MEDIA WIRE DAILY: Media Business News Spun Out of Control

Six months after its 20 year anniversary, Time Inc and Warner headed for splitsville?

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:53:54 PDT

Is TimeWarner CEO Jeff Bewkes about to make his first major play since taking over as CEO two years ago? According to Gordon Crawford, managing director of its largest shareholder, the company is planning to get out of the struggling magazine publishing business via a sale of it’s Time Inc unit. Crawford said TimeWarner will then turn its...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

CW Network cancels Ashton Kutcher’s well promoted model drama, puts already under worked actors out of work

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:05:41 PDT

-S.Hines The fall season has already claimed it's first victim. The well publicized Ashton Kutcher produced "The Beautiful Life" a drama about young models trying to make it in concrete jungle also known as New York City has been canned and will be replaced with reruns of "Melrose Place" Ouch!!. Not even the half naked shots of the stars on...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

At AOL content will be king

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:15:39 PDT

-BEN MORITZ AOL's new CEO Tim Armstrong is betting big on content. With web properties like TMZ, Engadget and dozens of other web properties under his rule, Armstrong plans to milk them to drive AOL back to the front of the line. When ever we hear anyone in media speak about content, we always remember when Viacom grandpa...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Morning Wire: And now this morning's worthy media news items

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:11:32 PDT

Poor Disney can't buy Marvel in peace. Since it announced it was buying Marvel Entertainment a week ago, obstacles and people have been coming out out of the wood works. Heirs to the comic book artist Jack Kirby, a creator of characters and stories behind Marvel mainstays like “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four,” last week sent 45 notices of copyright...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Disney's studio head resigns and Hollywood goes ape shit

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 05:47:29 PDT

-S.HINES Dick Cook, the long time movie head at Disney called it quits or got fired yesterday depending on who you ask. Under Dick Cook Disney's movie business had its ups and downs, but this is normal in any business. You can't be on top all the time. What shocks me about the whole thing is not Cook's sudden departure, but the people...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Chuck Cordray shuffles digital staff at Hearst to emphasize its commitment to growing and expanding its digital properties, Yup!

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:16:08 PDT

-BEN MORITZ In a move to avoid hiring new people and paying more salaries, Hearst Digital's SVP and general manager Chuck Cordray increased the responsibilities of his web team. This shuffle is supposed to show Hearst's commitment to growing and expanding its digital properties. However it is not clear how this slew of promotions will help expand...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Morning Wire: Morning Wire: And now a few of this morning's worthy media business news items

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:50:00 PDT

Twitter is worth $1 Billion based on registered users alone. The site doesn't make any money, but founder's Biz Stone and Evan Williams are seeking out some $50 million in funding to continue not making money more... Mary Berner now turns here reorging to RDA's Interactive business. RDA is transferring responsibility for its branded U.S. Web sites...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Hollywood Reporter killing print, Variety.com to hide behind paid wall

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:16:08 PDT

-BEN MORITZAccording to Nikki Finke Nielsen and Reed Business Information will serve up their entertainment trade publications in new ways. For Reed which publishes Variety.com, they will erect a paid wall in front of the site to start making some money from all or parts of the site. Nielsen which publishes The Hollywood Reporter (THR), will...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

With $7 billion in cash, TimeWarner could make a play for another company but Jeff Bewkes may not have the stomach for it

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:22:47 PDT

-S.HINES When Disney announced a few weeks ago that it was buying Marvel Entertainment for $4 Billion large, not only was it a balls out and bold move by Disney, but it gave new hope to many, that media industry is climbing back and CEOs like Disney's Bob Iger is leading the charge. When that dust settled, analysts started to speculate about who...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Barry Diller isn't interested in your overvalued media company

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:45:00 PDT

-BEN MORITZ Don't look for IAC Chieftain Barry Diller to drop cash on any of the ailing media companies anytime soon if at all. The Internet mogul is laser focused on his current businesses which include Match.com, Ask.com and other popular web properties. With many of the traditional media firms struggling, sale and merger...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

New York Observer launches magazine for "Hip" parents called Observer Playground

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:16:08 PDT

-BEN MORITZ Hip parents rejoice. Jared Kushner knows you're out there, and so via his Observer Media Group he gives you a new magazine called "Observer Playground". Edited by Lyss Stern, founder of Divalysscious Moms, the mag will be available inside the overpriced Observer newspaper and features Actress Mary-Louise Parker on it's first...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Roger Ailes rakes in the big bucks distorting the news

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:04:04 PDT

-LIZ DRAPER Fox News Chief Roger Ailes is one of Rupert Murdoch's most trusted underlings. Under Ailes's leadership, Fox News has hammered it's competitors in ratings and is a advertising cash cow for News Corp. For this, Ailes was rewarded a sweet $24 million in salary last year, topping the salary of his boss. Ailes's formula...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Former TimeWarner CEO Dick Parsons re-enters the media sector on a part time basis

