Audacy, formerly known as Entercom, has decided to temporarily halt the online auction for the rights to its Radio.com domain. The company had put the domain up for auction last December with a minimum bid of $2.5 million as part of its efforts to raise funds and reduce debt.

It appears that Audacy did not receive a satisfactory offer and has chosen to retain the domain for the time being. According to Podcast News Daily, the GoDaddy auction page for Radio.com now states that the auction is closed, indicating the suspension of the bidding process. Audacy has not provided any official comment regarding this development.

The Radio.com domain was originally acquired by CBS in 2008 as part of its purchase of CNET for $1.8 billion. It was registered back in 1996, and CNET acquired it, along with TV.com, for a mere $30,000 later that same year. CBS then transferred the domain to its radio division, where it became the streaming platform for CBS Radio and the primary domain for its individual stations.

When Entercom acquired CBS Radio in 2017, the Radio.com domain was included in the sale and continued to serve as the company’s primary domain. The platform expanded as Entercom and CBS Radio stations joined forces, offering a wide range of content through the Radio.com platform.

In May 2020, Entercom made updates to the Radio.com mobile app to enhance content discovery through personalized recommendations based on individual user preferences. Registered users gained access to a personalized homepage featuring additional stations and podcasts tailored to their listening habits.

In March 2021, Entercom underwent a rebranding and changed its name to Audacy, subsequently shifting its focus away from the Radio.com domain in favor of Audacy.com.

David C. Leavy has been named the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of CNN Worldwide, according to an announcement made today by Chris Licht, Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide.

Leavy, who brings 23 years of experience at Discovery Inc. and Warner Bros. Discovery, will assume responsibility for commercial, operational, and promotional activities across CNN Worldwide, reporting directly to Licht. He is set to begin his role on June 20.

“David’s deep operational experience, institutional knowledge and key industry relationships perfectly complements the strengths of our leadership team,” said Licht.

“He is a strategic, versatile and dynamic executive who will work with myself and the senior leadership team to help transform our business as we get the full programming slate on the air, build out our digital future and grow the CNN brand around the world. Everyone who works with David has seen how his energy, work ethic and collaborative style positively impacts an organization, and I can’t wait for him to join me and the CNN team.”

Currently serving as the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for Warner Bros. Discovery, Leavy will continue to oversee public policy and social responsibility for Warner Bros. Discovery in his new position at CNN Worldwide.

During his tenure at Discovery, Leavy held the position of Chief Corporate Operations Officer, where he played a pivotal role in various strategic initiatives. These included the successful launch of discovery+ in 2021, the company’s listing on the NASDAQ exchange in 2008, the acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive in 2018, and the agreement between Discovery and Eurosport for the rights to the Olympic Games across Europe.

Prior to joining Discovery, Leavy served as the Chief Spokesman and Senior Director of Public Affairs for the National Security Council, as well as the Deputy Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the Clinton White House.

Leavy is actively involved in the industry and holds positions on the boards of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI). He is a graduate of Colby College and the Salisbury School, where he currently serves as the co-chair of the board of trustees.

Meta has issued a warning that it may remove news links from its platforms, Facebook and Instagram, in California if a proposed bill to tax tech companies for news content becomes law. This threat is not unprecedented, as Meta previously banned news content on Facebook in Australia in 2021 due to a similar law, which was later revised by the government.

The temporary news ban in Australia had a significant impact on news traffic in the country. In recent years, Meta has made substantial changes to its algorithms and products to reduce its reliance on news content, partly to avoid regulatory complications.

According to Axios, the proposed California Journalism Preservation Act aims to require companies like Meta and Google to pay a tax to the state based on their advertising revenues derived from news content.

“Every day, journalism plays an essential role in California and in local communities, and the ability of local news organizations to continue to provide the public with critical information about their communities and enabling publishers to receive fair market value for their content that is used by others will preserve and ensure the sustainability of local and diverse news outlets,” the bill reads. 

The funds collected would be allocated to newsrooms in California. Meta expressed its opposition to the bill, stating that it would prefer to remove news from its platforms instead of contributing to a fund that primarily benefits large out-of-state media companies.

“If the Journalism Preservation Act passes, we will be forced to remove news from Facebook and Instagram rather than pay into a slush fund that primarily benefits big, out-of-state media companies under the guise of aiding California publishers,” Meta said in a statement.

California lawmakers posit, tech platforms should be responsible for supporting local news outlets, which have suffered due to the challenges posed by the internet era. Meta argues that the bill overlooks the fact that publishers voluntarily share their content on its platform and claims that the consolidation in California’s news industry occurred before Facebook gained widespread usage.

Similar to the situation in France and Australia, where laws were enacted to require payment for content, other countries such as Canada and New Zealand have proposed similar measures.

In the United States, a bipartisan group in Congress reintroduced an antitrust bill focused on journalism in March, mirroring the California bill. However, the bill has faced obstacles at the national level, including disagreements among lawmakers regarding the eligibility criteria for publishers to receive payment.