Good morning East Coast United States. Here is the latest in media news for the Saturday before Valentine’s Day.
Maryland Approves Country’s First Tax on Big Tech’s Ad Revenue – Maryland’s State Senate voted Friday for the nation’s first tax on the revenue from digital advertisements sold by companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon. They voted to override Governor Larry Hogan’s veto of the measure. The state’s House of Delegates already gave it’s approval on Thursday. The tax will generate as much as an estimated $250 million in the first year after enactment, with the money going to schools.
The New York Times says this signals the arrival in the United States of a policy pioneered by European countries. [NYT]
Facebook Plans Smartwatch With Focus on Messaging, Health – Facebook is building a smartwatch it hopes to start selling next year, according to people with direct knowledge of the device. The watch will let wearers send messages using Facebook’s services and also offer health and fitness features, according to four of those people. [The Information]
Vivendi plans to distribute 60% of UMG capital to shareholders, list it by year-end – Vivendi said on Saturday it planned to distribute 60% of Universal Music’s capital to investors, subject to shareholder approval, and aimed to list its most-prized asset, home to singers such as Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, by the end of the year.
The plan to list Universal represents part of a process launched by Vivendi’s top shareholder French billionaire Vincent Bollore to cash in on the music industry’s revival. [Reuters]
Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are set to star in a new project titled Mr. & Mrs. Smith, co-created with Francesca Sloane, Glover announced on social media. – Look for it on Amazon Prime Video in 2022.
Postmaster expected to consolidate first-class mail in anticipated slowdown – “Postmaster General Louis DeJoy plans to lump all first-class mail into a single delivery category as part of his decade-long plan for the agency in a move that would slow the transit of such mail, The Washington Post reported Friday.Citing two people briefed on his strategic plan for the US Postal Service, the paper reported that DeJoy has outlined getting rid of a type of two-day-delivery first class mail, which includes envelope-sized mail sent locally. All first-class mail would thus be sent in the three- to five-day range currently set for nonlocal mail, according to the Post. A push to increase postal rates also is in the works, the paper reported.” [CNN]
