Fox Corp: No Comment on US Capitol Riot, Trump
New York Times: No Fox News prime-time star has yet blamed President Trump for his role in inciting the riot at the US Capitol. And rather than reckon with years of backing Trump, the network's pundits have simply swiveled, finding new ways to take on old targets....
Disney-ESPN Veterans to Unveil Venture in Sports
Miami Herald: ESPN former president John Skipper is said to be teaming up with exiting ESPN sports host Dan Le Batard on a new media operation. Skipper is expected to take the lead in finding a new platform for Le Batard's program, which blends sports, pop culture,...
AT&T’s HBO Max Plans Revival of ‘Sex and the City’
New York Times: "Sex and the City," the landmark HBO series that ran from 1998 through 2004 and was later made into two feature films, is returning yet again. Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis will reprise their original characters for a new...
Roku Buys Shows from Short-Lived Streamer Quibi
Associated Press: Roku has bought the content library of Quibi, the short-lived streaming service, to bulk up its own free ad-supported channel. Quibi, short for quick bites, had raised $1.75 billion from investors including major Hollywood players like Disney,...
AMC, FuboTV Join List of Media Acquisition Targets
TheWrap: AMC Entertainment, Sony Pictures, DirecTV, Roku, iHeartMedia, FuboTV, OnlyFans, Peloton, Upwork, and Tidal have been marked as potential M&A targets in 2021. iHeartMedia could become a prime target for Spotify or Amazon, as both have been angling to...
LionTree Among Media Bankers Eyeing New Deals
Business Insider: From fighting activists to raising money and managing mergers, top media bankers had a busy year in 2020, with telecom, media and tech M&A soaring 77%. Pivoting is the business plan du jour, and the telecom, media and tech sector bankers have...
IAC Chief Sees No Need to Ban ‘Irrelevant’ Trump
CNBC: IAC chairman Barry Diller: "Just let him go. Let it be over. I don't think it makes sense to ban him. He has used these megaphones extraordinarily effectively. I think that's ended. He's no longer relevant. I think he's disqualified himself. He has declared his...
New York Times Taps Atlantic Alum for New Effort
New York Times Co: Matt Thompson has joined the New York Times as editor of Headway, a new journalism initiative to investigate global and national challenges. He will hire a team of journalists to cover a range of economic, social, health, infrastructural and...
Hearst Newspaper Calls on Ted Cruz to Step Down
TheHill: The Houston Chronicle's editorial board has called for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to resign after he helped lead the effort to challenge the 2020 election results in Congress. The Chronicle, which has been a vocal critic of Cruz over the years, wrote in an...
Conde Nast Gets Buzz from Kamala Harris in Vogue
Associated Press: Kamala Harris has landed on the cover of the February issue of Vogue magazine, but her team said the shot isn't what both sides had agreed upon. The photo of Harris wearing sneakers is the one that will grace the cover of the print edition. The cover...
Forbes Chief Warns Against Hiring Reps for Trump
Forbes: "Hire any of Trump's fabulists, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie," said Randall Lane, chief content officer at Forbes. "We're going to scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we'd approach...
BuzzFeed’s Move Indicates Interest in Going Public
The Information: BuzzFeed has held discussions with at least one special purpose acquisition company, Spencer Rascoff's Supernova Partners Acquisition Co., in a sign that it is actively exploring going public. New York Times: A former BuzzFeed staffer turned up in a...
Allbritton to Kick Off Global Expansion for Protocol
Digiday: Protocol, the nearly 1-year-old tech-news sibling of Politico, plans to launch three verticals — Protocol China, Protocol Enterprise and Protocol Fintech — in the first quarter of 2021. "Protocol wants to be your deep dive into specific areas of tech, not...
Axios, Insider See Challenges Ahead in Journalism
Press Gazette: What is the biggest challenge for journalism in 2021? "There can be massive gulfs between how people of different political persuasions view the world," said Axios editor in chief Nicholas Johnston. "A great challenge is creating journalism that can...
Twitter Bans Trump Citing Risk of Inciting Violence
USA Today: Twitter has permanently banned President Trump, citing the risk that he would incite further violence. "After close review of recent tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and...
