ViacomCBS: Nickelodeon to Revive ‘Nick News’ Specials
Variety: Nickelodeon is bringing back “Nick News” for an hour-long special about children, race and unity. The special will be hosted by Alicia Keys and is meant to amplify the voices and experiences of Black kids across the...
Charter Wants to Start Charging Fees to Video Streamers
Ars Technica: Charter Communications has asked federal regulators for permission to impose data caps on broadband users and to seek interconnection payments from large online video providers, starting next year....
Amazon Looks to Add Live TV Programming to Prime Video
Protocol: Amazon is looking to add 24/7 live programming to its Prime Video service, according to job listings posted over the past several weeks. The new channels could include live news, music and sports, as well as scheduled movies and TV...
Twitter Gives US Workers Day Off to Vote on Election Day
Associated Press: Twitter said it will give its US employees Election Day off going forward and employees around the world paid time off to vote in national elections. The US is a bit of an outlier among industrial democracies in holding elections on a...
Apple, Google Condemn Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
CNBC: Tech leaders have criticized President Trump’s latest immigration crackdown on the visa programs that their companies rely on to employ thousands of staff. Google’s Sundar Pichai and YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki were quick to condemn the...
News Corp’s Murdoch Set to Win Big War Against Google
Bloomberg: Rupert Murdoch is on the cusp of his biggest win yet in his war against Google: a Justice Department antitrust lawsuit against the internet giant. Media companies have long griped about Google's dominance of the digital advertising...
Conde Nast Unveils New Influence Plan, Podcast Network
Deadline: Conde Nast introduced several new offerings for advertisers in a virtual NewFronts presentation. The media company announced a new content offering called The Influence Network, a branded podcast network, and...
American Media Lands Deal to Stay Afloat as Sales Plunge
New York Post: American Media Inc. lenders have thrown the cash-strapped owner of the National Enquirer, US Weekly and OK! a financial lifeline to help it survive a sales slump brought on by the coronavirus...
Forbes Exec to Take New Role for Strategies on Inclusion
MediaPost: Forbes has named Sade Muhammad director of representation and inclusion partnerships, a new role to work with marketers and brands on campaigns and strategies that advocate and drive systemic change around diversity, equity and...
Bauer to Close UK Magazines ‘Unsustainable’ After Covid
Press Gazette: Bauer is closing a number of titles as part of a review to “protect the long-term health” of the business. Music title Planet Rock, “true-life” magazine Simply You, and Practical Photography will all publish their final issues in July....
New York Times Lays Off 68 Staffers, Mostly in Advertising
Axios: The New York Times has laid off 68 people, mostly on its advertising team, the company said in an internal memo to employees. There were no layoffs in the company's newsroom or opinion...
Los Angeles Times Black Journalists Push to Fix Inequities
TheWrap: The Los Angeles Times Guild's Black Caucus sent a letter to the newspaper's leadership, outlining the lack of Black journalists in the newsroom, the experiences of those journalists who are Black and demands to help rectify the...
Media Giants Face Pressure to Hire Black Staffers in News
Los Angeles Times: More than 320 scholars and practitioners in media signed a letter sent to six CEOs of television news networks, including NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN and PBS, calling out systemic racism within the organizations. It calls for the companies to hire more Black...
Apple CEO Speaks About Black Lives Matter, Coronavirus
CNET: Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off this year's Worldwide Developers Conference addressing two major events affecting the world at the moment: the Black Lives Matter movement and the worldwide conronavirus pandemic. It's time for the US to "aim higher to build a...
Netflix Shares Surge as Coronavirus Pandemic Continues
MarketWatch: Shares of Netflix rallied Monday, putting them on track for a record close. The streaming video company, which has been benefiting from shelter-at-home orders during the Covid-19 pandemic, could be getting a renewed lift from data showing that half of US...
ViacomCBS’s ‘SpongeBob’ Snubs Theaters for Streaming
Variety: "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run," Paramount and Nickelodeon’s animated adventure based on the absorbent underwater fry cook, is skipping its planned theatrical debut. It will instead launch on premium digital rental services in early 2021 before...
