 Suzanne Scott |
Suzanne Scott has been promoted from president of programming to chief executive officer of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network. Scott has been with the network for 22 years, coming from CNBC in 1996. Jack Abernethy, who has served as co-president of Fox News since August 2016, will remain CEO of Fox Television Stations and will be based in Los Angeles. Jay Wallace, who had been Fox News Channel president of news, has been upped to serve as president. Scott will report jointly to 21st Century Fox executive chairman Rupert Murdoch and to recently appointed “New Fox” chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch. “Suzanne has been instrumental in the success of Fox News, and she has now made history as its first female CEO,” Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement.
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The Wall Street Journal and National Geographic are collaborating on Far & Away, a new publication geared toward business travelers. “The editors have approached business travel hubs as launch points for personal travel, aligning with the current travel trend of combining business and leisure trips into one,” said National Geographic magazine editor in chief Susan Goldberg. The first edition of the publication will appear in the May 19 edition of the newspaper, with a second issue set to appear in the fourth quarter. The publication’s content will also be available through National Geographic’s social channels and its website. National Geographic Partners is a joint venture between the National Geographic Society and 21st Century Fox.
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The largest U.S. pay-TV providers continued to lose subscribers during the first quarter of 2018, but the rate of flight is slowing down a bit, according to a study released this week by Leichtman Research Group. The main reason for the slowdown is the growth recorded by internet-delivered services Sling TV and DIRECTV NOW. LRG’s study says that the top pay-TV services now account for 91.9 million subscribers, a drop of 305,00 from the first quarter of 2017. The drop from 1Q 2016 to 1Q 2017 was 515,000 subscribers. However, while the internet-delivered sector is on the rise (up 405,000 to 3.8 million subscribers), it is still dwarfed by cable (47.8 million), satellite (31.1 million) and services delievered by telephone companies (9.2 million).
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.
USA TODAY brings on Jamie Stockwell as VP of news, effective March 30. Stockwell was most recently deputy managing editor of news for the Washington Post... YouTube expands its likeness detection capabilities to a pilot group of government officials, journalists and political candidates... The AP Fund for Journalism adds 50 news organizations to its local news program, bringing the total number of participating newsrooms to 100. 
Versant Media Group, the NBCUniversal cable TV spin-off, today reported its first financial results as 2025 revenues dipped 5.3 percent to $6.7B and standalone EBITDA dropped 9.1 percent to $2.2B.
