News Corp’s UK TImes Goes After Harry, Meghan
Reuters: Britain's Prince Harry and American wife Meghan have issued a statement saying Meghan was "saddened" by a report in the UK Times of a bullying complaint against her, calling it an "attack on her character." On Sunday they will appear in an in-depth interview...
Daily Mail Owner Acquires New Scientist Magazine
Press Gazette: The New Scientist is being sold to Daily Mail owner DMGT for £70 million. The weekly science magazine and website was owned by a consortium of individual investors led by Sir Bernard Gray. It has 40 journalists and makes 75% of its revenue from...
The Face Magazine to Develop Creators for TikTok
TheDrum: The Face magazine is introducing a new talent agency for TikTok content creators, to underline its position as "a leading force in the digital influencer sphere." From its inception in 1980, The Face has served as a hub for up-and-coming creators and artists...
‘Gawker Slayer’ Lawyer Publishes Book on Victory
Hollywood Reporter: On March 8, a few days short of the fifth anniversary of a $140 million jury verdict in 2016 that shocked the media establishment and perhaps foreshadowed an anti-elite sentiment that would sway the presidential election that year, "Gawker Slayer:...
Google, Facebook Face Push to Pay for US Media
New York Post: Australia's bold move to force tech giants to start paying for the news appears to be reigniting US efforts to hold Google and Facebook to account for the gloomy state of the local news industry. Momentum is building for a new version of a bipartisan...
Disney CEO Says Movie Biz Has Changed Forever
Bloomberg: Bob Chapek said he believes there have been fundamental changes in people's attitudes toward moviegoing, trends that will probably continue after the global pandemic passes. "The consumer is probably more impatient than they've ever been before,...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia to ‘Reframe’ Movie Classics
Variety: TCM on Thursdays this month will seek to put some popular but troublesome classic films in better context, part of an effort it calls "Reframed." A team of the network's on-air personnel will introduce viewers to some of Hollywood's most seminal pictures,...
Report: 2020 Was Worst Year Ever for Cord-Cutting
Broadcasting & Cable: For the media industry, 2020 was the worst year ever for cord cutting, according to a new report from analyst Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson. Traditional distributors lost 6 million subscribers, a drop of 7.3%. Penetration was down to a...
Netflix, Hulu Battle New Effort to Tax Digital Video
Law360: Netflix and Hulu are coming out swinging against an attempt by the city of Knoxville, Tennessee, to force the streaming services to pay franchise fees, slamming the suit as a "back-door attempt" to tax their digital video content. The streaming giants laid out...
Disney’s Hulu Poised to Surpass ABC in Ad Sales
Bloomberg: Advertising at Disney's online channels looks set to overtake the company's ABC broadcast network as marketers shift spending to more targeted audiences. Online outlets such as Hulu, ESPN+ and ABC.com will soon pass the ABC network. "The secret weapon with...
ViacomCBS Looks to Tap Influence of SpongeBob
Bloomberg: On social media, SpongeBob SquarePants and his undersea friends are mentioned or turned into a meme every five seconds. Now ViacomCBS will find out if that social-media clout can get customers to actually pay for SpongeBob content. The company is releasing...
Comcast: Internet Traffic Soaring From Pandemic
VentureBeat: Comcast said that peak internet traffic rose 32% in 2020 over pre-pandemic levels, with some markets rising 50% in March 2020. Video streaming accounted for 71% of all downstream traffic, and it grew 70% over 2019 levels. Comcast said that the first four...
Fox Corp’s News Channel Staffers Bash New Hire
Daily Beast: Fox News announced that it has hired former Trump spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany as a contributor. The news set off some alarms within a newsroom that has been "purged" in recent months in favor of right-wing opinion programming. "It's truly disgusting they...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Blasted for Cuomo at CNN
New York Post: CNN anchor Chris Cuomo is being slammed by fellow members of the media for refusing to cover Gov. Andrew Cuomo's growing list of scandals, following a number of softball interviews during the height of the pandemic. "Every J-school student knows that...
ViacomCBS: Breach Results in Costly Settlement
Vanity Fair: CBS and a law firm hired to probe sexual-misconduct allegations against former chief Les Moonves are said to have paid millions to someone who claimed a breach of confidentiality after the New York Times revealed explosive details from a draft report on...
