Award-Winning Journalist T.J. Holmes Signs Multi-Platform Talent Deal With BET Networks
NEW YORK, Dec. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- BET Networks announced today a multi-platform talent agreement with award-winning journalist and television personality, T.J. Holmes. The deal with Holmes includes a new show on BET as well as content on BET.com in which he can bring his many talents to some of the most important and interesting stories to BET's audience.
"We are of course ecstatic to have T.J. Holmes coming to our fold. He's been an outstanding news anchor and we look forward to making him shine. He's been an outstanding news anchor and we look forward to working with him in a variety of new ways on BET," said Stephen G. Hill, President of Music Programming and Specials at BET Networks. "We look forward to weaving T.J.'s mixture of credibility and charisma into our fabric."
An award-winning journalist and respected television personality within the African American community, T.J. Holmes was formerly a news anchor for various CNN programs and has anchored numerous major breaking news stories and human interest pieces ranging from the devastating tornadoes across the Midwest and Southeast to the Gulf oil spill in 2010 to Saddam Hussein's execution in 2006. Holmes came to CNN from NBC11 in the San Francisco Bay Area. While with NBC, he covered the 2004 Olympics, the first Summer Games held since the September 11th terrorist attacks. Before that, Holmes served as a weekend anchor and reporter for KTHV-TV in Little Rock, Ark. He began his career at KSNF-TV in Joplin, Mo. Holmes contributed to CNN's 2010 coverage of the Gulf Oil Spill that garnered a Peabody Award. In 2007, he was honored with the Young Alumni Award by the University of Arkansas. Holmes graduated from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism. He is a board member of the Emory University Board of Visitors, a member of 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc. and serves on the Chancellor's Board of Advisors at the University of Arkansas.
Source: BET Networks
8 comments:
Good for TJ and another talent heads for the hills from CNN.
When will CNN look at the talent they already have, and not forever be in search of new talent they don't need, like Erin Burnett.
Oh she's doing really well.
Her last rating was in the 400's, just like Campbell Brown.
And why, because she should be doing ONLY finance journalism.
That's what she was hired to do.
Not talk about everything that hits the fan.
TJ may have felt that he wasn't getting the support he needed at CNN in order to expand and grow as a reporter/anchor. He may have seen the writing on the wall. I'm sure BET will make sure he has a chance to shine in a way he couldn't at CNN.
CNN does not need a finance show at 7 PM.
They need a show that is the right lead in
to prime time. Business networks don't get
big numbers each day.. You have to have a
Bloomberg West or the Nicole Lapin who
has a different approach to business news.
Still the hour has to be more news oriented.
Don't know how Anderson gets close to ED
in the demo with that much of a viewer gap.
It pays to have Rachel Maddow around to give
you a bump. On Monday , there was only a
difference of 38,000 at 8 . At 9, there was a
demo swing of more than 200,000 in the demo.
At some point PMT had to be way below 100
thousand in the demo to average only 103,000
in the demo. That means he got a bump from
360 at 10 with 625,000/173,000. 360 was
behind by 79,000 in the demo. Rachel Maddow
is the biggest headache for CNN. This can't
continue for CNN. Change has to come to
CNN for the 9 o'clock hour. Don't know if it
is Toure, Aisha Tyler, George Strombo or
whoever but something has to give. Sure this
is only one night in cable news. Larry King
was never this bad opposite Rachel Maddow.
With things going the way they are at 10 for
FNC, the hour is in play when it comes to the
demo. If CNN wants 360 to flip the hour in
CNN's favor they need a different show at 9.
CNN might be able to save Out Front by
bringing in some additional players to be
with her for the hour. Solo, viewers are just
not feeling Out Front. CNN has to realize that
when you gamble with personalities like
Burnett or Morgan solo for an hour they
need to connect with viewers. Clearly, CNN
viewers don't like spending time with either
of them. Out Front & PMT are so not working
for CNN.
There is a much bigger story here with TJ Holmes.
Viacom owns BET,MTV, VH 1, Comedy Central. He
is in the company of some good shows and will
have ties to CBS. VH 1 has a morning show that
comes on at 9 called Morning Buzz, I don't think
for 1 second that he is just going to be on BET.
