AT&T’s WarnerMedia Scores New Deal with Shaquille O’Neal
Variety: Shaquille ONeal's new deal with WarnerMedia will have him analyzing NBA games, but it could also put him in Times Square on New Year's Eve. The AT&T-owned company said that it struck a deal with the celebrated basketball analyst that will extend his reach...
ViacomCBS Sees Performers Pull Out of MTV Music Awards
Associated Press: Grammy-winning rapper Roddy Ricch and Colombian superstar J Balvin will no longer perform at the MTV Video Music Awards. "Due to COVID compliance issues at the last minute we had to call off the performance." The MTV VMAs will air on Sunday at 8 p.m....
iHeartMedia Cancels Music Awards, Shifts Unveil to Radio
Radio Online: The winners of the 2020 iHeartRadio Music Awards will be revealed for the first time on-air throughout Labor Day weekend on iHeartRadio stations nationwide. This year's live awards show, originally scheduled to air from the Shrine Auditorium in Los...
Comcast’s CNBC Says ‘Shepard Smith’ Premieres Sept 30
TheHill: Ex-Fox News anchor Shepard Smith will debut his new program on CNBC on Sept. 30, the network has announced. "The News with Shepard Smith" will air in prime time at 7 p.m., with repeats at midnight and at 4 a.m. Smith joined CNBC in July after working for 23...
BBC Outgoing Chief Calls for Global Expansion in Address
Financial Times: The outgoing BBC director-general, speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, called for funds for the service to reach a billion people, in a valedictory address casting public broadcasting as "the magic formula" for success in a...
Google, Facebook Get Trump Ad Bump During GOP Confab
Axios: The Trump campaign is going all in on digital advertising for the Republican National Convention, with plans to again take over the YouTube masthead and flood Facebook, Google and streaming services like Hulu with pro-Trump...
ByteDance’s TikTok Sues Trump Over Pending Order to Ban
Associated Press: TikTok is suing the Trump administration over its efforts to ban the popular Chinese-owned service over national-security concerns. TikTok insisted that the government is acting to “further the president’s anti-China political...
Amazon’s Audible Offers Cheaper Service Led by Celebrities
Bloomberg: Audible is rolling out a cheaper version of its popular audiobook service that includes original series from Hollywood talent, part of a drive to go beyond books and win over podcast listeners. Audible Plus will cost $7.95 a month, about half the price of...
Conde Nast Gets Mixed Reaction from September Vanity Fair
USA Today: This latest Breonna Taylor cover comes as multiple major magazines, owned and staffed largely by white people, have moved to look more closely at the Black experience in America and at why they've alternately ignored it or appropriated it over the last 100...
News Corp Secures Major Settlement for Wall Street Journal
Bloomberg: Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, said it is getting $140,000 in settlement of a copyright-infringement dispute with the libertarian financial website Zero Hedge. Without permission, Zero Hedge allegedly posted 37 editorials and articles from...
Chicago Sun-Times Plots Layoffs to Survive Post-Pandemic
Robert Feder: Employees are bracing for layoffs at the Sun-Times following an all-staff virtual meeting with CEO Nykia Wright. An analysis of the company’s workforce will determine "a limited number of strategic staff reductions," Wright said, although none will...
Vox Media Doubles Podcast Coverage at New York’s Vulture
MediaPost: Vulture is doubling its coverage of podcasts.The New York magazine entertainment vertical is adding a new, weekly recommendations newsletter from podcast critic Nick Quah called "1.5x Speed," which launches August 26. Quah is also the creator of the "Hot...
BuzzFeed Reaches Deal to Continue Publishing in Germany
Der Standard: The German offshoot of BuzzFeed will continue to publish under the umbrella of Ippen Digital. "All employees keep their jobs," said BuzzFeed Deutschland editor Daniel Drepper. Since April, "more than three dozen publishers, investors and individuals"...
Americans Return to the Movies Despite Ongoing Pandemic
Financial Times: "Unhinged," the first major US film since the pandemic, has attracted more than $4 million in box office sales, a tentative sign Americans are ready to return to theaters after a five-month hiatus. "I hope there aren't any viral videos of people...
ViacomCBS to Broadcast MTV Music Awards for First Time
Deadline: For the first time in the 36-year history of MTV’s Video Music Awards, the show will air live on a broadcast network. The 2020 VMAs will simulcast on the CW. The network joins 11 ViacomCBS brands that also will carry the show live alongside MTV at 8 pm ET...
