 Kevin Mayer |
Disney is undergoing an executive shuffle that underlines the company’s emphasis on streaming as it prepares to complete a $52.4 billion deal for a range of Fox holdings. Kevin Mayer, currently Disney’s chief strategy officer, will now head its Direct-to-Consumer and International segment. That segment will include Disney’s proposed family-friendly streaming service, as well as ESPN+ and the company’s majority stake in Hulu. Mayer will also oversee BAMTech, the streaming video technology company in which Disney acquired a majority stake last year, and the global distribution of all direct-to-consumer content. A new Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products division, to be led by current Disney Parks and Resorts chair Bob Chapek, will merge Disney’s consumer products business with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The Media Networks division, co-chaired by ESPN president James Pitaro and Disney/ABC television group president Ben Sherwood, will shift international Disney Channel operations to Mayer’s division, which will also pick up the program sales function of the Studio Entertainment division, headed by Alan F. Horn. “We are strategically positioning our businesses for the future, creating a more effective, global framework,” said Disney chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger.
 Shepard Smith |
FOX News re-signed Shepard Smith, who has been with the network since its startup in 1996, to a multiyear deal. Smith will continue to serve as chief news anchor and managing editor of breaking news, as well as hosting “Shepard Smith Reporting.” The program averages 1.6 million viewers, with 335,000 in the 25-54 demographic in its 3 p.m. ET slot, leading both CNN and MSNBC in the time period, according to Nielsen Media Research. In announcing the deal, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch referred to Smith as “an exemplary journalist whose skill in anchoring breaking news is unrivaled.” Terms of the new contract were not disclosed.
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WNET, the nation’s largest public media company, names Edward O’Keefe its next president and CEO, effective September 21. O’Keefe succeeds Neal Shapiro, who becomes president emeritus and will retire at the end of the year... The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would empower news publishers and other content providers to defend themselves by mandating transparency for all bots crawling their sites, in introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)... Google gets socked by European Union regulators with a $1 billion fine for using the platform’s dominance as a search engine to illegally undercut competition.
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
CBS News Radio will go off the air on May 22, part of the axe-swinging managerial plan put into play by CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss... The Economist, which was first published in 1843, is changing hands. Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith has agreed to acquire a 26.9 percent stake in the publication from Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, her family and family foundation... Nexstar Media Group says it has closed its acquisition of TEGNA, the broadcast, digital media and marketing services company that was formed in 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies.
