomatoes.
Rounding out the top ten is Disney's fourth film in release and fourth film in the top ten, that being Zootopia, which crossed $335 million domestically this weekend and has now made over $990 million globally to become the26th highest grossing worldwide release of all-time.
As a brief aside, some may have also noticed Zootopia passed The Lion King at the worldwide box office recently while also noticing The Lion King's international total on BoxOfficeMojo declined $19 million on Thursday afternoon. This came as a result of a correction issued by Disney to BoxOfficeMojo, alerting us the original release of The Lion King made $450.6 million internationally, an additional $3.8 million with the 2002 IMAX reissue, and another $91.3 million from 2011's 3D reissue for an international total of $545.7 million. As a result, The Lion King now ranks 29th on Mojo's all-time worldwide chart with $968.5 million.
Elsewhere in the international marketplace, Universal released Warcraft in twenty territories this past weekend where it finished #1 in 19 of them with an estimated $31.6 million. Russia delivered the largest result where the film brought in an estimated $10 million followed by Germany ($5.9m) and Sweden ($1.2m) along with number one openings in Austria, Denmark, Egypt, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Latvia, Lebanon, Middle East, Norway, Pakistan, Slovenia, Switzerland, Thailand and United Arab Emirates. Next weekend, it opens in Belgium, Brazil, Italy, Netherlands, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain and the U.K. and Ireland. The film doesn't hit US theaters until June 10.
As far as next weekend's domestic releases are concerned, the widest new release will be Paramount's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows arriving in 3,800+ theaters followed by Warner's romantic drama Me Before You in 2,500+ theaters and Universal's Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping in 2,200 theaters.
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Homesickness
Homesickness is Not Just for Kids
Homesickness is Not Just for Kids
by Carrie Dedrick, Editor, Crosswalk.com
I was the kid at church camp who was homesick.
But I don’t think that word really does those emotions a justice. “Homesick” just kind of sounds like a kid who is feeling a little lonely in a new place.
In reality, my childhood homesickness was extreme. I cried hysterically and hyperventilated to the point that my counselors called the camp nurse. She almost called an ambulance because no one could calm me down. I wanted to go home with such desperation, I could not breathe or behave rationally.
I'm 24 now, and still struggle with it at times.
Immediately after college, I followed my now-husband to the city. I had grown up in the country and went to college in the country, though in a different state. The culture shock of city living sparked those familiar feelings of homesickness almost immediately.
I realized that my parents were three hours away and I knew almost no one. I hated the city; It was a scary place for me full of foreign sights, sounds, and people.
That was two years ago.
Since the big move to the city, I have learned to like it. Where I live has so much to offer with events and festivals; rarely do my husband and I have a weekend with nothing planned and I like it that way. I have a job that I love coming to everyday and a wonderful church family, but it seems that I will never stop missing my family.
Of course, I have my husband with me. He has been at my side through many tears and tantrums as I wrestle with my feelings of loneliness and isolation. He has calmed me with comforting words, even when I would prefer not to listen.
In Matthew 19:4-6, Jesus tells the Pharisees, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Man (or woman) shall leave his father and mother.
That's what we did. And it's hard.
Leaving my family and moving to an unfamiliar place has been unspeakably difficult for me. But I believe that I am here in this city for a reason. So far, I have become active in my church and accepted a job where I can do what I love (write) and share the love of Jesus at the same time. And this is only the beginning. There are endless ways to minister in a city; I just need to listen to God’s call to find out how he wants my talents to be used.
1 Peter 4:10 says, "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms."
God has given us all many gifts. It is our responsibility to use our talents to glorify him.
If you are in a new place in your life, whether literally or metaphorically, I would encourage you to sit down and consider what your talents are and how you can use them to God’s glory. Find a cause that you believe in and answer God's call for action.
I’ve found that my homesickness symptoms are less severe when I am immersed in something. As a former summer camp counselor (at the same camp I went to as a kid), I know that when a homesick child is in your care, you have to keep that child busy. If the kid gets lost in an arts and crafts project or pool time, the feelings of sadness seem miles away. I apply the same concept to myself now, even though I am grown up.
