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Google on Thursday said it will finally debut its News Showcase product in the U.S. this summer, years after initially launching it in other countries. 

Why it matters: The launch, which has faced multiple delays, comes as lawmakers in the U.S. weigh legislation that would force tech giants like Google and rival Meta to pay news publishers. 

California's legislature last week passed a bill that would tax tech firms for news content. It now heads to the state Senate for consideration. 

On the national level, a bipartisan group in Congress reintroduced a journalism antitrust bill in March for the fourth time in four years. While that bill seems unlikely to become law anytime soon, it's gained more bipartisan support each time it's been reintroduced. 

Catch up quick: The News Showcase product is a set of features and dedicated spaces within Google's search products that elevate high-quality information for readers. The products are meant to help deliver more traffic to the websites of participating publishers. 

Google committed to investing over $1 billion in News Showcase products globally between 2020 and 2023. It's unclear how much it's spent to-date. The program is currently live in over 22 countries and has payment deals with 2,300 publishers.

Google first rolled out News Showcase in 2020 in Brazil and Germany. Since then, it has expanded it to more than 20 countries, including Argentina, Canada, the U.K. and Australia. 

It was created as more countries began to introduce legislation that would require tech firms to pay for news. 

State of play: Australia passed a law in 2021 that requires Big Tech firms to broker payment deals with publishers. 

The EU passed new copyright rules in 2019, which member states must ratify, that forces tech firms to pay publishers. 

Canada and New Zealand are currently weighing legislation similar to Australia's law. 

Details: Google will provide new training and funding for 150 news publishers across 39 states, the vast majority (90%) at the regional and local level. 

Examples of publishers Google has struck deals with: Duluth News Tribune in Minnesota; NOLA.com and The Times-Picayune in Louisiana; The Oaklandside and La Opinión in California; La Raza in Illinois; and Orlando Weekly in Florida. 

In addition, Google has deals with and global and national publications like The Associated Press, Bloomberg, El Diario, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal. 

It will also increase funding and training for publishers represented by five U.S. news associations that collectively reach about 1,000 local publications, Google said. Those groups include the Local Independent Online News Publishers (LION), the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP), Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN) and Institute for Nonprofit News (INN). 

It's also rolling out two new products within Google News that will help drive more traffic to participating publishers. Those products include an updated "Following" tab to help readers find news from publishers they select and a "Reader Revenue Manager" product that will help publishers with things like subscriptions and site registrations. 

Be smart: Google's approach to paying publishers differs dramatically from Meta's, which is trying to get out of the news business altogether. 

Meta has threatened to pull news in California over the new law being proposed. It's already begun testing pulling links to news on Instagram and Facebook in the country, ahead of the law potentially passing. 

Google, meanwhile, has leaned more heavily into striking distribution partnerships with publishers directly, in an effort to broker those deals on its own terms. 

The big picture: Google has not indicated how much it's paying certain publishers, but reports suggest that some bigger outlets have struck sizable deals with the company. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that The New York Times' multi-pronged, three-year deal with Google is worth $100 million. 

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Google, not its News Showcase product, will provide training and funding for publishers.

Google and rival Meta to pay news publishers

Google to launch News Showcase product in U.S.

It already has payment deals with 2,300 publishers.

Photo Illustration by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Google

Media

Big Tech

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

Communicators

Axios Communicators

 Jessica Casano-Antonellis has a long history of shepherding legacy media companies into the digital age.

Why it matters: She helped launch The Walt Disney Company's streaming services ESPN+ and Disney+ and now she's helping to bring SiriusXM into the digital world. 

📍How she got here: Casano-Antonellis got her start at an agency managing tech and media clients like IBM, MTV and Bravo, followed by in-house jobs at Vimeo and Disney. 

At SiriusXM, she's crafting the narrative while overseeing publicity and corporate communications.

📻 Is there a future for radio? "SiriusXM is a legacy satellite radio company and before I joined here, when I thought of SiriusXM, I thought of rental cars or the fact that my dad was a subscriber," Casano-Antonellis tells Axios. 

"SiriusXM has low [membership] churn because it's a really sticky product ... but we're on this journey right now to launch the next generation of SiriusXM by going after a younger, more diverse audience, upgrading our technology infrastructure and meeting the expectations of consumers today."

