Netflix in Legal Spat for Hiring Exec from Activision
Los Angeles Times: Netflix continues to face legal challenges as it lures high-level executives from rival entertainment companies. On Friday, Activision Blizzard sued Netflix over its recruitment of CFO Spencer Neumann. "Netflix's unlawful conduct is not...
ViacomCBS is Optimistic a Year After Mega Merger
Hollywood Reporter: Wall Street observers see ViacomCBS management as having delivered on key promises this year."The company has done reasonably well, and CEO Bob Bakish is perceived as being effective in turning operations...
Fox Corp Boosts Opinion at News Channel’s Website
Daily Beast: Sean Hannity's influence has spread to Fox News Channel's once-independent digital news operation, staffers say, and it's largely thanks to a little-known former "Hannity" producer named Porter Berry. Berry has been the subject of a number of HR...
AT&T’s WarnerMedia Mulls Video Streaming for CNN
The Information: WarnerMedia is discussing launching two new streaming services. One would be a subscription offering based on content from CNN and could launch next year. Another would be a free service carrying programming from TBS and...
Disney, ViacomCBS TV Join News App from Amazon
Deadline: Amazon Fire TV said local TV stations in 12 US cities will be added to Amazon's news app, with another 90 on deck for 2021. The initial dozen stations include New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, and...
IAC in Flap Over ‘Deceptive’ Marketing with Google
Wall Street Journal: Google is deciding whether to impose severe penalties on IAC/InterActive Corp. over what the search giant concluded were deceptive marketing practices. Google determined that IAC misled users about its browser...
OnlyFans Emerges as Billion-Dollar Media Company
Bloomberg: OnlyFans has grown into one of the biggest media businesses hiding in plain sight. The company has 85 million users, upward of 1 million creators, and will generate more than $2 billion in sales this year, of which it keeps about 20%. That puts the site on...
New York Times Podcast Becomes ‘New Front Page’
CNN: "The Daily" has more daily listeners than subscribers to the New York Times's weekday print product. Its audience also surpasses many news shows on TV. The Times has built a "premium product and assembled it as the new front...
Tribune to Shutter Offices of Oldest US Newspaper
Associated Press: The Hartford Courant plans to close the offices it has been operating out of since the mid-1940s by the end of the year. Though the newspaper will continue to be published, its parent company said it will consider whether it’s necessary to open a new...
Reuters Report Finds Journalists Suffering Burnout
Digiday: Many journalists covering the coronavirus crisis, or working from home in lockdown, have been suffering from varying levels of burnout, anxiety, depression, insomnia and loneliness. "Journalists felt they were trapped in a pandemic...
Conde Nast Goes ‘Badass’ with Merchandise by GQ
GQ: A brand new batch of merch has just landed in the GQ Shop. "The only rule for the stuff we're making is: It has to be awesome," said GQ editor in chief Will Welch. "We're not going to make something we don't want to wear...
Vox, BuzzFeed Enjoy Boost in Holiday E-Commerce
Digiday: BuzzFeed's gift guide revenue soared more than 575%, thanks to plans to go bigger and start earlier — it produced over 200% more gift guide content. Vox Media’s The Strategist saw its Cyber 5 revenues leap 120% year over year, thanks not only to holiday...
BuzzFeed Under Pressure by ICE to Reveal Sources
BuzzFeed News: US imigration investigators issued a subpoena demanding BuzzFeed News identify its sources — an extraordinary attempt by the government to interfere with a news outlet acting under the protections of the First Amendment. "This subpoena is an outrageous...
Air Mail Founder Plans US Return with Trump Gone
New York Post: Graydon Carter, the former editor of Vanity Fair, said he's returning to the United States now that his longtime nemesis Donald Trump is leaving the White House. "I'm coming back in the middle of this month to America now that he is safely on his way...
Media Reporters Respond to Charge of ‘Too White’
Poynter: Most US media reporters, critics and editors are white. "It's definitely something that's legitimate and obvious to people who pay attention to these kinds of things. Media reporters are oftentimes hired by people whose views that they...