When I am involved in a writing piece like this or an event with my church, I don’t feel so lonely. I feel blessed that God would allow me to take part in something that glorifies his name and spreads the good news.
Remember that old saying about idle hands being the devil's workshop? Well, it's kind of true. During a six-month period of unemployment, I had a lot of time. And while I didn't spend that time gallavanting in sin or gossip like the idle "busybodies" do in 1 Timothy 5:13, I did allow those negative feelings and loneliness to take over. I'm certain that was Satan's work, for the Lord loves me and wants me to be happy.
But I've found that I am at peace with my new city when I am not idle, but doing something to glorify my God.
God wants you to be happy too.
It may be a constant battle, but I the moments that I struggle with homesickness seem to be hitting less often and with more time between.
Intersecting Faith and Life: Perhaps you too have moved away from family or a hometown. Or maybe you simply feel lonely. I would recommend that you remember one thing when that depressing feel of isolation arises: God is with you always. You are never truly alone.
Further reading:
Deuteronomy 31:6
Entertainment News
Fox's Megyn Kelly could test the value of star power in changing TV market
Fox News anchors Chris Wallace, left, Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier moderate the first prime-time Republican presidential debate hosted at the Quicken Loans Arena on Aug. 6, 2015, in Cleveland. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
By Stephen Battaglio
Fox News Channel anchor Megyn Kelly’s year can be compared to a pro athlete having a career season before becoming a free agent.
Her debate showdown with the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in August raised her profile enough to make her a magazine cover subject, coveted talk show guest and trending Twitter topic. Even though Kelly’s recent squishy interview with Trump on a prime-time Fox broadcast special was panned by critics who earlier applauded her ability to stand up to the candidate, TV news executives and agents say she is still expected to draw strong interest from other networks when her deal with Fox News comes up in July 2017.
Kelly has said she’s undecided about her future with Fox News. But if she becomes available, the competition for her services will be a test of the value of star power at a time when TV news is trying to control costs.
The leaner economic times for the network news business have made moves by big star anchors less frequent and bidding wars are rare. Networks increasingly rely on developing their own talent and paying them accordingly once they become proven ratings attractions. And based on past moves by star anchors, there is no guarantee on how many viewers will follow someone to a new outlet.
“History will tell you that it’s very hard to go across the street to succeed,” said former ABC News chairman David Westin, who is now a morning anchor for Bloomberg Television. “There are fewer of these instances than you might think.”
While Kelly makes around $10 million a year at Fox News Channel and stands to earn more if she stays, her desire to test the waters is understandable. She is the first breakout anchor talent of recent years, no easy feat as the TV news audience is more fragmented than ever. At 45, she is younger than most of the other anchors on broadcast network and cable news and probably has a long career ahead.
“It’s always a very tempting situation for a talent because they never know when the stars are going to align in this way again for them where they have the perceived leverage,” said Jonathan Klein, a veteran TV news executive who ran CNN from 2004 to 2010.
Even with lower ratings and shrinking ad revenue, networks still pay handsomely to retain the stars they develop.
I don’t know who wouldn’t want her. It’s just a matter of what to do with her and at what price.
— Jonathan Klein, veteran TV news executive
NBC’s audience research has found that many viewers would not watch the morning program without Lauer at the anchor desk. As a result, he earns more than $20 million a year on a program that generates around $450 million in annual ad revenue.
Fox News Channel has similarly nurtured Kelly, who joined the cable news network in 2004 with just one year of experience in local TV after a career as a corporate litigator. She honed her skills as a Washington-based correspondent and then as a daytime news anchor. In 2013, she was promoted to a prime-time slot with “The Kelly File,” which is now the second-most-watched hour in cable news behind her lead-in, “The O’Reilly Factor,” averaging 2.5 million viewers a night.
Kelly’s value to Fox News Channel goes beyond the ratings used to sell advertising. She is part of a prime-time lineup that draws a fiercely loyal audience. Fox News Channel has rallied its devoted viewers’ support when it negotiates carriage fee increases from cable and satellite operators. The channel gets an average of $1.85 per subscriber each month from video providers, second only to ESPN.
