ViacomCBS to Streamline Operations Under Three Key Execs
Variety: The biggest change to come from the reunion of Viacom and CBS is that the company is streamlining all advertising sales, content licensing and distribution activities under three key revenue-generating leaders: Ann Ross, Armando Nunez and Ray...
Comcast Promotes Customer Service Czar to Product Officer
Multichannel News: Comcast top customer service exec Charlie Herri has been promoted to chief product officer and has been put in charge of the operator's newly combined customer service and product & technology groups. Chief technology officer Matt Zelesko will...
Fox Shakes Up Ad Sales Operations with Eye on Live Sports
Ad Age: Fox's ad sales leader Marianne Gambelli is firming up her team following the sale of 21st Century Fox assets to Disney. With live sports comprising a good chunk of remaining programming, the company is expanding its sports sales team with the addition of...
Discovery to Expand with Buy of Golf Channel Latin America
World Screen: Discovery has acquired the 24-hour pay-TV service Golf Channel Latin America from Simple Networks and Fornaluz Productions. The channel, operated by Latin American Golf, reaches 10 million subscribers across 17 markets. The acquisition expands...
CBS ’60 Minutes’ Producer Sues Over Gender Discrimination
Reuters: An associate producer on the CBS TV show “60 Minutes” filed a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination and retaliation by the company after she complained about inappropriate conduct by her boss. Cassandra Vinograd claimed that Michael Gavshon made her feel...
Fox Business Journalist Busted for Crack Pipe in Courthouse
New York Post: A Fox Business reporter was busted trying to sneak a glass crack pipe into the federal courthouse in downtown Manhattan. Lawrence Crook III was on his way into the courthouse to cover the Sprint/T-Mobile merger trial when a security officer noticed a...
Disney Streaming Viewers Say They Prefer Old Film Classics
Hollywood Reporter: A new survey of Disney+ subscribers suggests that the most-viewed content category on the platform isn't new originals but its library of vault classics like "The Lion King" and "Mary Poppins." Roughly 22 percent of Disney+ subscribers say they...
Comcast Mulls $10 Charge for Ad-Free Streaming of Peacock
The Information: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is considering charging $10 a month for an advertising-free version of its upcoming Peacock streaming video service. That would put Peacock between WarnerMedia’s HBO Max ($15 a month) and Disney’s new service Disney Plus ($6.99...
Netflix, Quibi Look Vulnerable in Streaming Wars, Study Says
Variety: A new report from Interpublic Group’s Magna media-research unit and IPG Media Lab predicts consumers will quickly consolidate their trust in “a small number of brands” rather than an expanding array of new players. The media industry “needs to take this...
Apple Hires Vox Media Marketer for Big Push Into Podcasting
Variety: Apple, by all appearances gearing up for a bigger push into podcasts, has hired Zach Kahn, formerly with Vox Media, to head public relations for Apple’s podcast business. Apple has been looking at bringing original podcasts exclusively to its...
Facebook CEO Advised by Theil to Not Vet Fake Political Ads
Wall Street Journal: Facebook’s leadership is increasingly divided over how to address criticism of the company’s effect on U.S. politics, with board member and billionaire investor Peter Thiel serving as an influential voice advising CEO Mark Zuckerberg not to bow...
Twitter CEO ‘Unfollows’ Facebook CEO in a Very Public Move
Mashable: When you're going to snub your corporate and philosophical rival, you might as well do it with a little flair. That seems to be the thinking of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who, on Dec. 17, not only unfollowed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter account, but...
Amazon Turns to AOL Veteran for New Chief Exec of Audible
Variety: Audible, the Amazon-owned seller and producer of audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment, hired media and publishing veteran Bob Carrigan as CEO. Don Katz, who founded Audible in 1995, will step out of the chief executive role to become executive...
Snap CEO Obtains French Citizenship Citing ‘Love of France’
Business Insider: Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Snap, has become French, according to a report in the French publication Les Echos. Though his naturalization actually took place in 2018, it wasn't revealed until this week. "Honestly, he loves France. He goes...
Hearst Hires Snap Veteran for Business Chief at Magazines
WWD: Hearst Magazines has tapped a Snap exec for its new chief business role. Kristen O’Hara has been named senior vice president and chief business officer, overseeing U.S. advertising sales and marketing at the media company’s magazines division. She’ll begin Jan....
