Time, a historic journalism brand, is moving into the free ad-supported streaming television world, with a new channel launching Tuesday on Amazon Freevee.

The channel is making its debut ahead of the Time 100 Next Gala in New York on October 24, and the new channel will feature exclusive red-carpet reporting from the event, which celebrates 100 rising stars in business, entertainment, sports, politics, health, science and activism.

“Time’s new FAST channel advances our mission to provide trusted coverage of the people, events, and issues that impact the world,” said Time Digital GM Jeff Li. “The channel will be the 24/7 home for Time’s video content, providing an in-depth look at the world through the lens of Time's respected journalists and events and offering TV audiences access to our deep archive of documentaries and profiles.”

The channel will launch with programming including Time Reports, Time Docs and Profiles in Time.

It will also feature world news, politics & ideas, Time for Health & Science, Time Off (about pop culture) and select feature-length films and series from Time Studios.

“Time has been a leader in the digital video space for many years and we are dedicated to creating best-in-class news and documentary reports to help our viewers understand and connect with what is happening in their world,” executive producer of Time Video Justine Simons said. “Our collection of profiles and interviews give our audience new insights into the most well-known people on the planet as well as introduce them to up-and-coming superstars, innovators, and leaders. Our goal is to entertain, inform and engage and we think a FAST channel is an exciting new way to share our journalism as widely as possible.” 

The Time channel is being managed with media technology company Amagi. 

“Our collaboration with Time marks the next chapter in its century-long history of storytelling excellence,” said Srinivasan KA, co-founder and chief revenue officer at Amagi, said. “We are super-stoked to bring timeless Time content to the CTV audience and assist Time in exploring new revenue paths through FAST.”

Media mogul Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce and relatively new owner of TimeMagazine has called for Facebook to be treated as a publisher, just like Time, saying otherwise it is just a vehicle for propaganda indemnified for that content. He also says Facebook should "absolutely" be broken up. 

Benioff, speaking at the Knight-Bagehot Awards dinner in New York Wednesday (Oct. 16)--his first appearance at a journalism dinner--said that Sec. 230 should be abolished. That is the Communications Decency Act provision that says social media sites aren't publishers subject to liability for the posts on their platforms. 

In response to questions from Rebecca Blumenstein, deputy managing editor of the New York Times, Benioff said Sec. 230 provides "a lot of air cover to a lot of organizations" and indemnifying them for the "propaganda that is on their platform."  

He said it is time to put a greater focus on trust and truth, which were not Facebook's highest values, as they are Time's. "We need to double down on the free press. We need to be committed to great journalism and the truth, or it's going to be hijacked." 

He said Sec. 230 is "just ramming a train through the middle of that, saying to some of these organizations: 'You don't have to worry.' 'You can do whatever you want.' 'It's not right.'" He said those sites were not on "the right side of history." 

Congress is currently considering whether to tighten Sec. 230's protections, though there does not yet appear to be the political appetite for getting rid of it entirely, at least according to a Hill hearing this week on the subject. 

He said the people in Silicon Valley know what is going on, and that rather than singling out Facebook when he said it was like cigarettes--which means bad for you--he was looking for a metaphor for the new tech that was all around.   

He said journalists need to expose what is happening and put more light on Big Tech. 

Asked if he was aligned with Elizabeth Warren on breaking up Facebook, he said he can't be involved with any particular candidate--dialogs, contributions. But should Facebook be broken up? "Absolutely," he said.  

He said most of the population don't know that Facebook owns WhatsAp? and Instagram and that Facebook is co-mingling and using that data." He again said it was a moment to wake up, double down and follow the truth.  

Time magazine has named journalists on the front lines of the "war on truth" as its "Person of the Year, it was revealed on NBC's Today show.

Representing those guardians were slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Maria Ressa of a Philippine web site critical of the government, arrested Reuters reporters (in Myanmar) Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and the Capital Gazette of Annapolis, Md., which was the target of a mass shooting.

“They are representative of a broader fight by countless others around the world — as of Dec. 10, at least 52 journalists have been murdered in 2018 — who risk all to tell the story of our time,” Time Editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal wrote of the selection.

NBC said it was the first time that someone who is dead was named one of Time's people of the year. Ironically, President Donald Trump, who has called journalists the enemy was runner up. The "person of the year" is not an accolade, per se, but a mark of influence and impact.

Trump was the Person of the Year in 2016. "This year brought forth the consequences of Trump's disruption," the magazine said of the runner-up. "The deficit soared. The stock market trembled. The voters revolted. Special counsel Robert Mueller circled closer. Trump has tested the system and exposed its weaknesses, but also revealed its strength."

The new crime series, Deep Web, centers on this generations’ American dream, one of economic strife and the desire for instant fame, no matter what that might entail.

Spike TV is pairing up with Tony Krantz and Gary Oldman of Flying Studio Pictures, for the original series, with Scott Gold as the executive producer and writer.

This is the story of a determined tech savant who successfully masters his way into online services, eventually making for one of the most wanted men in the world.

Inspired by the cover story by Scott Gold about the Silk Road online marketplace, this saga follows the wanted crime boss and his friends through Silicon Valley, as they dive into selling online goods, ranging from drugs to human organs.

“In this supremely competitive environment, we are thrilled to be the network to partner with Tony Krantz and filmmakers like Gary and Doug to bring this story to our ever-growing audience, said Sharon Levy, Executive Vice President, Original Series, Spike TV. This project speaks to the network’s search for wholly distinctive and relevant ideas, ripped from today’s headlines, that reflects our brand’s evolvement.”

This will be the first television series Oldman and Urbanski will act as executive producers on, as the two are widely known for their motion pictures.