"We're going to launch this new experience that will manifest itself as an updated app, but transformations don't happen overnight. We're on that journey now building up the narrative, and it will really come to market in Q4."

🏆 Gold standard communicator: "Launching Disney+ under the guidance of Zenia Mucha gave me so many learnings that I've been able to take throughout my career. ... I remember seeing how much Bob [Iger] respected her. The command that she garnered from everyone — that is the gold standard."

🍽 Content plate: She's listening to LL Cool J's Rock the Bells radio or Conan O'Brien's Team Coco radio on SiriusXM. 

👏🏻 On the weekends, Casano-Antonellis will be found on the soccer field sidelines cheering on her two sons or in the crowd, cheering on her wife, who is the lead singer of a local band. 

🥅 Goal setting: She's a big believer in setting life goals; hers include owning a home in Italy by age 50, sitting on a public board by 55 and having a full sleeve of tattoos on one arm.

🧠 Best piece of advice: Take a beat before responding. 

"Not everything warrants a reaction. Communicators must know when it's worth engaging and when to just ride it out ... and 90% of the time it's best to do the latter."

Communicator Spotlight: Jessica Casano-Antonellis, SiriusXM head of communications

SHe has a long history of shepherding legacy media companies into the digital age.

Photo illustration of Jessica Casano-Antonellis with abstract shapes.

Photo illustration: Allie Carl/Axios. Photo: Maro Hagopian

Communications

Axios AM

Fox News Wednesday notified Tucker Carlson's lawyers that the former prime-time anchor violated his contract with the network when he launched his own Twitter show on Tuesday, according to a copy of a letter obtained by Axios.

Why it matters: A breach of contract claim sets Fox News up to explore potential legal action against Carlson, a move that would intensify the already thorny public battle between the two parties. 

Carlson’s lawyers told Axios that any legal action by Fox would violate his First Amendment rights.

“Fox defends its very existence on freedom of speech grounds. Now they want to take Tucker Carlson’s right to speak freely away from him because he took to social media to share his thoughts on current events," said Carlson's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, in a statement to Axios. 

Catch up quick: Carlson was ousted from Fox News in April following a record $787 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, which sued the network for making false claims about the company.

Carlson, Axios reported, has since accused Fox of fraud and has argued that Fox breached his contract when its senior executives reneged on promises made to Carlson "intentionally and with reckless disregard for the truth."

Carlson's lawyers also argued Fox broke its promise to Carlson not to settle with Dominion Voting Systems "in a way which would indicate wrongdoing" on the part of the former host. 

Axios previously reported that Carlson was told by a member of the Fox board that he was taken off the air as part of the Dominion settlement, two sources briefed on the conversation told Axios.

Details: Shortly after Carlson posted the first episode of his new show on Twitter Tuesday evening, Fox News general counsel Bernard Gugar sent a letter to Carlson’s lawyers saying Carlson "is in breach" of his contract agreement.

"In connection with such breach and pursuant to the Agreement, Fox expressly reserves all rights and remedies which are available to it at law or equity.”

The letter refers to Carlson's contract, which was originally signed on November 8, 2019 and amended on February 16, 2021. 

"This evening we were made aware of Mr. Tucker Carlson’s appearance on Twitter in a video that lasted over 10 minutes," the letter read.

"Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, Mr. Carlson’s 'services shall be completely exclusive to Fox,'" it continues, quoting Carlson's contract.

It adds that Carlson's contract says he is "prohibited from rendering services of any type whatsoever, whether 'over the internet via streaming or similar distribution, or other digital distribution whether now known or hereafter devised.'"

Between the lines: Carlson's legal team, according to a source familiar with its thinking, objects to the network's effort to block Carlson's Twitter appearances because, they believe, Twitter is not directly competitive with Fox News.

A source told Axios that Fox believes it has been working in good faith to reach an amicable agreement.

The big picture: Carlson has been leveraging allies, such as former NFL quarterback Brett Favre, to put pressure on the network to let him out of his contract.

A source told Axios that Carlson was told by a senior Fox executive that the network's goal is to keep him sidelined until 2025.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show that Fox's settlement with Dominion was for $787 million, not $757 million.