Discovery, Murdoch to Team on News Channel, Tweet Says
Media Mole: Discovery and Rupert Murdoch are said to be teaming up on a new UK news channel to launch in 2021, according to a tweet by Kelvin MacKenzie, a former editor of Murdoch's UK tabloid the Sun. "Andrew Neil and Nigel Farage due to sign. Taking on the quite...
Fox Corp’s News Channel Staffers Privately Express Unease
Associated Press: Several people at Fox News privately expressed worries about the growing power of prime-time opinion hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham at the expense of Fox's news operation. "There is a real resistance inside Fox...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Recreates Confabs with DC FanDome
CNET: DC FanDome's first half has come and gone, and revealed some spectacular new footage, including from "The Batman," "Wonder Woman 1984" and "The Justice League Snyder Cut." The second part of DC Fandome follows on Sept. 12. The event is aimed at fans of DC...
Netflix Struggles to Find the Right Formula for Talk Shows
TheStreet: Netflix can't do everything -- and some say, based on a pattern of cancellations, that the streaming giant is falling behind in the talk show genre. Netflix typically does not release information about its viewership, but one way to tell what's working or...
Facebook CEO Stokes Fears in Washington About TikTok
Wall Street Journal: When Mark Zuckerberg delivered a speech about freedom of expression in Washington, D.C., last fall, there was also another agenda: to raise the alarm about the threat from Chinese tech companies and, more specifically, the popular video-sharing...
Amazon CEO Adds First Black Woman to Elite Inner Circle
Fast Company: Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon’s vice president of global customer fulfillment, has become the fourth female and first Black member to join the gilded ranks of the company’s senior team, aka the S-team. Davis joined Amazon in 2019 after serving as GM’s head...
Twitter CEO Donates $10 Million to Anti-Racism Research
Business Insider: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced via tweet a $10 million donation to Boston University's Center for Antiracist Research, which was founded by best-selling author and thought leader Ibram X Kendi. Dorsey made the gift through his charitable...
iHeartMedia Radio Fires News Host After ‘Colored’ Remark
Plain Dealer: WTAM in Cleveland, Ohio, fired an anchor who referred to Sen. Kamala Harris as the nation’s “first colored vice presidential candidate” in a news promo. “We are aware of the reference made on WTAM by Kyle Cornell. We take this matter very seriously and...
Verizon-Hearst’s Complex Appoints New Execs After Probe
Business Insider: Complex Networks named two new department heads amid a reckoning over allegations of unfair treatment of employees. The company has named Krystle Douglas as head of HR and Aia Adriano as head of social media....
American Media CEO-Trump Ally to Depart in Merger Deal
New York Post: David Pecker, whose reign as the owner of the National Enquirer got mired in scandals over “catch and kill” for President Trump — has stepped down as CEO of the supermarket tabloid’s owner as part of a merger deal arranged by Chatham Asset...
Hearst Eyes Skyscraper for San Francisco Parking Garage
SocketSite: Plans to raze the 11-story Hearst Parking Center complex in San Francisco are in the works. As envisioned, a 52-story tower would rise up to 600 feet in height upon the site, with 354 units of housing over a 313-room hotel, 49,990 square feet of office...
Conde Nast to Ignite ‘Great Fire’ with September Vanity Fair
CBS News: Vanity Fair's special September issue, guest edited by Ta-Nehisi Coates, is called "The Great Fire." It features contributors of color on almost every page. The cover is a portrait of Breonna Taylor, the young Louisville woman who was shot and killed by...
Maven Tells Sports Illustrated Publishers to Delete Tweets
Awful Announcing: After laying off several publishers of Sports Illustrated team channel sites, a Maven exec texted at least two of those writer/publishers and asked them to take down their tweets: "We are still paying you and are asking you delete...
News Corp Signs Up ‘Renaissance Man’ for New York Post
MediaPost: The New York Post announced a multiplatform partnership with former NBA player Jalen Rose that spans a weekly column, video and podcast series called “The Renaissance Man.” It’s the first content partnership of this kind for the...
G/O Media Veterans Ready for September Debut of Defector
Adweek: Defector Media, an online publication with an editorial team made up of 18 former Deadspin writers and editors, is entering a crowded field of publishers looking to drive subscriptions. "Ad-supported models are in unstable economic...