Paramount Global has eliminated its diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the face of America First Legal lawsuits against the company and its CBS subsidiary, the conservative administrative law nonprofit said last week. AFL said it has also secured a settlement with Paramount and CBS regarding an AFL client -- a script supervisor for the show SEAL Team -- who alleged discrimination by dint of not being an underrepresented minority. Paramount has committed to no longer setting numerical goals related to race, ethnicity, sex or gender and no longer collecting demographic data of applicants, AFL said. Paramount didn't comment Friday. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has also targeted DEI initiatives at companies the agency regulates (see 2503280038).
Look for U.S. consumer spending on video to slide through 2027, though advertising revenues could help keep video-related revenues "flattish" over the next few years, MoffettNathanson wrote investors Monday. Given the decline in pay TV, theatrical and home video spending, "the days of growth are now behind us." It said ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) and user-generated content will claim an increasing share of video advertising spending in coming years, as money that has flowed into traditional TV is increasingly going toward AVOD.
Comcast news outlets' coverage of the controversial deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia could be news distortion that violates FCC rules, Chairman Brendan Carr wrote Wednesday night on X. "Comcast knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest," he said in his post, which was in response to a post by White House Communications Director Steven Cheung criticizing CNN and MSNBC coverage. "News distortion doesn’t cut it," Carr said. Comcast is "ignor[ing] ... facts of obvious public interest" regarding Abrego Garcia and his deportation. Comcast didn't comment Thursday. The FCC under Carr has a pending news distortion investigation against CBS about 60 Minutes' coverage of the 2024 presidential campaign (see 2502050063).
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said on X late Thursday that he met at DOJ headquarters with Gail Slater, the new DOJ Antitrust Division chief, and FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson. “The three of us got together to talk about the work that we are taking across government right now to smash the censorship cartel and restore free speech rights to everyday Americans,” Carr said. “Across government, we’re taking action.”
A Project Rise Partners purchase of Paramount Global would mean fair and balanced news coverage, representatives told FCC acting Media Bureau Chief Erin Boone and other staffers, according to a docket 24-275 filing posted Thursday. It recapped a meeting at which PRP -- chaired by Daphna Edwards Ziman, head of independent network Cinemoi, and Moses Gross, managing trustee of Malka Investment Trust -- reiterated its arguments that Tencent's investment in Skydance Media raises national security concerns and that Skydance Media buying Paramount could mean higher consumer prices (see 2503060035). PRP told the FCC it "will seek a return to the vision and practice of CBS’s -- the Tiffany Network’s -- formative titans, Bill Paley and Walter Cronkite, free from bias, dedicated to excellence and presenting the news in the way that it is." It said it would return "to the principles underlying the dormant Fairness Doctrine [and] provide an organizational structure that allows and considers public input to capture all viewpoints and prevent news coverage distortion."
With Comcast and Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network having reached a carriage agreement Monday, YES is withdrawing its program carriage complaint against Comcast and its motion for a temporary injunction to head off a blackout (see 2503310020), the network said Tuesday (docket 12-1). Writing on X late Monday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr applauded the carriage deal: "Going dark wouldn’t have been in anyone’s interest."
Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien met with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to urge that the agency memorialize Skydance Media's pro-worker commitments in any approval of Skydance buying Paramount Global, said a filing Tuesday in docket 24-275. Barring that, the FCC should encourage the parties to agree on protecting workers post-transaction, the Teamsters said. The union said it hasn't heard from Skydance about union proposals such as "applying Paramount's current collective bargaining agreement to all New Paramount employees." Multiple unions have pressed the FCC to codify labor-related promises Skydance has made (see 2411010034).
Comcast wants to send the New York Yankees' regional sports network "to the Siberia of a tier and overcharge fans for it," while it carries its own SportsNet New York (SNY) in its expanded basic package, the Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network said Monday in a carriage complaint (docket 12-1). YES said Comcast's "my-way-or-the-highway demand" -- coming atop Comcast's previous dropping of MSG Networks -- looks to be part of a plot "designed to elevate the least popular of the three New York area regional sports networks into prime position." YES said Comcast is offering carriage only on its higher-priced, less-penetrated digital basic tier.
California state lawmakers have introduced bills to keep film and TV production jobs from leaving, Sheppard Mullin blogged Tuesday. State senate and assembly bills (SB-630/AB-1138) would diversify the types of productions that qualify for California’s Film and Television Tax Credit program to include animation, as well as game shows and other unscripted programs, it said. The also would increase the tax rebate from 20% for most productions in the state, it said. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has also unveiled plans to raise California's current tax credit cap.
Viewers now rely on streaming platforms' suggestions more than recommendations from friends and family in deciding what to watch, Ampere Analysis blogged Tuesday. It said its study of 56,000 consumers across 30 markets globally found that 26% use the streaming platforms' algorithm picks, vs. 23% relying on word-of-mouth suggestions.