Top News:
Scott Feinberg / Hollywood Reporter:
Motion picture academy eases qualifications for 2021 Oscars; eligible films won't have to screen for at least a week in a Los Angeles-area theater — The Academy's board of governors convened via a secure Zoom session on Tuesday morning. — The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony is still slated …
Discussion:
Variety, @theacademy, Oscars.org, @nicsperling, @perezhilton, @mgsiegler, @enricomagrelli, @variety, @thatrebecca, Rolling Stone, @iwriteallday_, Variety, @gracerandolph, Gizmodo, @billkuchman, @heatherfink, @benfritz, @kylebuchanan, The Week, /Film, Mashable and The Verge
Jim VandeHei / Axios:
Axios, which had qualified for a $4.8M PPP loan, will return the money after nearing a deal for other capital and after the program prompted divisive debate — Axios, which qualified for a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan to avoid layoffs, will return the money, after nearing a deal for an alternative source of capital.
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Kathryn Hopkins / WWD:
Bustle Digital Group confirms it was OK'd for a $7.5M PPP loan, 2 weeks after it closed The Outline and laid off 24, and says the loan will help undo pay cuts — The publisher of Bustle, Nylon and Mic was approved for a $7.5 million Paycheck Protection Program loan earlier this month.
Discussion:
@autowin, @whatthebit, @adater, @saschasegan and @andreagonram
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Spotify beats with Q1 revenue of €1.8B and net income of €1M, with MAUs up 31% YoY to 286M, premium users up 31% to 130M, and ad-supported MAUs up 32% to 163M — The coronavirus may be decimating some corners of the economy, but the impact on the digital music …
Discussion:
Spotify, Variety, Fast Company, VentureBeat, @thr, Hollywood Reporter and @ingridlunden, more at Techmeme »
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify-owned Anchor introduces a feature that will allow creators to turn their video chats and virtual hangouts into podcast-ready audio — Spotify is tapping into the increased usage of video conferencing during the coronavirus quarantine to grow its own podcast business.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, Anchor, Engadget, @leimer, Engadget, Los Angeles Times, The Verge, Marketing Land and Hot Pod News, more at Techmeme »
Josh Kosman / New York Post:
Sources: Dish is pushing for refunds from Disney, invoking force majeure, due to the lack of live sports on ESPN, but Disney has rebuffed the request so far — Charlie Ergen's satellite TV company is calling foul on Disney for making it pay for ESPN at a time when there is no live sports programming, The Post has learned.
Thom Geier / The Wrap:
Universal says Trolls World Tour on-demand release has netted ~5M downloads; source: it's made $77M in revenue from the 80% it retains from digital rental fees — Universal's gamble to bypass a theatrical release for “Trolls World Tour” and release it on demand instead appears to have paid off — big time.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, NME, Numlock News, Hollywood Reporter, The Week, MediaPost, @zeitchikwapo, @zeitchikwapo, @zeitchikwapo, @mortuaryreport, @zeitchikwapo, Variety, @bookishplinko, @scrawfish, @scott_tobias, @witneyseibold, @wsj, @frankpallotta, @edmundlee, @awallenstein, @mjsamps, @davidlsims, @cinematicbanter and @dkthomp
The New York Times Company:
Kara Swisher is leaving her Recode Decode podcast on July 1 to produce a new twice-weekly podcast for NYT's Opinion section — Kara, who became a Times contributor in 2018, will start producing a twice-weekly show that will make its debut in the fall. Read more in this note from James Bennet …
Matthew Moore / The Times:
Facebook poaches Tony Close, director of content standards at Ofcom, as director of content regulation; Ofcom is preparing to regulate social media companies — A senior official at the watchdog preparing to regulate social media companies has been poached by Facebook to help it respond to the curbs.
Discussion:
@tim2040, @thetimes, @thejamesmax, @janinegibson, @damiancollins, @elliotttimes, @mattkmoore, @mattkmoore and @harry_horton
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism:
Reuters Institute launches the Trust in News Project, which will research questions of trust in digital media over three years with $4M in funding from Facebook — A new £3.3m ($4m) grant will fund a three-year project to look at trust in news and identify actionable, evidence-based recommendations
Discussion:
Facebook Invests $2 Million …, @trf and @uniofoxford
Jem Aswad / Variety:
Facebook plans to add the ability for Pages to charge for access to livestreamed events, but details like a cut percentage and the launch date are lacking — Facebook plans to allow users to charge for livestreams, which will provide a way for musicians and other creators to monetize …
Discussion:
Fast Company, About Facebook, Mashable, The Verge, @marcsettle, Forbes, Gizmodo and NME
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Nielsen: CNN saw an increase of 179% in viewers between the ages of 25 and 54 in April, while Fox News grew 83% and MSNBC grew 54% — Viewership for all three of the nation's main cable-news outlets soared in April as viewers tuned in at all hours for information on the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Discussion:
New York Times, TVNewser, Mediaite and Raw Story
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