Mediaite’s Colby Hall Shocks Don Lemon With Prediction Broadcast News Will Die In Next Decade

Mediaite founding editor Colby Hall has a bold prediction: ABC, NBC, and CBS will exit the news business entirely within the next decade.

That claim made Don Lemon raise his eyebrows when Hall joined his YouTube show on Tuesday. Hall called his shot while discussing the difference between cable channels like Fox News and broadcast networks like CBS, where Tony Dokoupil just became the new anchor of Evening News.

“The distinction between broadcast and cable is increasingly irrelevant, I wonder… why are broadcast networks even in the news business?” Hall said. “I could see in 5-10 years that none of these sorts of broadcast networks are in the news game, because it’s so filled with cable and YouTube.”

Hall explained it did not make business sense for the networks to deal with news anymore. Their viewers are “largely dying,” the broadcasts are expensive, and they have to worry about FCC Chair Brendan Carr, he said.

“Wow! That is very interesting,” Lemon reacted. “You think they’re going to get out of the news business altogether.”

Hall reiterated he did, by around 2036.

They got onto the topic after discussing Dokoupil’s debut and Bari Weiss becoming the new boss of CBS News. Hall said he was not worried about Dokoupil — despite a first-night blooper — but that he worried Weiss would reshape CBS in a way that was similar to a cable network.

“The larger concern is, is this news outlet truly going to be a news outlet? Or is it going to be more partisan clickbait? ‘CBS: From Cronkite to Clickbait’ is what CBS appears to be doing right now in a very partisan way,” Hall said. “In a way that sort of is positioning themselves as a broadcast version of Fox News, painting themselves in patriotism.”

He said that could be a good move from a business standpoint, but would be a bad idea from a reporting standpoint.

Lemon said he believed it was not a shrewd business move. If it was being done simply to get regulatory approval from President Donald Trump, Lemon said he understood it, but CBS should ditch its new approach right after.

He also stopped Hall to say he felt trying to cable-fy a broadcast news program was silly.

“Cable and broadcast are two completely different animals,” Lemon said.

Watch above.