Media Roundup: Layoffs Coming to Yahoo, Boston Globe Union Sets Terms and More
Layoffs coming to Yahoo -- Yahoo is expected to cut hundreds of jobs when it announces first quarter earnings on Tuesday. While not yet confirmed, the cuts would be the third round in slightly over a year for the search company. Yahoo is steadily losing market share to Google, and is in on-again, off-again talks with Microsoft to form an advertising partnership. Yahoo also is seeking to sell HotJobs, its job board service. The earnings report would be the first for new CEO Carol Bartz, who replaced co-founder Jerry Yang in January. When appointed, Bartz promised to make Yahoo smaller and more nimble. [Source: CNET]
Boston Globe sets terms for cutback talks -- The Boston Newspaper Guild, which represents 700 Boston Globe employees, set terms for cost-cutting discussions with its parent company, The New York Times. The union is pushing for a revenue sharing program that would spread the burden to all parties. The guild also asked to talk directly with any perspective buyers, and is refusing to talk about any topic other than cost cutting. Earlier this month, The Times threatened to shut down the Boston Globe if it did not trim $20 million. The paper has since withheld bonuses for managers and trimmed paid time off. [Source: Editor & Publisher, Boston.com]
Journalism Online aims to be iTunes for news -- Three veteran CEOs have banded together to launch what is being billed as an "iTunes for news." The venture, named Journalism Online, aims to be a service that will collect micropayments from readers and distribute them to content providers. Customers will be able to purchase subscriptions, day passes and single articles and each publisher could set its own prices and restrictions. An all-access subscriptions to all publishers content will likely be $15. No publishers have signed on yet, but several are said to be in talks. The company is expected to launch sometime this Fall. [Source: Portfolio]
Comcast and NFL dig in for fight -- The NFL is petitioning Comcast to include the NFL Network on the cable giant's standard group of channels. Currently, subscribers have to purchase Comcast's sports package for an extra $8 a month. Comcast plans on no longer offering the NFL Network after the current arrangement ends May 1st. Subsequently, the NFL has argued that Comcast has placed sports networks that it owns, such as Versus, on the company's primary package while leaving off competitors. Comcast believes that the fee the NFL is seeking is too costly. The FCC is currently holding hearings to solve the spat. [Source: Wall Street Journal]
TV.com on the rise, still behind Hulu -- The CBS-owned TV.com has doubled in traffic in March, but is still behind NBC and Fox-owned competitor Hulu. Both sites stream TV episodes and movies with limited commercial interruption. According to Nielsen, Hulu users streamed 349 million videos while TV.com users streamed only 3.4 million. Hulu and TV.com were former partners, and Hulu has since pulled all of its content of its rival's site. TV.com is not even in the top 10 list of the Internet's most popular video sites. [Source: Business Insider]