Scoop: Fox News says Tucker Carlson breached his contract

Fox lawyers notified the former host that his new Twitter show violates his old Fox contract.

Tucker Carlson speaks on November 17, 2022 in Hollywood, Florida. Photo: Jason Koerner/Getty Images

Tucker Carlson

Chris Licht out at CNN

Licht’s leadership became untenable following a damning profile published by The Atlantic.

Chris Licht. Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Editor's note: Chris Licht is out at CNN.

CNN is on edge following a chaotic weekend of media reports and headlines suggesting CEO Chris Licht's days at the network are numbered. 

Why it matters: The network was already under enormous stress following years of corporate mergers, product pivots and evaporating cable viewership. 

The latest saga calls into question how prepared the network will be to cover the 2024 elections — typically its most lucrative programming opportunity — and whether it's prepared for the eventual collapse of the cable bundle. 

By the numbers: CNN brought in roughly $750 million in profit last year, down from the $1 billion+ it brought in for each year between 2016 and 2020, the New York Times has reported and sources have told Axios. 

Part of that decline in profit can be attributed to the dismantling of CNN+.

CNN is today likely valued at far less than it was worth in late 2020, when CNN's former boss Jeff Zucker tried to explore a deal to sell the network.

That conversation, which was reported on by the New York Times and confirmed by Axios, would have valued the network at roughly $10 billion, two sources said. 

Sources at CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery said the company has no interest in spinning off CNN at this time. 

The big picture: Morale at CNN is low, but the stress is bigger than conflicts over Licht.

Streaming: The dismantling of CNN+ last year, just three weeks after it launched, left staffers anxious about how the network will manage the transition to streaming once the cable bundle inevitably collapses. 

Two sources told Axios that executives are having active discussions about how to add some of CNN's content onto Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming service, Max, without violating any distribution contracts with cable carriers. 

Digital: Despite drawing a massive online audience, the company has struggled to build products to adequately monetize those viewers. Digital accounts for roughly 10% of the company's overall profits, a source said. 

Editorial direction: There's concern from some staffers that Warner Bros. Discovery is trying to fix a newsroom that isn't broken, former CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter reported. 

What to watch: Warner Bros. Discovery executive David Leavy, a longtime confidant of CEO David Zaslav, was named chief operating officer of CNN last week, the day before The Atlantic published a revealing profile of Licht. 

Licht apologized to CNN staffers on an editorial call Monday and said, “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you,” a source on the call told Axios.

Leavy, the network said, will assume responsibility over commercial, operational and promotional activities at CNN. 

He is expected to make changes to the company's public relations department in the coming weeks, a source said. Semafor reported that Leavy plans to move CNN's PR team under his purview imminently. 

Disclosure: The author is a CNN contributor.

Chaos looms over CNN

The latest saga calls into question how prepared the network will be to cover the 2024 elections.

Photo: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

News media

Who needs Broadway? The best Shakespearean drama is playing live in Manhattan's Hudson Yards, home of CNN.

The latest act: The New York Times is out this morning with a deep dive on the ways the jilted former head of CNN, Jeff Zucker, is obsessively trying to knife the network's current leader, Chris Licht.

This comes two days after The Atlantic twisted its own knife into Licht with a brutal takedown that must've left Zucker smiling, feeling wholly vindicated.

Why it matters: Zucker remains in constant contact with CNN stars and is a coveted source for media reporters — at a time when Licht is struggling to control his image and organization.

Why you should care: CNN remains a dominant player in cable news. Its future as a more clinical, less partisan alternative to MSNBC and Fox hangs in the balance. Right now, its ratings and reputation are getting battered.

🎭 The drama behind the drama: The man behind the curtain is David Zaslav, Warner Bros. Discovery president and CEO.

Zucker, who resigned from CNN shortly before Zaslav took over, was his very close friend and golfing buddy. Zaslav replaced Zucker with Licht, a new Zaslav protégé and Hamptons party friend.

🥊 "This is all very sad for Jeff," Ken Lerer — co-founder of HuffPost and former chairman of BuzzFeed, who is best friends with Zaslav and a former Zucker friend — told The Times.

