by
New York
CNN
—
Amazon attracts millions of live viewers for Thursday Night Football games. The company also offers A-list concerts and a seemingly endless number of shopping livestreams. Next: A special evening full of news reporting.
Former NBC News and MSNBC anchor Brian Williams is nearing a surprise deal to lead election night coverage on Amazon’s Prime Video, according to three people with knowledge of the talks, marking the streaming service’s first foray into live news.
The proposed livestream, during what will almost certainly be the highest-stakes news event of the year, would show in-depth analysis of the election results with Williams and a wide range of contributors and guests.
For one night, and perhaps longer, Amazon would find itself in direct competition with CNN, ABC, CBS and Williams’ former network home.
Amazon’s election plan caused a stir in the TV industry when it was first reported by Puck and Variety this weekend. Amazon and rivals like Netflix have generally avoided news programming, even as they have expanded into sports and other categories. Do Amazon and its billionaire founder Jeff Bezos want to start a news network?
The answer is no, according to the sources who spoke to CNN. (They insisted on anonymity because the Williams project has not yet been announced.) Amazon, they say, is approaching the election stream as a one-time live event, not as a signal about its future intentions.
“Amazon leaders have told us, ‘We’re not building a news operation,’” said a talent agent not involved in the Williams deal.
The costs associated with newsgathering and the controversies that come with 24/7 reporting can be obvious turnoffs for a tech giant like Amazon.
That said, news coverage can also create loyal bonds with large audiences, especially on special occasions such as presidential elections. Streaming platforms such as Max (from CNN’s parent company Warner Bros Discovery) and Hulu (from ABC’s parent company Disney) promote live and on-demand news content through their journalism channels.
Election coverage is “a special event for Amazon, just like Thursday Night Football,” one of the sources said. Amazon also live streams the Academy of Country Music Awards and just inked a major $1.8 billion-a-year deal to carry NBA games starting next year (WBD is now suing the league over the deal).
In the future, Amazon could potentially invest in live coverage of other major news events, although no such plans have been made yet.
Spokespeople for Amazon and Williams declined to comment.
The idea of a Big Tech heavyweight broadcasting its own TV show on election night would have been difficult to imagine a decade ago. It’s a testament to the growing power of the tech industry and the fragmenting power of old-fashioned television.
Williams, 65, is a product of the network that led NBC’s election night coverage in 2008 and 2012. The Amazon election event – which has yet to be named – will be his first major project since shutting down MSNBC three years ago.
Jonathan Wald, an NBC and CNN veteran who worked closely with Williams at MSNBC, will produce the livestream, the sources said.
The election coverage will be produced in Los Angeles (a notable difference from all network specials based in New York and Washington) from Amazon MGM Studios’ virtual soundstage.
Williams will remain live well into the night as the election results come in. If election night turns into something like election week, as it did in 2020, it remains to be determined whether Amazon’s live coverage will continue.
One theory underlying the live event, according to the sources, is that many viewers are open to new options and alternatives to traditional political reporting. But the competition on election night is fierce, with networks like CNN and NBC typically seeing a huge influx of viewers. CNN set a number of streaming traffic records during the so-called 2020 election week.
