 Leslie Moonves |
CBS has started a round of layoffs and buyouts, according to Variety. The moves are expected to impact only a few dozen employees, and to be limited to the CBS network and its syndication group. With the growth of the streaming video service CBS All Access, the news streaming service CBSN, and the upcoming launch of an ad-supported sports streaming product, CBS is increasingly moving toward digital distribution of its programming. According to CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves, CBS All Access now has more than 2 million subscribers. When the streaming service for CBS-owned Showtime is added into the mix, over 4 million subscribers are receiving CBS content digitally.
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Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, as well as several of their subsidiary outlets, have been declared “foreign agents” by the Russian government, requiring them to apply the “foreign agent” label to all content they broadcast to Russian audiences. So far, the new policy has not extended to such major international outlets as CNN. Russian Senator Andrei Klimov said that the registration requirements only include “propaganda companies”—which he told RT did not include CNN. The move is a response to actions taken last month by the U.S. Department of Justice against Kremlin-supported RT America and Sputnik. The two Russian media outlets complied last month with a U.S. request to register as foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, following a January report from American intelligence agencies that the Russians were using RT America “to undermine faith in the U.S. government and fuel political protest.”
 Brian Sullivan |
Brian Sullivan has been promoted to president and chief operating officer of Fox Networks Group. He succeeds Randy Freer, who was named CEO of Hulu last month. Sullivan has served as president of Fox Networks’ digital group since 2015. Before that he was CEO of Sky Deutschland and managing director, customer group at Sky UK. At Fox, Sullivan will be head of revenue and distribution for the TV group that encompasses Fox Broadcasting, FX Networks, Fox Sports, National Geographic Partners, and Fox’s international channels group. He reports to 21st Century Fox president Peter Rice. “Brian is an incredibly talented executive and has been instrumental in leading the direct to consumer efforts across our brands,” said Rice. “His proven expertise in building digital video consumer products has made him an invaluable part of our senior leadership team.”
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.
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.
