Amazon Founder Expresses Interest in Acquiring NFL Team
CBS Sports: Amazon's Jeff Bezos has interest in purchasing an NFL team and has become close with several current owners, according to league sources, and has strong support within the league to eventually join their...
Twitter Drafts Deepfake Policy to Warn of Manipulated Media
TechCrunch: Twitter last month said it was introducing a new policy to help fight deepfakes and other “manipulated media.” Now, Twitter is sharing a draft of its new policy and opening it up for public input before it goes...
Hearst Forms Employee Union Across Two Dozen Magazines
Daily Beast: Employees at one of America’s oldest major magazine publishers are forming a union. Staff at Hearst Magazines announced Monday they plan to form a union with the Writers Guild of America...
Conde Nast, Washington Post Editors Join Board of Pulitzers
Associated Press: The Pulitzer Prize Board has elected two new members to its board. Carlos Lozada and David Remnick are joining the 19-member board composed of leading journalists and news execs across the...
AMI Raises Eyebrows Over Secret Scheme with Singer Kelly
Daily Beast: A top exec in the National Enquirer tabloid empire proposed an elaborate scheme to secretly funnel more than $1 million to accused rapist and pedophile R. Kelly, according to documents and an audio...
Penske Launches Daily Variety Entertainment Digital Series
Variety: Variety has launched a daily video series covering the business of entertainment. “Daily Variety” will feature breaking news coverage and analysis from Variety’s staff as well as in-depth features and interviews with industry...
Thrive Global’s Huffington Says Old Media Model is Broken
Digiday: It’s been almost three years since Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington launched her new venture Thrive Global. "We are going to see very unusual diversification attempts because it’s clear that the old model is...
Vox Media, Bustle Digital Consolidation Model Faces Threats
Adweek: Vox, Bustle, Group Nine and IAC’s DotDash are placing bets that operational excellence in programmatic advertising, content distribution and tech platforms will turn their acquired entities into profitable enterprises. But dangers...
The Athletic, Axios Raise Funds as Media Rivals Consolidate
The Information: Two of the younger digital media startups, The Athletic and Axios, are raising money to fuel diversification of their businesses, even as older media firms are consolidating. The Athletic is raising around $50 million at a valuation north of $500...
Journalist Group Raises Funds for Stories on Media Job Cuts
Journalism.co.uk: The Save Journalism Project has launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay laid-off reporters in the US to write about mass job losses in the media industry. The Initiative will produce five stories from the...
Disney’s Streaming Service Launch Heralds Decline of Cable
New York Times: The debut of Disney Plus on Tuesday is expected to bring a quake that changes everything. Without question, analysts say, the flood of new streaming services will cause more people to cancel traditional cable and satellite...
Comcast Faces Call for Breakup Over Alleged Discrimination
Philadelphia Inquirer: A U.S. congressman is calling for Comcast “to be broken up,” days before the cable giant is set to face off against Byron Allen, an African American Hollywood mogul, in a Supreme Court case that some say could make it harder to bring racial...
Viacom: Two Execs to Depart in Advance of Merger with CBS
Wall Street Journal: Viacom and CBS are realigning the leadership of their creative operations in advance of the expected closing of their merger in December. The move will result in consolidation among cable programming and digital operations....
CBS Scores US Rights to Euro Soccer’s Champions League
Sports Business Daily: CBS and Univision are said to have picked up the rights to the UEFA Champions League for a three-year period. Neither the networks nor the league would comment on the deal. The previous rights holders were Turner and...
Fox’s Murdoch Spends $12 Million on British Country Home
Daily Mail: Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch's new Oxfordshire home, built in the 1700s, sits in an area of outstanding natural beauty, and comes with formal gardens and an outdoor pool. The home includes a library, ballet studio, and 11 bedrooms, each with a bathroom....
