Sony Interactive Launches Studio to Adapt Games to Film, TV
Hollywood Reporter: Sony Interactive Entertainment has launched PlayStation Productions, a production studio that will mine the company's extensive catalog of video game titles for film and television. The new enterprise is already in production on its first slate of...
CBS Credit Union Manager Pleads Guilty to $40 Million Fraud
Variety: The manager of a credit union for CBS employees pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court on Monday to a $40 million embezzlement scheme. Edward Rostohar, 62, was arrested in March after the scheme began to...
Comcast’s NBC Snags CNN Video Guru Amid Digital Shakeup
Axios: NBC News has announced the hiring of CNN's longtime video executive Chris Berend to run its digital operation. Berend will replace Nick Ascheim, who is currently SVP of digital at NBC News and MSNBC. Ascheim will be taking a new role within...
Fox News Looks to Win Back Ads with New Head of Ad Sales
TheDrum: Former Variant chief revenue officer Jeff Collins has been named EVP of ad sales at Fox News. Collins will succeed and report to Marianne Gambelli, who was named president of ad sales for Fox in October. Fox News has been working to win back advertisers...
Snap Hires Amazon, Fox Interactive Alum as Financial Officer
CNBC: Snap has named Derek Andersen as chief financial officer. Andersen has served as the company’s VP of finance since July. He previously spent seven years at Amazon, and before that worked at Fox Interactive...
TikTok Owner Plans Music Service to Challenge Spotify, Apple
Bloomberg: ByteDance, owner of the popular video app TikTok, is developing a paid music service that will challenge industry leaders Spotify and Apple Music in emerging markets. ByteDance expects to introduce the new app as early as this fall in a handful of...
Bloomberg to Take TicToc to Over-the-Top Streaming Services
Digiday: Launched on Twitter in December 2017, TicToc now has a presence on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, Amazon Echo, as well as a podcast and newsletter. By the end of this year, it will have a presence on over-the-top streaming services...
Goop, from Paltrow, Plans Expansion to Attract Male Audiences
Fast Company: Goop's new podcast for men, aptly titled "Goopfellas," is the first foray by Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness empire into male territory. The brand plans to launch a newsletter and a collection of G Label men’s clothing. In addition, the team is contemplating...
Conde Nast Brings In Exec to Lead Video Expansion for Vogue
WWD: Vogue is getting its own exec to head up an ever-expanding output of video content. Robert Semmer is joining Conde Nast as the new VP of video for Vogue, a first for the fashion magazine. He comes to the brand after a stint as head of content for Premier Music...
Pride’s Out Magazine Editor Threatens Exit Over Unpaid Writers
Daily Beast: Out magazine editor in chief Phillip Picardi has threatened to resign in a long-simmering struggle over the magazine’s unpaid freelance writers. Picardi has recently told the company’s owner, Pride Media, he will leave the 27-year-old magazine if the...
BuzzFeed Studios Leader Departs Amid Shift in Video Strategy
The Information: BuzzFeed Studios chief Lauren Dolgen has left the company. Her departure comes as BuzzFeed is putting more emphasis on developing programs for digital platforms like YouTube and Twitter and less on Dolgen’s specialty of original content for film and...
Axios Tests High-End Subscription Service for Coming Launch
Beet.TV: The in-brief news publisher Axios has been talking about launching a paid tier for a couple of years now. In November 2016, CEO Jim VanderHei told a conference such a tier could cost $10,000. Fast-forward to 2019, and VanderHei says a subscription scheme is...
CBS’s Bid to Buy Starz Brings Counter Offer from Lions Gate
Reuters: Lions Gate offered to sell cable channel Starz to CBS for $5.5 billion after rebuffing a lower offer. The counter offer was made by the film studio behind the "Hunger Games" movies after CBS made an informal $5 billion bid for the cable...
Lions Gate’s ‘John Wick 3’ Dethrones ‘Avengers’ at Box Office
Associated Press: The box office has a new king and his name is John Wick. The third installment of the hyper violent Keanu Reeves franchise has taken the top spot at the North American box office and ended the three-week reign of “Avengers:...
AT&T’s HBO Plots What’s Next After End of ‘Game of Thrones’
Bloomberg: On Sunday night, HBO aired the finale of “Game of Thrones,” its most-popular show ever, leaving a programming void big enough for a dragon to fly through. But HBO execs have known for a while this day would come, and have been filling their pipeline with...
Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Think They Have Next ‘Game of Thrones’
Quartz: HBO's "Game of Thrones" is the biggest show on television, so it’s no surprise that the whole industry is hoping to replicate its success. In fact, 2019 will see a full slate of prestige fantasy epics from traditional networks, as well as Netflix, Amazon, and...
Viacom Gambles on ‘Rocketman’ for Turnaround at Paramount
New York Times: “Rocketman” could have wide ripple effects. Paramount Pictures has delivered nine consecutive quarters of improved financial results for Viacom, its corporate owner, but a turnaround is still tenuous. A big hit would send an important message to...
Disney’s ‘Star Wars’ Park Hopes to Attract Affluent Adult Males
Bloomberg: Disneyland's new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge attraction, which opens this month, will offer alcohol and other enticements for adults with deep pockets. Disney and other theme-park operators have looked to broaden their customer bases in recent...
Google Refunds Advertisers After Lawsuit Over Fraud Scheme
Wall Street Journal: Alphabet’s Google has agreed to refund advertisers for ads purchased on its ad marketplaces that ran on websites with fraudulent traffic, following a lawsuit claiming the tech giant was withholding the payments....
Apple CEO Tells Students to ‘Push Back’ Against Algorithms
Daily Mail: Apple CEO Tim Cook used a university commencement speech as an opportunity to encourage students to "push back against the algorithms" that show users what they already believe. Cook addressed students of Tulane University in New Orleans on...
Spotify to Test New Voice-Controlled Smart Assistant for Cars
The Verge: Spotify is about to begin publicly testing its first hardware: a voice-controlled smart assistant for cars, meant to help the company learn how people consume audio while they’re driving. As part of the test, some premium users will receive the device for...
‘Netflix Tax’ on Streaming Reaps $2 Million for City of Chicago
Fox Business: Chicago is the first major city to collect what’s dubbed the “Netflix tax.” The Windy City has raked in $2 million after imposing a 9 percent tax on companies like Sony and Fandango. The four-year old tax whose name comes from targeting streaming...
Fox News is Moving Closer to ‘the Losing Side,’ Trump Tweets
Politico: President Trump took another swipe at Fox News on Sunday, saying ahead of its scheduled town hall with Pete Buttigieg that his favorite network was “wasting airtime” on the Democratic presidential candidate. “Fox is moving more and more to the losing (wrong)...
CBS News Longtime ’60 Minutes’ Correspondent Kroft Retires
Associated Press: The ticking clock for the longest tenured reporter at “60 Minutes” has gone silent. Steve Kroft, 73, retired from the news magazine at Sunday’s season finale. It capped his 30th season and Kroft discussed his plans to step down on the air. Kroft came...
Conde Nast’s New Vanity Fair Editor Hosts VIP Party at Cannes
Daily Mail: Shailene Woodley donned a fluorescent pink tasseled skirt at the Vanity Fair and Chopard Party at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d'Antibes, France on Saturday. Other famous attendees to the party included Dita Von Teese, Kimberley Garner and Robert...
TI Media Sells NME Music Magazine to Son of Asian Billionaire
Financial Times: The NME, once a cultural bible for music fans, has been sold to a company set up by the blues-loving son of one of Asia’s richest men. TI Media, formerly Time Inc, has sold the NME and Uncut, a rock-focused music magazine, to BandLab Technologies of...
Conde Nast, Hearst Magazine Writers Seek Cash from Peak TV
Bloomberg Businessweek: Magazine writers may be an increasingly endangered species, but some fortunate ones have joined the diverse list of professionals who are benefiting from the phenomenon known as Peak TV. The number of magazine articles optioned by TV studios...
Hearst to Relocate Some Magazine Staff in Rural Pennsylvania
Morning Call: Hearst expects to take occupancy of the first floor of the planned two-story Heritage Riverview office building in downtown Easton, Pennsylvania by year’s end. Hearst, which acquired Rodale last year, will move employees from several magazines to Easton,...
Digital First Bids for Pennsylvania’s Reading Eagle Newspaper
Reading Eagle: MediaNews Group has made the sole qualified bid for the assets of the Reading Eagle newspaper. In a statement to employees CEO Peter Barbey, said: "Since there is only one qualified bid, the auction has been cancelled. The qualified bid has neither been...
Salon’s New Owners Look to Trim Costs Without Cutting Staff
Digiday: Salon’s new owners say they see an easy path to profits for the troubled news publisher -- without cutting editorial, which now is made up of fewer than 30 employees. Co-owner Chris Richmond believes that his company can slim Salon's operating and tech...