Google Veteran Calls Social Media ‘Amplifiers for Idiots’
Bloomberg: Eric Schmidt says the "excesses" of social media are likely to result in greater regulation of internet platforms in the coming years. "The context of social networks serving as amplifiers for idiots and crazy people is not what we intended," the former...
Amazon to Let Employees Work at Home Through June
Bloomberg: Amazon will let corporate employees work from home through June 2021, the latest company to push back re-opening offices as Covid-19 cases surge again across the US. "We continue to prioritize the health of our employees and follow local government...
Netflix Chief, Wife Emerge as ‘Power Couple of the Year’
Town & Country: Ted Sarandos and Nicole Avant have planted themselves firmly at the nexus of Hollywood, Silicon Valley, politics and philanthropy, becoming a new kind of supercharged West Coast power couple. "Previously, being in power meant being the gatekeeper,"...
Fox Corp Strikes Out in Early TV Ratings of World Series
CNBC: Game One of the 2020 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays is the least watched World Series game of all-time. Game One attracted 9.1 million viewers, Fox Sports says. The previous time MLB declined below 10 million viewers for a World...
Disney Puts Features, Analysis Behind Paywall at ESPN+
New York Post: ESPN plans to move much of its high-profile, feature-type writing and analysis content to ESPN+. The change is being made to further boost the direct-to-consumer ESPN+ service. The initiative is in line with Disney’s recent announcement to shift its...
ViacomCBS to Eye Hybrid Approach for Confab VidCon
Bloomberg: This year's VidCon was reimagined as a rolling series of events — live podcasts, video chats and virtual meet-ups — that stretched from mid-June through September. The events brought in viewers from 80 to 100 countries, encouraging a rethink of what’s...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Streams Video to Connected Cars
Engadget: AT&T has unveiled a previously rumored WarnerMedia Ride service that streams shows from Cartoon Network, CNN, TBS and other channels for free if you have a vehicle using telecom's unlimited connected car data plan. The new HBO Max streaming service is...
Amazon’s New ‘Borat’ Arrives in Time for US Elections
Associated Press: Rudy Giuliani is shown in a compromising position in a hotel room with a young woman acting as a television journalist in a scene in Sacha Baron Cohen's latest mockumentary, a sequel to his hit "Borat" film. Giuliani called the film a hit job. "I am...
Imagine Entertainment Creates App for Hollywood Pros
Los Angeles Times: Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, the Oscar-winning filmmakers, have launched an app called the Creative Network, allowing Hollywood execs to find talented writers and help them get work. If successful, the app will expand to change hiring for not just...
Quibi Investors Face Big Losses from Startup’s Demise
The Information: Quibi revealed to investors that, after paying its outstanding bills, it would have only about $350 million left to return to shareholders, out of the $1.75 billion it raised. Because investors in the earlier rounds have rights to get preferential...
Forecast: Gaming to Emerge as Next Big Tech Platform
Wall Street Journal: Gaming is set to emerge as the next dominant technology platform much the way search engines, mobile phones and social networks redefined industries in previous decades, says Michael Wolf, co-founder and CEO of consulting firm Activate. The...
Conde Nast’s Wintour Splits with Partner After 20 Years
New York Post: Anna Wintour and telecom millionaire Shelby Bryan have finally split after more than 20 years together. Things had cooled off between the powerful pair and they hadn’t been seen in public together for some time. It’s not yet clear what caused the...
Axel Springer Ups Media Reporting at Business Insider
Talking Biz News: Business Insider has hired Claire Atkinson as its senior media correspondent, starting in November. She has been at NBC News for the past three years as senior media editor. Atkinson previously was at the New York Post, where she covered media...
News Corp Takes Tabloid’s Story to Wall Street Journal
@BGrueskin: The Wall Street Journal editorial page has published two op-eds about the disputed Hunter Biden laptop story, accusing Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden of not keeping his son a tight leash and claiming that the New York Post, a News Corp sibling...
Hearst Bypasses Usual Models for New Harper’s Bazaar
Daily Front Row: New editor Samira Nasr skipped the usual cover model suspects for her first official issue at Harper's Bazaar. Instead, she gave November cover honors to model-entrepreneur Liya Kebede. "I'm thrilled that my first issue as editor in chief is also...
