Barnes & Noble Drops ‘Diverse’ Classic Novels After Outcry
New York Post: Barnes & Noble has suspended its plan to release "diverse editions" of classic novels for Black History Month after getting slammed online for "literary blackface." The partnership was between the company's Fifth Avenue store and Penguin Random...
Strand Book Store to Open New Outlet on Upper West Side
Crain's New York Business: The Strand Book Store, a legendary fixture of the bookselling scene for the past 93 years, will be expanding from its Union Square home next month and moving into 450 Columbus Avenue, the former home of Book Culture on...
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Disney Earnings Reveal Strong Entrance in Streaming Wars
Reuters: Disney's new streaming service Disney+ reached 28.6 million paying subscribers this week, the company said on Tuesday as it reported quarterly earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts. The results showed Disney made a strong entrance into the streaming video...
AT&T Breaks Promise of ‘Irrational’ Moves at WarnerMedia
Ars Technica: AT&T's decision to prevent Time Warner-owned shows from streaming on Netflix hurt the company's quarterly revenue by $1.2 billion. In 2016, AT&T had told Congress that it would not restrict distribution of Time Warner content, claiming that the...
Comcast NBC Affiliates Object to Late-Night Show Streams
TVNewsCheck: Stung by NBC's plan to "pre-air" the Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers late-night shows on the upcoming Peacock streaming service hours prior to their regular broadcast, the affiliates board has been talking to network brass about modifying or scuttling the...
Netflix Spending Goes ‘Over the Top’ in Effort to Win Oscar
Wall Street Journal: Awards season typically takes over Hollywood. But this year has been especially over the top thanks to Netflix. The company's costly tactics have sparked an arms race with other studios that has rival awards strategists reeling — and might even...
Google Apologizes for Sending Users’ Videos to Strangers
CNBC: Google has confirmed that some people recently received private videos from strangers that were uploaded to Google Photos. When people used Google Takeout to download their content, they were accidentally given videos uploaded by people they don’t...
Yahoo Teams with DeGeneres on Viewer Play-Along Show
Variety: Yahoo Entertainment is launching "Reality Star Showdown," a party-game show from Ellen DeGeneres' digital media company, in which viewers play along in guessing games with reality-TV contestants. The series is hosted by "Ellen" producers Andy Zenor and Tracy...
Facebook’s Instagram Brings in More Than Quarter of Sales
Bloomberg: Instagram, the popular photo-sharing app Facebook acquired for $715 million in 2012, generated more than a quarter of the social-media company's revenue last year. The app brought in about $20 billion in advertising revenue in...
Snap Still Unprofitable Nearly Two Years After Going Public
TechCrunch: Snapchat still isn't profitable nearly two years after its IPO. Snapchat's user growth has been on tear, thanks to international penetration, especially in India. But Snap will need to figure out how to squeeze more cash out of the international market to...
Amazon CEO: Lawsuit from Girlfriend’s Brother is Extortion
CNBC: Jeff Bezos accused his girlfriend’s brother of seeking to extort him by suing for defamation, according to a court filing. Responding to a defamation complaint by Michael Sanchez, lawyers for Bezos filed a motion to strike the suit in the Superior Court of...
NYSE Owner Makes a Takeover Offer for Online Giant eBay
Wall Street Journal: The owner of the New York Stock Exchange has made a takeover offer for eBay that could value the sprawling online marketplace at more than $30 billion. Intercontinental Exchange Inc., known as ICE, has approached eBay in the past and did so again...
Apple Loses Conde Nast Veteran as Head of News Business
Bloomberg: The head of business for Apple's news app stepped down less than a year after launching a high-profile subscription product that has struggled to attract paying readers. Liz Schimel, the outgoing executive, joined in mid-2018 after leaving Conde...
Verizon Media Unveils Personal-Finance Site Called Cashay
Digiday: Verizon Media is launching on Wednesday a new personal finance site for Generation Z and millennials called Cashay. The site will feature a mixture of content, including original stories by Cashay’s editorial staff, special reports and series from the Yahoo...
