Athletic

The New York Times is acquiring sports media platform The Athletic in an all-cash deal that values the company at $500 million. Launched in 2016 by Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann (who will be staying on after the deal). The Athletic employs approximately 600 people, with around 400 editorial staffers. The subscription-based platform says that it has more than 1 million subscribers. Adding those subscribers is a plus for the Times as it works toward the goal of 10 million paid digital-only subscribers by 2025. According to Axios, The Athletic was being pressed to sell due to the amount the cash it has lost in the last two years.

CW

WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS are putting the CW Network up for sale. Nexstar Media Group which is the largest owner of WB affiliate stations following its 2019 acquisition of Tribune Media, is said to be the main candidate to pick up the network. However, Deadline reports that several other suitors are in the mix. In a memo to staff, CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz said that “ViacomCBS and Warner Bros. are exploring strategic opportunities to optimize the value of their joint venture in The CW Network.” The CW has never been profitable on its own, but there is considerable value in the shows it produces for its studio parents, which are also distributed internationally and on streaming platforms.

Deborah Turness
Deborah Turness

The BBC hires former president of NBC News International Deborah Turness as CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs. Turness joins the BBC from Independent Television News, where she has served as CEO since April. At NBC, she was the first woman in the US to serve as president of a network news division. Turness succeeds 40-year BBC veteran Fran Unsworth, who has led the network’s news division since January 2018, and is retiring at the end of this month. BBC chief executive Tim Davie called Turness “a passionate advocate for the power of impartial journalism and a great believer in the BBC and the rolw we play, in the UK and globally.”