Mediagazer: Iger plans to make Hulu the outlet for Fox's more “adult-oriented product”; whether Disney will try to buy out Comcast's and TimeWarner's stakes remains unclear (Todd Spangler/Variety)

5:30 PM ET, December 15, 2017

Top News:

Tom Kludt / CNNMoney:

Trump congratulated Rupert Murdoch on Disney deal; there's no admission or denial he spoke with Murdoch ahead of the deal to confirm Murdoch would keep Fox News — Disney-Fox deal gets White House praise — Disney's $52.4 billion deal to acquire a significant portion of 21st Century Fox …

Discussion: Sky News, Washington Post, CBS San Francisco, New York Times, Vanity Fair, Fast Company, Bloomberg, TVNewser, The Daily Caller, Variety, Politico, Business Insider, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times and Mediaite

Michael Wolff / Hollywood Reporter:

A look at the dynamics among Rupert Murdoch and his children, and how their business interests may have influenced the Disney deal — When the media titan unloads the bulk of Fox to Disney rather than letting it pass to his heirs, it proves he has always has had a favorite Murdoch — himself.

Discussion: CNNMoney, Bloomberg, The Wrap and Broadcasting & Cable

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Iger plans to make Hulu the outlet for Fox's more “adult-oriented product”; whether Disney will try to buy out Comcast's and TimeWarner's stakes remains unclear — Nothing will change immediately at Hulu in the wake of Disney's $52 billion deal with 21st Century Fox.

Discussion: The New York Observer, Recode, The A.V. Club, Wall Street Journal, CNBC and Los Angeles Times

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
Post-merger, “New Fox” to include live news, sports, and the Fox brand, as a return to “our roots as a lean, aggressive, challenger brand”, per Lachlan Murdoch

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, Deadline, Variety, The New York Observer, Boing Boing, The Wrap, TVNewser, /Film and TVSpy

David Folkenflik / NPR:
Disney-Fox deal gives Disney controlling Hulu stake, a Sky stake, a network of local sports cable channels; Fox gets to cash out and resolve succession plans

Discussion: The Wrap, New York Times, TVNewsCheck, Fox Business, Media Matters for America, Variety, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, The Week, Deadline, The Guardian, Radio & Television …, Hollywood Reporter, Bustle, New York Times, Washington Post and Vox

The Walt Disney Company:
Disney to acquire 21st Century Fox, including stakes in Sky and Hulu, after spinoff of certain businesses like Fox News, for $52.4B in stock

Tony Romm / Recode:

A coalition of state attorneys general, led by the New York AG, pledge to sue the FCC for repealing net neutrality rules — States like Washington and New York are gearing up to fight the FCC's recent repeal — The United States is about to go to war with itself over net neutrality.

Nilay Patel / The Verge:
The inability of Ajit Pai and Republican FCC commissioners to make a fact-based case for repeal of popular net neutrality rules will be a problem for GOP

Discussion: The Wrap, VentureBeat, Digital Commerce 360, Washington Post, Forbes, New York Times, @robbymook, AOL, UPROXX, Metro, kottke.org, France 24, Bustle, naked capitalism, @matthewstoller, bookforum.com, Highsnobiety, Quartz, Adweek, Fast Company, Roll Call, FierceCable, The Daily Beast, ThinkProgress, BuzzFeed, The Hill, Ars Technica, Mother Jones, Search Engine Land, PAPERMAG, Fortune, The Drum, Motherboard, thecut, Rolling Stone, Business Insider, Denver Westword, ZDNet, Vox, Hit & Run, New York Magazine, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, The Guardian, The Mozilla Blog, USA Today, @bitchesthecat, @baratunde, @zeynep, Senator Scott Wiener, Mashable, Footwear News, Polygon, @parkermolloy, @jrosenworcel, The Gateway Pundit, @waltshaub, Axios, New York Times, Deadline, @fcc, @chillmage, Light Reading, @fcc, IndieWire, @jcstearns, @zeynep, Broadband TV News, @seanmcelwee, Slate and CBS San Francisco, more at Techmeme »

Dave McNary / Variety:

Star Wars: The Last Jedi opened with a box-office gross of $45M, the second-largest Thursday preview in North America, behind The Force Awakens — The Force remains unstoppable as Disney-Lucasfilm's “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” opened with $45 million on Thursday night.

Discussion: /Film, Deadline, Box Office Mojo, The New York Observer, CinemaBlend, IndieWire, Forbes, The A.V. Club, Fortune, UPROXX and Polygon

Isaac Stone Fish / Washington Post:

After China's Integrated Whale Media bought a majority stake in Forbes in 2014, several cases of editorial meddling have raised questions about independence — When a Chinese company buys a major American magazine, does the publication censor its coverage of China?

