ViacomCBS CEO Begins Slashing Jobs in Post-Merger Layoffs
Fox Business: ViacomCBS kicked off post-merger layoffs this week, in advertising, distribution and sales, reports Charlie Gasparino of Fox Business. “Probably in the next six months or so we’re talking hundreds of cuts; longer term, much more than...
Disney Heiress: Company Workers at Risk of a ‘Death Spiral’
MarketWatch: Abigail Disney is supporting a bill in California that would increases taxes on companies depending on the gap between their highest paid execs and the rest of the workforce. "At the happiest place on Earth, they are paid so poorly that they rely on food...
iHeartMedia Rehires Laid Off Staffers in Iowa After Backlash
WHO-TV: KXNO in Des Moines re-hired all six of the on-air employees who were released this week amid widespread layoffs by radio-station owner iHeartMedia. Station manager Joel McCrea says he noticed an angry reaction to the layoffs from thousands of listeners in...
Comcast Plans Free, Pay Options for New Streamer Peacock
CNBC: NBCUniversal unveiled its Peacock streaming service to investors Thursday, highlighted by a free-for-all version that stands out in an increasingly crowded online video market. It launches in the U.S. on July...
Discovery Says Magnolia Cable Network to Debut in October
Associated Press: Chip and Joanna Gaines’ new Magnolia cable network will debut Oct. 4, with a dozen shows currently in production. It’s a joint venture with Discovery, whose president told a TV critics meeting that the “Fixer Upper” couple will appear in multiple...
Fox Turns to TMZ to Produce TV Special on Megxit Scandal
Fox Business: Meghan Markle, the former co-star of "Suits," will be back on television sooner than she might have expected. Fox will air a one-hour special about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex called “Harry and Meghan: The Royals in...
DAZN Hopes for Boxing Match with Football, YouTube Stars
TMZ: Antonio Brown and Logan Paul are in serious negotiations with DAZN and Matchroom Boxing to put on a fight in April. Brown is still not under contract with an NFL team -- and Paul is looking for another high-profile fight after the KSI...
Netflix Offers ‘Netflix & Chill’d’ Ice Cream with Ben & Jerry’s
CNET: The expression "Netflix and Chill," a term that's become a cover phrase for getting romantic with a companion, is a couple of years old. But this week, Ben & Jerry's announced that it's partnered up with the streaming service to introduce a related ice...
Alphabet Joins Apple, Microsoft in $1 Trillion Valuation Club
Bloomberg: Alphabet hit a milestone on Thursday, as a rally in the stock took it above a $1 trillion valuation for the first time, solidifying the dominance of tech and internet stocks as the biggest titans of Wall Street. With the gain, Alphabet became the newest...
Google’s YouTube Runs Brand Ads on Misinformation Videos
NBC News: Greenpeace is not happy that its advertisements were found on YouTube videos featuring climate change denialism and misinformation. The environmental nonprofit called on YouTube to make changes to how it handles...
Twitter Apologies for Ads Targeting Neo-Nazis, Hate Groups
BBC News: Twitter has apologized for allowing advertisements to be micro-targeted at certain users such as neo-Nazis, homophobes and other hate groups. An investigation found it possible to target users who had shown an interest in keywords including "white...
Facebook Retreats from New Effort to Sell Ads in WhatsApp
Wall Street Journal: Facebook is backing away from efforts to sell ads in WhatsApp, in a retreat from a controversial plan that drove the creators of the popular messaging service to resign more than 18 months ago. WhatsApp has disbanded a team to integrate...
News Corp, Conde Nast Talk in Ongoing US Probe of Google
Bloomberg Law: The U.S. Justice Department is meeting with large publishing companies to seek information about how Google operates in the digital advertising market The agency has already contacted News Corp., Conde Nast and the New York...
Barnes & Noble Sees Magazines Becoming Luxury Products
Mr Magazine: "The evolution that has already started to take place within publishing will continue," says Krifka Steffey, the director of merchandising for the newsstand at Barnes and Noble. "And that evolution is moving, certainly, toward magazines becoming more of...
Hearst to Eye Contenders for New Editor of Harper’s Bazaar
WWD: With the news of Glenda Bailey’s departure from Harper’s Bazaar after just shy of 20 years as editor in chief, three names have been mentioned as among those most likely to be her successor. Kristina O’Neill is one, Stella Bugbee is another, as is Joyann...
