Verizon Expands Into Bite-Size Video with In-the-Know Network
Hollywood Reporter: Verizon Media is expanding its shortform video business with the launch of the In the Know Network, which will offer up bite-sized updates on everything from the latest on positive news stories to what new gadgets to buy. The initiative is part of...
Quibi Signs Up TMZ Following Deals with CBS News, Telemundo
Deadline: Quibi is taking its Daily Essentials to the Thirty Mile Zone. Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s shortform digital platform is teaming with Harvey Levin’s TMZ on two daily celebrity news shows curated for...
Apple Unveils In-House Studio with Spielberg-Hanks Production
Apple Insider: Apple has launched its own in-house studio with "Masters of the Air" for Apple TV+ to be its first production that it doesn't contract out to a third-party studio. "Masters of the Air" will be executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom...
Facebook Policy Faces Test from Warren’s False Zuckerberg Ad
Reuters: Elizabeth Warren’s Democratic presidential campaign challenged Facebook’s policy that exempts politicians’ ads from fact-checking, by running ads on the social media platform containing the false claim that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg endorsed President...
Vice Media Investor TPG Capital Stumbles with Stakes in Media
Hollywood Reporter: There's a perception among some in Hollywood that TPG Capital is stumbling when it comes to media and entertainment. These observers cite Vice Media, where a $450 million investment in 2017 valued the troubled millennial-focused firm at a rich $5.7...
Conde Nast Makes Use of Wintour for ‘Forces of Fashion’ Event
Evening Standard: Last week saw celebrities, designers, models, fashionistas and fans descend upon New York City for Vogue’s third annual Forces of Fashion Summit, which aimed to bring the Vogue brand to the coiffed masses (provided you’re willing to fork over the...
New York Times ‘Modern Love’ Series Debuts Friday on Amazon
Chicago Tribune: The popular New York Times weekly column "Modern Love" has featured stories about love and redemption for the past 15 years. Eight of the stories have been turned into a half-hour TV series that debuts Friday, Oct. 18, on Amazon Prime...
Gannett Journos at Arizona’s Largest Newspaper Vote for Union
Associated Press: Journalists at the Arizona Republic have voted to unionize in a move that will allow for contract negotiations over wages, benefits and working conditions. The newspaper reported the 64-30 vote will start a collective bargaining process in the...
Digital First Media Outsources Newspaper Design to Philippines
The Intercept: Digital First Media has decided that shutting down pressrooms, eliminating jobs, and concentrating design and printing into regional hubs hasn’t cut costs enough. Now it’s outsourcing California news design to the...
Newsday’s Sale of amNewYork Results in Big Cuts to Newsroom
New York Times: A change of ownership at amNewYork, a free New York tabloid meant for subway reading, went into effect on Friday. Along with the change, there were layoffs, with the number of newsroom employees cut to seven from...
Group Nine Media’s NowThis Expands Staff as ‘MTV of Scrolling’
New Yorker: Some 130 people work in NowThis’s SoHo office, a sprawling loft with state-of-the-art studios. The company’s videos reach 70 percent of U.S. twentysomethings every month. NowThis content chief Tina Exarhos, a former MTV exec, says: “In a scrolling economy,...
BuzzFeed’s Valuation Takes a Dip as Digital Media Consolidates
The Information: BuzzFeed was the most highly valued of the digital media startups to emerge in the past decade, hitting a valuation of $1.7 billion in 2016. Now, though, BuzzFeed’s valuation may be closer to $1.2 billion, based on the valuations placed on three...
Maven Hunts for a News Site After TheStreet, Sports Illustrated
Business Insider: With TheStreet and Sports Illustrated under his belt, Maven's Jim Heckman isn't done. He's now on the hunt for a news website to round out his portfolio. “We want to make sure that we control the quality and get behind some brands. So, we're looking...
Fox News’s Shepard Smith to Step Down as Chief News Anchor
Fox News: Shepard Smith announced Friday that he will step down as Fox News Channel's chief news anchor and managing editor of the network's breaking news unit. "Recently I asked the company to allow me to leave Fox News and begin a new chapter," said Smith. "Under...
Fox’s Murdoch Meets with Barr; Trump Praises Fox News Hosts
New York Times: On Wednesday, US attorney general William Barr met privately with Rupert Murdoch at the media mogul’s home. Murdoch’s Fox News is viewed by President Trump as becoming more hostile to him. Mediaite: On Thursday, Trump praised the Fox News lineup,...
