Disney’s ‘Lion King’ Opens with Conglom Now an Apex Predator
Financial Times: What appeared in the early 2000s to be a company dozing into irrelevance has turned under CEO Bob Iger into a Darwinian hulk. To his shareholders, the results may bring enormous rewards. For others, a certain vigilance is required. The thing about...
Comcast’s Trailer for ‘Cats’ Brings Out Claws on Social Media
Daily Mail: The "Cats" movie released its official trailer on Thursday, which led to wildly divisive reactions on social media as fans had their claws out, ready to tear it to shreds. Despite the star-studded cast, fans were sour on the bizarre look of the Broadway...
CBS-Viacom to Reign Over National TV Ads in Potential Merger
Broadcasting & Cable: Whatever the merits of putting together CBS and its sibling Viacom, combining the media companies would create a leader in national TV advertising. According to Standard Media Index, CBS and Viacom combine for a 20.2% share of all national TV...
Disney Elevates ESPN Exec to President of Media Distribution
Hollywood Reporter: Days after longtime sales and distribution exec Janice Marinelli departed her post as head of global sales and distribution, Disney announced that Justin Connolly will lead the newly combined sales and marketing team that now includes ESPN and...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Announces Executive Team for HBO Max
Deadline: WarnerMedia’s newly christened HBO Max streaming service has announced titles and roles for a slate of executives across creative and business operations and strategy. Content chief Kevin Reilly made the official announcement of the team leading original...
Discovery’s Eurosport Enters Deal with Sports Streamer DAZN
Reuters: Sports streaming service DAZN said its subscribers would be able to receive Eurosport in Germany and three other European countries after a deal with the channel’s owner Discovery. DAZN launched in September with the aim of disrupting traditional sports media...
Netflix Strategy Faces Questions After US Subscription Losses
Financial Times: Netflix borrowed billions of dollars to rise from movies-by-mail start-up to global streaming giant, splurging on content to tempt ever more viewers to its platform and reporting breakneck growth that sent its stock price soaring. Now the strategy is...
BTIG Media-Tech Analyst Greenfield Exits to Form Own Venture
Multichannel News: Richard Greenfield, the high-profile technology-media-telecom analyst is leaving equity research company BTIG Research, along with fellow analysts Walter Piecyk and Brandon Ross to form a new, unnamed venture. BTIG said it will partner with the new...
Verizon to Position Yahoo, AOL, Tumblr as Safe Havens Online
Reuters: Banning pornography from Tumblr was not necessarily meant to define Verizon Media’s strategy to turn around a collection of Internet has-beens. But that is how it has played out. Verizon Media is resurrecting the businesses as an antidote to the cesspool of...
Google, McClatchy to Launch Digital News Outlet in Ohio Town
CNBC: Google has pledged to create a new digital news outlet in Youngstown, Ohio, as part of a multi-million dollar project with McClatchy to fill some of the void left by the closure of local newspapers. The company announced that Youngstown has been selected as the...
Gannett Nears Deal to Merge with Newspaper Rival GateHouse
MarketWatch: USA Today publisher Gannett is nearing a deal to combine with rival GateHouse Media, a move that would join the nation’s two largest newspaper groups by circulation. The companies are discussing a cash-and-stock deal in which GateHouse or its parent would...
New York Times to Publish Series of Magazines with Meredith
Des Moines Register: Meredith and the New York Times are collaborating to produce a series of special edition magazines. The Times-branded titles will highlight historical and cultural events. The first publication, "Summer of '69," will coincide with the 50 year...
Meredith to Roll Out Money-Branded Newsletter for Millennials
MediaPost: Money.com is helping millennials with finance, debuting an inaugural newsletter called Dollar Scholar. It marks the first brand initiative following Meredith’s decision to retain and grow the Money brand and take the title digital-only. It joins Money’s...
Conde Nast Expat Carter Hits Send on New Newsletter Air Mail
New York Post: Graydon Carter, the former Vanity Fair editor in chief, will let fly his new weekly newsletter creation Air Mail on the morning of July 19. Carter has backing from private equity giant TPG, which he said “is the majority owner” as well as some “family...
Benioffs’ Time Magazine to Place Sponsored Content on Cover
New York Post: Time magazine is running a sponsored cover on the issue dated July 29 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. In small type, the cover carries the commercial message, “Brought to you by Jimmy Dean.” A front cover flap has...
