 Pamela Wasserstein |
New York Media, the parent company of New York magazine, is shedding 16 staff employees and 16 freelancers as part of what chief executive Pamela Wasserstein is calling “an effort to most effectively organize our resources around our business strategy.” Wasserstein said that the cuts, which represent about five percent of the company’s staff, are primarily affecting the company’s video department, audience development teams and copy and fact checking staffs. New York magazine implemented a paywall on its website in November. In addition, company staffers unionized with the NewsGuild in December and longtime editor Adam Moss announced his departure in January. While the company said in August that it was exploring “strategic options” that included a possible sale, any plans for a sale are off for now, according to a report from Business Insider.
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The Yankees, Amazon and Sinclair Broadcast Group have reached a deal to buy the YES Network from Disney for $3.47 billion, according to the New York Post. The Yankees already own 20 percent of the network. YES is one of the regional sports networks that Disney must unload to secure regulatory approval for its purchase of 21st Century Fox. The Post reports that Amazon is seeking to extend its reach into streaming sports events, and the deal will let it stream Yankees and Brooklyn Nets basketball games. It also cites a source that says Sinclair plans to use YES to help it sell other programming it owns, such as the Tennis Channel, to New York cable companies. The YES deal won’t need Federal Communications Commission approval.
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Facebook is lining up a roster of publishers including BuzzFeed, Complex Networks and Condé Nast to produce shows for its Facebook Watch video-on-demand service, according to a report on online trade magazine Digiday. Tentatively called “Facebook match,” the new project will fund collaborations between publishers and video creators. The videos are to feature a range of celebrities and influencers including singer Keke Palmer and actress Angela Kinsley. While Facebook says it intends to spend up to $200,000 per show, the company will not own the videos that result from the venture. Rather, it will license the programming for a specified period of time, after which producers will be permitted to distribute their content on other platforms.
Underscore Media, a new creator-led media venture dedicated to New York sports, is built around three established New York sports personalities, Sal Licata, Jimmy Traina, and John Jastremski.
McClatchy, which owns 29 daily papers across 14 states (including The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Kansas City Star), launches a wave of layoffs that extends to at least 13 of those papers... The Toledo Blade, which was founded in 1835, is set to shut down on Dec. 31, unless owner Block Communications manages to find a buyer for it... A bill awaiting approval by California governor Gavin Newsom would give local newsrooms a boost. 
Fox News Media issued a pretty sparse release to announce the departure of one of its stars. “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media,” it reads.
Brunswick Group partner John Simons has joined CNN as senior director of business & media. He held top jobs at Time and the Wall Street Journal.
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.