Disney’s Streaming-Wars Strategy for Hulu: Less is More
Vanity Fair: When Hulu launched its subscription service a decade ago, it wasn’t expecting to become the sexier, R-rated sibling of Disney+. But in the past six months, Hulu has had a remarkable run of provocative originals like "The Great," "Normal People," "High...
Comcast’s Sky Adds Disclaimer to ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’
Variety: Sky, the Comcast-backed pay-TV broadcaster in the UK, has added "outdated attitudes" disclaimers to a batch of films, including the original animated "Jungle Book," "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "The Last Samurai." Altogether, some 16 films on Sky Cinema now...
ViacomCBS, Fox Corp Return to Morning TV Show Studios
Associated Press: The morning team on "Fox & Friends" returned for the first time Monday to the Manhattan studio vacated in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. A few blocks west, there was a similar welcome for two-thirds of the "CBS This Morning" hosts....
Fox Corp Enjoys Saturday Ratings Record for Trump Rally
Mediaite: A record number of people tuned into Fox News's coverage of President Trump's rally in Tulsa. The network had its most Saturday viewers in its history during the prime time slot and landed over 7.6 million viewers between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST., according...
Spotify’s The Ringer Faces Backlash for Lack of Diversity
New York Times: An episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, one of The Ringer's most popular shows, provoked a backlash from staff members. A frequent guest, who is white, spoke on the podcast about racism protests, describing "looters" who were "breaking into sneaker...
Facebook Eyes Neiman Space for Offices at Hudson Yards
WWD: Facebook is in talks to take over the Neiman Marcus space at Hudson Yards. "Neiman's wants out. Hudson Yards wants them out. They are figuring out an exit agreement," said one source. Facebook has already leased more than 1.5 million square feet of office space...
Snap Sees Departure of Exec Overseeing Snapchat News
Business Insider: Xana O'Neill, the executive producer of news at Snap, is no longer with the company. In that role, O'Neill was a member of the news division and oversaw Snapchat's news content, including shows and partnerships with news outlets on its Discover...
WPP: Digital Ad Market to Eclipse Old Media for First Time
Financial Times: Digital advertising on platforms such as Google and Facebook is set this year to overtake spending on traditional media for the first time, a historic shift in market share that has been accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, according to Group M,...
Google Likely to See Ads Drop as Facebook, Amazon Gain
MarketWatch: Analysts at eMarketer have predicted that Google will see its US advertising revenue contract this year, from $39.58 billion from $41.8 billion. They still see growth for Facebook and Amazon, however. Facebook will climb to $31.43 billion from $29.95...
Facebook Ad Boycott Grows in Support of ‘Stopping Hate’
CNBC: Patagonia has joined companies like REI and The North Face, saying it plans to pause advertising on Facebook and Instagram to show support for a movement called ”#StopHateForProfit.” Last week, a group of six organizations called on Facebook advertisers to pause...
Vice Media Among Publishers Facing Skittish Advertisers
Adweek: The New York Times, Variety, Bon Appetit and Refinery29 are among the publications that experienced backlash from staffers on social media. And that could lead advertisers to rethink where they spend in an already hyperconscious environment of brand...
Conde Nast Hopes to Woo Advertisers Amid Controversy
Business of Fashion: Conde Nast's annual NewFront presentation is a crucial moment for the publishing giant to bring in ad revenue for the year. The company is facing a double whammy as it seeks to navigate the tumultuous financial climate and mounting criticism of...
Gannett Fires Manager Over Anti-Muslim Ad in Newspaper
Tennessean: The Tennessean and its parent company Gannett announced that an advertising manager was fired after the news organization published an anti-Muslim advertisement. Gannett will donate the $14,000 value of the ad sale to the American Muslim Advisory Council,...
New York Times Pushes Back Return to Office to January
WWD: The New York Times has informed staffers that the majority won't be required to return to the office until at least January. Previously, the publisher had said staff may be able to start returning in September. The exceptions are a few whose physical presence in...