Media Stocks Booming a Year After Covid Shutdown
Media Stocks Booming After Shutdown … Disney Lands Big NHL Deal … Facebook, Google Brace for US Bills … BuzzFeed in Talks to Go Public … Meredith Shakes Up People, EW Sign up for daily newsletter....
Apple, Netflix Deals Nix Oprah Interview Streaming
New York Times: For the next 30 days, Oprah Winfrey's big interview special will be available on CBS.com and the CBS app. But after that, it will not have a home on any streaming platform. The three participants' ties to Netflix and Apple, along with Winfrey's desire...
Microsoft to Join US Hearing on Tech Role in News
Reuters: A House Judiciary panel focused on antitrust will hear from three witnesses on Friday who represent a range of news organizations with concerns about how big tech platforms like Facebook and Google increasingly dominate their industry. The antitrust...
Google Plans 2022 Opening of Manhattan Building
New York YIMBY: Exterior work is progressing rapidly on Google’s 1.3 million-square-foot office at 550 Washington Street in Hudson Square. The building is the main component of the "Googleplex" that encompasses a total of 1.7 million square across three structures,...
Disney Chief Confirms Exit Amid Streaming Victory
New York Post: Bob Iger, the longtime leader of Disney, has confirmed that he will be stepping away from the company in December. Under Iger’s supervision, the company reorganized its business to focus on streaming. The move has been paying dividends, according to...
ViacomCBS: News Legend Roger Mudd Dies at 93
CBS News: Roger Mudd, the CBS newsman whose political reporting and substitute anchoring on "The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite" made him a familiar and respected face to tens of millions of Americans in the 1960s and 1970s, died Tuesday of complications from...
Fox Corp Predicts Tubi Will Surpass Broadcast TV
Hollywood Reporter: Fox Corp chief financial officer Steve Tomsic predicts the ad revenue from his company's Tubi streaming service will soon surpass the ad revenue generated from its linear Fox broadcast entertainment network. Tubi is expected to generate around $300...
ITV Says Goodbye to Piers Morgan Amid Royal Flap
BBC News: Piers Morgan has left ITV's "Good Morning Britain" following a row over comments he made about the Duchess of Sussex. It brings the controversial host's time on the show to an end after six years. ITV announced the decision after Ofcom said it was...
Entercom to Acquire Ad Podcast Network Podcorn
Wall Street Journal: Entercom will acquire podcast ad network Podcorn in a deal aimed at helping the second-largest US radio broadcaster expand its advertising business. The deal is the latest in a spate of consolidation in the podcast realm as large media and tech...
Tegna CEO Apologizes for Nominee Racism Incident
Reuters: Tegna CEO Dave Lougee has apologized for having mistaken a Black executive, who this year became a candidate for the broadcast company's board, for a hotel car valet in 2014. Adonis Hoffman, a lawyer, media expert and independent corporate director, withdrew...
Belo Seeks to Change Name Over Confederacy Ties
Dallas Morning News: The parent company of the Dallas Morning News announced during its quarterly conference call that it will seek to change its name, citing its namesake founder's ties to the Confederacy. The company will ask shareholders in May to approve changing...
New York Times Prevails in Trump Defamation Case
New York Times: A New York State court has dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by the Donald Trump re-election campaign against the New York Times, ruling that an opinion essay that argued there had been a "quid pro quo" between the candidate and Russian officials...
Bloomberg Chief Wants Staffers to Return to Offices
Insider: Mike Bloomberg said he expected Bloomberg LP employees in New York to return to the office once they are vaccinated, according to a message he sent staffers last month. "It's been great to see more and more faces (with masks on, of course) in the office,"...
Hearst Reveals New Name for Oprah Magazine is O
New York Post: Hearst is set to rake it in with its new Oprah magazine, a joint venture with Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions. O the Oprah Magazine published its last regular monthly edition in December. The new version, which will be printed quarterly instead of...
Meredith Publishes People Royals at Awkward Time
New York Post: People Royals, the new quarterly publication focused on "all things royal," could not have debuted at a worse time. On March 5, just two days before the world was abuzz over Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey...
Conde Nast’s New Teen Vogue Editor Issues Apology
Daily Mail: Teen Vogue's new editor Alexi McCammond has apologized to employees after 20 staffers publicly slammed her over resurfaced tweets she posted back in 2011 mocking Asians and gay people. The 27-year-old's old tweets emerged over the weekend after the former...