Alphabet, Facebook Eclipse Old Media in News Biz
Press Gazette: Ten years ago, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp was the biggest news media company in the English-speaking world. Today, the biggest three news and information companies in the world are Google-owner Alphabet, Facebook and...
Facebook Girds for Onslaught of Antitrust Lawsuits
Reuters: A group of US states is investigating Facebook for possible antitrust violations and plans to file a lawsuit against the social media giant next week. More than 40 states plan to sign on to the lawsuit, one source said, without naming...
Apple to Make Mobile Movie Screens Even Smaller
CNBC: Apple's latest iPhone update includes a new picture-in-picture option that lets you continue watching a movie, TV show or FaceTime video chat while you're doing other stuff on your iPhone. The video just plays in a small window instead of full...
AT&T to Stream All Warner Films in Seismic Shift
CNBC: WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar doesn't think he just destroyed the movie theater industry with the decision to release the company's entire 2021 slate of films directly on HBO Max at the same time they hit theaters. "Everyone should take a...
Disney Lays Off TV Staffers, Shutters Disney Radio
Deadline: Disney's Television Group is set to cut a significant swathe of roles following its major restructures over the past few weeks. On Thursday morning, Radio Disney said its was ceasing operations, which is believed to be part of the...
Fox Corp Bets on Billion-Dollar Deal with FanDuel
Fox Business: Flutter Entertainment said it will acquire a minority shareholder's stake in FanDuel as sports gambling continues to explode across the US. Fox Corp holds a stake in Flutter. "Fox's audiences [are] highly engaged with wagering...
ViacomCBS Vows $250 Million for Diversity at MTV
Associated Press: MTV Entertainment Group says it's making a $250 million commitment to spur reality production over the next three years by companies owned and operated by women and people of color. MTV will provide funding, staff and other...
Comcast Sees ‘Shepard Smith’ Fall Short at CNBC
Washington Post: Since his debut in late September, "The News With Shepard Smith" has averaged a modest 280,000 viewers each weeknight at 7 pm. That's a fraction of the 2 million-plus viewers that CNN, Fox and MSNBC each attract at the same...
Fox Corp News Host Tests Positive for Coronavirus
New York Times: Juan Williams, a veteran Fox News personality who co-hosts the popular afternoon talk show "The Five," tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday and is isolating himself. Williams taped a live episode of "The Five" on...
Hearst Corp Retiree Becomes a Hyperlocal Blogger
Poynter: When Lincoln Millstein retired as senior assistant to Hearst CEO Steven Swartz, he faced a familiar dilemma for those leaving high-powered executive positions: What next? Millstein found an answer: become a hyperlocal...
Playboy to Reboot ‘Playboy Interview’ as Podcasts
Hollywood Reporter: Playboy Enterprises and Audio Up will launch a scripted podcast based on Playboy's archive of nearly 500 interviews. The format will see actors re-enacting some of the magazine's most iconic...
Conde Nast Taps Veteran for New Chief in Europe
WWD: More corporate changes are afoot at Conde Nast's European operations. Following the September exit of chief operating officer Wolfgang Blau, the publisher just revealed that Natalia Gamero del Castillo will step into the newly created position of managing...
Meredith Braces for Union Battle Across Magazines
New York Post: The News Guild of New York said more than 90 percent of the editorial staff at Entertainment Weekly, Martha Stewart Living, Shape and People TV have opted to be represented by the union. But Meredith is digging in and said it will not voluntarily...
The Atlantic Names Wired Magazine Editor as CEO
New York Times: The Atlantic has selected a new chief executive after a yearlong search: Nicholas Thompson, the editor in chief of Wired, the tech-focused magazine published by Conde Nast. Thompson, 45, has spent 15 years working as a writer and editor for Conde...
Guardian News CEO Departs to Head Up SoulCycle
New York Post: SoulCycle has named Evelyn Webster, CEO of Guardian News and Media's international operations, as the new chief executive of the trendy spin-studio chain. At the Guardian, Webster oversaw the British newspaper's growth in the US and...