Digital

The media organizations worldwide that form the alliance will focus on enabling improved open interoperability among service-based applications.

The Federal Trade Commission is launching a review of its endorsement guides, which set out recommendations for online testimonials and influencer marketing.

Now more than ever, the broadcast networks are feeling the need to change up their typical pilot season strategy. With existing streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus and Amazon and new competitors like HBO Max and Peacock developing shows year-round, the broadcasters are slowly but surely shifting their plans to include more off-cycle pickups.

The network says two sites are infringing its trademarks and copyrights as part of a dietary supplement scam.

The Google-owned video giant is considering giving people the ability to sign up, through YouTube, for a wide range of subscription-streaming services run by entertainment companies, according to people familiar with the situation. YouTube has talked with several entertainment companies about adding their services, the people said.

Despite complaints from conservatives who say left-leaning tech companies are shadow-banning on social media, DOJ Antitrust Division chief Makan Delrahim says he won’t get involved.

As WarnerMedia’s streamer HBO Max preps for a May launch, a new film division will become a direct pipeline — and could spark awkward internal politics.

Before Hulu was serving up network television bundles, before PS Vue had come (and recently gone), and before AT&T was pushing streaming TV, there was Sling TV. Streaming TV was in its infancy back in February of 2015 when Sling launched with a handful of offerings and a ton of promise. But even back then, you could see the potential that Sling had.

Even at AT&T’s WarnerMedia, home to HBO and Game of Thrones, cable is no longer king. As WarnerMedia prepares to launch its streaming service HBO Max in May, the company has shifted resources from its cable networks to invest in online originals. A new study published today by Ampere Analytics found that while new streaming shows accounted for just 7% of WarnerMedia’s original commissions in the fourth quarter of 2018, by 4Q 2019, streaming commissions represented 73% of WarnerMedia’s new TV projects.

TV broadcasters including E.W. Scripps, Tegna, Fox Owned Stations and KSL have laid down bets of varying sizes in the podcast medium, drawn by the potential of expanding audiences, motivating newsrooms and new revenue streams.

Tubi, the ad supported streaming service said it had record growth in 2019 and racked up big increases in December. The company said that monthly active users hit 25 million in December and that total view time in December grew 160% to 163 million hours.

The Federal Trade Commission has launched a lookback at some of the smaller past acquisitions by some of the largest tech companies. The FTC said Tuesday it has issued “special orders” to Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, which require them to provide info on all acquisitions over the past decade (Jan. 1, 2010 through Dec. 31, 2019).

NPR Video Producer Kara Frame got involved with live digital reporting when Facebook first launched its live video capabilities in 2016. Just a couple of years later,  Facebook reported that one in five videos were shot and shared live by the platform’s millions of daily users. Frame talks about lessons learned for NPR’s launch of live digital video including the tools her and the video team used to create high-quality segments and news stories with DSLR cameras.

Online mugshot galleries, where news organizations post rows of people who were arrested, once seemed like an easy moneymaker for struggling newsrooms: Each reader click to the next image translated to more page views and an opportunity for more advertising dollars. But faced with questions about the lasting impact of putting these photos on the internet, where they live forever, media outlets are increasingly doing away with the galleries of people on the worst days of their lives.

A record 532 original scripted series aired on television in 2019, according to research from cable network FX. The network’s annual figure is the most commonly cited number to show how programming has mushroomed in the Peak TV era. In terms of the sheer volume of content, though, the FX figure understates what’s available — by a factor of more than 1,000, according to data from Nielsen.

Sony Pictures Television Chairman Mike Hopkins will exit the studio and lead Amazon’s video entertainment business, including Amazon Studios. Amazon Studios head Jen Salke will now report to Hopkins, who will report directly to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Hopkins had been with Sony since 2017, following four years with Hulu.

Vice is to relaunch its nightly news show, Vice News Tonight, in a new hour-long live format on March 4 on Vice TV. Vice has named TV news veteran Nikki Egan as executive producer of the newscast, which will air live, Monday through Thursday. Prior to Vice, Egan was at MSNBC for 17 years.