"He should move on with his life. It's disheartening to see."

🗞️ The Times article (headline on the Sunday Business cover: "Jeff Zucker Just Won't Let CNN Go Already") says he's "serving as a kind of grievance switchboard for current and former employees of the news network."

He has "made no secret of his unhappiness with the terms of his exit from CNN or his low regard for" Licht's performance," Ben Mullin writes.

Zucker has griped that Licht "didn’t take any of his pointers" after the two had lunch last year at Zucker's house in the Hamptons, brokered by friends who hoped for a rapprochement.

Risa Heller, Zucker's high-powered spokeswoman, said: "It is wholly unsurprising that Jeff Zucker, the architect of CNN’s unprecedented success, would have deep misgivings about the direction the network has taken since he left."

She told The Times he "gets asked a lot, publicly and privately, and regularly from former colleagues, about what he thinks of CNN now."

CNN drama, Act 2: Zucker's revenge

CNN remains a dominant player in news. Right now, its ratings and reputation are getting battered.

Then-CNN President, Jeff Zucker and  Chris Licht attend the 2019 Mirror Awards at Cipriani 42nd Street on June 13, 2019 in New York City. Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Coverage of select top-rated show finales

Data: Memo; Note: Readership is defined as the number of unique visitors to an online article in the first seven days of its publication. Articles were pulled from a representative sample of 83 national, business and technology publications; Table: Axios Visuals

The media's obsession with HBO's hit series "Succession" drew outsized coverage of the show that was disproportionate to reader interest, according to new data.

Why it matters: While there's no question "Succession" was a huge hit, the countless spoilers, cast interviews and interpretations of the series may have been driven more by the media's obsession with its own industry rather than consumer interest. 

Details: Data from Memo, a media analysis firm that uses artificial intelligence to monitor online article engagement, found that the "Succession" series finale drew a disproportionate amount of media coverage relative to its readership and compared to other major TV series whose season finales occurred in the last month.

Memo measured the number of articles written about some of the most-watched TV series from the 2022-2023 TV season in the past 30 days (excluding "Yellowstone" and sporting events) and compared that data to "Succession."

Unlike the other four shows in the top five most-watched scripted series of the season, the "Yellowstone" finale didn't occur in the last 30 days and couldn't be accurately used as a comparison. (It's also worth noting that "Succession" had its series finale, not just a season finale.) 

The data found that "Succession" was covered six times more than any other show analyzed, but saw the second lowest average readership of that coverage.

Be smart: The top five most-watched scripted TV series during the 2022-2023 season were Paramount's "Yellowstone," CBS' "NCIS," "FBI" and "Young Sheldon," and NBC's "Chicago Fire," per Variety. 

With the exception of "Yellowstone," which was the only nonsports show to draw more than 11 million viewers on average per week during the season, each show averaged more than 9 million viewers weekly. 

A spokesperson for HBO said "Succession" drew 9 million viewers per episode on average during its last season across all of its platforms, which includes linear television and delayed, on-demand viewing. 

The bottom line: Despite the huge success of "Succession," it remains a somewhat niche series, the New York Times notes. 

Other HBO hits such as “House of the Dragon” and “The Last of Us” averaged roughly 30 million viewers per episode.

Media's "Succession" obsession

The countless spoilers, cast interviews and interpretations of the series may have been driven more by the media's obsession with its own industry rather than consumer interest.

Media trends

Media Deals

Members of the union representing Hollywood actors voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against the country's biggest TV and film studios Monday, should the two groups fail to reach a new contract deal by the end of the month. 

Why it matters: If the two sides don't come to an agreement, Hollywood would likely face a two-pronged labor battle. The union representing Hollywood writers began striking last month for the first time in 15 years, sending Hollywood's fall TV schedule into a tailspin. 

That dispute doesn't appear to be headed for a resolution anytime soon. 

Driving the news: A whopping 97.91% of members of SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) voted in favor of authorizing a strike, the union said Monday. 

Nearly 65,000 members of the union amounting to roughly 47.69% of eligible voters, participated in the vote. 

SAG-AFTRA will begin negotiations on June 7 with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, and it will only authorize a strike if the two sides can't come to a deal. The union's current contract with the studios expires June 30 at midnight. 

