ViacomCBS Preps ’60 Minutes’ for Paramount+
Bloomberg: ViacomCBS is reviving a streaming version of the newsmagazine "60 Minutes," hoping the series can draw viewers to its new online service Paramount+. The company had created a spinoff of the show called "60 in 6" for the short-lived Quibi, but it was left in...
Comcast: WNBC Journalist Dies Suddenly at 47
WNBC: Katherine Creag, a member of the WNBC News 4 team who was a stalwart of New York City's mornings on "Today in New York" for years, passed away suddenly Wednesday evening. Creag joined WNBC in 2011 and spent the better part of the last decade covering the region....
iHeartMedia Sells Stake to British Radio Investor
Campaign: Michael Tabor, the investment mogul behind the British radio and outdoor media group Global, has taken a stake of almost 9% in its bigger US audio rival, iHeartMedia, in a surprise move. A US stock market filing shows Tabor is the "beneficiary" of a trust...
LightShed Media Analyst to Start Venture Fund
Barron's: Rich Greenfield, one of Wall Street's most influential media analysts, is creating an early-stage venture capital firm, called LightShed Ventures. Greenfield said the firm will target an initial 25 investments, likely in the $500,000 to $5 million range. He...
Tribune Publishing Begins Sale Talks with Alden
Wall Street Journal: A hedge fund that owns a big stake in Tribune Publishing is in talks to buy the newspaper chain behind titles including the Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News. Alden Global Capital, Tribune's largest shareholder with a 32% stake, is...
New York Times Readies Subscriptions for Kids
Axios: The New York Times is in the early stages of developing a digital subscription product for families called NYT Kids. Standalone digital subscription products are a key driver of the Times's growth and long-term business strategy. A kids-focused product is a...
Bloomberg to Lay Off 90 Staffers in Newsrooms
Insider: Layoffs started hitting Bloomberg News on Thursday, with about 90 editorial employees expected to leave the company. The layoffs affected mostly editors and were global, including people in the Americas and EMEA. The organization has one of the world's...
Conde Nast Offices Mostly Vacant Amid Dispute
New York Post: The landlord for Conde Nast has blasted the publisher of Vogue, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker for withholding some $2.4 million in rent for its now largely vacant headquarters at One World Trade Center. "Conde claiming that they cannot pay their rent...
Hearst Can’t Dodge Lawsuit Over Subscriptions
Courthouse News: Californians who subscribed to women's magazines published by Hearst will see their false advertising class action proceed as a federal judge declined the company's request to dismiss their case. California magazine subscribers claim after paying for...
Future Brings British Women’s Magazine to US
MediaPost: Women & Home, a British magazine started in 1926, is in soft-launch mode in the US with an exclusively digital presence. Since late last summer, the title has offered a US website and is planning to move into email newsletters and events. It now has 1...
Daily Mail Loses Legal Spat with Meghan Markle
BBC News: The Duchess of Sussex has welcomed her High Court privacy victory over the Mail on Sunday, saying the damage the publisher has done "runs deep." Meghan brought the claim against Associated Newspapers over the publication of extracts from a letter to her...
New York Times Yanks Column on N-Word Flap
Daily Beast: A New York Times columnist claims the paper's publisher shelved his opinion column defending Donald McNeil, the journalist who recently left the paper after reports emerged that he said a racial slur while on a trip chaperoning high-school students. New...
Tribune Publishing to Rethink Police Mug Shots
Robert Feder: The Chicago Tribune announced new guidelines "aimed at the restrained and consistent use of mug shots with news stories." They're part of an industrywide reassessment of whether newspapers should continue to publish the photos in an era of clickbait...
Microsoft Eyes Possible Acquisition of Pinterest
Financial Times: Microsoft approached Pinterest in recent months about a potential deal to acquire the $51 billion social media company popular with hobbyists posting home decor, food and wedding collages. The talks are said to be not currently active. Microsoft has...
Google Starts Paying News Publishers in Britain
CNBC: Google has launched its News Showcase product in the UK, meaning the tech giant will now pay for news content in the country for the first time. The Silicon Valley firm has signed a deal with 120 British publications, including the Financial Times and Reuters,...
