Media Star to Take Time Off for Holiday, Return in December
Media Star: Media Star is taking a brief break for the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday. Daily updates will resume on Monday, December 2.
Apple Plans Mega Bundle of Music, News, TV to Debut in 2020
Bloomberg: Apple is considering bundling its paid internet services, including News+, Apple TV+ and Apple Music, as soon as 2020. The latest sign of this strategy is a provision that Apple included in deals with publishers that lets the iPhone maker bundle the News+...
Disney CEO Offers Career Advice in Online Video MasterClass
NBC News: Disney CEO Bob Iger is the latest prominent figure who has agreed to teach a MasterClass, the popular online creative platform, where viewers pay $90 in exchange for words of wisdom. Iger is one of many industry leaders who have chosen to share their tips...
Netflix Chief Sees Disney’s Brand Library as a Possible ‘Trap’
Deadline: Netflix content head Ted Sarandos said “nothing” has changed at the streaming giant since the launch of Disney+. Of Disney’s stable of strong brands, Sarandos said, “I don’t know if it’s a luxury or a trap, but they have IP. They have established IP, and...
Fox TV Sells 80 Percent of Ad Inventory for Super Bowl 2020
Bloomberg: Fox Sports has sold 80% of its Super Bowl commercials, resulting in what one network exec called a game of musical chairs for the remaining inventory. “It’s a pinch-yourself moment,” said Fox Sports exec Seth Winter. “We’re pacing well ahead of where we...
Apple Veteran Unveils Live Streaming Startup Called Caffeine
Fast Company: A new streaming platform may be giving us a peek at the future of broadcast entertainment. Live-streaming startup Caffeine, started by former Apple designer Ben Keighran, aims to overtake Amazon’s Twitch and Microsoft’s Mixer as the world’s leading live...
Microsoft’s LinkedIn Chief Talks Social Media with Murdoch
Deadline: James Murdoch didn’t mention Disney or the streaming wars or TV ratings or any of the myriad topics that marked his run as CEO of 21st Century Fox. Instead, his 30-minute discussion with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman focused mainly on the mushrooming...
Facebook Leases Office Space at Manhattan’s Hudson Yards
CNBC: Facebook has signed a lease at Hudson Yards for more than 1.5 million square feet of office space and plans to move into the new offices next year. The lease includes office space across 30 floors and three buildings in the far West Side...
Amazon Cites Bias in US Contract Loss After Fighting Trump
MarketWatch: Amazon plans to protest the award last month of a 10-year, $10 billion Pentagon cloud-computing contract to Microsoft that many assumed would go to Amazon. President Trump publicly lambasted CEO Jeff Bezos — who also owns the Washington Post — and...
Twitter’s Billboard Ad in Brooklyn Stirs Confusion, Cynicism
Financial Times: “Using Twitter is like dipping your toes into an ocean of human beings.” What feelings does this image engender in you? A sickening sense of doom and foreboding? For us, when we came across the billboard in Williamsburg, our reaction swung from...
Google’s New User-Data Plan Alarms Publishers, Advertisers
Financial Times: Google plans to limit advertiser access to personal data to address user privacy concerns in a move criticized by online ad agencies as self-serving. Advertisers and publishers said the move could further entrench Google’s dominance in online...
Apple’s News App Struggles to Add Subscribers Since Debut
CNBC: Since Apple launched its paid news app, Apple News+, in March and signed on 200,000 subscribers in 48 hours, the company has struggled to add customers. While Apple doesn’t reveal the numbers of News+ subscribers to publishers, the figure hasn’t increased...
Gannett Eyes $400 Million in Cuts After Closing Mega Merger
Nieman Lab: You think $300 million in costs cut is a big number? Try $400 million. Or more than $400 million. Those are the internal numbers in the air as America’s two largest newspaper chains, Gannett and GateHouse, try to land their mega merger, first announced in...
McClatchy, Tribune Revive Merger Talks a Year After Courting
Crain's Chicago Business: Execs at McClatchy and Tribune Publishing have revived merger talks, according to industry analyst Ken Doctor, who cites several unidentified people with knowledge of the discussions. "A merger that buys time by massively cutting costs is a...
New York Times Readies Expansion Into Documentary Films
Digiday: The New York Times is making a move into movies. The publisher aims to premiere at least two feature-length documentaries in the first half of 2020. The films will be the Times’ TV unit’s first feature-length documentaries directed by Times journalists and...
