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....
Tribune Newspapers Brace for Hedge Fund Cuts
Vanity Fair: Among journalists at Tribune Publishing, the mood on Wednesday was as dark as one would expect. "There are a lot of disappointed people in the newsroom right now," said Todd Lighty, an investigative reporter at the company's flagship Chicago Tribune....
Penske Evacuates Magazine Offices After Threat
TheWrap: Penske Media offices in Los Angeles and New York were evacuated Wednesday after Variety received a security threat, the company told staffers in a memo. The memo read: "Today we received a threat to the safety of one of our brands at our office location, so...
BuzzFeed Mulls a Future as Digital Shopping Mall
Adweek: BuzzFeed wants to think more like a retailer. Judging that the surge in online shopping is here to stay, the site is investing in creating a more proactive, intent-based shopping experience. "What is the digital version of window shopping? No retailer does...
News Corp Inks Historic Global Deal with Google
News.com.au: News Corp has reached a global licensing deal with Google to make "significant payments" for displaying its content across the world on its Google News Showcase. CEO Robert Thomson announced the "historic multi-year partnership" for publications including...
Google in Talks on Global Deal with News Corp
Australian Financial Review: Google has signed more deals to pay news outlets in Australia, but remains in talks with News Corp on a global agreement that would include titles such as the Wall Street Journal and the Times of London as well as its Australian...
Facebook CEO: We Need to Inflict Pain on Apple
Wall Street Journal: Mark Zuckerberg has groused for years that Apple and its leader, Tim Cook, have too much sway over the social-media giant's business. In 2018, his anger boiled over. "We need to inflict pain," the Facebook CEO told his team, for Apple treating the...
Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Dominate in US Streaming
USA Today: The year 2020 "will likely be remembered a pivotal year for streaming," according to a streaming report by research firm Conviva. "The industry delivered with flourishing new services, astronomical peaks of growth, blockbusters released direct to streaming,...
Disney Streamer Forecast to Best Netflix by 2026
World Screen: The number of subscribers to Disney+ will overtake the Netflix total in 2026, according to Digital TV Research. However, Disney+ will only have more subs than Netflix in one country, India, with 98 million Disney+ Hotstar subscribers versus 13 million...
AT&T Circles In-House Exec for New Chief of CNN
NBC News: Allison Gollust, a CNN executive and top lieutenant to Jeff Zucker, has emerged as the leading internal candidate to take over the network if Zucker steps down as president. Her promotion, which is being considered by the leadership of AT&T, CNN's parent...
News Corp Plans April Debut of ‘British Fox News’
New York Times: Executives at Rupert Murdoch's new venture, known as News UK TV, play down comparisons to Fox News. Murdoch is planning a streaming service, akin to Netflix or Now TV. The service, which is to begin a low-key rollout in April, will promote Murdoch's...
Chernin Fund Invests in Collectibles Marketplace
Bloomberg: Chernin Group is leading a blockbuster group of investors in a majority stake in Goldin Auctions, an eight-year-old shop dedicated to auctioning off collectibles, especially sports trading cards. Chernin's group includes basketball star Kevin Durant, Dallas...
Disney Alum Plots Roll-Up of Indie Entertainment
Hollywood Reporter: Former Disney and TikTok executive Kevin Mayer is exploring a deal to roll up several independent media and entertainment companies, including Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings and Ben Silverman's Propagate Content. Blackstone is financing the...
Take-Two CEO Nears Deal to Acquire Second City
Financial Times: Strauss Zelnick's private equity firm is in advanced talks to buy Second City, the storied comedy group that has launched stars including Tina Fey and the late John Belushi. A deal could be agreed as soon as this week. The price was not disclosed but...
Roku Plans to Produce Its Own TV Shows, Films
Protocol: Roku has published a job listing for a lead production attorney, which spells out plans to build out an "expanding slate of original content." This renewed push into originals comes just weeks after Roku acquired Quibi's content library, for which the...
Goop Founder Reveals Health Battle After Covid
Daily Mail: Gwyneth Paltrow said that she battled Covid-19 last year, and it left her with long-term fatigue, body inflammation and brain fog. "I had Covid-19 early on," the 48-year-old actress said in a piece on Goop. "In January, I had some tests done that showed...
Tribune in $630 Million Sale Deal to Hedge Fund
Chicago Tribune: Tribune Publishing has agreed to be acquired by Alden Global Capital in a deal valued at $630 million. The deal follows weeks of negotiations between a special committee of Tribune Publishing's board and Alden, a hedge fund with a history of deep...
Gannett, McClatchy Join on Big Push in Ad Sales
Axios: Gannett and McClatchy, two of the country's biggest local news companies, are joining forces to sell national ads to their combined reach of over 300 local communities. The partnership could be the start of building out a mega-local ad sales network. "This...
Conde Nast Alum Becomes Publisher of Decrypt
Decrypt: Alanna Roazzi-Laforet has been named publisher and chief revenue officer of Decrypt, an independent online media outlet focused on blockchain and cryptocurrency. Roazzi-Laforet's career has included stints at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB),...
Bonnier’s Former Saveur Magazine Ends in Print
New York Post: Award-winning foodie title Saveur is going all-digital under its new private equity owner, 27 years after launching to critical acclaim. The food and recipe title was sold in October by Bonnier to North Equity as part of a package of magazines,...