Mediagazer: Disney-owned digital movie locker service Movies Anywhere is launching its first smart TV app, on LG TVs (Jon Porter/The Verge)

Fox Business “parted ways” with Trish Regan; the move comes after Regan's on-air dismissal in early March of COVID-19 concerns as an attempt to impeach Trump — The Fox Business host was officially let go on Friday more than two weeks after she ranted against the “coronavirus impeachment scam.”

Discussion: New York Times, The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable, CNN, TVNewser, Talking Biz News, The Wrap, Variety, @dellcam, @brianstelter, @jeremymbarr and @mmasnick

Patrick Brzeski / Hollywood Reporter:

China shuts down all cinemas again, after reopening 600 of them over the past week, without providing an official explanation for the shut down — Over the past two weeks, movie theaters had begun to gradually reopen in the country. No reason was given for the abrupt reversal …

Discussion: Deadline, Variety, @alanmcole, @irinatsukerman, @jeffdlowe, @zeitchikwapo, Business Insider, Forbes, @frankpallotta, Vanity Fair, @variety, @brianpshea, IndieWire and The Week

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

ViacomCBS withdraws 2020 financial guidance, says it has a $3.5B credit facility, and expects 16M US streaming pay subscribers and 30M Pluto MAUs by end of 2020 — ViacomCBS on Friday became the latest media giant to warn investors about the grave threat to its business operations posed …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, @asharma, TheStreet, @lizrhoffman, ViacomCBS Inc., Digital TV Europe and @benmullin

Mehdi Jedinia / Reuters:

Iran has ordered media to use only official statistics when covering COVID-19, told journalists to avoid investigative reporting, and harassed those who do — As coronavirus spreads in Iran, authorities have moved swiftly and aggressively to contain independent reporting about it by harassing …

Ken Doctor / Nieman Lab:

Under the CARES Act, outlets with under 1,000 staff can apply to a $300B fund, while bigger chains compete with retailers and others for money from a $454B fund — The multi-trillion-dollar CARES Act should extend a lifeline to many small local publishers.

Discussion: @jaredrutecki, @lucasgrindley and @jbenton

Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:

Slate launches a metered paywall with an initial threshold of at least 10 articles/month, says CEO, after which readers will have to join Slate Plus — “Up till now, Slate has provided almost all of its written work for free. But going forward, we think the way we will truly thrive …

Discussion: MediaPost and @katie_rayford

Ashley Carman / The Verge:

Facebook to add new features to make Live easier to use, including an audio-only mode, automatic closed captions, and letting logged-out users watch streams — Automatic closed captioning and an audio-only mode — COVID-19 and its resulting social distancing measures have inspired lots …

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Jon Porter / The Verge:

Disney-owned digital movie locker service Movies Anywhere is launching its first smart TV app, on LG TVs — Making them the first smart TVs with a native app — Movies Anywhere — the Disney-owned movie locker service that combines your purchased films across digital stores including Apple TV …

Discussion: Variety, Media Play News and The Streamable, more at Techmeme »

Kerry Flynn / CNN:

Digital media like BuzzFeed, Group Nine, and Vice were all expected to earn profits in 2020, but now executives warn staff of layoffs while publicly keeping mum — New York (CNN Business)2020 was supposed to be a banner year for digital media. BuzzFeed, Group Nine, and Vice each indicated …

Discussion: @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn and @kerrymflynn

National Geographic Society:

National Geographic Society launches a global fund for journalists covering COVID-19, with an emphasis on underserved groups and funding from $1,000-$8,000 — Please note: This call for proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Applications may be submitted until further notice.

Bloomberg:

Sources: Media M&As worth $5B+ are on hold with ViacomCBS pausing the sale of Simon & Schuster, AT&T of 4 RSNs, and Black Diamond of Ion Media — Media companies including AT&T Inc. and ViacomCBS Inc. are pressing the pause button on asset sales worth more than $5 billion …

Matt Donnelly / Variety:

Internal memo: WarnerMedia commits to $100M+ relief fund for its workers affected by production shutdowns across WarnerMedia; HBO Max on schedule for May launch — WarnerMedia will pledge $100 million in relief to workers affected by wide production shut downs in film and television …

Discussion: The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter and @loudmouthjulia