Scripps Plans Multicast Networks with Reality TV
Deadline: Adding to its multicast network portfolio, EW Scripps is launching two channel offerings focused on reality TV. Doozy, aimed at women aged 25 to 54, will serve up episodes of "Storage Wars," "Married at First Sight," "Hoarders" and other shows. Defy TV will...
Vice Expands ‘Dark Side’ Franchise with Talk Show
Deadline: Vice is continuing to add to the number of shows it has in the ring. The youth-skewing broadcaster is expanding its "Dark Side of the Ring" franchise further with a 90-minute talk show. "Dark Side of the Ring: Confidential," which premieres March 9, will...
Spotify Forecast to Emerge as King of Podcasting
TechCrunch: According to a new forecast, Spotify's US podcast listenership will surpass Apple Podcasts for the first time this year when 28.2 million US users will listen to podcasts on Spotify at least monthly, compared with 28.0 million via Apple Podcasts.This shift...
Conde Nast Names Global Editorial Head for Wired
New York Times: Conde Nast has named Gideon Lichfield as the new global editorial director of Wired. Lichfield joins Wired with extensive experience in tech and business journalism, most recently at MIT Technology Review, where he had been the editor in chief since...
Hearst Asks Celebs to ‘Go to Bed’ with Digital Video
Digiday: Nikki Ogunnaike, digital director of Harper's Bazaar: "Video is still incredibly important to us in social media. So you have something like, "Go To Bed With Me," which is a key video franchise that we have on YouTube, and we've had celebrities now shoot...
New York Times Ends Dispute with Time Magazine
WWD: The New York Times is moving on from a legal challenge to Time over its Time 100 Talks events. The major news outlet last week agreed to dismiss a lawsuit it launched in November, challenging Time's legal right to the name of its new event series. The two sides...
Flipboard Grows Local Coverage to 1,000 Markets
TechCrunch: News aggregator Flipboard's local coverage is making what product lead Brian Gottesman described as a "quantum leap," expanding from 60 topics (a.k.a. cities, towns and communities that you can follow) to more than 1,000. While Flipboard has allowed users...
Apple Reopens US Stores with Covid Protocols
USA Today: Apple has reopened all 270 of its stores across the US as the effort to vaccinate more Americans against COVID-19 accelerates. The tech giant confirmed that stores may have different requirements for operation, including face masks, temperature checks,...
Google CEO Tops List of ‘Overpaid’ Chief Execs
Daily Mail: Google's Sundar Pichai topped a list of the 100 "most overpaid" CEOs with package worth $281 million, after a new study by the nonprofit group As You Sow compared salaries to shareholder return. The report also argued that many companies were "repeat...
Facebook Opens ‘Rooms’ for Video on Instagram
CNET: Instagram said it's rolling out a new tool that will allow users to livestream video with more people. Called Live Rooms, the feature lets users broadcast a live video on Instagram with up to three other people. Previously, Instagram users could only livestream...
Disney Streamer a Hit in Non-Family Households
Reuters: Surprisingly strong interest from adults who do not have kids at home has helped increase subscriptions to Disney+ streaming service beyond initial projections, said Disney CEO Bob Chapek. As of Jan. 2, Disney+ had signed up 94.9 million customers worldwide....
Comcast: Golden Globes Ratings Tumble at NBC
Los Angeles Times: Plagued by scheduling issues, social distancing limitations of the pandemic and internal controversies, NBC’s telecast of the 78th Golden Globe Awards attracted the smallest audience since the event moved to the network in 1996. According to...
Altice USA Chief Forecasts the Death of Cable TV
CNBC: Dexter Goei, CEO of Altice USA envisions a day where cable TV, as we know it, simply no longer exists. "Name me one person under 30 years old who has a cable video connection. So it's just a question of time. ... As technology and integration technology...
Roku in Deal to Buy Nielsen’s Video Ad Business
Protocol: Roku, the streaming device maker, is acquiring Nielsen's Advanced Video Advertising business, which includes video ad insertion and content recognition, or ACR, technologies. As part of the acquisition, the two companies will also partner more closely on ad...
Fox Corp’s Murdoch Joins in Memorial on Zoom
Hollywood Reporter: Rupert Murdoch and Michael Ovitz were among the nearly 500 people who joined a recent virtual service for the late Howard J. Rubenstein, the giant of New York City public relations, who died Dec. 29 at age 88. Others spotted in the Zoom tribute...