Facebook, Twitter Set to ‘Rocket’ After Capitol Riot
CNBC: The violence on Capitol Hill by a mob of President Trump's supporters is likely to be a "rocket ship" for social media advertising, according to ad media expert Mark Douglas. "Political turmoil drives increased engagement on social media, and right or wrong,...
Twitter Runs Trump Video as Facebook Issues Ban
Reuters: President Trump returned to Twitter on Thursday with a new video saying that Joe Biden would be the next president as Facebook blocked his accounts over concerns that his messages might spark further violent protests. Twitter unlocked the @realDonaldTrump...
Amazon CEO is No Longer World’s Richest Person
CNBC: Elon Musk has become the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185 billion. Thursday's increase in Tesla's share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who had been the richest person since 2017 and is currently worth about $184 billion. Musk's...
Yahoo Alum’s Local News App Raises $115 Million
TechCrunch: The popular news app News Break said it has raised $115 million in new funding. The press release claims this round makes News Break "one of the first new unicorns of 2021," but the startup declined to disclose its actual valuation. Founder and CEO Jeff...
AT&T’s Warner Bros Film Strategy on Slate at CES
CNET: Next week's all-digital CES 2021 may give some clues to show just how much "Wonder Woman 1984" -- and the audacious plan by Warner Bros to release all of its new movies straight to streaming on HBO Max this year -- may change the norms of Hollywood. CES will...
CAA Names New President, CFO in Exec Shuffling
Deadline: CAA has elevated its chief financial officer, James Burtson, to president, and brought in former PwC executive Carol Sawdye as CFO. One of the company's three co-chairmen, Richard Lovett, previously held the title of president. He and fellow co-chairs Kevin...
Disney, Discovery Expats Prep Streaming Product
Wall Street Journal: Struum, a streaming service co-founded by former Discovery and Disney executives, won't offer its own slate of original programming when it launches this spring. Instead, it will aim to give customers à-la-carte access to all content from hundreds...
AT&T’s CNN Reports Most-Watched Day in History
TheHill: CNN had its most-watched day in the network's history on Wednesday, with more than 5 million viewers tuning in to coverage of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol. About 5.221 million total viewers watched the network's reporting Wednesday,...
ViacomCBS Publishing Unit Drops Book by Hawley
Bloomberg: Simon & Schuster canceled plans to publish a new book by Senator Josh Hawley, citing his connection to an effort to overturn the election of President-elect Joe Biden that turned violent when supporters overran the US Capitol. The publisher, currently...
Fox Corp’s Murdoch in Twilight as ‘Trump Enabler’
Deadline: "The Rupert Murdoch era is history. As the media lord nears 90, his ominous hold on the politics and pop culture of three nations is lifting as well." Washington Post: "Fox News radicalized a nation and spawned more extreme successors such as Newsmax and One...
News Corp Shifts on Trump in Push from Murdoch
Vanity Fair: New York Post editorials have changed their tone on President Trump. "That's gotta come from Rupert. Nobody else would make that call." New York Times: The Wall Street Journal's editorial board has urged President Trump to resign: "It is best for...
New York Times Staffer Attacked by Mob in Capitol
New York Times: Erin Schaff, staff photographer, New York Times: "They threw me to the floor, trying to take my cameras. I started screaming for help as loudly as I could. No one came. People just watched. At this point, I thought I could be killed and no one would...
iHeartMedia Top Radio Host OKs Political Violence
Mediaite: Rush Limbaugh cited the American Revolution and its leaders to rebuke those "calling for the end of violence" following the violent attack on the US Capitol. The radio host went after liberals who protested this summer, claiming they were anarchists using...
Oprah is Singled Out in Trump’s Bashing of Media
Mercury News: "Oprah used to be a friend of mine," President Trump told his supporters at a Washington, DC rally just hours before his followers stormed the US Capitol. "I was on her last show, her last week. Once I ran for president, I didn't notice there weren't too...
Shopify Removes E-Commerce Sites Tied to Trump
Reuters: Canada's Shopify took down stores affiliated with President Trump from its e-commerce platform, a day after hundreds of his supporters stormed the US Capitol. Shopify said the recent events determined that Trump's actions violated its policy, which prohibits...