Viacom Drops Out of Talks to Acquire Miramax Film Library
Variety: Viacom and Paramount Pictures have called off negotiations to acquire the Miramax film library. One individual close to the negotiations said there were issues that derailed the talks but cautioned that it remains possible that discussions could...
Report: TV, Digital Prepare for Trump’s Impeachment Inquiry
Associated Press: When the House impeachment inquiry of President Trump begins its public phase on Wednesday, people will be watching on screens large and small. Many, in fact, are likely to be watching the proceedings on more than one...
iHeartMedia Enjoys Boost from New Ventures in Podcasting
Billboard: Driven in part by a slate of new podcasting ventures, iHeartMedia posted its best earnings since filing for bankruptcy in 2018 on Friday, reporting total revenue of $948.3 million in the third quarter. That's up 3% year-over...
Google’s YouTube Stars in Boxing Match to Pump Up DAZN
Financial Times: YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI have won more than 40 million subscribers with their songs and antics. Their boxing match on Saturday night was aired by subscription service DAZN, which believes the fight will boost its subscriber...
Netflix, HBO Coalition to Crack Down on Password Sharing
Bloomberg: A coalition that includes Netflix, HBO and cable-industry titans is stepping up efforts to crack down on password sharing, discussing new measures to close a loophole that could be costing companies billions of dollars in lost revenue each...
Amazon, Woody Allen Give OK to End Legal Battle Over Film
Associated Press: Woody Allen and Amazon.com have ended their legal battle. The filmmaker had sued Amazon in February after the online giant ended his 2017 contract without ever releasing a completed film, “A Rainy Day in New...
Facebook’s Instagram Won’t Pay Celebs for Political Videos
Bloomberg: Instagram is willing to pick up the tab for some celebrities’ video costs. As long as they don’t film anything about politics. Anyone who gets Instagram money to produce content for IGTV, “must not include content about social issues, elections or...
Google, Twitter Approve Ads with False Information in Test
Daily Beast: Social media companies have pledged to crack down on anti-vaccination messages that have been blamed for this year’s historic measles outbreaks. But a test by the Daily Beast reveals just how easy it is to place an ad filled with blatant medical...
Gallup: Local US News is More Trusted Than National News
Gallup: Research from Gallup earlier this year found that although a majority of Americans continue to mistrust the media in general, they trust local news sources far more than national sources. Gallup's latest polling on the subject reinforces this...
Gannett Mega Merger Will Threaten Journalism, Union Says
Washington Post: The country’s leading newspaper union issued a scathing analysis of the proposed Gannett-GateHouse merger, saying the deal would drive down wages and employment for journalists while overcompensating GateHouse’s private equity backers....
Bloomberg Reassures Staff Over Founder’s Presidential Run
Financial Times: Bloomberg has moved to reassure staff that the financial information company’s operations will not be disrupted if its billionaire founder Michael Bloomberg seeks the Democratic nomination to run for US...
News Corp Starts Weekly Barron’s Digital Show with Nasdaq
Digiday: Dow Jones’s Barron’s Group is combining two of its brands — Barron’s and MarketWatch — to launch a new live, weekly 10-minute digital show covering all the financial news that investors need to know to get their week started....
Conde Nast Hires Viacom Alum to Head Digital Programming
Real Screen: Conde Nast Entertainment has named Reginald Williams as senior vice president of programming. Williams will be based in New York and report to CNE president Oren Katzeff. He will work closely with Katzeff to supervise global digital...
Hearst Unveils Shoppable ‘Oprah’s Favorite Things’ for 2019
USA Today: Is it officially the holidays without Oprah Winfrey's list of her favorite things? The media icon is back with her annual list of gift ideas, available in the December issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, on newsstands Nov. 19, and on...
Mansueto’s Inc Magazine Editor Departs for Sequoia Capital
Talking Biz News: James Ledbetter, the editor in chief of Inc. magazine for nearly six years, has left the publication. Ledbetter is now head of content at Sequoia Capital. “I am energized and thrilled to be working with the brilliant Sequoia...