There is also Centric. Viacom is going for a news
show for young/tech/mobile news junkies They
see there is a huge opening that the 24/7 networks
are too blind to see.Content, storytelling, multiple
platforms.
Great, good to see TJ is leaving TEAnn. If I hear
John King say historical terms for this election
one more time, I will scream. The only time to
compare this with is the Great Depression and
the current world we live. He keeps trying to
make this about 1980. Not true. The times we
now live have never occurred ever in the history
of mankind. The 21st century is not like the 20th
century. What happened in 2008 has nothing to
be compared to in historical terms. All at once
there was a banking collapse, China, India a
Eurozone and technology reshaping the world
economy, America's shrinking manufacturing
base, our outdated infrastructure, CNN fails to
put the news into perspective. CNN is a colossal
failure They get busted all of the time in social
media for right wing talking points. When Carol
Costello asks a question about Obama attacking
rich people, you know the fix is in and you know
were this comes from. They also need to realize
that when a pundit comes an CNN and makes
outrageous and lies in the face of viewers, CNN
gets the blame and not the individual. Put your
viewers 1st and stop chasing rhetoric and noise.
CNN o a daily basis fails to mention a Congress
that is so unpopular and tries to make it look
like Obama is so unpopular.CNN is disconnected
from people. Too close to the tea party.
Just this week in Laredo, Texas a mother went
into a welfare office,shot herself and 2 of her
children. She died and now her 12 year old
daughter has died. This 12 year old posted
this message on FB : may die 2day. CNN would
much rather play pundit games than report
real news Last week ABC talked with 2 kids
and a dad who live in a truck because he lost
his job. These kids are wise beyond their years
CNN nor their payroll pundits have a clue. The
only people they think are real are tea party.
CNN is not reporting the news.
That's why John King is losing to Al Sharpton .
John King/pundits go with an inside the beltway
mentality. Sharpton is actually better at showing
how things affect you. The worst political team
on TV is too involved in the Republican Circus.
John King is on record saying Romney would be
the next president. What is going on with Newt
shows how bad the CNN political team really
is at getting the big picture. They are clueless.
Maybe if they would actually report on what
is happening instead of trying to control the
narrative things would be better.
I have observed several posts on this personnel change in various links on the web. Lots of criticism of CNN and their inability to "get it". I totally agree, and I have little hope for it to change. I recognize that I am in the minority when commenting on T.J.'s talents. For me, he was just too cheesy. Lots of similarities with Rick Sanchez. There were instances where he demonstrated that he could deliver the news quite professionally, but for me, these were rare. A good example is/was his lead-in to Candy Crowley's 9EST Sunday Show......it became almost cringe-worthy........so much so that I noted that for the past few weeks, there has been no live interaction. I suppose I am just an old fossil who longs for the days of Lou Waters, Heidi Collins, or Susan Rook.
TJ is nothing like Rick Sanchez. No one else
in the history of cable news was ever that
cheesy.CNN is going have a very hard time
attracting some of the best talent. CNN will
never get Toure, Aisha Tyler or Strombo. If
so many are jumping ship, you know there
are too many problems.
CNN's reporting was once on the level of ABC,
NBC & CBS. Once regarded as the 4th network
for news. There are always problems with Drew
Griffin. 482 million for medical research and
development is nothing. I noticed on Facebook
360 was being taken to task for accusing the
Obama Administration. They called the report
what it was, misleading. What has happened to
CNN ? You just can't make stuff up. 360 will be
low-rated when the ratings come out later
today. There is also a joke about CNN making
the rounds. The saying goes : it's on CNN so
it must be true. It is code that CNN is factually
challenged. The Griffin segment last night on
360 is the type of thing that can destroy 360
permanently. Fran Townsend gave Drew
Griffin a classic go back to journalism school
beat down. Embarrassing. 360 actually ended
up making Drew Griffin dishonest and being
a really bad investigative journalist. You could
tell by the look on his face that Drew Griffin
knew his report was bogus.
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