 |
ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery have called time on Venu Sports, their proposed joint sports streaming service, before its kickoff. In a joint statement on Jan. 10, the three companies said that the service will be discontinued immediately. “In an ever-changing marketplace, we determined that it was best to meet the evolving demands of sports fans by focusing on existing products and distribution channels,” they said. After plans for the service were announced in February 2024, a legal challenge from streaming service Fubo, which focuses primarily on channels that distribute live sports, resulted in Venu being put temporarily on hold. On Jan. 6, Disney and Fubo said they would combine Disney’s Hulu+Live TV business with Fubo, ending the litigation and setting the stage for Venu’s cancellation. ESPN has indicated that it is planning its own DTC consumer service (code named “Flagship”) that is likely to launch in August.
 |
| Piers Morgan |
Piers Morgan, through his Wake Up Productions media company, is acquiring “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” the talk show that started broadcasting on Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV in 2022 before moving to its current home on YouTube (where it has more than 3.6 million subscribers). Murdoch’s News UK, which has also shifted TalkTV to online-only status, will hold on to a commercial interest in the program for the next four years. Morgan stopped broadcasting on TalkTV last February, saying the daily schedule of the show put him into an “unnecessary straitjacket.” He says that “owning the brand allows my team and I the freedom to focus exclusively on building Uncensored into a standalone business.” Red Seat Ventures, which has produced shows for Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, will work with Morgan on developing partnerships and other revenue-boosting initiatives for the brand.
 |
HuffPost joins the wave of media companies handing out pink slips, laying off 39 employees on Jan. 8. The axed employees include David Wood, who won the platform its only Pulitzer in 2012 for a series on the American troops severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. The layoffs follow the creation of Oath, a new digital unit at Verizon, HuffPost’s parent company. That move is expected to result in as many as 2,100 layoffs across the company. In response to the layoffs, HuffPost editor-in-chief Danielle Belton handed in her resignation. In a staff memo, Belton said that “I could not, in good faith, ask others to make this difficult decision without doing the same.”
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.
Trump Media & Technology Group is discussing a spin-off of the Truth Social platform following the expected closing of its $6B merger deal with TAE Technologies... Condé Nast sells off Them, the digital LGBTQ-focused platform it launched in 2017, to Equalpride, publisher of Out, The Advocate, Out Traveler, Health PLUS Wellness and Pride.com... CBS News has parted ways with longevity influencer Peter Attia, one of the 19 contributors that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss brought on as part of her plan to present a wider variety of voices on the platform. 