Hearst Steers Seventeen to Video After Ending Print Magazine
MediaPost: Last year, Seventeen stopped regular publication of its print magazine to focus on its digital properties and quarterly standalone issues. With executive director Kristin Koch at the helm, the title reports success with its YouTube channel and digital...
First Look Media’s Topic to Launch Subscription Video Service
Variety: Can Topic execute a solid pivot into premium video? The digital storytelling outlet of Pierre Omidyar’s First Look Media thinks it can put together a niche Netflix-style subscription-video service curated to appeal to young “culture...
BuzzFeed to Try Live Events with Invitation-Only ‘Internet Live’
Variety: BuzzFeed is going IRL by staging its first live event — a variety-style show in New York it’s billing as an in-real-life version of scrolling through your social feed. Headlining BuzzFeed’s Internet Live is a musical performance by Lil Nas X. The lineup...
G/O Media CEO Under Fire for Hiring Mostly ‘Older White Guys’
New York Post: Jim Spanfeller, the new CEO of G/O Media, is getting flak for bringing in “older white guys” from his past to run Gizmodo Media and The Onion after he was tapped to run the dozen websites private equity firm Great Hill Partners picked up from...
Netflix Vows to Remain Ad-Free Even as US Subscriptions Slip
Ad Age: Netflix did its best Wednesday to quash speculation that it will start running advertising, even as subscriber growth cools: "We, like HBO, are advertising free. That remains a deep part of our brand proposition." Meanwhile, Netflix said that paid memberships...
Disney Hits Back at Heiress with Rebuke of Theme-Park Probe
Fast Company: Two days after Abigail Disney publicly criticized working conditions at Disney’s famed theme parks, the entertainment giant is hitting back with a sharply worded criticism of its own, calling her investigation and findings “a gross and unfair...
Sony, Universal Among Hollywood Studios Ditching Comic-Con
Vulture: The paucity of studio attendance at Comic-Con this year can be attributed to a growing consciousness inside the C-suite that attempts at word-of-mouth marketing in and around the event don’t necessarily translate into bigger box-office returns. “They finally...
Viacom Maintains Hands-Off Approach to Ownership of VidCon
Digiday: Anyone who attended VidCon last week in Anaheim, California, would have been hard-pressed to find much evidence that the digital video industry convention is owned by Viacom. After the cable TV conglomerate acquired VidCon in February 2018, Viacom pledged to...
CBS Takes Stake in Production Outfit from Broadcast Veterans
Deadline: CBS has taken an ownership stake in and struck a first-look deal with PatMa Productions, the production firm set up by former CBS Entertainment chairman Nina Tassler and "Batman Returns" producer Denise Di Novi. Tassler and Di Novi previously worked together...
AT&T Plans Return of ‘Gossip Girl’ for New Streamer HBO Max
Reuters: “Gossip Girl,” the show that became a youth culture phenomenon with its trend-setting fashion and chronicling of the romantic lives of elite New York teens, is on its way back to television, this time in a new series for upcoming streaming service HBO...
Sony to Restructure Music Businesses Under a Single Umbrella
Billboard: Sony is putting both Sony Music Entertainment and Sony/ATV Music Publishing under the new umbrella of Sony Music Group, which Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer will helm as chairman. The move, effective Aug. 1, represents a significant structural change for the...
Spotify Launches In-App Disney Song Hub to Attract More Fans
Reuters: Spotify said on Wednesday it will devote a prominent spot in its music streaming app to Disney's extensive music library with songs like “Let It Go” and “A Whole New World.” The Disney Hub places soundtracks from Disney’s animated films, Marvel movies, “Star...
iHeartMedia Goes Public with Direct Listing – But It’s No Spotify
Fortune: Wall Street is tuned in to direct listings. But make no mistake — the iHeartMedia direct listing isn't the new Spotify. The radio company is set to debut July 18. But while iHeart has some $448 million on hand going into its listing, there is obvious cause...
Sinclair’s Stirr Streaming Service Reaches 1 Million Downloads
Broadcasting & Cable: Sinclair streaming service Stirr has garnered more than a million downloads since its launch six months ago, exceeding company forecasts. The most popular network is the Stirr City channel, featuring news from local Sinclair TV stations and...
CBS ‘Evening News’ Ratings Disappoint for Debut of O’Donnell
New York Post: Norah O’Donnell’s debut as the new “CBS Evening News” anchor drew much media fanfare but not so many viewers. The former co-host of “CBS This Morning” came in last place among evening shows on Monday despite a much-publicized premiere that included a...