Morning Media Newsfeed: <em>NYT</em> Cuts Staff, NYT Opinion

[emailonly]{{{ sbox300x250 }}}[/emailonly] Click here to receive Mediabistro's Morning Media Newsfeed via email. NYT to Cut 100 Newsroom Jobs, Shutter NYT Opinion (FishbowlNY) Wednesday was not a good day for many New York Times staffers. The paper cut a whopping 100 people from its newsroom. The last time the Times let go of this many people was in 2009. NYT Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the newspaper’s publisher, and Mark Thompson, its chief executive, said that in addition to the job cuts, NYT Opinion, a new mobile app dedicated to opinion content, was shutting down because it was not attracting enough subscribers. HuffPost The Times said it would seek to eliminate roughly 100 jobs in the newsroom through either buyouts or layoffs. Additional reductions are expected in the editorial and business departments. The cuts have been widely expected for weeks. The paper's own report on the changes noted that the newsroom will lose around 7.5 percent of its employees. That still leaves it with one of the biggest in the industry. Politico / Dylan Byers on Media The Times has already eliminated at least 230 newsroom positions since 2008, even as it continues to staff up on the digital and development side. The new cutbacks should leave the Times with roughly 1,200 newsroom staff. New York Post The cuts appear aimed at getting more senior staffers to exit. Employees covered by the Newspaper Guild will receive three weeks of salary for each year worked, capped at a maximum of two times annual salary, according to Baquet’s memo. In addition, the Times is offering a cash payout of 35 percent of total severance to staffers who have been at the company 20 years or more. Derek Jeter Launches Sports Site ‘The Players’ Tribune’ (FishbowlNY) Derek Jeter did not take much time to enjoy his retirement. The legendary Yankees shortstop has launched The Players’ Tribune, a sports/lifestyle site with one major difference than the rest -- the content will be by athletes. THR As the site's founding publisher, Jeter wrote, in a letter on The Players' Tribune website, that the company was spurred by his own interactions with the New York media, saying he was often guarded because he worried that his comments might be distorted. NYT According to a news release, athletes will be able to share first-person accounts, videos, podcasts, photographs and polls on the site. Jeter said he would be closely involved. Jeter, who was guarded in his conversations with reporters and repeatedly used the phrase “I don’t know” when asked questions this year about his impending Yankees retirement, said in a letter posted on the website Wednesday, “I do think fans deserve more than ‘no comments’ or ‘I don’t knows.’” Capital New York Legendary Entertainment, the movie and film studio that also owns the Nerdist brand -- a powerful brand in the online video and podcast space -- is a partner in the site. The Players' Tribune will have a professional staff to work with its contributors. Notably, the site has hired former ESPN The Magazine founding editor Gary Hoenig, former Sports Illustrated photo director Maureen Cavanagh and Sarah Turcotte, a former senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. The site will unveil its next contributor on Thursday. DirecTV Strikes Long-Term Deal for NFL Sunday Ticket (THR) DirecTV no doubt thrilled nervous stockholders on Wednesday by announcing it has struck a long-term deal with the NFL allowing it to carry every Sunday afternoon out-of-market game, an extremely popular package known as NFL Sunday Ticket. Variety The NFL Sunday Ticket franchise is so important to the satcaster that renewal of the deal became a make-or-break clause in DirecTV’s pending merger with AT&T. The pact includes streaming rights to games on mobile devices that had been negotiated previously. DirecTV will also continue to carry its NFL Red Zone and NFL Fantasy Zone themed channels. The league’s NFL Network has also renewed its authentication deal for DirecTV’s TV Everywhere service. Re/code The two sides aren’t commenting on pricing, but the satellite TV company’s last NFL deal cost it about $1 billion a year. The renewal means that the most plausible way for a non-TV company to get its hands on TV’s most valuable programming is now off the table; people familiar with the deal say it will extend for eight years. Meanwhile, the rest of the NFL’s games are also locked up in long-term deals. Deadline Hollywood The NFL has a separate agreement with Verizon that enables it to stream games to its mobile users through 2017. [emailonly]{{{ jodslot01 }}}[/emailonly] Facebook Apologizes to LGBT Community for Real-Name Controversy, Vows Changes (AllFacebook) Facebook promised to overhaul its reporting and enforcement process regarding its real-name policy in an effort to quell the controversy that erupted last month, when several drag queens and other members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community saw their accounts suspended for not using their legal names. WSJ / Digits Christopher Cox, Facebook’s product chief, apologized in a post Wednesday to people affected by the recent sweep. He said hundreds of drag queens who were flagged for violating Facebook’s real-name policy, will be able to use their stage names on Facebook. Mashable Cox said that the so-called "real name" policy had been in effect for more than 10 years but clarified it "has never been to require everyone on Facebook to use their legal name." Instead, he said, the policy stipulated that "everyone on Facebook uses the authentic name they use in real life." CBS News, PBS Score Big at News And Documentary Emmys (TVNewser) PBS and CBS News were the big winners at Tuesday night’s News and Documentary Emmys at the Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City. PBS took home 11 Emmys while CBS won 10. ABC News won three, NBC News and BBC News two, and CNN and Al Jazeera America both earned one. Variety CBS took home the only Emmy awarded to a broadcast-network morning news program, for an interview between Charlie Rose and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad on CBS This Morning. CBS’ 60 Minutes won five awards, while PBS’ Frontline and Independent Lens nabbed four and three, respectively. TVNewser Brian Williams picked up the tab Tuesday night for his Nightly News team