Netflix, Amazon Are ‘Winners’ of Streaming Wars
CNBC: It's possible the streaming wars may be over before they begin, with the winners being Netflix, Prime Video and Disney, and everyone else playing a losing hand. "This only works if you have a phenomenal monetization model. I think we already know who the winners...
Google’s YouTube Pulls Video Attacking Channel
Bloomberg: YouTube has removed a video posted by popular creator PewDiePie that criticized Cocomelon, the most-watched children's channel on the site, stepping in to protect one of its biggest names from harassment by the fans of another top channel. The video, titled...
Spotify Podcast Host on Leave After Toxic Charge
Bloomberg: PJ Vogt will step down from his job hosting the podcast "Reply All," one of Spotify's most popular series, following allegations of a toxic work environment. Vogt is taking a leave of absence and could return, and Sruthi Pinnamaneni, a senior reporter for...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Axes Agencies to Cut Costs
Insider: WarnerMedia has slashed the number of ad agencies it uses around the world from more than 3,000 to a few dozen and started pushing its properties like HBO Max and DC Comics to use those agencies to save money. The company previously worked with agencies such...
Fox Corp’s Murdoch is Advised to Sell, Go Private
Financial Times: The moment may have come to sell parts of Fox Corp, or to take the whole of it private. Even if that does not manage to defuse the looming battle between Rupert Murdoch's children over his corporate legacy, it would unlock some value, and help...
Disney Former Execs Unveil Plans for New SPAC
Reuters: Kevin Mayer and Thomas Staggs plan to raise $300 million in an initial public offering for a new special purpose acquisition company. The duo’s first SPAC, Forest Road Acquisition Corp, agreed a three-way merger last week with fitness companies Beachbody and...
ZMC Private Equity Group Acquires Second City
New York Times: Second City, the storied comedy theater, which for more than half a century has helped define American humor, has been sold to a private equity group. The group, ZMC, run by Strauss Zelnick, invests in media entities; Zelnick is also the chief...
Al Jazeera to License News from New York Times
Axios: Al Jazeera is creating an editorial platform for business news called "Reyada" that will include licensed business content from the New York Times. The platform is meant to serve as a hub for reporting on the Middle East's economic diversification. The product...
New York Times Tests App of Story Suggestions
Nieman Lab: The New York Times has launched a Slack app designed to help foster conversations about Times stories where people already are — that is, in their existing Slack workspace. The Slack app is part of the Times's larger exploration into reaching new...
News Corp Says Prince Harry Lawsuit is Too Late
Newsweek: Prince Harry's phone was hacked by the defunct British tabloid News of the World, but lawyers for the newspaper's publisher claim he is too late to sue. "These were first published over six years prior to the issue of these proceedings and this claim is...
Meredith in Bookazine Brawl with Time Magazine
New York Post: Meredith has fired off a "cease and desist" letter to Time magazine editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal, claiming that pulling the highly profitable specials business from the nation's biggest publisher is a violation of the contract. Meredith is...
Hearst Cooks Up Quarterly Print Titles for Delish
MediaPost: As Saveur magazine ends its print edition, Hearst's Delish is going in the opposite direction: It is producing quarterly print editions, each tapping into a consumer food obsession. The first, Breakfast + Brunch will appear on March 2. They will be offered...
Conde Nast to Clear Up Confusion Over Contest
Youngstown Business Journal: A contest that pits chefs against each other has nothing to do with Bon Appetit magazine, even though many initially thought it did. The magazine, in fact, has asked the contest administrators to make that clear. "Bon Appétit's name is...
BuzzFeed Boards SXSW Pandemic Comedy Film
Deadline: BuzzFeed Studios has signed on to executive produce the pandemic comedy "The End of Us," which is set to make its world premiere in competition next month at the SXSW Film Festival. Directed by Henry Loevner and Steven Kanter, the film stars Ben Coleman and...
Craigslist Founder Concerned About Journalists
Press Gazette: "I'm very concerned about jobs for journalists, and the future of local journalism, and had always guessed that Craigslist might have an effect," said Craig Newmark. "In the last two or three years, industry analysts have pointed out that when you take...
