Business

The company’s high-volume approach to digital publishing has led to duplicated stories and alienated some of its journalists. At least one editor has already resigned.

Mike Cavanagh, a veteran of the financial crisis, has just been given a leading part in the unending drama of Hollywood.

The veteran station group journalist and executive is tapped to succeed Bob Smith. Executive Chairman Hilton Howell said: “She is the natural choice to lead Gray’s unique portfolio of leading television stations.”

Telly, which said it plans to provide 500,000 of its dual-screen TV sets to people for free, said that more than 100,000 signed up on its website in the first 36 hours. The company plans to give away the devices — worth $1,000 each, according to Telly — in order to make money by selling  data about viewers and selling advanced targeted advertising. Pictured: Telly’s dual-screen set with an ad from Kia.

DeSantis ‘ attorney filed a motion in federal court in Tallahassee on Friday seeking to disqualify Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker from overseeing the lawsuit filed by Disney last month. The lawsuit alleges that DeSantis and his appointees violated the company’s right to free speech, as well as the contracts clause, by taking over the special governing district that previously had been controlled by Disney supporters after Disney opposed Florida legislation that critics have dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”

TV stations now connect with audiences on many different platforms, and changing technology offers an opportunity to expand on a key strategy, weather alerting, making it the catalyst for a broader approach that includes lifestyle forecasts, school closings and more. Join TVNewsCheck and The Weather Company for an in-depth conversation about the changing world of alerting during a June 8 webinar. Register here.

David Zaslav was met with boos and jeers while delivering a commencement address Sunday at Boston University amid the Hollywood writers’ strike. In videos circulating on social media, graduating students and protesters can be heard chanting, “pay your writers,” and heckling the president of Warner Bros. Discovery as he speaks about lessons he learned throughout his career. A photo of an airplane flying over the ceremony with a banner that read, “David Zaslav — Pay your writers,” was also circulating online.

At least two organizations in America’s most prominent league for professional video game players are selling their teams, underscoring the industry’s uncertain future.

For decades, the week in May when television executives revealed what new shows were coming and which old ones were going spoke to the power and influence that ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox had over popular culture. This past week offered more evidence of how that is diminishing, draped in confusion about the future wrought by the Hollywood writers strike.

Wall Street’s best week since March stalled Friday amid debt worries. Despite its weak Friday, the S&P 500 still managed to break out of a long, listless stretch where it failed to move by 1%, up or down, for six straight weeks. It gained 1.6%, with much of the strength earlier in the week coming on rising hopes that Washington can avoid a debt default.

The Imagicomm Fox affiliate promotes her from local sales manager to oversee the local, national and digital sales teams.

Phil Nelson will lead CNN Worldwide’s international business operations and its work with commercial partners outside of the U.S. Nelson previously was COO of CNN International Commercial (CNNIC) from 2019. In the new position of executive VP, CNNIC, he is now responsible for all international advertising sales, content sales and licensing and commercial distribution revenue, as well as related client solutions functions including the Create brand studio and digital and data operations.

CBS waves away the labor action, ABC works around it, and NBC tries something in between.

If TV’s upfront week used to be defined by spectacle — a parade of stars and musical performances culminating in glamorous parties with open bars and lobster canapés — to say the 2023 installment was muted would be an understatement. There were still musical performances, and there were stars (at least from the world of sports, news and reality TV), but the ongoing writers strike made its presence felt.

Common Cause VP Kathay Feng says that hedge funds’ bottom-line mindset leads to less-robust local news operations. “The rapid decrease in local news should alarm everyone, especially heading into yet another consequential election year. With fewer resources to combat disinformation and hold power accountable, we have to do what we can to protect our local newsrooms.”

Wall Street rose Thursday, adding to a winning week. The S&P 500 gained 0.9%, adding to its rally from the day before as hopes rise further that the U.S. government can avoid a disastrous default on its debt. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.5%.

With a fortune made in real estate, he went into the media business in a landmark leveraged buyout of the Tribune Company in 2007. Bankruptcy ensued.

ESPN is laying the groundwork to sell its channel directly to cable cord-cutters as a subscription-streaming service in coming years, according to people familiar with the matter, a shift with profound implications for the company and the broader television business. Executives at ESPN and its parent, Disney, for years have said it was inevitable that the sports TV channel would one day be available as a stand-alone streaming service. Now, as consumers increasingly cut the cable-TV cord, the company is actively preparing for that shift under a project with the internal code name “Flagship,” the people said. The company has set no firm timeline for the change.

Just over a week ago, Bob Iger rhetorically asked the adversarial  Gov. Ron DeSantis if Florida really wanted Disney’s considerable business and tax revenue, or not. Now, without mentioning the would-be presidential contender or his attacks on the company, the Mouse House has pulled some of that business and taxes revenues from the Sunshine State. In a note that just went out from Parks and Resorts boss Josh D’Amaro to Disney Parks, Experiences & Products employees, Disney is abandoning its plan to move around 2,000 staffers and their families to central Florida from California.

Shares of Netflix jumped more than 10% Thursday on news that the streamer had signed up almost 5 million customers for its ad-supported plan within six months of launch. At Netflix’s first-ever upfronts event Wednesday — held virtually — the company announced that it had signed up nearly 5 million global monthly active users following its initial introduction in early November 2022.

Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav thinks consolidation is in the cards for streaming platforms, but not necessarily through traditional M&A. “There should be a consolidation, but it is more likely to happen in the repackaging and marketing of products together. That’s what I think makes sense. We have to, as industry, reach that point,” he said during a Q&A at a media conference today. Mergers carry regulatory risks and can take years to close. In a fast-changing industry, “Who knows what the world looks like?”

The GM of two Scripps Montana stations will now be responsible for Scripps’ live sports and sports-related content presentation. He will serve as the primary lead with the company’s internal production team, local affiliates, talent and production partners.

The purchase of the MNT affiliate from Adell Broadcasting gives Mission its 30^th station and its second in Michigan.

Economists are fretting about a recession. Media stocks are in the toilet. Layoffs are being enacted monthly as a spirit of cut, cut, cut grips Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Oh, and screenwriters are on strike, while directors and actors are threatening to join them when their contracts expire next month. But for the media moguls and tech entrepreneurs who run the major conglomerates, it’s business as usual in one important respect. Yes, most of these corporate chieftains trimmed their pay packages … but not all of them did.

SAG-AFTRA announced Wednesday that it will hold a strike authorization vote as it seeks to get its “ducks in a row” ahead of June 7 negotiations with the major studios. The vote does not mean that the performers’ union will necessarily join the Writers Guild of America on the picket lines after its contract expires on June 30. In a press release, the union said its negotiating committee decided that a strike authorization would provide “maximum bargaining leverage” for the talks.