Google, Facebook Join Ad Agencies in Digital ‘Safety’ Alliance
Financial Times: Facebook, Google and Twitter have launched the first industry-wide initiative with global advertising agencies and brands to "rapidly improve digital safety," as tech platforms come under scrutiny from regulators over the spread of harmful...
Facebook Faces Major Pushback on Plans for Digital Currency
Associated Press: Facebook is getting a taste of the regulatory pushback it will face as it creates a new digital currency with corporate partners. The financial industry is more heavily regulated than internet companies — especially in the...
Dish in Talks for $6 Billion Deal to Buy T-Mobile, Sprint Assets
Bloomberg: Dish Network is said to be in talks to pay at least $6 billion for assets that T-Mobile and Sprint are unloading to win regulatory approval for their merger. Dish could announce a deal as soon as this week for assets including wireless...
CBS Plans Bid to Acquire Viacom; Bakish Likely as Chief Exec
MarketWatch: CBS is said to be preparing to make an offer for sister media company Viacom in the coming weeks. Viacom CEO Bob Bakish is widely believed to be in pole position to become CEO of the combined...
Netflix Claims Record-Breaking Audience for ‘Murder Mystery’
CNET News: Netflix tweeted that "Murder Mystery," an Agatha Christie-like caper starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, broke the record for the "biggest opening weekend ever" for a Netflix film, with more than 30 million accounts tuning...
Disney Control Expected to Give More Original Content to Hulu
CNBC: Now that Disney has full control of Hulu, audiences can expect more original programming to appear on the streaming service. “We are going to be able to invest more and find the best stories and the best creators to make shows for the...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Chief Warns of ‘Insatiable’ Demand for TV
New York Post: Actress Laura Dern may be basking in the success of “Big Little Lies” but her boss is anxious that HBO won’t be able to pump out as much quality shows to keep pace with Netflix and Amazon. “It’s an arms race as every platform comes online,” said Bob...
Comcast Teams with Charter, Cox in New Push for Targeted Ads
Reuters: Comcast on Tuesday launched a program to further develop an advertising strategy that better targets audiences, as the TV industry looks to lure more advertisers away from digital players like Facebook and Alphabet’s...
Viacom Readies 2020 Export of Video Confab VidCon to Mexico
Tubefilter: For the first time, Viacom’s VidCon will be venturing across the border for its inaugural gathering in Mexico. The video convention will arrive in Mexico City next spring, held at the Citibanamex Center from April 30 to May 3. The expansion follows other...
CBS Interactive, iHeartMedia Boast Big Yachts at Cannes Lions
New York Post: In the fine nautical tradition of Cannes Lions, a host of media companies have once again this year sunk a fortune into yachts to dazzle festival-goers. Some attendees are focused on which company has the biggest, flashiest...
Vice Media Digital Makeover Triggers Traffic Drop Nearly by Half
Variety: Life on its own online isn’t easy for Vice Media. Ending the digital publisher’s practice of rolling up web traffic for partner sites into an aggregated number resulted in the total domestic traffic falling nearly by half between March 2019 and the following...
Tribune’s Orlando Sentinel Says 2020 Endorsement ‘Not Trump’
Mediaite: As President Trump kicked off his re-election bid in Orlando, the city’s local newspaper made it clear that they don’t want him to have another term. The Orlando Sentinel‘s editorial board released a column saying that their 2020 pick is “not Donald...
News Corp to Explore Potential Sale of News America Marketing
Reuters: News Corp. said it was evaluating options for its News America Marketing business, including a potential sale. News America Marketing is a leading publisher of coupons and also provides in-store marketing products and...
Forbes Media Investors Quietly Seek Sale of Magazine, Website
New York Post: The Asian investors who bought a controlling stake in Forbes Media from the Forbes family in 2014 are quietly exploring a sale of the magazine and related web properties. A spokesman for Forbes didn’t shoot down rumors of a...
Hearst Former CEO Inks Deal with Simon & Schuster for Memoir
New York Post: A taciturn 86-year-old man seen as the bridge between the world of Hearst founder William Randolph Hearst and the modern multimedia giant it is today has a memoir slated to hit this fall from Simon & Schuster. “Leave Something on the Table” is...
