AT&T, Disney Hint of Opening Summer Movies Outside US
Financial Times: Hollywood is preparing to tear up its playbook for releasing billion-dollar blockbusters, as the pandemic forces big movie studios such as Disney and Warner Bros to lean more heavily on cinemas outside the US. Warner Bros is eyeing a late-August debut...
Fox Corp News Channel Founder Gets Positive Digital Film
TheWrap: Roger Ailes is the subject of a sympathetic new documentary, "Man in the Arena," narrated by Jon Voight, released across digital platforms. "Man in the Arena" was produced, written and directed by attorney and first-time director Michael...
Disney’s ESPN Scores Big Ratings with Return of Baseball
CNBC: Major League Baseball started its Covid-19 regular season Thursday night with a record average 4 million viewers, the most-watched regular-season MLB game on any network since 2011, according to ESPN, which aired the...
Fox Corp Lays Off 50+ Sports Workers in Efficiency Effort
The Big Lead: Fox Sports has laid off more than 50 workers in a move unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic. The company claims it is attempting to become more efficient after selling off the regional sports networks to Sinclair last...
Comcast Readies Relaunch of Video-Game TV Network G4
Variety: After nearly six years sitting in mothballs, the G4 video-game TV network is coming back — with some kind of relaunch next year by Comcast. On Friday, the Twitter accounts of two popular shows on the network both posted the same cryptic teaser...
Disney-Hearst: A&E Ratings Crash After Yanking ‘Live PD’
Wall Street Journal: Ratings for A&E Network have plummeted since it canceled the hit police reality show "Live PD" on June 10, a sign of how much the network relies on such programming. Average prime-time viewership is down 49% from the same period last...
Oprah Winfrey Magazine with Hearst to Close Print Edition
Business of Fashion: After 20 years, the monthly print edition of O: The Oprah Magazine will end after the December 2020 issue. The decision to rethink Winfrey's relationship with Hearst predates last week's exit of magazine division president Troy...
Hearst Journalistic Integrity Under Spotlight Amid Uproar
New York Times: The workplace at Hearst Magazines was troubled under Troy Young. And it may not have been good for ambitious investigative journalism. “It’s damning that Hearst would promote someone with multiple documented complaints against...
Sinclair Pulls TV Show Airing Conspiracy Theory on Fauci
Associated Press: Sinclair Broadcast Group says it is pulling from the air an edition of its "America This Week" program that discusses a conspiracy theory involving Dr. Anthony Fauci and the coronavirus. Sinclair hopes to add context and still air the controversial...
Disney-ABC TV Host Legend Regis Philbin Dies at Age 88
People: Regis Philbin has died. The beloved star was 88. The longtime television host died on July 24. "We are deeply saddened to share that our beloved Regis Philbin passed away last night of natural causes, one month shy of his 89th birthday," his family...
Chernin’s Barstool Sports Under Fire for Trump Interview
Mediaite: Barstool Sports host Dan Katz excoriated his boss Dave Portnoy for his softball interview with President Donald Trump. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the president’s office reached out to Barstool four months before an election when he’s polling at...
News Corp Sees Workers Slack-ing at Wall Street Journal
Vanity Fair: Wall Street Journal staffers have created a private, non-company Slack channel that people have been invited to join via their personal email addresses. "There's some prominent reporters in there" ... "It definitely feels like there’s sort of a moment...
Hearst Names Interim Magazine Leader After Chief Exits
New York Times: Debi Chirichella, the chief financial officer of Hearst Magazines, will step in after the departure of Troy Young, who was accused of making lewd remarks in the workplace. Chirichella will face the challenge of driving traffic and advertising revenue...
Conde Nast Unveils New Video, Audio Products for Health
MediaPost: Conde Nast Health, the company's commercial division dedicated to the health advertising category, held its second annual upfront, announcing new opportunities for pharmaceutical marketers, in addition to new products and franchises across company...
McClatchy CEO to Depart in Sale Deal with Private Equity
Sacramento Business Journal: McClatchy's current board of directors will leave the company, along with CEO Craig Forman, at the close of the transaction with Chatham Asset Management. "All employees will be offered their current job with new...