As a proven fixture on the channel, TV news executives and agents believe Kelly could command as much as $20 million a year in a new deal from Fox News. A spokesperson for Creative Artists Agency, which represents Kelly, declined to comment.
Privately, executives at every rival TV news organization say they admire Kelly’s skills as a feisty, live TV interviewer and would be happy to have her on their roster.
But competitors who pursue Kelly also have to consider whether her popularity at Fox News – which many of its viewers look to as a counterbalance to a liberal-leaning or “mainstream” media – is transferable to another network and program.
“I don’t know who wouldn’t want her,” Klein said. “It’s just a matter of what to do with her and at what price. I think it’s tougher for the broadcast networks because they just don’t have the cash to spend.” Klein’s former employer CNN has also moved away from high-priced talent deals.
Long gone are the days when legendary TV executive Roone Arledge was building up ABC’s talent roster in the 1980s and driving salaries up. He brought over David Brinkley, who had left NBC, and nabbed Diane Sawyer from CBS, helping to boost ratings and raising the news division from its also-ran status. Arledge also made his competitors pay dearly to keep other big names that he pursued.
Broadcast networks curbed their free-spending ways in the 1990s when cable started seriously eating away at their share of the audience. By the end of that decade, the news divisions of ABC, CBS and NBC were competing for audience with three 24-hour cable news channels and watched their ratings diminish. The industry has also seen the Internet pull away viewers.
Heated battles for big names still occurred. But it’s difficult for anchors to make a successful transition in a more crowded TV landscape.
Multiple networks courted Bryant Gumbel before he left NBC’s “Today” after a successful 15-year run. He joined CBS, but never achieved the same level of success in prime-time or the morning. He’s since left network news behind and retreated to his HBO program “Real Sports.”
Katie Couric, arguably the most popular morning show personality ever during her tenure on “Today,” could not take “CBS Evening News” out of third place in the ratings. She was paid a reported $15 million a year to take over the broadcast in 2006 and left five years later. Her syndicated daytime talk show that followed, which paid her $10 million a year, lasted only two seasons.
Keith Olbermann was the top-rated anchor on MSNBC when he left after a dispute with management in 2011. He had built a passionate fan base for his political commentaries, but it wasn’t large enough to sustain his move to a fledgling and ultimately short-lived cable channel called Current.
While big talent moves can make headlines and generate industry chatter, viewers don’t always follow an anchor to another outlet. (Conversely, Lester Holt’s seamless replacement of Brian Williams on “NBC Nightly News” with no decline in ratings indicates that many viewers may stick with a network even if the anchor changes.)
“Executives and talent often underestimate how much viewers have to think about during the course of their day other than when your show is on,” Klein said. “More than ever today it’s easy to disappear off their radar when you’re not in the place they’ve come to expect you in. So as long as you continue to be given opportunity at the place where you have become well-known, it makes more sense to stay.”
But Kelly could simply want to try something different, as evidenced by her broadcast special, which offered celebrity chats instead of the hard-charging, issue-driven interviews she does on “The Kelly File.” She told the Los Angeles Times in a recent interview that she loves her current job, but money won’t be the only factor in deciding her future. If that is the case, more opportunities outside of Fox News will be open to her. But that’s a big “if.”
Said Klein, “I don’t think that she hired CAA in order to make less money.”
Thoughts for the Day
Being content can be challenging. Our culture drives home our need for bigger and better, while God whispers, "I am all you ever need and will give you your daily supply. Trust me with your life." What does it take to be truly content? Simply trusting that God made you just like you are, He wants the very best for you, He has a plan and purpose for your life and He will provide all you need to get you there. It's not the world's definition, it's His, and that's good enough for me!
- Ron Lambros, President, Touching Live
Eternal life is a gift that keeps on giving. God does not give us eternal life just so we can enjoy it and use it to get into heaven. God gives us eternal life so we in turn can give it to others. One of the ways you do that is by finding people who have gotten off on this wrong detour and letting them know that detour only leads to death, but they can receive the free gift of eternal life.
-Pastor Merritt
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