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Hearst scooped up Rodale’s magazine and publishing business in yet another example of the consolidation trend of reshaping the business. Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Bicycling and Prevention are among the titles in deal worth in the $225M range. The transaction is expected to close in early ’18. Rodale, which has been on a profit slide, sold off real estate and went through multiple rounds of staff reductions before the entire company was put up for sale earlier this year.
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Verizon is under increasing pressure to release its own streaming service, as consumer flight from basic cable to those services picks up steam. While the company added 66,000 net Internet connections during Q3 2017, it lost 18,000 net Fios Video connections, more than the 15,000 it lost in the second quarter and its dip of 13,000 in the first. Verizon’s new online TV service is now scheduled for a spring 2018 launch, According to Bloomberg, the debut of the service has been delayed at least twice. Verizon earlier this year acquired Yahoo, which it is combining with AOL to form the new Oath unit.
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VidAngel, a service intended to filter out offensive content such as nudity and violence from movies and programs on outlets such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an attempt to hit the pause button on its copyright battle with several major studios. The company is at loggerheads with Disney, 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros, New Line Cinema, Marvel and Turner Entertainment, all of whom claim that the 2005 Family Movie Act—which allows filtering in the home—does not apply to modern streaming devices such as iOS, Android and ROKU. VidAngel launched a new platform in June that covers those devices. VidAngel CEO Neal Harmon said that the filing “gives us breathing room to reorganize our business around the new streaming platform, promote and perfect the new technology, and seek a legal determination that the new system is fully legal and not subject to the preliminary injunction entered in California.”
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
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. 
