Mediagazer: BloombergQuint, Bloomberg's joint venture in India with Quintillion, shuts TV division after failing to get a broadcast license; source: BQ is writing off $26M (Shuchi Bansal/Livemint)

10:00 AM ET, April 22, 2020

Top News:

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:

Netflix reports Q1 revenue of $5.77B, up 27.6% YoY, vs $5.76B est., global paid net subscriber additions of 15.77M, now totaling 182.86M accounts, up 22.8% YoY — - Netflix reported its Q1 2020 earnings after the bell on Tuesday. — Netflix has ranked among analysts' favorite …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Netflix announces plans to offer $1B in junk bonds to fund operations and potential acquisitions; as of the end of March, Netflix reported $14.17B in debt — Netflix is going back to the debt markets yet again, announcing plans to offer $1 billion in junk bonds to fund operations and potential acquisitions.

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings' compensation reached $38.6M in 2019, up about 7% YoY, and chief content officer Ted Sarandos received a package worth $34.7M, up 17%

Discussion: The Wrap and Broadcasting & Cable

@kerrymflynn:

[Thread] Internal memos: Politico lays off 13 at Protocol as it cancels live events through at least Sept. 1, including its presence at political conventions — Didn't want to break this media news earlier because of my major conflict of interest. But I'm really sad to see another round of harsh cuts at a media company (and a new one at that!). 13 people, incl editors + reporters, lost their jobs at Protocol today https://twitter.com/...

Todd Spangler / Variety:

AT&T misses estimates, loses 138K AT&T Now customers and 897K premium TV subscribers in Q1, reports revenues of $42.78B and pulls its annual forecast — AT&T missed revenue and earnings estimates for the first quarter of 2020, with a 4.6% top-line decline driven by lower revenue …

Discussion: The Streamable, CNBC, @edmundlee, @brianstelter, The Streamable, @alexweprin, The Week, The Playlist and MediaPost

Dade Hayes / Deadline:
AT&T offers free HBO Max to “tens of millions” of customers, including wireless and internet subscribers, as it aims for 75M to 90M HBO Max subscribers by 2025

Discussion: HBO Max, The Week, MTV, The Streamable, CNET, The Verge and Engadget

Hollywood Reporter:
HBO Max to launch on May 27 for $15 per month with 10,000 hours of programming

Discussion: Deadline, Variety, @joan_e, @joan_e, @joan_e, The Week, Nylon, CNET, Variety and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

Internal planning document for Vice Media Group lays out the possibility of layoffs of 300+ in digital operations, including cuts at Vice News and Refinery29 — Planning document calls for over 300 layoffs, though company says several such proposals are being worked up

Discussion: Axios, The Hill, Fast Company, @loudmouthjulia, @robenfarzad, @asharma, @kantrowitz, @elanazak, @benmullin, @jherrerx, @keachhagey, @markdistef and @benmullin

Jim VandeHei / Axios:

Axios says it qualified for a PPP loan “just shy of $5M” as it is both a media company and a small business with a national presence — Axios is among the small businesses that qualified for a PPP loan to protect existing jobs and help weather the coronavirus crisis.

Discussion: CNBC and @brianstelter

Financial Times:

Some of UK's biggest publishers criticize Google for failing to adequately explain its approach to blocking and filtering ads alongside COVID-19-related content — Tech group asked to provide greater clarity over how it filters ads around coverage of pandemic

Discussion: @markdistef, more at Techmeme »

Shuchi Bansal / Livemint:

BloombergQuint, Bloomberg's joint venture in India with Quintillion, shuts TV division after failing to get a broadcast license; source: BQ is writing off $26M — - It had FIPB nod for a 74:26 joint venture in November 2016 to operate an English language business news channel

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:

Disney co-founder's granddaughter Abigail Disney criticises the company for protecting exec bonuses and dividends of $1.5B+ while cutting pay of 100K+ workers — Abigail Disney hits out at executive payouts while staff weather coronavirus impact — An heir to the Walt Disney fortune …

Discussion: @abigaildisney, Hollywood Reporter and The Kingdom Insider

Kathryn Hopkins / WWD:

Bustle relaunches Nylon's digital edition but delays a promised print edition to fall 2021 and postpones a monthly live music series, Nylon Nights — Nylon's first digital issue under BDG's ownership features cover star Maya Hawke. — After acquiring fashion, music and cultural site Nylon last summer …

Discussion: Nylon, @benjamingoggin, @raywongy and MediaPost

Mandy Jenkins / The Compass Experiment:

The Compass Experiment, McClatchy and Google's digital local news initiative, plans to launch the Longmont Leader in Colorado in May with a team of five — We're launching The Longmont Leader to provide critical news and information during this time of crisis — and beyond.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Axios, @fishnette, @mattsebastian, @mjenkins, The Keyword, @juliewestfall, @mjenkins, @rubinojc, @mcclatchy, @benfischersbj, MediaPost, Longmont Observer, PR Newswire, Longmont Observer and Free Press

Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post:

Filing: NBCUniversal sold about half of its stake, worth ~$178M, in Peloton; Peloton shares are up more than 50% since mid-March because of the pandemic — NBCUniversal has sold a $178 million stake in stationary-bike company Peloton, whose shares have lately been surging because of the coronavirus crisis.