Conde Nast Gets Heated Response from Melania Trump
NBC News: "I don't give a f--- about Vogue," says first lady Melania Trump, turning down an opportunity to be profiled in the magazine, according to a secretly recorded conversation by her then-friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. Trump says she would never be selected...
Vox Media Releases Hardcover New York Encyclopedia
The Strategist: "The Encyclopedia of New York," assembled by the editors of New York magazine, is part deep dive into hidden histories and part city field guide covering most anything one might want to know about the origins of things invented in New York City —...
BuzzFeed Plans Video Channel Covering Black Culture
TubeFilter: BuzzFeed is launching at month's end a new YouTube channel for its five-year-old Black culture entertainment vertical, Cocoa Butter. The vertical was founded in 2015 by editors Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton to showcase authenticity within Black culture,...
Quibi to Shutter in Stunning End to Ambitious Venture
The Information: Jeffrey Katzenberg’s video streaming service Quibi is shutting down, bringing down the curtain on the short-form video streaming service just six months after it launched. The closure is a stunning end to Katzenberg’s hopes of creating a new category...
Alphabet Faces Antitrust Case at ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Google
Associated Press: The Justice Department on Tuesday sued Google for abusing its dominance in online search and advertising. AP: The internet behemoth's "Don't Be Evil" pledge is now a distant memory. "They are definitely not a cuddly company any...
Apple Nabs ‘Peanuts’ Specials Away from Broadcast TV
WANE: You won’t find the classic Charlie Brown holiday specials on broadcast television this year. The Peanuts animated classics, including "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," will stream on AppleTV+ through a deal with WildBrain, Peanuts Worldwide and Lee...
Netflix’s Pandemic Subscriber Growth Begins to Decline
New York Post: The healthy growth spurt that Netflix has enjoyed this year because of the coronavirus is finally coming to an end. The video-streaming giant on Tuesday posted weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings and slowing subscriber growth, sending its shares...
ViacomCBS Names Pluto TV CEO as Head of Streaming
Variety: ViacomCBS has restructured its streaming operations with a global lens: Tom Ryan, currently CEO of Pluto TV, will assume the role of president and CEO of the newly created ViacomCBS Streaming, overseeing CBS All Access, which will relaunch as Paramount Plus...
Vivendi Readies IPO for Universal Music Group in 2022
Reuters: Vivendi plans to list its most-prized asset, Universal Music Group, in 2022, after strong results by the world's biggest music label. The plan to list Universal represents the next milestone in a two-year process launched by Vivendi investor Vincent Bollore...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Eyes Successors for Head of CNN
The Information: As CEO Jason Kilar overhauls WarnerMedia to make it more digitally savvy and consumer focused, he is expected to zero in on its news and sports business, particularly CNN, for a shakeup. What could trigger a restructuring of the business is the...
ViacomCBS Gets Trump Threat to Post Interview Early
CBS News: President Trump cut short an interview with "60 Minutes" on Tuesday. The interview, which was taped at the White House, is slated to run on Sunday. Later Tuesday, Trump called the interview "biased" and threatened to release the interview before it...
Quibi Nearing Shutdown as Founder’s Options Run Out
The Information: Jeffrey Katzenberg may be nearing the end of the road with his mobile video streaming service Quibi. He recently tried to sell its catalog of programming to NBCUniversal and Facebook, but both passed. Meanwhile, Katzenberg says he may have to shut...
Snap Reports Unexpected Profit with Gains in Revenue
CNBC: Snap's stock price soared more than 22% after hours on Tuesday as the company posted an unexpected, adjusted profit along with positive user and revenue growth in its third-quarter earnings. Snap reported 249 million daily active users, up nearly 4% from...
Sinclair Sports Networks Eye Possible Debt Restructure
Wall Street Journal: Sinclair Broadcast Group's regional sports business and its creditors are preparing for a possible restructuring of its roughly $8 billion debt load, a sign of the pressure on the sports industry from Covid-19. The Sinclair subsidiary is dealing...
Bloomberg Mulls Selling Stake to Take Company Public
New York Post: Michael Bloomberg has been in talks to take his media empire public through an entity controlled by billionaire Bill Ackman. If the two reach a deal, Bloomberg’s stock would trade on the New York Stock Exchange in place of Ackman's Pershing Square...