AT&T Nabs Nearly $2 Billion Cash from Asset Sales
Deadline: AT&T says it completed the sale of its wireless and wireline operations in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to Liberty Latin America, taking in $1.95 billion. The telco and entertainment giant continues to pursue additional "non-core asset...
Disney in Billion-Dollar NFL TV Battle with Comcast
New York Post: A billion-dollar battle for "Sunday Night Football" is emerging between incumbent NBC and Disney/ABC/ESPN as the NFL moves toward agreements on its new TV deals. If Disney were able to swipe "Sunday Night Football" from NBC, it would likely place it on...
Comcast’s E! News EVP Exits for Digital Opportunity
New York Post: John Najarian, executive vice president and publisher at E!, is said to be the latest departure to hit the beleaguered network. Najarian, who is based in Los Angeles, will leave E! at the end of the year to pursue other digital opportunities. He broke...
ViacomCBS: Covid-19 Positives Won’t Halt TV Shoot
Deadline: Production on the CBS daytime drama "The Young and the Restless" is slated to proceed as planned despite two people testing positive for the coronavirus. An email was sent to crew informing them that the "production received two new positive test results for...
Sony Scores New Music Deal with Video App TikTok
Bloomberg: TikTok has secured the rights to recordings from thousands of artists, including Beyonce and Travis Scott, under a new deal with Sony Music Entertainment that will deepen ties between the world’s second-largest record-label group and the popular video...
Twitter CEO to Remain in Job After Investor Review
Bloomberg: A Twitter board committee reviewing the social network's leadership concluded that CEO Jack Dorsey should maintain his role. The committee was asked to review Twitter's leadership as part of an agreement with activist investor Elliott Management and private...
Netflix Sparks Anxieties with Shake-Up of Top Execs
Hollywood Reporter: Many Netflix insiders suggest it will take more than a new org chart to quell anxiety at the streaming behemoth. "It didn’t used to be this way. Now, it’s all, 'Who’s going next? Am I going to have a job? What’s it going to look like?'...
Quibi Collapse is Tied to Rejection of Traditional TV
Wall Street Journal: Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman were warned by advisors to make sure Quibi could be seen on TVs, not just phones -- but the two executives didn't follow the recommendation, The company eventually changed course, but it was too...
Fox Corp, New York Times Mull a Post-Trump Future
Bloomberg: "With Biden you’re not going to have these wild rallies. You’re going to have speeches on budget reconciliation. I don’t think that’s going to light people’s hearts afire. There’s no way you’re not going to see lower cable ratings and some reduction in...
News Corp Wins Johnny Depp ‘Wife Beater’ Lawsuit
BBC News: Johnny Depp has lost his libel case against the UK Sun newspaper over an article that called him a "wife beater." The actor sued the paper after it claimed he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard, which he denies. The Sun said the article was...
New York Times to Revive Election Needle – Sort of
New York Times: For many New York Times readers, the memory of election night 2016 is inseparable from the image of a semicircular chart that has become known — affectionately or not — as "the needle." The needle analyzes incomplete results to show who is on track to...
Hearst Tops List of Private Companies in New York
Crain's New York Business: Crain's list of privately held companies is ranked by revenue earned last year, when the economy was breezing through a Covid-free world. The data, therefore, do not reflect the pandemic's full effects. But there's no debating that Covid-19...
Conde Nast Staffers Complain About Subscriptions
Mediaite: Staffers at The New Yorker took to Twitter to complain about how difficult it is navigate a magazine subscriber’s account — even if you write for the title. "I've tried 5 times over the past month to renew my subscription to the magazine I happen to write...
Penske Turns Podcast Into an Event at Rolling Stone
MediaPost: Rolling Stone and Yappa World have partnered for a virtual live event series — Useful Idiots Live — utilizing the magazine's political podcast with editor Matt Taibbi and comedian Katie Halper. Also, Yappa’s commenting tool will be installed on select...
Analysis: US Media Brace for New Chiefs, Strategies
New York Times: Many US news and media leaders have been holding their breaths for the election – and planning everything from retirements to significant shifts in strategy for the months to come, whoever wins. Change is in the air across a media landscape that has...
