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Billboard-The Hollywood Reporter Media Group is unloading Spin and Stereogum, two of its music publications. The two were acquired, along with Vibe, from SpinMedia in 2016. Vibe is remaining part of the Billboard-Hollywood Reporter stable. Spin, which was founded by Bob Guccione, Jr. in 1985, has been sold to Next Management Partners, which bills itself as “a private equity firm solely focused on acquiring and scaling digital publishing and advertising technology businesses and building leadership teams.” Stereogum founder and current editor-in-chief Scott Lapatine is buying back the daily internet publication, and will serve as CEO. Valence Media, owner of the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, let go of seven editorial staffers across Spin, Vibe and Stereogum last September.
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| Glenda Bailey |
Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Glenda Bailey is stepping down, Hearst, the magazine’s publisher, announced on Jan. 15. Bailey, who has helmed the publication for almost 20 years, will stay on as global fashion consultant. Her move comes as Hearst president Troy Young continues to emphasize digital know-how when staffing the top position at the company’s publications. Rumored to be on the shortlist to replace Bailey, according to WWD, are Joyann King, currently the executive editorial director at harpersbazaar.com; Stella Bugbee, the editor-in-chief at New York magazine’s fashion vertical The Cut; and Kristina O’Neill, editor-in-chief at WSJ magazine and former Harper’s Bazaar executive editor.
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NBCUniversal unveiled its Peacock streaming service on Jan. 16. The new service will be available for subscribers to Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Flex services on April 15 (Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal), and it will launch nationwide on July 15. It includes two ad-supported services, Peacock Free and Peacock Premium, and will offer an ad-free option for an extra $5 per month. Peacock Premium be available to Comcast and Cox subscribers at no extra charge, and will cost $4.99 per month for other customers. Perhaps one of the new service’s biggest draws will be the live sports programming it will offer, kicking off with exclusive coverage of the Tokyo Olympics and also including soccer’s Premiere League and golf’s Ryder Cup. It will also stream NBC’s two late-night chat shows—“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night with Seth Myers”—three-and-a-half hours before they air on NBC. Also set to be offered as part of the NBC News programming on Peacock is a proposed partnership with Sky News to create an international news network.
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.