at Rosa Mexicano celebrating the Emmy wins. Nightly won for breaking news coverage of the tornado in Moore, Okla. and, along with CBS, was honored for coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings. As President Obama Goes, Here’s How Cable News Goes… (TVNewser) With the midterm elections approaching and President Obama three quarters of the way through his presidency, we thought we’d see how the big three cable news networks’ ratings have fared in direct comparison to the president’s popularity. We looked at President Obama’s monthly Gallup approval ratings dating back to January 2009: from his inauguration through September’s approval ratings, which were released Wednesday. [emailonly]{{{ sbox01 }}}[/emailonly] Glenn Beck‘s TheBlaze Launches on Suddenlink (TVNewser) Glenn Beck‘s TheBlaze has launched on Suddenlink, the nation’s seventh-largest cable operator. TheBlaze is now available on 77 television providers nationwide including 10 of the top 25. Variety “We’re pleased with this new agreement,” said Kathy Payne, Suddenlink senior vice president and chief programming officer. “TheBlaze was one of the networks most requested by our customers. It adds variety to the news, information and opinion programming we offer our customers.” Suddenlink has approximately 1.4 million residential and commercial customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia and elsewhere. Morning Shows Go Pink for 2014 Breast Cancer Awareness Month (TVNewser) Several network morning shows broke out the pink as Breast Cancer Awareness month begins. The Today show has former Good Morning America co-anchor Joan Lunden as special correspondent this week. Over on Good Morning America Robin Roberts donated one of her wigs to eBeauty. And on Fox & Friends Danica Patrick unveiled her pink NASCAR car to raise awareness for breast cancer research. LostRemote Today got things started with a host of on-air and Facebook-based initiatives. To kick things off, Today changed its profile picture, altering the logo from its signature orange to pink (they also did this on air). Then, Lunden was in the #OrangeRoom participating in a Facebook Q&A. One fan suggested that the Orange Room -- Today’s social media zone -- be renamed the Pink Room this month. Lunden’s response? “Good call. I’ll put in the request!” NY Post Settles Lawsuit Over Notorious 'Bag Men' Cover (HuffPost / AP) The New York Post has settled a defamation lawsuit over a cover three days after the Boston Marathon bombing that featured a photo of two Massachusetts residents with the headline "Bag Men." Neither side would disclose terms of the settlement. Mediaite At the outset of the manhunt for two men who turned out to be Dzhokar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the Post ran two photos of Salaheddin Barhoum and Yassine Zaimi standing in the marathon crowd. Barhoum and Zaimi submitted as evidence a Department of Homeland security email dismissing the two men as persons of interest. The Post, meanwhile, claimed it never named the pair or explicitly called them suspects in the bombing. [emailonly]{{{ sbox02 }}}[/emailonly] HuffPost Hires Star McClatchy Intern Ali Watkins (FishbowlNY) Ali Watkins is joining HuffPost Politics as a reporter covering national security and politics. Watkins comes to HuffPost from McClatchy DC. She starts Oct. 20. FishbowlDC The 2014 Temple grad’s name may ring a bell. As an intern for McClatchy this past spring, she was part of the team that broke the story that the CIA spied on computers used by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Layoffs at The Weather Channel (TVNewser) As many as 40 staffers were cut at Atlanta-based Weather Channel Wednesday. Most came from the product and technology group which was created in July as part of a larger reorganization at the company. “That effort to find the ideal structure to best position this team for future growth concluded [Wednesday] and did result in the elimination of some positions,” Weather Channel spokesperson Shirley Powell said. Viacom Grants Verizon Wireless Nationwide Rights for TV Service (Variety) Verizon Communications and Viacom have reached a pact under which the programmer -- whose properties include MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central -- has granted national rights to distribute Viacom content to Verizon Wireless customers. Neither company would elaborate on what programming, exactly, will be available to Verizon Wireless. The telco expects to launch a wireless TV service late in the first half of 2015, which would combine broadcast networks and an a-la-carte collection of cable and digital media channels, CEO Lowell McAdam said at an investor conference last month. [emailonly]{{{ sbox03 }}}[/emailonly] Jon Steinberg on MailOnline’s Plans for World Domination, New Hire Piers Morgan (FishbowlNY / Lunch) It was a true media mashup at Michael’s Wednesday as the joint was jam-packed with famous faces (Katie Couric and Barbara Walters at separate tables; Natalie Morales) and moguls (David Zinczenko), while the usual suspects upped the decibel level to near ear-splitting levels. Viacom Blocks Suddenlink Subscribers From Streaming Daily Show, Colbert, Other Shows (GigaOM) Viacom has done it again: The cable programmer is blocking subscribers of Suddenlink from accessing its shows online as part of a contractual dispute with the provider. The online blackout came in response to Suddenlink dropping Viacom’s channels from its cable lineup Wednesday after the two parties couldn’t agree on fees for a renewed carriage deal. Netflix Reportedly Reaches More Than 100,000 Subscribers in France (THR) Since its mid-September launch in six European markets, Netflix has already managed to reach more than 100,000 subscribers in France, Le Figaro reported Wednesday. A Netflix spokesman declined to comment on the report. The online streaming giant brought its service to France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg in mid-September. Netflix held a star-studded launch event in Paris and also offered complimentary one-month service to lure users. One of the big competitors in France is CanalPlay, part of Vivendi's Canal Plus, which has 520,000 subscribers. 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Morning Media Newsfeed: NYT Cuts Staff, NYT Opinion | Jeter Launches 'Players' Tribune'

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