New ’60 Minutes’ head Nick Bilton says Paramount hired him to pivot the show before ratings decline

Paramount Skydance’s CBS Information has hired Nick Bilton as the new government producer of “60 Minutes,” ushering in a brand new period for the No. 1 rated information broadcast for the previous 52 years.

Bilton replaces Tanya Simon as the show’s government producer. Simon had spent greater than 30 years at “60 Minutes.” In distinction, Bilton has no expertise operating a TV information show.

Bilton is a former New York Instances know-how columnist and has made a number of documentaries for HBO and Netflix.

One in all Bilton’s largest preliminary challenges shall be successful over CBS Information workers who consider lots of the adjustments being carried out in the newsroom are politically motivated.

Skydance and Paramount merged final yr, placing new management answerable for CBS and different Paramount properties together with the storied movie studio and extra nascent streaming enterprise. Paramount Skydance Chief Government Officer David Ellison is now making an attempt to merge Paramount with Warner Bros. Discovery, and he wants the Trump administration’s regulatory approval to full the deal.

In 2024, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump sued “60 Minutes,” alleging the program deceptively edited an interview together with his opponent, Kamala Harris. Paramount settled the lawsuit for $16 million, which irked some veteran “60 Minutes” workers, together with longtime correspondent Scott Pelley. One other notable anchor, Anderson Cooper, introduced he was leaving the show earlier this month.

Bilton mentioned in a cellphone interview on Thursday that he is dedicated to demonstrating his hiring is not a political maneuver.

“I’ll show it with the work,” Bilton mentioned. “I am devoted to holding individuals in energy to account.”

The “60 Minutes” change is the newest main programming shakeup by CBS, which earlier this month aired its final episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” after 11 seasons, having declined to renew the show.

Bilton mentioned Weiss is bringing him in now, whereas “60 Minutes” ratings are nonetheless rising — up 9% from the yr prior, in accordance to Nielsen — to pivot the show before it is too late.

“It is nonetheless the No. 1 information broadcast in America. However historical past tells you disruption does not occur instantly when new know-how comes alongside — it is normally a number of years later,” Bilton mentioned. “We’re on the precipice of this occurring to broadcast TV. What was the greatest yr of gross sales for Nokia? It was 2008, one yr after the iPhone got here out. Blogs got here out in 1997-98. The New York Instances had its greatest yr of gross sales in 1999.”

Bilton declined to reveal how he plans to disrupt the show, although he mentioned it will not be an entire overhaul. He mentioned he desires to meet the workers of “60 Minutes” before revealing his plan “in a number of weeks.”