IAC’s Dotdash Acquires Two More Digital Media Publishers
Axios: Dotdash, the IAC-owned digital publishing company that grew from About.com, has acquired two new digital publishers, TreeHugger and Mother Nature Network, to create a new sustainability vertical within its portfolio. Dotdash still makes most of its money from...
Vox Media, Group Nine Say Trump Presidency Imperils Ads
Axios: Media execs are ramping up the public pressure on companies to invest in advertising against quality news. While the the Trump presidency was at first seen as a boon to news, media execs now call it a liability to their ad businesses. "A lot of big brands are...
New York Times Plans to Hike Price of Digital Subscriptions
CNN: The New York Times will raise the price of its digital subscription from $15 every four weeks to $17, its first-ever price bump. The 13% increase will take effect on March 8, the company said on Tuesday. The discount rate for students and educators remains $1...
Conde Nast CEO Toasts Architectural Digest on 100th Year
ADPro: To ring in a century of Architectural Digest, luminaries of the design, fashion, art, and entertainment worlds filled the halls of Pace Gallery in New York. The night was full of bold-faced names who came out to wish Architectural Digest a happy 100th...
Hearst Pulls Cosmo Digital Cover Over ‘White Lives Matter’
People: Fans of the ABC reality series "The Bachelor" might be expecting to see contestant Victoria Fuller grace the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine's digital issue — but that will no longer happen after Fuller was linked to a clothing brand that featured the words...
Meredith’s People Magazine Joins Community Texting App
WWD: A growing number of celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez, Kerry Washington, Ellen DeGeneres and Amy Schumer have been giving out their cell numbers to fans through texting app Community. Now magazines are starting to get in on the...
Bauer Tests Bundled Magazines as Path to App Profitability
What's New in Publishing: Bauer is one publisher that has persisted with its app editions where many others have given up. Last October, Bauer decided to try a new approach. Bikes Unlimited is the result. It's an app that includes all six of Bauer UK's motorcycle...
Forbes Offers Digital Video Network to Help Entrepreneurs
TalkingBizNews: The latest innovation from Forbes comes in the form of Forbes8, an on-demand digital video network brimming with expert content designed to help the next wave of entrepreneurs take their first steps into the business sphere. "It's based on Forbes'...
Media Star Says Thanks to Professionals in Media Industry
Media Star wishes to thank the many people who have stepped forward to help support this service. Industry professionals say (and tweet) that Media Star helps them keep up on all the latest in media and tech news. Does Media Star help you? Please help Media Star with...
Alphabet Reveals $15 Billion YouTube Ad Revenue in 2019
CNET News: Google parent company Alphabet for the first time gave investors a look at revenue for two key businesses: YouTube and Google Cloud. The video platform generated $15 billion in ad sales in 2019, up 36% from $11 billion the year...
Apple’s Push Into TV is ‘Failing to Resonate,’ Analyst Says
Bloomberg: Apple's streaming-video service has gained limited traction with consumers, and this could represent a cautious signal as the company moves away from hardware sales and toward services, according to Bernstein. The take rate was called "surprisingly...
AT&T’s New Streamer Nabs Film Dropped by Apple, Oprah
Associated Press: The documentary about women who have accused Russell Simmons of sexual abuse has found a distributor after Oprah Winfrey's exit from the film left it in the lurch. HBO Max said it acquired "On the Record," which had been set to be released by Apple...
Disney’s Hulu Enjoys Growth Twice as Fast as Netflix in US
Bloomberg: Hulu’s US subscriptions spiked in the final two months of 2019, fueled by a package that included both Disney+ and ESPN+ for a total of $13 a month. Disney’s bundling of the three services accounted for a significant share of Hulu sign-ups in...
Fox’s Super Bowl Ratings, Ad Success Prove TV Isn’t Dead
Adweek: The Kansas City Chiefs' big victory helped the Super Bowl improve on last year's numbers, but the game narrowly missed reaching 100 million linear viewers for the second consecutive year. Also: Super Bowl 54 likely generated a record $435 million in...
AT&T’s Warner Bros TV Promotes Exec to First-Ever Chief
World Screen: Peter Roth, who has been at Warner Bros. for the past 21 years, has signed a contract extension that will make him the first-ever chairman of the Warner Bros. Television Group. Roth has served as president and chief content officer of the group since...