Conde Nast Inks Deal to Let Advertisers ‘Take Over’ Videos
Business Insider: Conde Nast, which has positioned itself as a "video-first" business, has announced a deal with London-based startup Mirriad, which uses artificial intelligence to place ads and products into pre-existing videos. Brands will be able to "take over"...
Meredith Reverses Itself with Resurrection of Cooking Light
New York Post: Meredith is apparently going to resurrect another magazine by offering home delivery of Cooking Light starting next year. The mag last year saw its subscribers absorbed into Eating Well, which pushed that magazine’s circulation to a whopping 1.775...
Attention Capital in Deal to Buy Women’s Platform Girlboss
Fast Company: In late 2017, Sophia Amoruso launched Girlboss, a multifaceted platform that included events, a blog, a podcast and eventually a social network that was dubbed “LinkedIn for Women.” Two years later, Amoruso is selling the company to a new media holding...
G/O Media Remains in ‘Crisis’ After Staff Revolt at Deadspin
New York Post: G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller recently held the first all-hands meeting since a mass revolt at Deadspin crippled the site last month. But if a blistering memo released by the union on Tuesday is any indication, the meeting did not go...
New York Magazine Faces Big Lawsuit from Veteran of CBS
WWD: Former CBS correspondent Lara Logan wants a lot of payback for a five-year-old New York magazine story on her and a retracted “60 Minutes” report regarding 2012’s Benghazi attack. Logan sued the magazine and writer Joe Hagan, who wrote the May 2014...
Comcast Officially Names Shell as New CEO at NBCUniversal
CNBC: NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke will retire on Aug. 14, 2020, following the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Comcast announced Monday. Jeff Shell will become CEO of NBCUniversal beginning Jan. 1, 2020, when Burke will move to role of chairman of...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Forecasts a Big Ad Future for HBO Max
Ad Age: Gerhard Zeiler, chief revenue officer of WarnerMedia: "I believe HBO Max on the advertising side if you look out five to 10 years will be a huge asset for us. What we for sure want are new ad innovations, new ad products. We also know for sure it won’t be a...
Disney’s ABC News to Team with Apple on Election Coverage
TechCrunch: Apple announced that it will collaborate with ABC News on coverage of the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election in its Apple News app. The efforts will kick off with the Democratic primary debate on February 7, and will feature ABC News videos, live...
Dish Network Chief to Testify in T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Case
Fox Business: Once again all eyes are on Charlie Ergen. The volatile Dish Network chairman, who was the linchpin of the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to approve the $26.5 billion T-Mobile US purchase of Sprint, is expected to take the stand and testify in...
Netflix Reveals Data on Global Expansion as US Growth Slows
MarketWatch: Netflix released new metrics revealing how fast it is expanding in specific regions of the world, in an effort to persuade Wall Street to focus more on its growth outside the increasingly competitive U.S. market. Europe, the Middle East and Africa have...
Google, Netflix Chiefs’ Families Host Fundraiser for Buttigieg
Recode: Silicon Valley’s wealthiest families are raising money for Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign in a show of Silicon Valley force not yet seen in the primary campaign so far. A host list circulated to prospective donors for an event on Monday featured...
Snap Show Evolves Into Studio Backed by Murdoch, Redstone
Variety: Solve, the interactive true-crime and mystery studio that spun out of Elisabeth Murdoch’s Vertical Networks, is diving into podcasting with plans to develop content in other media formats in 2020. Solve first debuted as an original Snapchat show in...
Fox News Expat Kelly Plots Comeback on Heels of ‘Bombshell’
New York Times: Megyn Kelly last appeared on NBC more than a year ago, trying to contain an uproar over on-air remarks about blackface that ultimately brought her tenure at the network to an abrupt, unhappy end. In a few weeks’ time, she will make a return — of...
Comcast Puts Giant Cat Ears on Taxis to Promote Movie ‘Cats’
MediaPost: To help promote the premiere of "Cats," the movie, Universal Pictures is running a novel out-of-home media campaign, featuring giant "cats ears" on 360 New York City yellow taxicabs. The custom, 3D-printed taxi tops were created in conjunction with Curb...
Amazon Eyes Content Profit Models on Voice-Assistant Alexa
The Information: For most of Alexa’s five years in existence, Amazon has focused on making its voice assistant as ubiquitous as possible, putting it in everything from microwaves to wearable rings to. Now Amazon has a new focus for Alexa: making money from...