Mediagazer: ViacomCBS closes its purchase of 49% of Miramax from beIN Media Group, which retains 51%; ViacomCBS paid $150M at closing, will invest $225M more over 5 years (Jill Goldsmith/Deadline)

2:15 PM ET, April 3, 2020

Top News:

H.G. Watson / JSource:

Canadian fast-food chain Mary Brown's Chicken & Taters partners with Postmedia to drop newspaper paywalls in April, part of an effort to serve the public — Fried chicken chain partnership lets newspaper company drop paywall in April — We live in unprecedented times.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, National Post, @perreaux, @laurahowellsnl, @benjaminmillar, @briandijkema, @mountroyalaudio, @graemedmoffat, @hg_watson, @jbenton and @michellemanafy

Pew Research Center:

Pew: 92% of MSNBC viewers said the media covered COVID-19 at least somewhat well vs. 58% of Fox News viewers; the former were likelier to know the virus' origin — Coverage of COVID-19 has dominated the news and resulted in skyrocketing ratings for the nation's cable news networks.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, @_cingraham, @conradhackett and @rezendi

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

ViacomCBS closes its purchase of 49% of Miramax from beIN Media Group, which retains 51%; ViacomCBS paid $150M at closing, will invest $225M more over 5 years — ViacomCBS said Friday it's closed on the acquistion of a 49% stake in Miramax from owner beIN Media Group, whih will retain 51% in the company.

Discussion: The Wrap, Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News

CampaignUK:

Cannes Lion, a major awards festival and conference in the ad industry, has been canceled after initially being postponed to October — Neither festival nor awards will take place this year. — Cannes Lions has announced it is cancelling the annual Festival of Creativity …

Discussion: Ad Age, Mumbrella, Forbes, MediaPost, CNBC, @arvindhickman, Cannes Lions Festival 2020, The Drum, @tobyrolla, @paulmarkbailey, @creature_dan and Campaign

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Bustle closes The Outline a year after acquiring it, amid broader layoffs of 24 people and pay cuts; Josh Topolsky to explore “alternative paths” for the site — YouTube Beauty Guru James Charles on Launching His ‘Instant Influencer’ Reality Show and Coping During COVID-19

Discussion: TechCrunch, @leahfinnegan, @benjaminnorton, @vincemancini, @joshuatopolsky, @blanketboat, @casseylottman, @rachelmillman, @gbrotman, @gaufre, @jeremypgordon, @shujaxhaider and @max_read

New Zealand Herald:

Bauer Media New Zealand, publisher of some of the country's most popular magazine titles, shuts down; about 300 people have lost their jobs — New Zealand's biggest newsstand magazines have folded, as Bauer Media NZ abruptly closed its doors permanently as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.

Discussion: RNZ Business Headlines, @meljbunce, @judithcollinsmp, @helenclarknz, @theproject_nz, @rudemrlang and Newshub

Sarah Whitten / CNBC:

Disney plans to furlough some non-union employees in its parks, experiences, and products unit starting April 19, will pay for health insurance during furlough — - Disney will furlough its non-union park employees starting on April 19. — During the furlough, employees …

Discussion: /Film, /Film, Multichannel News, Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, @scottgustin, @scottgustin, @zachhayesyt, @markwillard85, @scottgustin, @scottgustin, @callmenapkins, The Hill and Deadline

Axios:

Sources: new WH chief of staff discussed hiring Pentagon spokesperson Alyssa Farah or Trump campaign spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany as a new press secretary — White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has privately discussed bringing on Pentagon spokesperson Alyssa Farah or Trump campaign …

Discussion: @jonathanvswan, Raw Story and @jonlemire

Steve Waldman / Columbia Journalism Review:

Report for America cofounder's ideas for local news: easing conversion to nonprofit, deconsolidating papers, treating local journalism as a public service, more — Discussions of how to save local news now need to balance two awkward realities. On the one hand, local news organizations need urgent help …

Discussion: Poynter, @torystarr3, @cjr, @howardmortman and @stevenwaldman

Syed Raza Hassan / Reuters:

Pakistan re-arrests four men, whose convictions for the 2002 murder of journalist Daniel Pearl were overturned by lower courts, as it prepares an appeal — KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities ordered on Friday four men, including a British militant, convicted of the 2002 murder …

Tatiana Siegel / Hollywood Reporter:

Amazon Prime Video teams up with SXSW to offer free streaming of films that were to be screened at the canceled festival, likely in late April for 10 days — The films will stream for free on the streaming platform over 10 days, likely in late April. — South by Southwest 2020 …

Discussion: Forbes, The Wrap, Variety, @immyyoume, @sxsw, @primevideo, @thr, @kimmasters, @texasfilmcomm, The Verge, The Hill, Lifewire, Adweek and /Film

John Gruber / Daring Fireball:

A deep dive into the deal between Apple and Amazon which lets the retail giant process some payments in Prime Video app, and the motivations of both companies — Benjamin Mayo, writing for 9to5Mac yesterday: … I've been digging into this since the news broke, and I think it's even more significant than Mayo suggests.

Discussion: Multichannel News, The Verge, MediaNama and @tigesavage, more at Techmeme »

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Earlier Picks:

Scott Nover / Adweek:
Sources: 20-30 people have been laid off from CQ Roll Call, mostly from the editorial department; the news outlet was bought by FiscalNote for $180M in 2018

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Discussion: TVNewser

David Bloom / Forbes:
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New York Times:
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Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Donald Trump announces that Sriram Krishnan, until recently a general partner at a16z, will serve as senior policy advisor for AI at the White House OSTP

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