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:58:33 PDT

-LIZ DRAPER Dick Parsons, the former CEO of TimeWarner, can't stay away from the media business it seems. After stepping down as head of the world's biggest media company some 2 years ago Parsons went back to his roots in the banking business where he took on the roll as Chairman of Citi Group. Now apparently thirsty for some media deal...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Rupert Murdoch who built his company on newspapers, is looking forward to the death of newspapers

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:11:32 PDT

-LIZ DRAPER We never thought we would hear such words coming out of the mouth of one of Newspapers biggest players, but the time has come to face what is on the horizon. Rupert Murdoch whose company News Corp was built on the newspaper business seems to be looking forward to the day, they no longer exist. It's kind of odd hearing this from...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Morning Wire: And now a few of this morning's worthy media business news items

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:11:32 PDT

New York Times Co. says its not in a hurry to sell the Boston Globe. Could that be because no one is in a hurry to buy it from them? more...Will you pay $2 a week to read the Wall Street Journal on your Blackberry during your commute to the office? News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch did say he plans to charge a fee for all News Corp's online...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Businessweek reports that Bruce Wasserstein has backed out of bidding for Businessweek, Mary Berner reorganizes her house...

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:16:01 PDT

-Damani SchoA winner may soon emerge in the bidding for McGraw Hill's Businessweek as Bloomberg LP is now the front runner. Bruce Wasserstein who was seen as the front runner, suddenly backed out of the bidding paving the way for what some say is as done deal between Bloomberg and McGraw Hill. A take over of the mag by Bloomberg which...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Newscorp was built on newspapers, but is that foundation slowly crumbling under Rupert Murdoch's empire?

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:11:32 PDT

BY LIZ Has News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch fired his last shot in pinpointing whats eating the newspaper industry, an industry in which he is heavily invested? At a cable industry confab in Washington, D.C., Thursday the media mogul turned his barrel on web giant Google, and accused them of stealing newspaper content, selling ads against it and...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Bob Iger, the anti anti consumer?

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:00:33 PDT

BY LIZ As some media companies rush to reinvent themselves and throw together new revenue sources like charging consumers to access content online, Disney CEO Bob Iger believes doing such things is anti consumer. But Iger can say this because Disney reported 2008 sales of $37.8 billion and just announced that it spent $18 million to acquire...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Cathie Black's lack of digital strategy wins her 3 more years atop Hearst Magazines

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:16:08 PDT

BY LIZ Time Inc CEO Ann Moore may see some signs of hope now that her pal Hearst CEO Cathie Black has signed on for 3 more years. Black whose contract was coming to an end, managed to stay on to lead the company into the "Digital World". Our guess is that the board didn't see anyone inside or outside the company they liked and so by default Black...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Rupert Murdoch toyed with changing Newscorp's name

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:32:28 PST

BY THE SHOGUN In the book "The Man Who Owns The News" Rupert Murdoch seemed to have been going through some late life crisis when he toyed with changing the name of his media empire after the DowJones takeover, to something that "Could better indicate his and Newscorp's philosophical reason for being". But apparently after running the idea by some...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Bob Johnson itching to get back in the cable network business

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:57:14 PST

BY THE SHOGUN After cashing out from the sale of Black Entertainment Television (BET). Bob Johnson is said to be planning a new cable network which a spokesperson says will cater to a multicultural audience interested in health, lifestyle, education and other issues. The mouthpiece also said that the new network is not intended to compete with...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Has John Malone made any statements regarding the kid who offed himself in front of the internet public?

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:45:26 PST

BY THE SHOGUN When Abraham Biggs Jr. made the decision that he was going to off himself, he first made it known on Bodybuilders.com a website which was taken over by media mogul John Malone's Liberty Media back in January of this year. We know the CEO of JustinTV where the poor kid broadcasted his death issued a statement related to the tragedy,...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Another New York Times profile on former Disney head Mike Eisner gives us the impression that he's been sitting on his hands for the past 8 months

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:53:56 PST

BY THE SHOGUN There was a time when Mike Eisner was one of the most powerful men in media. He ruled with a rumored iron fist and made the final call on things across Disney and it's many subsidiaries. He was notorious for his micromanaging. However it was his micromanaging that kept Disney on top for many years. But as the saying goes nothing...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Blackenterprise.com gets drastic makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:16:08 PDT

BY THE SHOGUN The folks over at Black Enterprise magazine rolled out a re-designed blackenterprise.com and what we see is a drastic makeover that in our opinion, wasn't really necessary. The new site is missing something but we can't quite put our finger on it. The logo has also been revamped. Will this new logo roll out in print as well? We...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.

Fox News' Greta Van Susteren dreams of running an internet news site one day

noreply@blogger.com (Media Wire Daily) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 10:18:53 PST

BY THE SHOGUN Even people who already have their dream jobs have other dream jobs. Take for example Fox News's Greta Greta Van Susteren. She recently posted on her Gretawire blog that she sometimes fantasizes about running an internet news site but made sure to make it clear that she loves her job, you know just in case Fox News tubby, Roger...

Visit Media Wire Daily for the full post, and more on the media industry, its leaders and our love hate take on it all.