Mediagazer: Source: Amazon is “actively pursuing” licensing deals to add live and linear TV to complement its Prime Video offerings (Janko Roettgers/Protocol)

Top News:

Rachel Abrams / New York Times:

ViacomCBS says The Comey Rule mini-series will air in September, ahead of election day, after its director criticized its late-November release date — The series director criticized ViacomCBS's announcement that it would broadcast “The Comey Rule” in late November. On Wednesday, the air date was moved to September.

Discussion: New York Times, Variety, The Wrap and /Film

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Vice urges advertisers to stop blocking BLM and related keywords, saying content related to Floyd protests was monetized at a 57% lower rate than other content — Vice Media Group is calling on the advertising industry to review “brand safe” keywords, after the company recently found …

Discussion: Adweek, Ad Age, @kelseymsutton and @jasonabbruzzese

Tiffany Hsu / New York Times:

Ben & Jerry's, Eddie Bauer, and Magnolia Pictures join Patagonia, REI, and others suspending Facebook ads in July to protest amplification of hate speech — Eddie Bauer, Magnolia Pictures, Ben & Jerry's and others have suspended campaigns over the platform's content moderation practices.

Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:
Sources: Facebook's head of trust and safety policy admits to a “trust deficit” on a call with 200+ advertisers, as the company tries to stem an ad boycott

Discussion: @onaircoop and @mshannahmurphy, more at Techmeme »

Pranshu Verma / New York Times:

A lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Open Technology Fund, argues dismissal of heads of OTF and four outlets by Global Media's new CEO Michael Pack was unlawful — The suit is the first legal action taken against Michael Pack after he fired the heads of the technology organization and four journalism outlets under his purview last week.

Discussion: NPR and Letters from an American

Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Open Technology Fund, the US digital speech advocate that funded Signal and falls under the US Agency for Global Media, faces turmoil amid leadership turnover

Discussion: @ewong, @deepakguptalaw, @russellbrandom, @jilliancyork, @internetff and Axios, more at Techmeme »

BBC:

ABC to cut 250 jobs across “every division”, including its newsrooms, in an effort to find savings of A$84M after budget cuts by the Australian government — The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) says it will shed 250 jobs in an effort to find savings after budget cuts by the Australian government.

Discussion: @pia_akerman, @patskarvelas, @emilybell and The Guardian

Janko Roettgers / Protocol:

Source: Amazon is “actively pursuing” licensing deals to add live and linear TV to complement its Prime Video offerings — Amazon is looking to add 24/7 live programming to its Prime Video service, according to multiple job listings posted over the past several weeks.

Discussion: The Streamable, Fortune, BGR, MediaPost, Digital TV Europe, @davemorgannyc, Gizmodo, Órbita, @worldsoccertalk, @matthewkeyslive, @matthewkeyslive, @dakotadallen, @matthewkeyslive, The Verge, Multichannel News and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Ex-Sunday Times editor Martin Ives named new editor of Times Literary Supplement; Stig Abell named exec editor at News UK's radio and podcast division Wireless — Stig Abell is stepping down as editor of the Times Literary Supplement after four years to take up a new role of executive editor …

Discussion: Bookseller News

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Bauer Media is shutting down a few titles in the UK, merging its two golf magazines, and is in advanced stages of negotiations to sell five titles — Magazine publisher Bauer is closing a number of titles as part of a review to “protect the long-term health” the business.

Discussion: @pressgazette

Stefan Bondy / New York Daily News:

Sources: Howard Mittman was forced out as CEO of Bleacher Report after employees complained about the lack of diversity at the company's executive level — Howard Mittman was forced out as CEO of Bleacher Report after employees passionately objected to the lack of diversity at the company's executive level …

Discussion: The Wrap, Washington Post, Folio, @dave_schilling, @adena_andrews, @laurawags, Outkick, Bloomberg and Awful Announcing

Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:

WarnerMedia and iHeartMedia sign a deal to co-produce a slate of companion podcasts for HBO Max shows, which will be available to stream on the HBO Max app — Comedy ‘Search Party’ and sci-fi drama ‘Raised by Wolves’ are the first TV series to get companion podcasts.

Discussion: The Streamable and Variety

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Wondery has launched a free app for iOS with original podcasts supported by ads, and an ad-free version, Wondery Plus, for $4.99/mo; Android version will follow — Streaming-Video Subscriptions Have Risen During COVID-19 — but So Has ‘Subscription Fatigue,’ Study Finds

Discussion: @jaycodon, @sarthakgh, @evoterra, @awilkinson and App Store

Nicholas Quah / Nieman Lab:

Recent podcasting deals between platforms and talent resemble the deals musicians used to sign with record labels, forfeiting ownership in exchange for exposure — Welcome to Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts. This is issue 263, dated June 23, 2020. — Last week was an exceptionally busy one …

Discussion: @niemanlab, @podcastsincolor and @rmcomedy, more at Techmeme »

Erik Pedersen / Deadline:

Conan Doyle Estate sues Netflix, alleging copyright infringement and trademark violations ahead of release of Enola Holmes, a film about Sherlock Holmes' sister — The movie stars Millie Bobby Brown as the much-younger sister of Sherlock Holmes, who proves to be a highly capable detective in her own right.

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety, GameSpot and Hollywood Reporter