Netflix Eyes New York City Theater to Screen Oscar Contenders
IndieWire: Netflix has announced six initial theaters in New York and Los Angeles that will show Noah Baumbach’s acclaimed film “Marriage Story,” which opens November 6, a month ahead of its streaming debut. Among the locations is the recently-closed Paris theater in...
Disney’s ‘Maleficent’ Sequel Disappoints in Opening Box Office
Bloomberg: Disney’s “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” a sequel to a 2014 hit film with Angelina Jolie, opened to tepid weekend sales of $36 million -- a miss for Hollywood’s biggest studio. The picture debuted as the top film in North American theaters. But the tally...
AT&T Former HBO Chief Looks to Start Own Production Studio
The Information: Less than a year after leaving WarnerMedia, former HBO CEO Richard Plepler appears to be getting back in the entertainment business. Plepler has told industry associates over the past several weeks that he is looking to start his own production...
Lions Gate Upsets Oscar Predictions with Fox News ‘Bombshell’
Showbiz 411: As the Oscar season narrows down, many nominations are coming into focus. Lists on Gold Derby and other places offer some spot-on choices. But now comes a big monkey wrench into the mix: Jay Roach’s “Bombshell,” all about Roger Ailes’s reign of terror...
Viacom Awaits $500 Million for Streaming Rights to ‘South Park’
Bloomberg: “South Park” is the latest beneficiary of Hollywood’s rerun mania. The show’s creators and media giant Viacom expect to share between $450 million and $500 million by selling the streaming rights to the animated comedy, one of the longest-running TV series...
AT&T’s CNN Views Trump Campaign Lawsuit Threat as PR Stunt
Reuters: Lawyers for President Trump and his re-election campaign have threatened in a letter to sue CNN for what they said was the network falsely advertising itself as a news organization, calling on execs to first discuss an “appropriate resolution” to the matter...
Fox News Eyes Wallace to Boost Image as Credible News Outlet
Bloomberg: Shepard Smith’s departure from Fox News makes Chris Wallace more important than ever to the network, which relies on the credibility of its news division to counter criticism about its Trump-friendly prime-time hosts. “Chris becomes the next voice of...
CBS ‘Evening News’ Ratings in Freefall Under Anchor O’Donnell
New York Post: A big bet by “CBS Evening News” on Norah O’Donnell is beginning to look iffy. The former “CBS This Morning” host — who is getting paid at least $7 million a year by CBS News boss Susan Zirinsky to revive the perennially third-ranked newscast — is...
Comcast-NBC News Expat Kelly Preps Debut of Video Podcast
New York Post: Amid wild rumors following Megyn Kelly’s headline-making Fox News appearance, the news personality is not returning to her former network — and is instead set to launch her own news production company and take on her old nemesis Bill O’Reilly. Kelly is...
Quibi Teams with T-Mobile for Distribution of Bite-Sized Videos
Los Angeles Times: T-Mobile has agreed to partner with Quibi, a Hollywood start-up that plans to distribute bite-size entertainment designed for millennials. Quibi’s upcoming streaming service will be part of a T-Mobile offering, giving it a broad distribution...
Verizon Looks to Sell Off HuffPost in Retreat from Digital Media
Financial Times: Verizon is sounding out potential buyers for the HuffPost website, in the latest phase of the US telecom group’s retreat from the digital media business. In recent weeks Verizon is said to have raised a HuffPost sale with potential acquirers. No...
Report: Social-Media Stars Losing Credibility Among Advertisers
Wall Street Journal: A whiff of deceit now taints the online influencer marketplace. Influencers have strained ties with advertisers by inflating the number of their followers, sometimes buying fake ones by the thousands. They also have damaged their credibility with...
TikTok Clubs Begin Popping Up at High Schools Across America
New York Times: High schools across the United States have begun to embrace TikTok. Students are forming TikTok clubs to dance, sing and perform skits for the app — essentially drama clubs for the digital age, but with the potential to reach huge audiences. And...
Facebook Signs Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed for News Section
Wall Street Journal: News Corp. has reached a deal to let Facebook feature headlines from the Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones media properties in the social-media giant’s coming news section. Other publications that have agreed to participate include the...
Thomson Reuters CEO: ‘No Plans’ to Exit Amid Report of Search
Reuters: Thomson Reuters is engaged in succession planning for CEO Jim Smith as “a matter of good governance,” the company said on Sunday. The company statement came after the Financial Times reported Thomson Reuters had begun a search for a new chief...