Meredith Plans Local TV Shows Inspired by Magazine Brands
Digiday: Meredith has wanted to infuse its national magazines into its local TV stations’ programming for nearly 20 years. Now, the publisher’s focus on digital video is starting to make that a more viable possibility. This month, Meredith's 17 stations will begin...
Hearst Magazines Tout New Mantra of ‘Content with Purpose’
FIPP: Hearst's mantra now is content with purpose, according to content VP Brooke Siegel. Content with purpose is all about having the intention first. Previously, a story would start with an editor who would have an idea, and people trusted their brilliance. “We...
Conde Nast, Hearst Editors Want Publicists to Rethink Swag
WWD: Gifting is nothing new, with public-relations reps sending free products to fashion and beauty editors for decades. But some New York-based print and digital fashion editors are taking a stand ahead of the holiday season, "in an effort to reduce...
Bustle Digital Hires Conde Nast Veteran for Top Editorial Role
WWD: It’s not all doom and gloom at Bustle as after several recent layoffs, it changed course Thursday, unveiling a new hire. The women’s lifestyle site has tapped Sam Rogers, a Vogue International editor, to take on the executive editor role at Bustle...
Playboy Club NYC Shutters for Venue Rebrand by Live Nation
New York Post: After just one year in business, the owners of the new Playboy Club at the Cachet Hotel on West 42 Street are packing up their Hugh Hefner memorabilia and rebranding the space as a steak house and entertainment venue sponsored by events promoter Live...
The Economist Asks: Who Will Win the (Bloody) Media Wars?
The Economist: "As the business model pioneered by Netflix is copied by dozens of rivals, over 700 million subscribers are now streaming video across the planet," notes the new cover story in The Economist. "This binge is the culmination of 20 years of creative...
Viacom’s Nickelodeon in Deal to Produce Content for Netflix
Los Angeles Times: Nickelodeon is deepening its ties with Netflix, the streaming company that once nearly destroyed its business. The two companies announced a multiyear pact that requires Nickelodeon to produce original animated feature films and television shows...
Disney’s Streamer Nabs ‘Eye-Popping’ 10 Million Subscribers
Los Angeles Times: Disney’s ambitious new streaming service has already achieved a major subscriber milestone, just one day after the app launched to hype so fervent that the influx of users caused technical hiccups. More than 10 million people have signed up for the...
AT&T’s Warner Bros Tweaks Logo to Move Brand Into Future
Fast Company: As a heritage brand, Warner Bros. had the benefit of brand recognition; the shield emblem that encases the Warner Bros. initials is easily identifiable on its own. But as a studio without its own network, the TV shows, movies, and other content it...
Comcast Looks to Defeat Racial Bias Case at Supreme Court
CNBC: Comcast looked poised for victory during arguments on Wednesday over a $20 billion racial discrimination case brought by media mogul Byron Allen. The win may not be final. The justices suggested they may erase the company’s defeat before a lower court, but give...
Fox-News Corp’s Murdoch Says Free Speech is Under Threat
Press Gazette: Rupert Murdoch, in a video message at the UK Society of Editors gala dinner, says that free speech “remains under serious threat from capricious law-makers and the politically correct, who increasingly seek an insidious censorship. Free speech is vital...
Discovery Enters Pact for Smart TV Data to Measure Viewers
Variety: Discovery has struck a strategic partnership with Inscape, a provider of viewing data of so-called “smart TVs,” that will help it gauge viewer attention from more than 12 million broadband-enabled TV sets in the U.S. Inscape is a subsidiary of Vizio, the TV...
Liberty’s SiriusXM Starts Posting Daily Videos for Subscribers
Variety: SiriusXM is doubling down on video: The satellite radio service officially announced a new initiative called SiriusXM Video Wednesday, with plans to publish daily videos from dozens of shows to paying subscribers. Videos will include interviews, in-studio...
Chernin Eyes ‘Quality’ Media for $700 Million Investment Fund
Hollywood Reporter: The Chernin Group disclosed on Nov. 5 the existence of a $700 million investment fund dubbed TCG, but the entity had already been doing business for about a year, spending $200 million for equity stakes in at least nine companies, including...
Google Enters Banking with Plan to Offer Checking Accounts
CNBC: Google will offer checking accounts next year as it partners with financial institutions including Citigroup, representing Big Tech’s boldest move yet into consumer banking. Most previous efforts have focused on credit cards and payment platforms. “We’re...