In a statement, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said, "Together we lock elbows and in unity we build a new contract that honors our contributions in this remarkable industry, reflects the new digital and streaming business model and brings ALL our concerns for protections and benefits into the now!"

Be smart: There's hope that the two sides can potentially come to an agreement. 

On Monday, Hollywood studios reached a deal with the Directors Guild of America in hopes of ending the ongoing writers strike. That deal still needs to be approved by the DGA board Tuesday and then ratified by its members. 

Zoom out: The media industry is facing an unprecedented number of strikes and union battles as big companies wrestle with slowing profits and fears about artificial intelligence. 

Hundreds of Gannett staffers walked off the job on Monday, a protest that coincided with the company's annual meeting of shareholders. Union members had been demanding better working conditions and had pushed shareholders, albeit unsuccessfully, to vote to oust CEO Mike Reed. 

More than 250 members of Insider’s newsroom also went on strike Friday amid failed talks with management over a number of contract provisions, including health benefits. 

The big picture: Strikes have become a bigger part of union negotiation tactics in recent years, causing production delays and editorial disruptions. 

In the past two years, unions at G/O Media, Ziff Davis, Wirecutter, Miami Herald, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Palm Springs Desert Sun, Washington Post, NBC News and others all engaged in strikes or walkouts. 

Unions at The New Yorker, Vox Media and Wired threatened strikes, but ultimately resolved their disputes with management.

Go deeper: Hollywood studios reach deal with directors in hopes of ending writers strike

Gannett staffers walked off the job on Monday

Media's summer of strikes

The media industry is facing an unprecedented number of strikes and union battles as big companies wrestle with slowing profits and fears about artificial intelligence.

Illustration of three raised fists with upward pointing arrow cursors forming the negative space in each palm.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ rage against CNN and MSNBC — along with former President Trump’s polling lead and distrust of Fox News — has created a deadlock over who will host the rest of the 2024 GOP presidential debates, and uncertainty over whether they'll happen at all. 

Why it matters: Debates can make or break a presidential candidacy. And who hosts those debates can have a significant impact on which contenders chose to participate, and how they perform. 

Trump's campaign believes his opponents need the primary debates more than he does because they're behind him in polls. And Trump — feeling slighted by Fox News' coverage of DeSantis, has indicated that he's wary of the network hosting debates, two sources told Axios.

DeSantis, running second in GOP polling, has been pushing back against the Republican National Committee sanctioning a debate with CNN or NBC News, which are both salivating over the chance to host a 2024 primary debate, sources told Axios.

Driving the news: The debate negotiations — between the networks, campaigns and the RNC — follow CNN’s hotly debated decision to host a primetime town hall event with Trump last month. The town hall drew 3.3 million viewers, and was CNN's second most-viewed single-candidate town hall since 2016.

CNN boss Chris Licht has told the RNC that CNN would air the debate not just on its linear feed, but also potentially on the linear networks of other Warner Bros. Discovery channels, two sources told Axios. By including those channels, Licht has argued, CNN could reach more conservatives than Fox, as well as independent voters.

CNN’s pitch also includes distribution across its digital channels, and possibly streaming. 

Licht also has offered to partner with a conservative-leaning outlet on the debates. That partnership, two sources told Axios, could include giving a journalist from the partner outlet a co-moderator spot. 

NBC News' pitch is being led in part by NBC News Group Chairman Cesar Conde and Carrie Budoff Brown, NBC News' senior vice president for politics. "NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt would moderate the debate, alongside a colleague from sister networks CNBC and Telemundo. 

Holt, sources say, helped lobby the RNC for the bid, appeared at the RNC in February and began the presentation with an NBC sizzle reel. 

A source in the room said NBC News pitched distribution across NBC News, MSNBC, Telemundo, CNBC, its streaming service NBC News Now and its digital channels. 

NBC News and Holt were pushing the RNC to consider its bid at the same time longtime MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell acknowledged using "imprecise" language in a question to Vice President Harris that implied DeSantis didn’t want slavery taught in schools. DeSantis said he would boycott NBC News and MSNBC in response.

TV networks battle for Republican debates

Debates can make or break a presidential candidacy.

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