1. ZAGAT RESTAURANT GUIDE WILL RETURN TO PRINT: The Zagat guide of New York restaurants will return to print this fall with its 2020 survey. Zagat.com, which is now owned by the Infatuation, has only published guides online since 2016. The New York Times: "For the Infatuation, restoring the restaurant-goer’s slender bible was a priority. 'From the moment we took control of the brand, we were interested in bringing Zagat back to print,' said Chris Stang, a founder and the chief executive of the Infatuation. 'It didn’t take long to understand how much the community wanted the guide back as well.' ... Google acquired Zagat in 2011 from the founders for $151 million, and subsequently stopped publishing the books. The Infatuation bought Zagat from Google last year for an undisclosed amount. The company has no plans at the moment to bring back any of the printed guides besides the New York survey. But publishing a new Zagat survey requires help from the public, so the Infatuation is also reviving online voting. Voting for restaurants in the new guide will be open through May 5." https://nyti.ms/2YIdtQN
2. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WARNS OSCARS ABOUT POTENTIAL RULE CHANGES TO EXCLUDE NETFLIX: The U.S. Department of Justice has warned the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that its potential rule changes to exclude Netflix and other streaming service films from Oscar eligibility could violate competition law and raise antitrust concerns. Variety: “According to a letter obtained by Variety, the chief of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim, wrote to Ampas C.E.O. Dawn Hudson on March 21 to express concerns that new rules would be written ‘in a way that tends to suppress competition.’ ‘In the event that the Academy—an association that includes multiple competitors in its membership—establishes certain eligibility requirements for the Oscars that eliminate competition without procompetitive justification, such conduct may raise antitrust concerns,’ Delrahim wrote. The letter came in response to reports that Steven Spielberg, an Academy board member, was planning to push for rules changes to Oscars eligibility, restricting movies that debut on Netflix and other streaming services around the same time that they show in theaters.” https://bit.ly/2YNQHGS
3. SECOND 2020 DEMOCRATIC DEBATE SET FOR DETROIT: The second debate of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary will take place July 30-31 in Detroit. Hosted by CNN, the debate will have as many as 20 qualifying candidates. The first debate, hosted by NBC News, takes place June 26-27 in Miami. CNN: “The 2020 Democratic field is already large and diverse, with more than a dozen contenders in the race and other high-profile candidates, including former Vice President Joe Biden and Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, still considering a run. … The debate will be over two days because the field is too big to fit on one stage. The Democratic National Committee will pick at random who ends up on each day. Up to 10 candidates will be onstage each night, so if there are more than 20 Democrats running, those who have not reached the threshold for grassroots fund-raising or polling will be excluded from the debate.” https://cnn.it/2uI8UI8