Disney’s ESPN Toes Its No-Politics Line Amid China-NBA Crisis
NBC News: ESPN is keeping politics — and criticism of China — out of its coverage of the NBA’s widely panned handling of a tweet about the Hong Kong protesters. The tweet from a Houston Rockets exec, since deleted, read “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong,” and...
Comcast’s NBC News Boss in Heated Staff Meeting About Lauer
Fox Business: Embattled NBC News president Noah Oppenheim was peppered with questions on Thursday during a heated exchange with staffers who are concerned about the way rape allegations against Matt Lauer were handled. The fiery conversation occurred during a morning...
CBS Readies Syndicated Daytime TV Talk Show with Barrymore
TV Guide: CBS announced on Thursday that Drew Barrymore will officially headline her own syndicated talk show, which launches in the fall of 2020. In a statement, Barrymore said, "It is beyond my wildest dreams to have this opportunity for a daily talk show. I'm truly...
Fox Former CEO Murdoch Acquires Minority Stake in Vice Media
Financial Times: James Murdoch’s new holding company has agreed to buy a minority stake in Vice Media, as the younger Murdoch son looks to make his own mark in media after the break-up of his family’s entertainment empire. James Murdoch this year created Lupa Systems...
Vice Media in Deal to Distribute Three Podcast Series on Spotify
Variety: Vice Media, in another bid to diversify its revenue mix, struck a deal with Spotify to distribute three podcast series exclusive on the streaming platform. Vice News will produce the trio of original podcast series, combining long-form narrative, talk, and...
iHeartMedia to Eye TV, Film Spinoffs from Blumhouse Podcasts
Business Insider: The horror-movie juggernaut Blumhouse ("Get Out," "Split," "The Purge" franchise) and iHeartMedia announced that they will team up to produce a series of original horror-focused fictional podcasts for iHeartRadio. Stories that find an audience could...
Chernin Buys $30 Million Stake in Card Game Exploding Kittens
Wall Street Journal: The company behind Exploding Kittens, the popular card game that combines whimsical drawings of felines with cutthroat strategy, has sold a $30 million minority stake to an affiliate of Peter Chernin’s investment firm. The nearly 5-year-old...
Comcast’s Telemundo to Develop News Programming for Quibi
Los Angeles Times: Telemundo on Thursday said it was developing two exclusive English-language news shows for Quibi, a streaming service set to launch in April. Quibi, led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, aims to present stories told in bite-sized chapters...
Netflix Among Winners in Likely Future Bundle of Streaming TV
Business Insider: The next stage in the cord-cutting revolution could see streaming services like Netflix and Disney Plus bundled alongside one another, not too differently than the way TV channels are today, analysts at Barclays predicted. Comcast and Netflix are...
Amazon’s Twitch Lands Trump Account on Streaming Platform
Reuters: President Trump has joined Amazon’s Twitch with a verified account on the video game live-streaming platform in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. With 15 million users, the platform is primarily a gaming site but also has channels on sports, music...
Apple Pulls Hong Kong Police-Tracking App, News App Quartz
Business Insider: China appears to have tightened its grip on Apple. The iPhone maker has banned two apps in the last few days that are potentially offensive to China, including the Hong Kong protest-tracking app HKMap Live and the US-based news app Quartz. The Quartz...
Uzabase’s Quartz Redesigns Website, App with Updating News
Talking Biz News: The financial news website Quartz rolled out new versions of QZ.com and its iOS app. intended to better serve its readers. CEO Zachary Seward writes, “You’ll find the biggest new feature at the center of our website and app: a continually updated...
McClatchy-Google Unveil Local Digital News Operation in Ohio
MediaPost: Following the news that Youngstown, Ohio's 150-old-newspaper the Vindicator would cease publication, Google News Initiative’s the Compass Experiment and McClatchy announced plans to launch a news website to cover the area. On Thursday, Mahoning Matters, the...
New York Times Publisher: We Don’t Make ‘Junk for Facebook’
Time: The New York Times has slashed a shaft of light through the murk of social media -- those platforms that have gummed up the machinery of democracy by reducing news to content. “I actually hate the word content,” says publisher A.G. Sulzberger. “It’s a word for...
Opinion: Digital Media Deals Enough to Beat Facebook, Google?
CNBC: Profitable exits might not exist for the digital media companies now merging or considering IPOs. Vice and BuzzFeed “have reached the conclusion that there’s no appetite for them to go public,” says CNBC tech reporter Alex Sherman. “They are not in a financial...