Facebook at Work on Product to Rival Clubhouse
New York Times: Facebook is building an audio chat product that is similar to the popular young app Clubhouse, as the social network aims to expand into new forms of communication. Clubhouse, a social networking app, has gained buzz for letting people gather in audio...
AT&T Under Pressure to Break Up WarnerMedia
Hollywood Reporter: WarnerMedia, under CEO Jason Kilar, is embarking on an embrace of streaming video and direct-to-consumer strategy, and some on Wall Street now speculate that a potential sale or spinoff of CNN could be an option. Business Insider: AT&T said CNN...
Comcast’s Peacock Sparks Talk of Mega Merger
The Information: NBCUniversal has pitched ViacomCBS, among other companies, about offering their streaming services in a bundle with Peacock at a discounted rate, either in the US or abroad. These efforts raise the prospect that NBCU could pursue a merger with another...
Disney Fires Streaming Star After Online Uproar
Associated Press: Lucasfilm said Gina Carano is no longer a part of "The Mandalorian" cast after many online called for her firing over a social media post that likened the experience of Jews during the Holocaust to the US political climate. A spokesperson with the...
Comcast’s NBC to Air Live Opening of Olympics
Associated Press: US viewers will get to watch the opening ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics live. Since Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of New York, interested US residents will be watching the July 23 ceremonies on NBC at 7 am EDT, 4 am EDT in Los Angeles. The global...
Disney’s ABC to Telecast Oscars as Live Event
Associated Press: The 2021 Academy Awards ceremony will broadcast live from multiple locations on April 25. The news comes as many cities that are important film hubs, including Los Angeles, New York and London, remain under strict coronavirus restrictions. Specific...
Fox Corp Plans News Channel Late-Night Show
Mediaite: Fox News is replacing its 11 pm news show with satirist Greg Gutfeld, whose eponymous program currently airs on Saturdays. Starting in the second quarter of 2021, "The Greg Gutfeld Show" will expand to air weeknights at 11 pm. "People need a reason to...
Disney Veterans to Invest in Digital Fitness Firm
Los Angeles Times: Former prominent Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs are folding their $300-million investment vehicle into Beachbody, an at-home health and fitness company. The two executives are betting that digital apps and streaming platforms have...
Chernin Teams with ESPN Expat on New Studio
Deadline: Former ESPN content chief Connor Schell, who left the Disney-owned sports network last year, is setting up a non-scripted studio with Chernin Entertainment. Schell, an exec producer on "O.J: Made In America" and "The Last Dance," will be CEO of the unnamed...
DAZN Shifts Focus After Service Sputters in US
The Information: DAZN has been forced to retreat from its global ambitions. In key markets like the US and Latin America, DAZN hasn’t found much of an audience for its subscription service, which streams boxing, soccer and other sports matches. It is now focusing on...
TikTok’s Sale to Oracle, Walmart is Put on Hold
Wall Street Journal: A US plan to force the sale of TikTok's American operations to a group including Oracle and Walmart has been shelved indefinitely, as President Biden undertakes a broad review of his predecessor's efforts to address potential security risks from...
Hustler Magazine Founder Larry Flynt Dies at 78
Associated Press: Larry Flynt, who built Hustler magazine into an adult entertainment juggernaut that included casinos, films, websites and other enterprises as he relentlessly championed First Amendment rights, has died at age 78. Flynt, who had been in declining...
News Corp Execs Hang Out with Prime Minister
Press Gazette: Rupert Murdoch and top News Corp executives in the UK and US met Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other high-level government politicians seven times between them in seven weeks last summer. Murdoch met with Johnson, paid for lunch with Chancellor Rishi...
New York Times Defends Journo After Doxxing
New York Post: The New York Times is defending the creator of its controversial 1619 Project after she doxxed another reporter — and then wiped her entire Twitter history, including messages she had first been challenged over. Nikole Hannah-Jones tweeted out...
Gannett Newsrooms Team to Form Joint Union
Poynter: Three Gannett-owned newsrooms in New Jersey announced Wednesday morning they are jointly unionizing. The Bergen Record, the Daily Record and the NJ Herald will come together to form The Record Guild, which will be part of the NewsGuild of New York. In an...