Business

Dish Network is in talks to sell wireless plans for its nascent mobile phone service through Amazon, according to people familiar with the matter, an arrangement that could give the telecom company’s 5G rollout a critical lifeline. Details of the new phone plans sold through Amazon’s U.S. website could be announced as soon as June, the people said, though several factors could still delay or derail their launch.

CNN will shift the bulk of its operations behind its Spanish-language efforts to Mexico City, scaling back production of content for linear television in favor of work aimed at reaching a younger audience that favors mobile video. The move is likely to mean the elimination of jobs in Miami and Atlanta, but will also result in a ramp-up of jobs in Mexico and Los Angeles, where CNN will aim to add more than staffers, according to a person familiar with the plans, which were disclosed to employees Thursday afternoon.

Gray Television is suing the FCC over its decision to fine the broadcaster over half a million dollars for an affiliation move in Alaska the regulator said violates its duopoly restriction. That is according to an appeal filed late Wednesday (May 24) in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, whose jurisdiction includes Atlanta, where Gray is based.

In the company’s first call with analysts since 2021, the CEO said “I did not have a lot of interaction with the FCC,” during concerning the now-scuttled buyout by Standard General. “Nor did Standard General have a lot of interaction, or as much as they would have liked,” he added.

Meta has begun its third round of layoffs as part of the company’s multibillion-dollar plan to save costs. The latest round of cuts targets members of Meta’s business groups and follows a previous round of layoffs in April that affected employees in technical roles. About 10,000 workers will lose their jobs between the April and May cuts, following the company’s first round in November that affected 11,000 employees.

Marlo Thomas was honored with Lifetime Achievement Award. Presenters and attendees included Atsuko Okatsuka, Jodi Balfour, Bishop Briggs, Rachel Lindsay, Keltie Knight, Rose McIver, Kerri Kasem, Ellen K and Harriet Dyer. Pictured: Becky Brooks, Marlo Thomas and Annie Howell (Getty for the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation)

Avid Technology, a provider of video and audio editing software and equipment to TV, filmmakers and recording studios, is exploring a potential sale, according to people familiar with the matter. The Burlington, Mass.-based company is working with Goldman Sachs Group on the sale process and has asked for binding offers from interested parties, the sources said. Avid’s shares jumped 18% on the news to $24.35 in Wednesday afternoon trading, giving the company a market value of about $1 billion.

The drama roiling the industry was evident in all the Writers Guild of America picket signs that swarmed around the major events held from May 15 to May 17. That added to the general madness of the week that is a television and advertising industry tradition but is starting to feel anachronistic in the streaming era. But the upfronts are still a hard habit to break.

Wall Street sank Wednesday as stocks tumbled worldwide. The S&P 500 dropped 0.7% after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Republicans and Democrats remain “far apart” in their efforts to prevent a potentially disastrous default on the U.S. government’s debt. The main U.S. stock index is on track for its worst week in more than two months as the once-unthinkable creeps closer to possibility.

The media start-up’s new backers include Henry Kravis, a founder of the private-equity giant KKR, and Jerry Yang, a Yahoo founder.

COO Tom Carter says one problem is “a couple of Japanese nameplates having trouble getting inventory on the lots for their dealers.” However, auto is still the company’s largest ad category.

Nexstar CEO Perry Sook: “We, as the owner of The CW, are constructing a new affiliation agreement template that is going to allow affiliates to opt out of The CW deal with the virtual MVPD and cut their own deal — or they can opt in to the deal that we have already established for them.”

The number of cable subscribers, dropping for years, just took a record-breaking plunge. Sooner or later, it will hurt news channels’ bottom line.

The station group’s GM of its Cleveland tripoly will now oversee several stations in Midwest markets.

Diamond Sports, the owner of the 19 Bally Sports regional sports networks, next week could forego its broadcast rights to the San Diego Padres by failing to deliver its regular rights payment to the team. A Texas bankruptcy court judge has set a May 31 hearing to rule on Diamond’s motion to reduce its payments to the teams.

The game of musical chairs continues at Paramount. On Tuesday, the company’s fast-rising TV boss Chris McCarthy and its chief research officer, Colleen Fahey Rush, announced via internal memo that Kim Lemon, Showtime’s EVP of data strategy, research, scheduling and programming, would be exiting. In what it likely no surprise to those within, Lemon is being replaced by a longtime Viacom-turned-Paramount executive, Laurel Weir.

The purchase of WADL Detroit by Mission Broadcasting tops the latest list of TV station transactions submitted to the FCC for its approval, according to BIA Advisory Services.

Wall Street slid Tuesday as debt worries worsened. The S&P 500 fell 1.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.7%, while the Nasdaq composite lost 1.3%.

He brings three decades sales experience to the Hearst ABC affiliate in Mississippi’s capital city.

Josh McIvor has been promoted to global general manager of MGM+, the Amazon-owned streamer that relaunched in January after previously being known as Epix. As global general manager, he will report to Chris Brearton, vice president of Prime Video Studios corporate strategy.

The streamer intros an “extra member” option priced at $7.99/month for adding access to people outside the account holder’s household.

The Spanish-language media company says the acquisition will strengthen Entravision’s service offerings in Europe and the Middle East, while adding a team of e-commerce, entertainment and gaming industry specialists.

Television station operator Tegna Inc. said on Monday it has terminated its merger agreement with hedge fund Standard General after several regulatory hurdles. Tegna last year agreed to be taken private by Standard General in a deal valued at $8.6 billion, including debt. At the time, the acquisition was expected to close in the second half of 2022. However, the deal attracted criticism from some members of Congress on concerns of potentially higher TV prices for consumers and job losses. Then, in February, the FCC decided to hold a hearing on the hedge fund’s bid in a step that has historically led deals to collapse.