Conde Nast Mulls Numerous Pivots with Vogue Business Talent
Digiday: Vogue Business, the fashion bible’s newsletter for beauty and fashion professionals, has expanded into online recruitment as the publisher continues to explore non-ad-driven business models. Vogue Business Talent sits somewhere between a careers site and a...
The Maven: We Have No Plans to Shutter Print Sports Illustrated
New York Post: TheMaven CEO James Heckman,says he has no plans to scrap Sports Illustrated’s print edition. “We love Sports Illustrated magazine. We’re going to invest in the magazine, the technology and refresh the media company into something that can compete in a...
Tribune Redesigns Chicago Tribune Website for Mobile Devices
Chicago Tribune: "Our redesigned website allows us to improve how we deliver news and information to our readers. We’ve switched to using a publishing system designed by the Washington Post specifically for news publishers. The new website is faster and easier to...
Apple Wants to Make Oscar-Worthy Films to Boost New Streamer
New York Post: Apple has Oscar envy. Since announcing plans to compete with Netflix in March, Apple has been busy with a new project: financing six small-budget movies a year with an eye toward stories that could win Academy Awards....
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Nears $500 Million Megadeal with JJ Abrams
New York Times: Sign with us. We can offer you spectacular opportunities. Have I mentioned how brilliant you are? So went the courtship of the producer J. J. Abrams by Apple, NBCUniversal, WarnerMedia and other entertainment companies over the past six...
Comcast’s NBCUniversal to Build Major Studio Hub in New Mexico
Associated Press: NBCUniversal has announced it will build a state-of-the-art television and film studio in a warehouse district just north of downtown Albuquerque as it seeks to expand its footprint in one of the fastest growing film production hubs in the...
CBS to ‘Dabble’ in Digital Lifestyle Network for Local TV Stations
Hollywood Reporter: CBS Television Distribution is launching a new multiplatform network. The lifestyle-focused Dabl (pronounced "dabble") is set to debut Sept. 9 on digital secondary channels of broadcast stations in about 70 percent of the country. CBS...
Fox, CBS, Scripps Settle US Antitrust Charges Over Sharing Data
Reuters: The U.S. Justice Department said on Monday it had settled antitrust charges with CBS, Cox, Scripps, Fox and Tegna, which were accused of sharing competitively sensitive information. “All five companies are alleged to have engaged in unlawful information...
VidAngel Hit with $62 Million in Damages in Disney-Led Lawsuit
Deseret News: A California jury awarded Disney and other Hollywood movie studio plaintiffs $62.4 million on Monday following a trial to assess damages against video filtering service VidAngel.The ruling comes after years of legal wrangling from Disney, Warner Brothers...
Amazon’s IMDb TV Readies European Expansion, Triples Lineup
World Screen: The Amazon-owned ad-supported free streaming video service IMDb TV is planning a European launch for later this year and has announced that it is tripling the size of its content lineup. Formerly known as IMDb Freedive, IMDb TV delivers movies and TV...
Google Staffers Admit to Shielding Their Own Kids from YouTube
Bloomberg: YouTube has spent years chasing engagement on its service and ignored internal calls to address toxic videos. Four people at Google privately admitted that they don’t let their kids watch YouTube unsupervised and said the sentiment was widespread at the...
Fox’s Murdoch Daughter Invests in Auto Online Network DriveTribe
Telegraph: The former presenters of "Top Gear" have mortgaged their fledgling social network for petrolheads to Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of the media mogul Rupert, for only £5 million. DriveTribe borrowed the cash in exchange for security over the company and its...
Comcast Remote to Let Viewers Change Channels with Their Eyes
Fast Company: Comcast is launching a new interface that enables anyone to use just their eyeballs to channel surf. It doesn’t require fancy hardware or expensive equipment: All it takes is an off-the-shelf eye tracker, a tablet or computer, and the company’s...
iHeartMedia, WPP Roll Out Project to Attract Advertisers to Audio
The Drum: Consumer listening is at an all-time high at an average of 17 hours weekly, and iHeartMedia and WPP aim to help brands reach those engaged consumers with the launch of Project Listen, an initiative designed to enhance insights from, planning for, and...
Spotify Lets Advertisers Target Listeners by Podcasts They Stream
TechCrunch: Spotify is now offering the ability for advertisers to target listeners based on which types of podcasts they’re streaming. The company says brands will be able to reach Spotify Free listeners who stream from specific podcast...