Big Media to Face More Disruption as CEO Transitions Loom
Deadline: The news that NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke plans to exit in 2020 comes at the same time the top job is also open at WarnerMedia. Also, a transition at Disney looms in 2021, when CEO Bob Iger insists he will step away, punctuating a sense of uncertainty at...
ViacomCBS Wins Praise from Analysts for New Combination
TheStreet: Shares of ViacomCBS gained on Friday after two analysts gave their respective seals of approval for the newly merged company, and also raised their one-year price targets on expectations that "synergies" and cost-savings will translate into higher revenue...
Disney Execs on Edge as Free Trials Expire for New Streamer
Bloomberg: Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+, signed up 10 million customers last month, well ahead of expectations. Now the company has to figure out how to keep people from canceling when their free trials expire. Only about a third of customers stick around...
Comcast Streaming Model Under Fire as NBC CEO Eyes Exit
Business Insider: Comcast and NBCUniversal plan to pull back the veil on their Peacock streaming service on January 16. But, it's just not a bold enough play. There are reasons to believe that if Peacock doesn't work, ad-supported television could be over sooner...
CBS Slashes Jobs in Revamp of Digital Video Products at ‘ET’
Variety: One of Les Moonves’s last pet projects during his tenure as CBS chief is stumbling, cutting around a quarter of its staff and re-aligning its operations amid an increasingly competitive streaming landscape that requires players both large and small to be at...
Weinstein Gives Hospital Bedside Interview to New York Post
New York Post: The disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein says in a new, exclusive interview that he should be remembered for doing more professionally for women than anyone in history — rather than the slew of sickening accusations against...
Bloomberg ‘Frat-Like’ Corporate Culture Returns to Spotlight
ABC News: Over the years a number of women have alleged in legal filings that Mike Bloomberg’s use of lewd comments around co-workers fostered a frat-like culture at the company he founded and still owns. Quotes attributed to him in court filings include, "I’d like...
Netflix CEO Plans Panel Talks at 2020 Office Opening in Paris
Variety: Netflix is getting ready to officially launch its swanky Paris office on Jan. 17. The streaming giant has planned an afternoon of discussions that gather together Netflix execs, including the company’s co-founder, chairman and CEO Reed...
Yahoo Former CEO at Work on Developing Time-Saving Apps
Fast Company: Google’s onetime quarters are now home to Lumi Labs, a 15-person startup Marissa Mayer cofounded in 2018 with longtime colleague Enrique Munoz Torres to develop smartphone apps that help people “save a few minutes every...
Google’s YouTube Megastar PewDiePie Plans to Quit in 2020
Daily Mail: PewDiePie has announced he is quitting YouTube in 2020. The 30-year-old vlogger -- who has amassed 102 million subscribers on his channel and earned a fortune in the process -- informed his followers of his shock departure on...
Crown Media Reverses Ban on Gay-Wedding Ads at Hallmark
CNN: The Hallmark Channel is reversing its ban on ads featuring same-sex couples and apologizing for pulling them in the first place. The decision comes after Hallmark parent company Crown Media Family Networks faced calls for viewers and advertisers to...
Fox News Channel ‘Fails’ When Not Pro-Trump, Trump Says
Mediaite: President Trump went off on cable news, complaining Fox News was skewing too close to MSNBC and CNN and claiming only Fox programing that praises Trump does well. “Commiecast MSNBC & Fake News CNN are watching their Ratings...
Comcast’s NBC News Digital Employees Vote to Join Union
New York Post: The editorial employees at NBC News digital voted overwhelmingly to unionize with the NewsGuild of New York, which will now represent about 150 employees at nbcnews.com, today.com and msnbc.com. The vote tally was 90-40 in...
Hearst Seeks to Thwart Union Push by Magazine Employees
WWD: In addition to other union-thwarting tactics, Hearst Magazines execs have another aggressive trick up their sleeves to prevent staff from unionizing on a large scale. “They want us to be divided into six completely separate...
Conde Nast Launches Vogue Business in China via WeChat
What's New in Publishing: Conde Nast has literally gone where its audience is. Last week, the publisher launched its B2B product, Vogue Business, in China on the leading Chinese messaging platform WeChat. The product will publish daily industry news and...