Gannett-GateHouse Merger in Jeopardy After Scrutiny from FCC
New York Post: The Federal Communications Commission held a meeting with Apollo Global Management last week to ask questions about its agreement to finance New Media Investment’s planned purchase of Gannett. The FCC is concerned that the $1.8 billion loan Apollo is...
Penske Media Under Fire for Saudi Ties After Khashoggi Murder
Daily Beast: Almost one year to the day after U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by the Saudi Arabian government, an American magazine hosted a private Saudi yachting trip for high rollers. According to multiple sources, the ultra-luxury publication...
Meredith Readies Digital Videos with Couric at People Magazine
Variety: Katie Couric’s media company, Katie Couric Media is teaming with the Meredith-owned People magazine to produce the weekly digital video series “#SeeHer Story,” that will feature short vignettes of female trailblazers and rulebreakers. The series is meant to...
News Corp Joins Protest with ‘Censored’ Front Pages in Australia
Associated Press: Australia’s major newspapers published redacted front pages on Monday in a campaign to highlight government secrecy that is often justified on national security grounds. Says News Corp. Australia chief Michael Miller: “Australians should always be...
McClatchy to Raise Funds for Investigative News Effort in Miami
MediaPost: McClatchy’s Miami Herald is launching a fundraising campaign to expand its investigative reporting. The goal for the Miami Herald Investigative Lab is to raise $1.5 million over three years. The lab will officially launch once it hits its first fundraising...
New York Times Begins Selling ‘Modern Love’ Temporary Tattoos
MediaPost: The New York Times has unveiled a merchandise collection for its “Modern Love” column, as well as the premiere of a TV series of the same name on Amazon Prime Video. The merchandise includes shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, tote bags, and temporary...
AT&T in Talks to Resolve Elliott Management Activist Campaign
Wall Street Journal: AT&T is in talks with Elliott Management to resolve the activist investor’s campaign for change at the phone and media giant. The two sides have held a series of discussions since Elliott disclosed a stake in AT&T five weeks ago and urged...
Viacom-CBS to Remain Smaller Than Media Rivals After Merger
Deadline: Viacom and CBS said the merged company’s dual-class shares will trade on the Nasdaq. While certainly more formidable as a merged entity, ViacomCBS will still be a fraction of the size of media peers like Comcast and Disney, not to mention tech rivals like...
Comcast’s NBC Won’t Conduct New Probe of Abuse Allegations
Hollywood Reporter: On Wednesday, two former NBC employees said in television interviews that the network should conduct a new, outside investigation into Matt Lauer's conduct. But a rep for NBCUniversal on Thursday said that there will be no new outside...
CBS to Extend Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ Deal Beyond 2020 Election
New York Times: Stephen Colbert has dominated late-night television during the Trump presidency. Now he’ll get a shot at staying on top well past the 2020 election. CBS announced that it had agreed to a contract extension that will keep Colbert as the host of “The...
AT&T’s Xandr Unit Acquires TV Data Advertising Platform Clypd
Reuters: AT&T’s advertising unit Xandr has purchased clypd, an advertising platform that uses data to better target television ads, as Xandr seeks to make TV commercials as personally targeted as internet ads. Clypd counts TV networks Discovery and CBS as...
Snap Introduces Dynamic Ads in Effort to Win More Advertisers
Reuters: Snap is introducing dynamic advertising that automatically create ads and target audiences in real-time, as the parent company of photo messaging app Snapchat looks to compete for digital ad dollars. Snap has grown revenue and its user base as larger rivals...
Netflix’s ‘The Irishman’ Emerges as Fave for Best-Picture Oscar
Gold Derby: Oscar experts have pushed Martin Scorsese‘s “The Irishman” into first place among Best Picture contenders, thanks to 15 choosing it to win compared to 11 who are sticking with Quentin Tarantino‘s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” as the top...
Amazon’s Twitch Brings Trump Rallies, Violence to Live Streams
Washington Post: Tens of millions of viewers have watched video streamed on Twitch this year. But the site’s exploding fan base has attracted those seeking to sow discord and spotlight mass violence. Twitch's roots in video-gaming and its audience of young, white,...
Apple, Google, Amazon Remain ‘Best Brands’ as Facebook Falls
Adweek: For the first time, Facebook fell out of the Top 10 in Interbrand’s 2019 list of Best Global Brands, dropping from No. 9 to 14 after a year of bad press and regulatory pressure that led to 12 percent loss in value, according to the global brand...