Warner Bros. Discovery opened its upfront on Wednesday with a tribute to Ted Turner, the NCS founder and media pioneer who died final week.
After a clip of Turner’s speech on the launch of NCS in 1980, Anderson Cooper took the stage and instructed the viewers that he was “a bold visionary with an unrivaled work ethic.”
“He believed in the value of people’s access to information, and he built a company that has impacted not only everyone in this room, but anyone who has ever watched television,” Cooper stated. “The legacy that he built continues to inspire this industry every day, and it will for years to come. So before we start today’s presentation. I just wanted to leave you with this famous Ted saying, which feels appropriate for today: “Early to bed, early to rise. Work like hell, and advertise.”
Later, Cooper reappeared on stage for NCS’s portion of the upfront presentation, joined by Kaitlan Collins and Abby Phillip. Among the bulletins was the launch this week of a NCS Weather app, plans for a standalone vertical product centered on wellness and the worldwide rollout of its All Access subscription service later this yr. Collins additionally famous a revamped NCS Business and enlargement of dwell occasions.
Craig Ferguson additionally appeared on stage, to preview the NCS Originals slate That included his new collection Craig Ferguson: American on Purpose, premiering on May 30. Among different issues, he riffed on Cooper’s hair versus his personal hair. “My hair, it’s Kennedy hair. You know what I’m saying? It’s think. It’s rich, but that’s what it is. But Anderson’s hair, that’s Vanderbilt hair…That hair conditions itself as he is moving around. As you are watching him in war zones his hair is still conditioned.”