ViacomCBS Sees Shifts in Film Financing in Covid Era
Los Angeles Times: Hollywood studios have had to find new ways to release their movies and recoup investments during the pandemic. This has opened the floodgates for deals to sell movies to streamers and for rich individuals in the US and overseas to back film...
Disney Sells Fox’s Ad-Tech Company TrueX to Gimbal
Wall Street Journal: Disney has sold TrueX, an advertising-technology company it absorbed as part of its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets in 2019, to Gimbal, a company that provides location-based tech and ad services. Financial terms of the deal...
Verizon in Scramble to Offload Money-Losing HuffPost
New York Post: Verizon has been quietly scrambling to unload HuffPost as it grapples with continued losses at the left-leaning news and culture website. The telecom giant has approached multiple digital-media companies during the past few months in a bid to get the...
Lionsgate Launches Emmy Hit ‘Schitt’s’ in Syndication
Broadcasting & Cable: Coming off its record-setting Emmy haul of nine wins and a sweep of the comedy category, "Schitt’s Creek" is making its debut in broadcast syndication. The Canadian-produced show is cleared on Fox-owned stations in the country’s largest...
Comcast Faces Fuming US Soccer Fans Over Peacock
Mediaite: NBC Sports has made many English Premier League matches only available to those who pay a subscription fee for its streaming service, Peacock. "Fans are frustrated for a few reasons. For one, NBC is giving them an additional paywall that they might not have...
Netflix Price Hike Forecast to Arrive Without Pushback
Deadline: Netflix is likely to raise subscription prices in North America or Europe soon, but it won't likely suffer major backlash, in the view of one Wall Street analyst. An increase of $1 to $2 a month in North America or Europe could generate $500 million to $1...
iHeartMedia Kicks Off Sports Breaks from iHeartSports
SportsBusinessDaily: iHeartMedia has added regular sports breaks to its 500+ radio stations, most of which are not sports focused. The move is part of iHeartMedia’s launch of the iHeartSports Network on stations with formats that range from rock, country, hip hop,...
Verizon-Hearst’s Complex Helps Brands with Products
Business Insider: Complex Networks has parlayed its pop-culture sensibility into a business selling related products like hot sauce, skateboards and hoodies. Now it wants to apply that know-how to help brands develop products of their own with a new agency,...
Conde Nast Faces Ridicule from WFH Feature at Vogue
@TaylorLorenz: "Redefining" my "work from home style" by buying $756 ballet flats and a $675 bracelet ... Genuinely asking who is the target audience for articles like this? Are they just hoping for hate-reads? ... Especially when you consider the state of things...
New York Times’s Trump Story Gets ‘Muted Response’
Associated Press: The New York Times's bombshell report on President Trump's taxes has met a "muted response" in some areas of the US. It illustrates how hard it is for any news story — even a deeply reported one that penetrates the secrecy behind Trump’s finances —...
Washington Post Hires Creative Technologist for News
Talking Biz News: Lo Bénichou has been named creative technologist at the Washington Post, specializing in experimental storytelling. In this new role, Bénichou will be part of a team focused on new ways to incorporate emerging technologies, including 5G and spatial...
Reddit Opens London Operation Seeking Growth in UK
redditblog: Reddit has announced an expansion into the UK in an effort to bring community and belonging to more redditors and advertisers in the market. Home to Reddit's second largest user base and growing at nearly 70% in the past year, the UK is "core to our...
Wikipedia to Unveil First Substantial Website Redesign
CNN: For the first time in 10 years, one of the internet's most-widely used resource websites will be getting a substantial new look. "While Wikipedia's content has grown rapidly, our interface has not kept pace," says Olga Vasileva, a project manager at the Wikimedia...
Craigslist’s Craig Donates to Help Journalism Students
citybizlist: Howard University and Craig Newmark have announced that Craig Newmark Philanthropies is making a $2.5 million gift to support aspiring journalism students. "This gift will have a profound impact on our students, allowing them to focus on their studies and...
Defector Media Touts Employee Power to Dump Editor
Digiday: A group of 18 former Deadspin employees has launched Defector Media with a collective ownership structure. With a two-thirds majority, they have the power to vote out the site's editor-in chief. Like its predecessor, Defector Media focuses on sports and...
