Variety followed up Sunday’s Academy Awards with a different batch of envelopes, handing out pink slips to eight editorial staffers—including chief film critic Todd McCarthy and theater critic David Rooney—in its latest reorg. Reed Business Information has sold or plans to sell most of its U.S. titles that rely heavily…

Last week, a Leading Voices column of ours on the Hollywood trades and online competitors, by guest writer Ken Sonenclar, generated some discussion on our site, on Twitter, and private e-mails. So much so that Nikki Finke called me a “major asshole,” among other things. But that’s the predictable Nikki…

Ken Sonenclar is a Managing Director at DeSilva + Phillips, LLC, a New York investment bank specializing in media. After decades with less disruption than a German train schedule, Hollywood media is rocking from a tumultuous year of deals and reinvention.  Nothing less than the future of B2B publishing is…

Variety.com, the website of Variety and owned by Reed Business, is repeating history and hoping it turns out better this time. It has announced plans of going behind a paywall starting tomorrow. Taking some inspiration for a hybrid pay model from FT.com, here are the mechanics as it explains it:

Appointment-based TV viewing is on the wane, with more people choosing to spend a weekend catching up on a month’s worth of episodes of their favorite show. Problem is, most networks currently can’t monetize those time-shifted views once they’ve passed the three-day mark. That has to change, according to John…

Online ad spending and M&A forecasts are a dime-a-dozen – but that hasn’t stopped investment research firms like Soleil-Media Metrics from continuing to make them. Laura Martin, the firm’s managing director, told Variety Tech/Ent Summit attendees that she’s seeing signs – particularly in the advertising industry – that the economic…

With TV award show ratings and ad dollars on the wane, media and production companies are turning to the Web to help boost views and revenues. At the Variety Entertainment & Technology Summit, Orly Adelson, president of Dick Clark Productions, admitted that the problem of “analog dollars being reduced to…

Less than a year after it started, Variety is shutting down its social networking and job listing site, The Biz, to focus exclusively on the job market. In an e-mail sent Thursday night to Biz subscribers, Variety said that starting Monday, users will be redirected to VarietyMediaCareers.com and their existing…

Variety has changed its senior management team, promoting four of its executives. Neil Stiles has given up the title of publisher and appointed Brian Gott in his place. Stiles will, however, stay on as Variety Group president. Gott will now handle license management, strategic partnerships and product development. He joined…

Another round of jobs cuts at Reed Business Information—7 percent across the board, according to multiple reports—and many of these come close to the bone. Nikki Finke, who wrote earlier today that she expected more layoffs at Variety this week, reports that her original number of 30 was “in the…

The bloodbath in media continues, and this time, at the West Coast entertainment trades. We have learned that Hollywood Reporter has done a new round of major layoffs, and about 17 people were let go. That includes people in editorial, art and production, and no senior business executives were affected,…

And while Reed Elsevier (NYSE: RUK) CEO Sir Crispin Davis gave “cyclicality” as the main reason why he wants the B2B giant to get out of the Reed Business Information business, RBI CEO Gerard van de Aast defends the stability of the business, somewhat counter to what Davis said earlier.…

In a bit of a surprise move, longtime Variety publisher and president Charlie Koones is leaving, as of March 1. Koones has been at Variety, part of Reed Business, for the last 17 years. The official statement says he wants to “pursue entrepreneurial ventures in media and entertainment”. Koones was…