Viacom-CBS Woes Inspire Storylines in HBO’s ‘Succession’
Bloomberg: HBO’s “Succession,” which just concluded its first season, uses real-life examples to spin tales of family bile and byzantine business dealings. One scene is partly based on a real-life crisis faced by Sumner Redstone’s holding company, National...
Netflix, HBO, Hulu Stolen Passwords for Sale on Dark Web
Variety: Pirates are selling hundreds of stolen login details for popular over-the-top services on “dark web” marketplaces, according to content-security firm Irdeto. For April 2018, Irdeto discovered 854 listings of OTT credentials from 69 unique sellers across more...
Dealflix Shuts Down Discount Online Movie Ticket Service
Los Angeles Times: Dealflicks, the start-up once billed as the Priceline of movie ticket sellers, has thrown in the towel after years of struggling to gain traction. The company, which promoted deals on tickets, sent an email to customers saying service has...
Alphabet’s YouTube Yanks Film Ad Over Shocking Content
Variety: A recent ad for “The Nun,” the fifth flick in “The Conjuring” series, is not the most saintly. Because of the fear the six-second clip has incited in unsuspecting viewers, YouTube has notably taken the video down from the...
Facebook Eyes Interactive Video with New Buy of Vidpresso
TechCrunch: Facebook has acqui-hired Vidpresso, buying its seven-person team and its technology but not the company itself. The six-year-old Utah startup works with TV broadcasters and content publishers to make their online videos more...
Apple Meets Developers to Push Subscription Model for Apps
Apple Insider: In a meeting in a New York loft last year, Apple told around 30 developers that they ought to embrace subscription models. The developers, Apple told them, needed to be concerned with recurring revenue from subscriptions rather than one-time...
IAC Hit with Tinder Lawsuit Over Harassment, Fake Valuation
TechCrunch: A group of Tinder founders and execs has filed a lawsuit against parent company Match and its controlling shareholder IAC. The suit alleges that IAC and Match manipulated financial data to create "a fake lowball...
Twitter Suspends Ability to Tweet by InfoWars Host Jones
CNET: Twitter has cut off Alex Jones from key functions of his account after the founder and star of conspiracy site Infowars violated another company policy. Jones's account has been placed in a read-only mode for seven days, Twitter...
Conde Nast CEO Sees Video as ‘Dominant’ Content Format
Digiday: The crux of Conde Nast’s turnaround plan is a continued push into video. Conde now has more than 300 full-time employees working on video content, and CEO Bob Sauerberg said he sees short-form video becoming the dominant content format for Conde's...
New York Magazine Owner to Explore Sale Amid Pressures
Wall Street Journal: New York Media, owner of New York magazine and several websites, is exploring options including a possible sale, the latest publisher to weigh consolidation to cope with pressures in the fast-changing media...
Bustle to Acquire Digital Publisher-Events Group Flavorpill
Axios: Bustle Digital Group will announce the acquisition of Flavorpill Media, an online publisher and experiential brand focused on events. The acquisition gives Bustle an entrance into the large-scale experiential events business, which is a massive growth point for...
Axios Hires Bloomberg, CNBC Journos for New Tip Sheet
Vanity Fair: The latest beneficiary of Axios's hiring spree is Felix Salmon, the longtime financial columnist and inveterate provocateur. Salmon will launch a new tip sheet called Axios Edge, with “a focus on market trends, business, and...
CBS’s Moonves Lawyers Up, Plays Chicken with Directors
Vanity Fair: Les Moonves’s strategy is akin to a long, excruciatingly uncomfortable game of corporate chicken. Rather than resign and let CBS off the hook for a large compensation package, he’ll evidently wait to see what investigators turn up — or see if the CBS...
Viacom Unveils International Unit for Short-Form Business
Tubefilter: Viacom, which just acquired AwesomenessTV, is continuing to build out its digital operation on an international stage. The company has elevated veteran exec Brendan Yam to serve as VP and general manager of Viacom Digital Studios International, a new...
Disney Streamer Unlikely to Steal Subscribers from Netflix
Barron's: Don’t expect Netflix subscribers to flee for a new Disney direct-to-consumer service, according to new research from one of the company’s biggest bulls. Imperial Capital analysts estimate that Disney content represents about 6% of current Netflix use and...