New York Times CEO Warns of Curbing Google, Facebook
Reuters: Regulation intended to address the news industry's problems with Google and Facebook could have adverse consequences, says outgoing New York Times CEO Mark Thompson. He sees risk in giving regulators more control of...
Washington Post Settles Lawsuit from Viral Video Teen
Fox News: The Washington Post is the latest news organization to settle a defamation lawsuit launched by Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann over botched coverage of a viral confrontation with a Native American...
Los Angeles Times Top Editor ‘Verbally Harasses’ Journo
TheWrap: The guild representing Los Angeles Times journalists has accused executive editor Norman Pearlstine of verbally harassing and retaliating against a reporter and being “hostile and dismissive” in response to “concerns about ethical...
Trend: Top Journos Are Leaving Jobs to Start Newsletters
Washington Post: A growing number of writers are gravitating to Substack and other newsletter platforms — a trend that has accelerated as the coronavirus recession hammers at the long-beleaguered news industry. "People should be realistic about...
Media Giants Shift to New M&A Targets During Covid Age
Hollywood Reporter: Content libraries and video game assets are seen as possible takeover targets in the media and telecom industries during the coronavirus pandemic. Podcasting remains a hot deal area. Traditional film and TV assets have "not seen a lot of...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Loses $1.5 Billion from Coronavirus
Ad Exchanger: The impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on AT&T and WarnerMedia are far reaching, totaling $2.8 billion in the second quarter alone. AT&T's WarnerMedia division took the brunt of the hit from the pandemic, with $1.5 billion in lost...
Disney to Delay ‘Mulan,’ Other Films in Ongoing Pandemic
New York Post: Disney is delaying the release of some of its biggest blockbusters, including "Mulan," "Star Wars" and "Avatar," as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wrack the globe. "Mulan," the live-action remake of its animated classic, has been postponed...
Fox Corp to Add Virtual Fans in TV Broadcasts of Baseball
Associated Press: Fox will be taking viewers out to the ballgame by adding a virtual crowd in parks during its baseball broadcasts this season. The network will include computer-generated fans in the stands beginning with three games on...
AT&T Says New Streamer Attracted 4 Million Subscribers
TechCrunch: HBO Max, the AT&T-owned streaming service that combines HBO with WarnerMedia content, now has 4.1 million subscribers who have activated their accounts, since its launch on May 27. HBO-HBO Max reach a total of 36.3 million US...
Quibi, After Protest, Allows Viewers to Make Screenshots
TheWrap: Quibi, after being criticized for launching without a way for fans to share their favorite moments, now lets viewers screenshot content. But Quibi is doing it a bit differently. Viewers press and hold on a show they're watching, allowing them to pick an image...
ByteDance’s TikTok Starts $200 Fund to Help US Creators
Bloomberg: TikTok has created a $200 million fund that will be distributed to some US users with large followings to encourage them to continue providing innovative content. TikTok already helps its stars find advertising partnerships and deals with talent...
Twitter Sees Record User Growth, Explores Subscriptions
Bloomberg: Twitter reported another quarter of record user growth as people joined the service for news and entertainment during the pandemic. But its advertising business was hammered amid a global marketing retraction as businesses pulled back on...
Google Hands Out Nearly $40 Million to Boost Local News
B&T: Google has given news publishers around the world more than $39.5 million since the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The funding has been distributed across 5,600 in 115 countries as part of the Google News Initiative Journalism Emergency Relied...
Facebook CEO Threatens to Fire Employees Over Bullying
CNBC: Mark Zuckerberg in June threatened to fire Facebook employees for "bullying" colleagues, following a widespread employee walkouts protesting the company's content moderation policies. "I've been very worried about … the level of...
News Corp’s Wall Street Journal Addresses Cancel Culture
Wall Street Journal: "We've been gratified by the outpouring of support from readers after some 280 of our Wall Street Journal colleagues signed (and someone leaked) a letter to our publisher criticizing the opinion pages." However, "reassurance is in order."...