Top News:
Financial Times:
Sources: US DoJ tells AT&T it needs to sell CNN to get Time Warner merger approval; source says “It's all about CNN”; source says AT&T plans to sue DoJ — AT&T has been told by the US Department of Justice that it needs to sell CNN, Time Warner's cable news channel …
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Reuters:
Source: Department of Justice is pushing AT&T for “structural remedies”, which can involve selling assets, to satisfy antitrust concerns over Time Warner deal — (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice is pushing AT&T Inc (T.N) for “structural remedies” …
Discussion:
New York Times, ABC News, New York Magazine, The Week, Light Reading, @blakehounshell, Home Media Magazine, CNBC and Recode
Tae Kim / CNBC:
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson says company has “no intention” of selling CNN amid AT&T-TW merger and has not offered to sell it during process despite DoJ demand — - Sources tell CNBC the Justice Department is demanding that AT&T sell Turner Broadcasting, which includes CNN …
Discussion:
@brianstelter, Quartz, Variety, The Hill, Business Insider, The Verge, @mattyglesias, NBC News, @mattfwood, Multichannel News, Variety, The Verge and Deadline
Peter Kafka / Recode:
When Trump's DoJ threatens to scuttle AT&T-Time Warner deal unless CNN is sold, business leaders feel the chill as well as journalists — Chilling. — What would it look like if the President of the United States punished American businesses he didn't like, or news organizations that reported things he didn't like?
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, Forbes, @brianschatz, The Atlantic, New York Times, @renato_mariotti, @mikeisaac, @jessecharleslee, BuzzFeed, @dylanbyers, AOL, @jrosenworcel, The Daily Caller, @sivavaid, BGR, NPR, Multichannel News, Fortune, @pkafka, The Guardian, @dylanbyers, Awful Announcing, @dellcam, @trevortimm and @pkafka
Joe Mayes / Bloomberg:
UK document: Bill O'Reilly's earlier Fox contract shielded him from getting fired over harassment allegations not proven in court — Fox director Nasser reveals contract terms to U.K. regulators — Sexual-harassment handling is weighing on Fox's bid for Sky
Discussion:
Competition …, LawNewz, Washington Post, Jezebel, Mediaite and Hollywood Reporter
Matt Pressberg / The Wrap:
21st Century Fox beats Q1 estimates with $839M net income on revenue of $7B, up 8% YoY, led by affiliate revenue — Fox News continues to reel in the dough, as cable networks propelled 21st Century Fox to another strong quarter during a week when it was revealed that Rupert Murdoch's media giant held talks …
Discussion:
New York Times, Home Media Magazine, Broadcasting & Cable, Variety, Fortune, 21st Century Fox and CNBC
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Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
Sean Hannity announces that former White House aide Sebastian Gorka has joined Fox News as a national security analyst — Sean Hannity announced on his radio show today that Sebastian Gorka has officially joined Fox News. — Gorka appeared on Hannity's radio show today and …
Discussion:
@yashar, Media Matters for America and TVNewser
Jane Lytvynenko / BuzzFeed:
BuzzSumo data shows InfoWars copied over 1K articles from Russia's RT without permission since May 2014 and also copied posts from CNN, Breitbart, BBC, others — The Kremlin-funded broadcaster told BuzzFeed News that InfoWars reprinted materials without permission.
Discussion:
Gizmodo, @craigsilverman, @oliverdarcy and UPROXX
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Apple commits to at least two seasons of a show about the morning TV show industry, with Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston as stars and executive producers — Friends stars, reunited! In 2019, probably. — Apple is already making a TV show with Steven Spielberg.
Discussion:
Slate, Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, Ad Age, The Wrap and Broadcasting & Cable
Jackie Strause / Hollywood Reporter:
Former Boston news anchor Heather Unruh says Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted her teenage son in a Nantucket restaurant in July 2016 — Heather Unruh says Spacey assaulted her “starstruck” and “straight ” 18-year-old son at a Nantucket restaurant in July 2016.
Discussion:
WCVB, Broadcasting & Cable, CNNMoney, Variety and The A.V. Club
Terri Cullen / CNBC:
SEC filing shows China's Tencent bought a ~10% minority stake in Snap; sources say Tencent purchased 145.8M nonvoting shares over the last quarter — - The news comes as a vote of confidence in Snap, one day after the company posted a huge revenue miss for the third quarter.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Vanity Fair, Business Insider, Fast Company, Wall Street Journal and Axios, more at Techmeme »
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Court rules against Sci-Hub, which gives free access to academic papers, and says site should be blocked by ISPs, hosts, search engines, domain registries — Earlier this year the American Chemical Society (ACS), a leading source of academic publications in the field of chemistry …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Nature, SlashGear, The Verge, Folio, Science, Media Law Prof Blog and Techdirt