Top News:
Hollywood Reporter:
Sources: Amazon and Apple are competing with Warner Bros. and others for rights to the James Bond franchise and are willing to pay as much as the studio — The franchise, and its future, are up for grabs as Agent 007 is being viewed as one of the last untapped brands that could be a game changer.
Discussion:
/Film, VideoInk, Forbes, The New York Observer, The A.V. Club, The Playlist, Business Insider, GeekWire, FierceCable, Gizmodo, Engadget, The Next Web, @shiraovide, The Verge, Consequence of Sound, Collider, MacRumors, @tatianasiegel27, Birth.Movies.Death, 9to5Mac and AppAdvice.com, more at Techmeme »
Tara Palmeri / Politico:
Sources: conservative pundit Mercedes Schlapp, who served in the Bush administration, is expected to join the White House in a communications role — Conservative pundit Mercedes Schlapp, wife of American Conservative Union chairman Matthew Schlapp, is expected to join the White House …
Tony Maglio / The Wrap:
Peter Rice has been promoted to president of 21st Century Fox, will retain his roles as chairman and CEO of Fox Networks Group — Peter Rice has been promoted to president of 21st Century Fox. He'll keep his chairman and CEO titles for Fox Networks Group as well. — Here's the full media release, more to come:
Discussion:
The Wrap, Variety and @awallenstein
Andrew Wallenstein / Variety:
Spotify hires Disney executive Courtney Holt to lead its efforts in original video and podcast programming — Spotify has lured digital-media veteran Courtney Holt over from Disney to lead its efforts around original video and podcast programming, Variety has learned exclusively.
Discussion:
The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter, Tubefilter and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
E.W. Scripps' online news network Newsy to launch as a cable TV channel, after Scripps buys carriage contracts from RLTV — As traditional TV players keep hunting for new digital inroads, E.W. Scripps' online news network Newsy is going the other way — it's landing a spot on the cable TV dial.
Discussion:
Radio & Television …, Broadcasting & Cable, @jeremymbarr and TVNewser
Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
After leaving TMZ about eight months ago, longtime News Director Mike Walters launches a rival, The Blast, with funding from Banijay Group — LOS ANGELES — Before dawn on Wednesday, a celebrity news site here published an anonymously sourced article about a kerfuffle involving Scott Disick of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” fame.
Discussion:
@elmayimbe, @ryansatin, @theblastnews, @jamiemccarty, @carolynafenton and @paulraphel
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Podcast network Gimlet Media raises $5M from ad agency WPP, in addition to the $15M round it raised last month, bringing total raised to $27M — Tack this on to the $15 million it raised last month. — Yet another vote of confidence in podcasting — this time from the people who buy ads for a living …
Discussion:
WPP, Fast Company and @mlieber
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Roku launches its own channel for users of its streaming players, sticks, and TVs, offers ad-supported content, including movies from studios like Warner Bros. — Roku, a company capitalizing on the cord cutting trend to the tune of a $100 million IPO, is today launching its own channel …
Discussion:
The Official Roku Blog, Adweek, Engadget, Hollywood Reporter, Tubefilter and AdExchanger
Virginia Heffernan / Politico:
A look at the Twitter thread as a literary form, requiring precise and lively storytelling — The compelling, incendiary literary form of the Trump era. — We don't get to choose the literary genre of our epoch, and in this worst-of-times-worst-of-times political era, we have the Twitter thread.
Discussion:
@tribelaw, @ericgarland, @dandrezner, @hil121, @joshsternberg, @sethabramson, @asharangappa_, @natashaldaly, @jdpeterson, @mdy and @zackstanton
Tim Peterson / Marketing Land:
How media companies including Bustle, New Form Digital, and WeBuyGold are creating episodic series for Instagram Stories — Bustle, New Form Digital and WeBuyGold have started producing original programs for Facebook's other fledgling video service. — At the same time as Facebook …
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Washington Post National Editor Scott Wilson steps down; sources say it was over an internal dispute about resources, during which he yelled at a fellow editor — Washington Post National Editor Scott Wilson has left his position after disputes with his superiors over newsroom resources …
Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:
The Atlantic launches a paid membership program called Masthead, priced at $10/month or $100/year, offering perks including exclusive content — But not just the diehards — it's also an attempt to forge tighter connections with its growing web audience. “We're trying to create a product that's a supplement, not a replacement.”
Discussion:
Digiday and The Atlantic
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