WEBVTT 00:00:01.251 --> 00:00:02.627 Byron, welcome. 00:00:02.627 --> 00:00:04.546 You have so much experience in this field. 00:00:04.546 --> 00:00:07.549 Where do you see the future of mass media headed? 00:00:07.757 --> 00:00:08.842 Oh, I think this is 00:00:08.842 --> 00:00:12.846 a phenomenal time right now, because I look back at 100 years ago, 00:00:12.929 --> 00:00:18.184 it was the Industrial Revolution, and what fueled that was gas and oil. 00:00:18.268 --> 00:00:22.439 And today, 100 years later, it's the digital revolution. 00:00:22.522 --> 00:00:24.482 And what's fueling that is content. 00:00:24.482 --> 00:00:26.901 And we will never have enough content 00:00:26.901 --> 00:00:30.030 as we're out there trying to feed an insatiable appetite 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:34.409 and more than 4 billion connected devices around the world. 00:00:34.492 --> 00:00:36.411 This is really exciting. 00:00:36.411 --> 00:00:37.454 I love it. 00:00:37.454 --> 00:00:40.707 And I can't think of a better time than to be in media. 00:00:40.915 --> 00:00:42.542 And it's in its infancy. 00:00:42.542 --> 00:00:47.964 It really is, because we're now making that transition where we're adding more 00:00:47.964 --> 00:00:52.886 texture to the landscape, where it isn't just linear, it's linear and digital. 00:00:52.886 --> 00:00:54.179 And I don't think it's either or. 00:00:54.179 --> 00:00:55.305 It's never either or. 00:00:55.305 --> 00:00:59.392 Instead, if you look at the movie industry, right, so you have the movie 00:00:59.392 --> 00:01:00.477 industries, you make them 00:01:00.477 --> 00:01:03.188 movie industry, you make the movies, and then here comes radio, 00:01:03.188 --> 00:01:05.565 and then they say, “Oh, well, radio is going to get rid of movies.” 00:01:05.565 --> 00:01:07.400 And it was like no, no, no. It became additive. 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:09.527 And then it was like, Oh, TV came along. 00:01:09.527 --> 00:01:10.403 Oh, that's it. 00:01:10.403 --> 00:01:11.196 That's a wrap. 00:01:11.196 --> 00:01:13.948 Goodbye. Movies, Goodbye radio. We have TV. No. 00:01:13.948 --> 00:01:15.283 It became additive. 00:01:15.283 --> 00:01:16.659 Everything makes it better. 00:01:16.659 --> 00:01:18.578 Here's VHS, here's cable. 00:01:18.578 --> 00:01:22.123 All of it just made everything bigger and better, and it’s the same thing with streaming. 00:01:22.332 --> 00:01:26.086 But at the end of the day, human beings want to connect. 00:01:26.169 --> 00:01:28.671 They want to hear great stories. They want to tell their stories. 00:01:28.671 --> 00:01:31.341 They want to be heard. They want to feel relevant. 00:01:31.341 --> 00:01:35.720 And at the end of the day, you will never, ever be able to feed 00:01:35.720 --> 00:01:40.058 that insatiable appetite of content, content, and more content. 00:01:40.141 --> 00:01:42.602 It's so great to hear you say that because as someone in the media, 00:01:42.602 --> 00:01:47.148 we hear all the time about AI, Gen AI it's going to take jobs. 00:01:47.190 --> 00:01:50.527 It's going to disrupt in a negative way. 00:01:50.527 --> 00:01:51.903 It's not just very nice to hear you say that 00:01:51.903 --> 00:01:54.072 this is an exciting time for mass media. 00:01:54.072 --> 00:01:56.407 Well, listen, AI will be a part of our landscape, 00:01:56.407 --> 00:02:00.161 but AI think what will happen with AI is it's going to be regulated 00:02:00.245 --> 00:02:04.124 because you can't let something become smarter than you 00:02:04.207 --> 00:02:07.210 and then all of a sudden you go, “Wow, how did we let that happen?” 00:02:07.293 --> 00:02:09.629 You know, so I think it's going to be regulated. 00:02:09.629 --> 00:02:11.840 I think it's going to make us better. 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:15.093 It's going to give us the tools we need to improve what we do. 00:02:15.135 --> 00:02:16.845 So I don't think we should be afraid of it. 00:02:16.845 --> 00:02:19.389 We just need to... 00:02:19.389 --> 00:02:21.057 Albert Einstein said it best. 00:02:21.057 --> 00:02:24.435 The very definition of intelligent life is life that can adapt. 00:02:24.519 --> 00:02:26.771 We have to adapt. We have to grow. 00:02:26.771 --> 00:02:31.818 We have to use AI, but use it in a way where it is helping us and not hurting us. 00:02:31.818 --> 00:02:33.611 And I think that's very possible. 00:02:33.611 --> 00:02:36.531 Where are you putting your focus at the moment? 00:02:36.531 --> 00:02:39.993 Right now we're just having fun building the world's biggest media company, 00:02:40.034 --> 00:02:43.037 and I'm a firm believer in local news. 00:02:43.288 --> 00:02:48.251 Over the last several years, we've invested over $1 billion buying... 00:02:48.251 --> 00:02:52.797 Listen, I don't think people will ever wake up one day and not want local news. 00:02:52.881 --> 00:02:53.506 You need it. 00:02:53.506 --> 00:02:54.799 It's a matter of survival. 00:02:54.799 --> 00:02:56.843 I mean, look what happened with the pandemic. 00:02:56.843 --> 00:03:01.306 You know, in some cases, our local news had 90% of the market share. 00:03:01.431 --> 00:03:06.102 If people had their television sets on, 90% of them were watching our local news 00:03:06.102 --> 00:03:08.730 because they needed to know what was going on with the pandemic. 00:03:08.730 --> 00:03:11.357 And so it's important. It's a matter of survival. 00:03:11.357 --> 00:03:15.361 Local news, weather, sports, traffic, you name it, and local sports 00:03:15.403 --> 00:03:18.156 that's big as well as national sports. 00:03:18.156 --> 00:03:19.282 You have to have it. 00:03:19.282 --> 00:03:24.621 We're never going to wake up one day and not want NFL football, 00:03:24.704 --> 00:03:27.707 college football, NBA basketball. 00:03:27.707 --> 00:03:29.500 It's a great business and I love it. 00:03:29.500 --> 00:03:34.672 Listen, ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX, the four networks came together 00:03:34.839 --> 00:03:40.595 and did a deal with the NFL for 10 billion a year for 11 consecutive years, 00:03:40.595 --> 00:03:44.974 $110 billion to have NFL rights. 00:03:45.058 --> 00:03:49.854 So we're going to have NFL football on our local TV stations 00:03:49.938 --> 00:03:51.648 out to 2033. 00:03:51.648 --> 00:03:55.652 I'm not losing any sleep over local TV stations.