Alphabet: Trump Will Rule Election Day on YouTube
New York Times: In the final three days of the election, one of the most desirable billboards on the internet — YouTube's home page — will be devoted exclusively to promote the re-election of President Trump. It is the conclusion of a yearlong tug of war between the...
Facebook Fears Disturbances Ahead of US Election
CNBC: Facebook says it is temporarily stopping recommendations of new groups to users ahead of Tuesday's election. The announcement comes a day after CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he was concerned about the elevated risk of disturbances in the US stemming from the...
ByteDance Avoids Trump’s US Shutdown of TikTok
Associated Press: A federal judge has postponed President Trump's threatened shutdown of the popular short-form video app TikTok, siding with a Pennsylvania comedian and two other TikTok creators who say Trump's order hampers their free...
Netflix Stirs Oscar Buzz for New ‘Citizen Kane’ Film
USA Today: Director David Fincher's latest film, "Mank," doesn't debut on Netflix until Dec. 4, but that isn't stopping it from generating Oscar buzz more than a month ahead of its streaming release. The film chronicles Herman J. Mankiewicz's work with Orson Welles...
Twitter Ends Standoff Over Account from News Corp
CNET: Twitter has reversed course on its decision to lock the New York Post account, saying that it's allowing the publication to tweet again. The change in stance comes after Twitter altered its Hacked Materials Policy, which is the policy that initially led the...
Fox Corp Sells Out News Ad Time for Election Night
New York Times: Advertising space between 6 pm Tuesday and 2 am Wednesday is sold out at Fox News, says Jeff Collins, who heads ad sales for the network. More than a dozen companies have asked that their ads run during the election coverage, he...
Disney Names Broadcast Exec as Head of Networks
The Information: Disney has promoted Debra O'Connell, president and general manager of WABC-TV, to head up its network division, putting her in charge of all P&L oversight for the company's networks, including ESPN. Disney is clearly making sure that its strategy...
Sony Nears Deal to Buy AT&T Streamer Crunchyroll
Nikkei: Sony has entered into final negotiations to acquire US anime-streaming service Crunchyroll, a deal that could catapult the Japanese icon into a global battle with the likes of Netflix. Sony could end up spending more than $957 million on the streamer, gaining...
Nielsen Inks Deal to Sell Consumer Goods Data Arm
Reuters: Nielsen says it will sell its consumer goods data unit for $2.7 billion to private equity firm Advent International, as the market research firm narrows its focus to its media arm. Advent will buy Nielsen's Global Connect unit in partnership with James Peck,...
Vice Media Plans Reopening of Offices in July 2021
@maxwelltani: Vice Media has emailed staffers saying that the company is aiming at a July reopening. The company also says it is open to some employees relocating permanently, but "salary adjustments will be considered due to location-specific tax and pay...
Gannett Seeks to Offload Another Newspaper Office
Patch Palm Desert: The Desert Sun's headquarters in Palm Springs, Calif. is up for sale for $7.5 million, the newspaper says. "We will find a wonderful new home for our newsroom that brings us closer to the community," says executive editor Julie...
Hearst Says Cosmopolitan Fans Drink a Lot of Wine
WWD: After launching a perfume and a furniture line, Hearst-owned Cosmopolitan magazine is continuing to expand its footprint outside of traditional print by entering the wine market. Uncorked by Cosmo is launching in partnership with Napa, Calif.-based Guarachi Wine...
McClatchy Veteran Editor Exits to Simon & Schuster
Miami Herald: Aminda Marqués González, who has led the newsrooms at the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald to multiple honors, told her staff last week that she is leaving the organization to become vice president and executive editor at book publisher Simon &...
New York Times in Legal Hassle with Project Veritas
Law and Crime: Project Veritas, whose history of disseminating selectively edited videos has on a number of occasions landed its founder James O'Keefe in court, sued the New York Times on Friday. The plaintiff alleged that it was defamatory of the Times to call the...
The Atlantic Apologizes for Fabrication, Inaccuracy
TheWrap: The Atlantic said it regrets commissioning and publishing a feature story written by Ruth Shalit Barrett — who was fired from The New Republic in the 1990s over incidents of plagiarism — which has been revealed to include a fabrication and multiple...