 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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Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her site for $155M... C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence... A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has named Kenneth Weinstein, former head of the conservative Hudson Institute, as ombudsman for CBS News.