Google Unlikely to Begin Paying for News in US
New York Times: Google's move to pay for news in Australia could be followed by similar actions in other countries — but probably not in the US. In America, journalism seems to have fewer friends in the halls of power. In the US, regulatory momentum has been moving in...
Facebook to Block Users from News in Australia
Sydney Morning Herald: Facebook has made a stunning move to ban publishers and users in Australia from sharing or viewing any news articles on its platform in response to the government's proposed media bargaining laws. Facebook said that it had carried through on the...
Apple in Film, TV Deal with SkyDance Animation
Los Angeles Times: Apple has made a deal to release movies produced by Skydance Animation, run by former Pixar and Disney Animation head John Lasseter. As part of "an expansive multi-year partnership" with Skydance Animation, Apple will release upcoming movies "Luck"...
Amazon Grabs Donald Glover Away from Disney
Hollywood Reporter: Donald Glover has exited his pact with Disney-owned FX for a multiple-year, eight-figure overall deal with Amazon. The deal is believed to include a content channel of sorts that will spotlight Glover's work and other curated content on Amazon's...
Google to Offer Video Rival to TikTok at YouTube
Bloomberg: YouTube will introduce a short-form video feature called Shorts to the US in March, making its biggest move yet to respond to the growing challenge from TikTok. Americans will be able to use a preliminary version of Shorts while the company continues...
Disney Preps Major Upgrade in Global Streaming
CNET: Disney's Star app, which includes a massive library of movies and shows, is coming to subscribers outside the US on Feb. 23. It's basically content from Disney Television Studios, FX, 20th Century Studios and 20th Television that is more adult-friendly, as...
ViacomCBS Scrambles to Refocus New Streamer
Variety: ViacomCBS insiders said there has been strain in readying the building blocks of Paramount Plus, in part because the regime that built CBS All Access is no longer in place. In fact, amid a transition in leadership of digital operations at ViacomCBS,...
AT&T Ramps Up Kids Programming on HBO Max
Deadline: WarnerMedia is announcing a stepped-up commitment to preschool and kids programming across Cartoon Network and streaming service HBO Max, with a goal of reaching 50 original preschool shows in the next two years. The company made the announcement of the fall...
Fox Corp to Elevate Tucker Carlson in Streaming
Medaiite: Fox News host Tucker Carlson is bringing a video podcast and documentary series to streaming service Fox Nation. Starting in April, Carlson will put out at least three new video podcasts per week, "featuring interviews with newsmakers, as well as a...
iHeartMedia to Buy Audio Ad Analytics Company
Wall Street Journal: iHeartMedia has agreed to acquire EW Scripps's Triton Digital for $230 million in a deal that will give the radio giant a full slate of audio advertising technology and measurement capabilities as it builds out its podcast business. The biggest US...
Disney Analyst Cites Bad Accounting in Lawsuit
Orlando Sentinel: A former Disney accountant is suing the company, accusing it of firing her after she tried to raise red flags about shoddy accounting practices, she said in a new federal lawsuit. Ex-senior financial analyst Sandra Kuba filed her lawsuit Tuesday...
Vice Media Veteran Fights Drug Smuggling Claim
National Post: A man accused in a plot that used Vice Media's office in Toronto to recruit interns, musicians and models into an international cocaine smuggling ring says the law that allows evidence gathered in Australia to be accepted in court in Canada is...
iHeartMedia Plans to Air ‘Best of’ Rush Limbaugh
Inside Radio: iHeartMedia, which syndicates "The Rush Limbaugh Show" via Premiere Networks, plans to air Best Of programming over the next several weeks. Said president Rich Bressler: "With 'talent on loan from God,' Rush led the talk radio format for more than 30...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Shifts Talent Lineup at CNN
Associated Press: CNN is shuffling its daytime and weekend lineups following the announcement by anchor Brooke Baldwin that she will be leaving the network after 13 years in April. Alisyn Camerota will be leaving the morning shift to host CNN's "Newsroom" from 2 to 4...
News Corp-Google Deal Arouses Concerns in US
Digiday: Google may have struck a deal with News Corp to pacify Australian lawmakers, but some publishing industry members say the agreement to compensate the publishing giant obfuscates the power that platforms like Google and Facebook hold over smaller publishers....