Old Media to Decline Amid Rise of Social, Report Says
WNIP: Covid-19 has accelerated secular shifts across the media and entertainment industry, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum and Accenture. The consumption gap between digital and traditional channels has...
Facebook Earns Few ‘Likes’ in Consumer Digital Trust
Business Insider: When it comes to protecting user personal information and providing a safe online environment, social network users in the US give lower marks to Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter. According to Insider Intelligence's annual US Digital Trust Survey,...
Alphabet to Block Election Ads After Nov 3 on Google
Axios: Google informed its advertisers Friday that it will broadly block election ads after polls close Nov. 3. Big Tech platforms have been under pressure to address how their ad policies will handle conflicts over the presidential election's...
ByteDance’s TikTok Wins Reprieve as Judge Halts Ban
CNBC: A judge has temporarily blocked an order from the Trump administration that would have banned TikTok from being downloaded from US app stores. The judge, however, did not block a much broader ban set to come into effect on Nov. 12 in the U.S., which could make...
Fox Corp Taps ‘Nerd’ to Call Election on News Channel
New York Times: Fox News will face pressure to call the US presidential election for Donald Trump. The outcome rests on little-known 65-year-old wonk Arnon Mishkin, who will declare the winner. Law360: Most viewers do not expect "actual facts" from Fox News host...
Discovery to Invest in New TV News Channel in Britain
Deadline: Discovery is getting into the news game in the UK by backing a new right-leaning, 24-hour news channel, which will be led by BBC presenter and ferocious political interrogator Andrew Neil. Named GB News, the channel will launch in Britain next...
Comcast Ready for Launch of Shepard Smith on CNBC
Associated Press: Two weeks shy of a year after abruptly quitting Fox News with a declaration that “truth will always matter,” Shepard Smith returns to television this week at his unexpected new home. He begins a general interest nightly newscast Wednesday at 7 p.m....
AT&T’s WarnerMedia ‘Tenet’ Stays Atop US Box Office
Bloomberg: The movie industry's path to recovery from Covid-19 is grinding to a halt, with the Warner Bros. feature "Tenet" ruling the box office for a fourth week because it has no major competition. The sci-fi thriller sold an estimate $3.4 million in tickets in...
Liberty Media Appoints New President for Formula One
CNBC: Formula One racing will move CEO Chase Carey "to the role of non-executive chairman," replacing him with Stefano Domenicali, the former Ferrari team principal. Carey, who had been CEO since 2017, previously held executive roles with News Corp and 21st Century...
Netflix Stands Firm on Its Plan to Adapt Chinese Novel
Bloomberg: Netflix stood by its decision to adapt an award-winning Chinese science-fiction novel, after five Republican senators asked the streaming service to consider the implications of providing a platform to the book's author for his political...
Quibi to Face Uphill Battle as Talks Loom for New Ads
Adweek: Nearly six months since its debut, Quibi is still looking to find its groove. The streamer is already evaluating a possible sale. Under-deliveries for advertisers and an ad sales climate centered on flexibility are both likely to affect next year's advertising...
Wondery Podcast Firm Explores Sale for $200 Million
Bloomberg: Wondery, the company behind hit podcasts “Dr. Death” and “Dirty John,” has hired financial advisers to explore strategic options, including a potential sale, hoping to cash in on growing interest from technology and media firms. Wondery is expected to...
Conde Nast Explores ‘Body Positivity’ in Latest Vogue
New York Post: Rizzo fronts Vogue's October issue in a red-hot frock by Valentino, and models looks from Gucci, Moschino Couture and LaQuan Smith inside the issue. The hitmaker's interview covers topics ranging from Black Lives Matter to the body positivity...
Hearst British Operation Girds for Covid Cash Crunch
Press Gazette: Covid-19 losses at Hearst UK will eat up a "large proportion" of the magazine publisher's cash resources. But the publisher said its US parent company Hearst Communications has confirmed continued financial support if...
Gannett Looks to Sell Newspaper Building in Missouri
Springfield Business Journal: Gannett has put on the market the building that houses the daily News-Leader in Springfield, Mo. The newspaper will continue in operation. Springfield Business Journal: The News-Leader's printing operations were moved out of town earlier...