Netflix Finance Chief to Exit After Cash-Fueled Expansion
Bloomberg: Netflix CFO David Wells will step down after eight years on the job, during which the streaming service grew into an entertainment giant that spends more on movies and TV shows than the biggest Hollywood studios. Wells, 47, will help choose a successor and...
Amazon Seeks Head for New Live Streaming Video Project
LinkedIn: Amazon is seeking an experienced development and programming executive to develop and oversee content for a new live streaming video initiative. The ideal candidate has a vast knowledge of digital content formats, extensive experience in both development and...
Facebook in Deal to Show Spanish League Soccer in India
Bloomberg: Facebook has bought exclusive live rights to show top-flight Spanish league soccer in the Indian subcontinent, as it steps up a challenge to traditional broadcasters of the world’s most popular sport. Under the three-year agreement -- its first direct deal...
Alphabet’s YouTubers Under Stress to Become New Oprah
Financial Times: Budding YouTube vloggers are facing an uphill struggle as they try to break through. They now have to compete on a very crowded platform. Stress has become such a problem that YouTube has uploaded a video on the problems of burnout. "Everything rides...
Disney-ABC Anchor Muir Bests News Rivals in Hot Selfies
Daily Mail: Not your father's news anchor! ABC anchor David Muir wins the battle of the evening news broadcasters (on Instagram at least) with an endless stream of hot selfies, leaving CBS's Jeff Glor and NBC's Lester Holt in the shadow of his bulging biceps. Muir...
Comcast’s CNBC Rolls Out Site Redesign in Tech Overhaul
Talking Biz News: CNBC released a beta version of its homepage and article pages over the weekend. The new CNBC.com is one piece of CNBC’s technology stack rebuild that includes a new content management system, new application program interface, and a new publishing...
Nielsen TV Ratings Faces Push for Sale by Activist Investor
Reuters: Elliott Management, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds, disclosed that it held a large stake in information services company Nielsen Holdings and urged it to considering selling itself. News of Elliott’s investment pushed Nielsen’s stock price up more...
Playboy Sues Cryptocurrency Firm Over Online Pay Wallet
Los Angeles Times: Playboy Enterprises, the parent company behind the legendary adult magazine, is suing a cryptocurrency technology company on allegations of fraud and breach of contract, claiming that it failed to live up to an agreement to integrate blockchain...
Facebook Sees News Publishers ‘Dying Like in a Hospice’
CNBC: A Facebook exec told a group of publishers that Mark Zuckerberg "doesn't care" about news publishers and that the company would let them die if they didn't cooperate with the company. Facebook news exec Campbell Brown reportedly warned publishers if they didn't...
Alphabet’s YouTube Pays Stars to Promote New Features
Bloomberg: YouTube wants to prove to its biggest stars that the popular video service is more than just an advertising business. The Google-owned company is paying talent upfront sums to use and promote new features, including paid memberships and an enhanced...
IAC’s Vimeo is Latest to Yank Content by InfoWars Founder
Business Insider: Vimeo has removed Alex Jones's InfoWars from its platform for violating the company's terms of service standards, a Vimeo spokesperson said. The videos, posted on Thursday and Friday "violated our terms of service prohibitions on discriminatory and...
Craigslist Founder’s Latest Big Donation Goes to Teachers
Fast Company: Craigslist founder Craig Newmark just donated $1 million to help teachers in low-income areas fund STEM-related projects on the public school crowdfunding platform DonorsChoose. But the contribution should be particularly useful because it was designed...
Conde Nast Revival Strategy Largely Unchanged in Decade
WWD: Although the strategy to get Conde Nast back into chic black on its financial reports seem to have changed little over the last 10 years, the previously lavish culture of the company and its overall structure and focus certainly have. The changes seem likely to...
News Corp’s New York Post Wraparound Ad Lures Buyers
New York Times: A rush on the New York Post on Monday had nothing to do with the news and everything to do with a wraparound ad from Supreme, the street-wear brand whose items have become something more like religious iconography to its devotees. “We knew that this...
Group Nine Plays Tough with Protesting Staffers at Thrillist
HuffPost: Thrillist union members who walked off the job Monday to protest their parent company’s role in stalling contract negotiations lost access to their work accounts and to their New York office, they said. The lockout came with no immediate explanation to...