Penske Opens First-Party Data Studio for Marketers
Axios: Penske Media will launch a new data services division called "Atlas Data Studio" that focuses on building first-party data segments for marketers to target ads to different types of people online. It joins a growing list of digital publishers, like the New York...
Group Nine Adds CNN’s Jeff Zucker to SPAC Board
WWD: Group Nine's new SPAC is beefing up its board with the addition of CNN president Jeff Zucker, who is expected to step down from CNN at the end of the year. Zucker is joined by Mindy Mount, vice chair of Technicolor, who also joined the board. Existing members...
BuzzFeed Cuts 47 Staffers in Bloodbath at HuffPost
Defector: BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti, who acquired HuffPost from Verizon in a deal that was announced last year, announced in an all-hands meeting that 47 US HuffPost staffers, including eight managers, would be losing their jobs in order to "drive longterm...
Quartz Eyes $3 Million in 2021 Subscription Revenue
Adweek: Quartz now has 27,000 members paying $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year for its journalism, a sector that grew 71% over the last year. The company is on pace to generate around $2.2 million in subscription revenue by the end of the year, though CEO Zach...
Cameo, Substack Among ‘Most Innovative’ in Media
Fast Company: As the media industry was rocked by the pandemic in 2020, companies were forced to quickly come up with creative ways to make and distribute content, as well as keep audiences united during a socially divisive time. Ten companies led the way on those...
Report: Media Workers Cut in Covid-19 Vaccine Line
Los Angeles Times: Pasadena, Calif, officials canceled a Covid-19 vaccination clinic after hundreds of people who were not eligible for the shots signed up for appointments. People who did not yet qualify for the vaccine under state guidelines claimed about 900 of the...
Apple Signs Major TV, Film Pact with Nobel Laureate
Associated Press: Malala Yousafzai is a Nobel laureate known around the world for her activism, but she's also a cartoon fan, and is taking her love of television and film to Apple TV+. Yousafzai, 23, who graduated from Oxford last June, announced that she has...
Facebook Eyes Sharing Instagram Short Video Clips
Reuters: Facebook will test a feature on Instagram that allows some content creators in India to share short video clips, known as reels, on their Facebook accounts. In the test, some Indian users who create the 30-second long reels on Instagram will have the option...
Netflix’s ‘Queen’s Gambit’ to Become Stage Musical
Showbiz 411: Broadway producers have made their move, and it's checkmate. They've optioned "The Queen's Gambit" to be a musical. Level Forward, the story-driven entertainment company, has acquired the theatrical stage rights to Walter Tevis's "The Queen’s Gambit," and...
Disney Sees Streaming Rivals Ramp Up in Animation
New York Post: Everyone in Hollywood these days seems to be vying for Disney's crown as the king of animation. Tinseltown has gone animation crazy in the wake of the pandemic, which has stalled live action production and accelerated demand for family-friendly content...
AT&T Warner Bros Studio Bids Adieu to Pepe Le Pew
Deadline: Pepe Le Pew will likely become a thing of the past across all media. After cutting the character in the theatrical sequel "Space Jam 2," Warner Bros. has no current TV series featuring the skunk and there are no plans to have him appear on "Looney Toons,"...
ViacomCBS Rakes in $20 Million in Ads from Oprah
Insider: CBS is expected to rake in millions in ad dollars and international sales from Oprah Winfrey's interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. CBS aired 60 ad spots, featuring 56 commercials, including network promos, according to TV measurement firm iSpot.tv....
Discovery, AMC Join Latest Heavily Shorted Stocks
CNBC: It's not GameStop, but Discovery can thank the Reddit effect for an enormous surge in its stock price this year. Since launching Discovery+ on Jan. 4, Discovery shares are up a whopping 116%, closing Monday up another 4.7% at $67.25 — an all-time high. The...
AT&T’s HBO Max Leaks ‘Snyder Cut’ 10 Days Early
TMZ: HBO Max subscribers looking for some family fun were instead treated to an early look at Zack Snyder's "Justice League," with the streaming service leaking the film 10 days early. Folks who wanted to watch the PG-rated "Tom and Jerry" movie Monday on HBO Max...