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Output Producer, CA — AP

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Senior Assignment Editor, DC — WaPo

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Local Government Reporter, IA — The Gazette

Research Director, CA — OCBJ

Immigration Enforcement Reporter — Documented

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Energy Reporter, TX — Houston Chronicle

Senior Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — FT

Reporter, WI — Racine County Eye

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More News:

Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:
Bustle's former EIC Kate Ward and former SVP Lindsay Mannering launch a “personalized subscription website for TV's biggest fans” called The Dipp

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
After the pandemic shut down live music venues, some artists have turned to sites like Stageit to livestream performances with typical viewers paying around $15

Discussion: @sammyandrews, @lucas_shaw, @rhettmiller, @lucas_shaw and @lucas_shaw

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
eMarketer forecasts TV networks will collect between $24B and $26.3B in ad spending in H1 2020, compared to $33.9B collected in H1 2019, due to sports shutdown

Discussion: @latimes, @swanniontv, @mediumbuying and @megjameslat

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
A behind-the-scenes look at the Facebook News team's early response to COVID-19, including a push to make news more prominent in the Information Center

Discussion: @blackamazon, @issielapowsky, @jason_kint and @kerrymflynn

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Jewish News to continue publishing after the collapse of the merger with the Jewish Chronicle, which was acquired by a consortium and will go into liquidation

Discussion: The Times of Israel

Snap Inc.:
Snap reports in Q1 DAUs increased 20% YoY to 229M, revenue increased 44% YoY to $462M, time spent watching Discover content rose 35%+; stock up 19%+ after hours

Discussion: The Wrap, VentureBeat, @tiffkhsu, @peterhamby, @joshelman, Mashable, The Verge and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify launches a set of 17 editorially curated podcast playlists, akin to its RapCaviar music playlist, in the US and five other countries

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @forpodcasters, Spotify, Gizmodo and Android Central

Earlier Picks:

@si_union:
Maven has recognized the Sports Illustrated union, formed in January with support from more than 90% of the staff

Discussion: @grantwahl and bookforum.com

Variety:
Georgia to let movie theaters reopen April 27, but hiring staff, safety protocols, a lack of new releases, and limits on crowd sizes pose significant challenges

Discussion: Mediaite, @srdtv, @brycezabel, @cinestate, Deadline, /Film, The Playlist, Comic Book Movie, Variety and The A.V. Club

Marc Tracy / New York Times:
NPR cuts CEO pay 25% and reduces other executives' salaries between 10% and 15%, but CEO says there are no layoffs planned at the moment

Discussion: @aliabunimah, @jonahblank, @bobbyallyn, @kindandunblind, @taylakaye, @vwpickard, @mirokorenha, @jimwindolf and The Wrap

Seb Joseph / Digiday:
YouTube says it's working on letting advertisers use keyword or contextual targeting to decide what posts their ads will appear on before running them

Tim Dams / Variety:
Apple Music expands to 52 new countries, for a total of 167 countries, while Spotify operates in 79; Apple Podcasts becomes available in 20 more countries

Discussion: Apple, RAIN News, My Podcast Reviews, TechCrunch, MacRumors and The Verge

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Michael Jordan docuseries “The Last Dance” debuts to an average 6.1M viewers across ESPN and ESPN 2, the most-viewed original content on the network since 2004

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
NBCUniversal's movie ticketing company Fandango has agreed to buy Walmart's on-demand video streaming service Vudu for an undisclosed sum

Discussion: Variety, Digiday, @ercboxoffice, Ad Age, AdExchanger, MediaPost, Marketing Dive, @seannarrates, @film_girl, @jasonlynch, @megancgraham, @natjarv, @moiseschiu, @ashkan, @alexweprin, @taralach, @thekenyeung and IndieWire

From Techmeme:

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

Financial Times:
Sources: Palantir and Anduril are in talks with OpenAI, SpaceX, and more to form a consortium to bid for US defense contracts and plan to announce it in January

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