By CANDY LIU | 9/15/16
The new group includes video-centric properties
ratedred.com,
seriously.tv
and Complex, the Millennial-media title, which Verizon and Hearst
purchased through a 50-50 joint-venture in April. Rich Antoniello,
formerly chief executive officer of Complex, will become ceo of Complex
Networks. Neeraj Khemlani, president of Hearst Entertainment &
Syndication, and Brian Angiolet, senior vice president of Verizon’s
consumer product portfolio, will take on the additional roles of
cochairmen of Complex Networks.
Fox News announced on Wednesday
that the news network’s co-presidents, Bill Shine and Jack Abernethy,
had signed multiyear contracts. It did not disclose the length of the
contracts but, in a statement, the Fox News executive chairman Rupert
Murdoch said the deals would ensure “stability and leadership to help
guide the network for years to come.”
Stunned employees learned during meetings on Wednesday
that 327 editorial positions will be chopped down to 190 and all
workers will have to reapply for posted jobs.The cuts to other
departments will be even deeper, resulting in the elimination of about
half the NJ group’s 426 employees.
If you think CNN is having a good 2016, just wait until next year. Time
Warner CFO Howard M. Averill guaranteed record profits for the cable
news channel in 2017, even after all this election craziness has come to
a close. How could that be possible? Well, next year, the network will
see what he called a “significant” increase in affiliate fees — plus,
digital should continue growing even as linear wilts.
Speaking Wednesday
at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications and
Entertainment Conference, NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke characterized
the Olympics as a "tremendous success," adding that the company "made
over $250 million in Rio," thanks to a 20% increase in ad sales volume
compared to what it took in during the London Games.
The new More.com came out of beta testing a few weeks ago, according to a
company spokesperson. Lilliana Vazquez, during Meredith's first
BrandFront presentation for advertisers Wednesday,
announced that her new show, "Office Hours," would be airing next year
on the "completely revamped More.com." A press release referenced "the
reinvented More.com."
Called Gawken, the site promises to “open your mind to the future.” It
features a number of quick posts written by pseudonyms including Tim
Cook’s Toaster, Elon Musk’s Tesla (“VVRROOOOM VROOOMMMM,” it writes, not
unconvincingly) and, of course, someone named Peter Theil, an author
not quite named after the venture capitalist who bankrolled Hulk Hogan’s
legal battle against Gawker.
While Gannett waits on the chance to buy Tronc, the Chicago newspaper
company is making acquisition plans of its own. At an investor
conference last week, Tronc CEO Justin Dearborn said his company is
eyeing potential acquisitions. Aside from newspaper targets, Tronc may
be interested in buying "ad tech" companies, Dearborn said, according to
analyst Daniel Kurnos, who hosted the Sept. 8 Benchmark conference at
the New York Athletic Club.
Disney cut 5 percent of its consumer products and digital media staff on Wednesday,
or about 250 jobs, a spokesman said, the latest in a series of
belt-tightening moves by the world’s largest entertainment
conglomerate. While small in a broad sense Disney has more than 180,000
employees worldwide — pocket-size layoffs have been frequent at the
company in recent months.
Time Inc. will be integrating Apple Pay to provide an easier purchasing
experience for readers to subscribe to Entertainment Weekly, Sports
Illustrated, People and Real Simple and other Time Inc. brands soon to
follow. Time Inc. also plans to sell additional products and services
via this new, convenient, one touch payment method in the
future. Security and privacy are at the core of Apple Pay.
Apple’s stock hit a 2016 high on Wednesday,
with its market value peaking above $600 billion for the first time
since April as Wall Street bet the technology company’s newest iPhone
would help shore up falling sales. Shares were fueled by U.S. wireless
carriers’ reports of strong early orders for the iPhone 7 as well as
arch-rival Samsung’s recall of potentially exploding Galaxy Note 7
smartphones.
The American public’s trust in the media in 2016 has fallen to its
lowest point since at least 1972, according to a new Gallup poll.
Thirty-two percent of the respondents said that they have “a great deal”
or “a fair amount” of trust in the mass media, an eight
percentage-point drop compared to 2015. It’s the lowest point in
Gallup’s polling history.
-Good Morning
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