Daily Mail Preps Algorithm-Edited News Aggregator Newzit
Newzit: Newzit, now in beta from the Daily Mail, describes itself as "a new and unbiased search and aggregation tool for bona fide news sites ONLY. Content is rated by algorithm purely for its relevance and recency, regardless of political...
New York Times Joins Newspapers on Trump Impeachment
Washington Post: The headline the New York Times editorial board settled on was simple: “Impeach.” The same could be said of the “damning” case laid out against President Trump, the Times said, as it joined a growing roster of more than a dozen US...
Eldridge’s Billboard Magazine Adds Video Streams to Chart
TheVerge: Billboard has announced that YouTube streams will be factored into the Billboard 200 albums chart starting early next year. Video streams from other platforms will also count, including Apple, Spotify, Tidal, and...
Bloomberg Media’s Buy of CityLab Brings Editorial Job Cuts
Mother Jones: The initial reports of Bloomberg Media’s acquisition of CityLab hinted at a bright future. But when CityLab staffers were briefed on the sale, they were told that Bloomberg Media would only be bringing seven people from their staff on...
TheSkimm to Hire Staff for 2020 Move into Personal Finance
Business Insider: Buzzy media company theSkimm is seeking top-level hires to expand its personal finance and commerce businesses. The daily newsletter aimed at millennial women is advertising for a general manager of Skimm...
The Wrap Loses Poaching Lawsuit Against Digital News Firm
BuzzFeed News: A Los Angeles judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by entertainment news website the Wrap, which claimed one of its writers had been "wrongfully poached" by the news site the Information despite a noncompete clause in his...
Comcast’s NBCUniversal CEO to Exit in 2020 in Big Shake-Up
Variety: Steve Burke is expected to step down as CEO of NBCUniversal next year and is likely to hand the reins to Jeff Shell, who is now chairman of NBCU Film and Entertainment. Burke’s contract expires in August 2020, but he could depart...
Fox CEO Pays $150 Million to Buy ‘Beverly Hillbillies’ Estate
TheWrap: Move over, Jed Clampett! Lachlan Murdoch has paid a record price of roughly $150 million for the 10-acre Bel-Air, California, estate known as Chartwell — including the mansion used in the credits of the 1960s sitcom “The Beverly...
Disney CEO Wants Filmmaker Meeting Over ‘Nasty’ Remarks
Hollywood Reporter: Like many a fanboy on Twitter, Bob Iger hasn't gotten over Martin Scorsese's comments about Marvel movies. In a new story in Time magazine, Iger says that the famed filmmaker's comments about his company's superhero movies were...
ViacomCBS Returns to Talks for Acquiring Stake in Miramax
Variety: ViacomCBS and Paramount Pictures are said to have resumed talks to acquire a stake in Miramax. In November, negotiations were called off abruptly over frustrations with the deal terms. Miramax boasts one of the largest collections of film titles...
Liberty Media Wants Bigger Stake in Radio Giant iHeartMedia
MarketWatch: An affiliate of John Malone’s Liberty Media is seeking Justice Department permission to buy a larger piece of iHeartMedia, a deal that would put the nation’s largest radio broadcaster under the same corporate umbrella as satellite-radio giant...
Discovery Veterans Unveil Indie Production Venture in London
World Screen: Former Discovery Networks executives Mark Procter and Steve Jones have formed Big Little Fish, a new London-based production company focused on producing returnable unscripted series for the international...
Comcast Loses Euro Soccer-League Rights to DAZN, Amazon
Reuters: Digital sports provider DAZN has won the German rights to broadcast European soccer Champions League matches for the 2021/22 season, along with Amazon, a blow to Comcast’s Sky. Amazon confirmed earlier that it had secured the...
Disney’s Hulu Unveils Ad Format to ‘Reward’ Binge-Watching
TheDrum: Hulu is hoping to cash in on another new ad format. The company has launched an ad experience specifically designed for binge watching, which counts for nearly 50% of viewing on the ad-supported version of the...
Apple, Twitter Plan to Co-Host Democratic Election Debates
Axios: The Democratic National Committee announced on Thursday the hosts of the next four presidential debates in the first four primary and caucus states. This will be the first time Apple News will co-host a presidential...