Conde Nast Hires Staffers for Media Reporting at Vanity Fair
Axios: Michael Calderone is joining Vanity Fair as senior editor of The Hive, a franchise within the company that focuses on covering business, technology and media. Calderone comes from Politico, where he is currently senior media...
Valence Media Sells Off Music Publications Spin, Stereogum
Digital Music News: Billboard parent company Valence Media is suddenly selling off Spin and Stereogum. The move comes just three years after acquiring both music publications. Spin is going to Next Management Partners, a private equity...
A Starting Point Political Website Coming from Chris Evans
Wired: Chris Evans, the actor best known for his role as Captain America, plans to launch A Starting Point, a website aiming to “create informed, responsible and empathetic citizens.” At the very least, Evans hopes to “get more people involved” in...
Comcast’s Peacock to Look More Like Cable TV Than Netflix
The Information: On Thursday, Comcast’s NBCUniversal becomes the fourth company in less than a year to unveil a video-streaming service to compete with Netflix. But NBCU is taking a very different approach to its service, Peacock, than Disney, Apple and WarnerMedia,...
Netflix Denies Accusation of Moving Money Into Tax Havens
Deadline: Netflix has been accused of funneling as much as $430 million of its international profits into tax havens, while at the same time receiving more than $1 million in tax relief in the UK. A report by British think-tank Tax Watch said that “Netflix has...
AT&T’s HBO Max ‘Friends’ Reunion Hits Pause Over Money
Deadline: The "Friends" cast months ago started talks for an unscripted reunion special on the upcoming streaming platform HBO Max. The negotiations recently came to a standstill, with the cast and producing studio Warner Bros. TV far apart on...
Disney’s Hulu at Work to Let Users Interact with Advertisers
TechCrunch: Hulu is preparing to roll out new forms of advertising this year — one which will allow viewers to have more say in the ads that play, and another that lets the viewer engage with brands, either by getting information sent to their mobile phones or by...
AT&T, Comcast Studios Team on New Effort to Revive DVDs
Los Angeles Times: The market for DVD and Blu-ray discs has been on life support for years, as streaming has become the technology of choice. But studios aren’t ready to give up just yet. Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. have proposed a plan to stay in the...
ViacomCBS Shuffles Executive Team Under Ad Sales Chief
Deadline: About a month and a half after the close of the Viacom-CBS merger, the combined company has finalized the roster of advertising sales executives reporting up to Jo Ann Ross. Last October, Ross was confirmed as the head of sales for the combined...
CBS Shareholder Lawsuit to Continue on Moonves Remarks
Fox Business: A federal judge threw out most of the claims a group of shareholders brought against CBS, but declined to toss out the entire case because of comments its former longtime executive Les Moonves made that may have been misleading....
Fox’s Murdoch Earns a Shoutout from Trump at Deal Signing
Mediaite: President Donald Trump gave a number of shoutouts during his event Wednesday on the signing of the China trade deal, including none other than Rupert Murdoch. As he was shouting out people in the room, Trump remarked, “Where’s Rupert? Is Rupert not...
Nexstar’s WGN to Rival CNN, Fox News with ‘Unbiased’ News
WGN: WGN America will launch a live primetime national newscast that will be based out of WGN-TV in Chicago. The three-hour nightly newscast called "News Nation" will air from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. — and will debut this summer. "News Nation" will "emphasize breaking news...
Comcast Launches Startup Accelerator with Focus on Sports
Wall Street Journal: Comcast is funding a new startup accelerator in a bid to connect its media properties and sports league partners with emerging marketing, media and technology companies. Comcast will initially invest more than $15 million annually in the...
TikTok Attracts More Users’ Time Than Amazon Prime Video
Ad Age: TikTok saw explosive growth in the U.S. in 2019, growing 375 percent year-over-year in terms of time spent on the platform, according to App Annie’s State of Mobile report. U.S. consumers spent some 85 million hours on TikTok in 2019, up from 15 million last...
Bezos’s Washington Post Braces for Top Editor’s Retirement
Daily Beast: Is Marty Baron, the storied executive editor of the Washington Post, preparing to step down? The rumor of his impending departure, either late this year or in early 2021, has been circulating for months, prompting speculation about who might succeed...