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:
Oscars.org, Variety, @theacademy, @nicsperling, The Wrap, @perezhilton, @mgsiegler, @enricomagrelli, @variety, Numlock News, @thatrebecca, @iwriteallday_, Variety, @gracerandolph, @billkuchman, @heatherfink, @benfritz, @kylebuchanan, Rolling Stone, Gizmodo, The Week, 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.
Discussion:
@jbarro, New York Post, @derricktperkins, @carlquintanilla, @danprimack, @thegrnadvocate, @bendreyfuss, @ryanmaue, @harrysiegel, @emilydreyfuss, @bendreyfuss, @film_girl, @bendreyfuss, @bmorrissey, @danprimack, @lanceulanoff, @bendreyfuss, @dylanbyers, @bendreyfuss, @danprimack, @media_evan and The Hill
RELATED:
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, The Wrap, TVNewser, Mediaite and Raw Story
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:
Variety, Spotify, The Wrap, Fast Company, VentureBeat, @philipmorton, @thr and @ingridlunden, more at Techmeme »
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:
@jbenton, @tim2040, @thetimes, @thejamesmax, @mrharrycole, @janinegibson, @damiancollins, @elliotttimes, @mattkmoore, @mattkmoore and @harry_horton
Tim Baysinger / The Wrap:
Amazon renews its NFL deal for 3 more seasons, with Amazon and Twitch getting exclusive global rights to one late-season Saturday game each season — Amazon will stream “Thursday Night Football” for three more seasons and get an additional game all to itself in a new deal with the NFL.
Discussion:
Variety, The Streamable, Hollywood Reporter, @pkafka, @carlquintanilla, @darrenrovell and @pkafka
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Alphabet reports YouTube Q1 ad revenue of $4.04B, up 33% YoY, but says ad sales fell significantly in March — YouTube generated $4.04 billion in ad revenue for the first quarter of 2020, up 33% from the year prior. Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube …
Discussion:
MediaPost, Digiday, MarketWatch and @xpangler, more at Techmeme »
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 …
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.
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:
Mobile Marketer, Nieman Lab, Anchor, @leimer, Engadget, Engadget, Los Angeles Times, The Verge, Marketing Land and Hot Pod News, more at Techmeme »
Elizabeth Williamson / New York Times:
Profile of Kayleigh McEnany, whose role as Trump's White House press secretary has become indistinguishable from her role as Trump campaign's spokeswoman — Kayleigh McEnany saw Donald J. Trump as her ticket to stardom. She has been fighting for him for much of her adult life, now as the president's fourth press secretary.
Discussion:
@nytpolitics, @tomscocca, @tomscocca, @tomscocca, New Republic, @dangillmor, @ericboehlert, @billkristol, PRESS RUN, @mattgertz, @brianstelter and CNN
Shawn Lim / The Drum:
Facebook Journalism Project announces a $2M investment in grant funding, coaching, and training to support Asia-Pacific news organizations covering the pandemic — Facebook has announced a $2 million investment in grant funding, coaching and training as part of its journalism project …
Discussion:
Facebook Invests $2 Million …
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