 Vincent Sadusky |
Univision Communications has named Vincent Sadusky CEO. Sadusky is on the board of Hemisphere Media Group, a broadcast and media company targeting Latin American and U.S. Hispanic audiences. Until last year, he was CEO at Media General. Sandusky also served as CFO at Telemundo, the NBC Universal unit that is one of Univision’s main competitors. In March, Univision scuttled plans for an initial public offering that had been seen as a way to provide an exit route for the company’s private-equity owners. In the wake of the IPO’s collapse, the company replaced CFO Francisco Lopez-Balboa with Peter Lori, and CEO Randy Falco announced plans to retire. Univision is currently in the midst of a business review that is expected to lead to cost-cutting and job losses.
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Rather than comply with the European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation, which is meant to protect the privacy of people visiting websites, such publications as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune are opting to cut off access to users in EU countries. A&E Television Networks has blocked several of its websites, including those for its History and Lifetime channels. According to a study conducted by information security solutions firm Alert Logic, there is still a considerable amount of confusion as regards the specifics of GDPR. The main GDPR compliance hurdles cited in the study are lack of expert staff (43 percent), lack of budget (40 percent), and a limited understanding of GDPR regulations (31 percent). But blocking users does not automatically get companies off the hook as regards GDPR violations. Julian Saunders, CEO of software startup Port, told Bloomberg that companies “still hold data on EU citizens and therefore they are required to comply and respond to subject access requests like everyone else.”
 Debra Lee |
BET CEO Debra Lee is stepping down. Lee has been credited with reshaping the company by acquiring more original programming and emphasizing family entertainment. Hired as the company’s first VP and general counsel in 1986, she was promoted to president and COO in 1996 and has also been chairman and CEO since 2005. Scott Mills replaced her as the Viacom unit’s president in December, but Lee stayed on as chairman/CEO. Lee will continue her role on corporate and non-profit boards, and her work with Time's Up and The Recording Academy Diversity & Inclusion Task Force.
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.