Discussion: @mathewi, @stinson, @gwbstr, @raykwong, @raju, @bethanyallenebr, @anderscorr, @john_hudson, @melissakchan, @whitebison66 and Talking Biz News

Shruthi Muraleedharan / Facebook:

Facebook debuts Snooze, a News Feed feature to temporarily unfollow a person, Page, or group for 30 days — One of our core News Feed values is giving people more control. Over the next week, we're launching Snooze, which will give you the option to temporarily unfollow a person, Page or group for 30 days.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Forbes, The Guardian, TechCrunch, The Ringer, UPROXX, CNET, Daily Mail, TIME, Variety, VentureBeat, The Verge, Engadget, Business Insider, Mashable, iDownloadBlog.com and Axios, more at Techmeme »

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Snap launches Lens Studio, a Mac and Windows app that lets users build their own AR lenses — Let a thousand hot dogs bloom — Snap's second official app is a tool that lets you design and build augmented reality lenses for Snapchat. The company today announced Lens Studio, a design app for Mac and Windows desktop computers.

Discussion: Digiday, Forbes, Snap Inc., TechCrunch, HYPEBEAST, xda-developers, Business Insider, The Next Web, Adweek, MacRumors, Ad Age, 9to5Mac and VentureBeat

Rebecca Leber / Mother Jones:

Environmental Protection Agency signed a no-bid $120K contract with Republican opposition research firm Definers Corp., to help track and shape press coverage — It promises “war room” style media monitoring. … Using taxpayer dollars, the Environmental Protection Agency has hired …

Discussion: Fast Company, Washington Examiner, The Hill, @weareoversight, @amy_siskind, E&E News, Mashable, ThinkProgress, Grist and Washington Post

David Shepardson / Reuters:

Sources: FCC to fine Sinclair Broadcasting $13.3M after it failed to disclose programming that aired on local TV stations was sponsored by a cancer institute — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Communications Commission plans to fine Sinclair Broadcasting Corp $13.3 million after it failed …

Discussion: Multichannel News, Axios and @hshaban

Steve Dent / Engadget:

YouTube debuts 360-degree YouTube VR app on Steam in early access for HTC Vive, but users of the beta are reporting several problems from bugs to crashes — There's a lot of VR content out there, but much of it is for one platform or another — what works on Gear VR may not on Daydream, the HTC Vive or the Oculus Rift.

more at Techmeme »

Jamie Grierson / The Guardian:

BBC appoints Fran Unsworth, currently director of BBC World Service Group, as director of news and current affairs, replacing James Harding — Head of World Service Group to take up role as director of news and current affairs after departure of James Harding

Discussion: Press Gazette

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 5:30 PM ET, December 15, 2017.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Output Producer, CA — AP

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Senior Assignment Editor, DC — WaPo

Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — Globe & Mail

Local Government Reporter, IA — The Gazette

Research Director, CA — OCBJ

Immigration Enforcement Reporter — Documented

Presque Island Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Contributing Parks Ed. - SW, CA — SFGATE

AI Content Editor, WA — Outlier

Legislative Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Editorial Assistant, Remote US — Launch Potato

Elon Musk Reporter, NY or CA — The Information

Government & Politics Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Business & GA Reporter. VT — VTDigger

Sports Reporter, WA — Everett Herald

Energy Reporter, TX — Houston Chronicle

Senior Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — FT

Reporter, WI — Racine County Eye

Political Newsletter Writer, CO — The Lever

Jackson Reporter, MS — Verite

Music Editor, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Breaking News Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Fearless Reporter/Producer, IA — BPC

Reporter II - Technology, Remote — NPR

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

City Reporter, WA — Tacoma News Tribune

Executive Editor, OR — Lookout Local

Education & Budget Reporter, CA — Politico

Senior Writer/Editor, FL — Gulfshore Business

Media Editor, Remote — Axios

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Vevo CEO Erik Huggers is stepping down; CFO Alan Price will be interim CEO while the company is looking for new leadership

Discussion: TechCrunch, Music Week and Axios

Sid Bedingfield / Washington Post:
How John G. Briggs Jr., a reporter for The New York Times in the 1950s, secretly held a side gig attacking perceived liberal bias including that of his employer

Discussion: @notjessewalker, @sopandeb, @madebyhistory and @zwoolfe

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
BT and Sky sign content-sharing deal: BT customers get access to Sky Atlantic, among other channels; Sky, BT customers gain access to all Premier League matches

Earlier Picks:

Agence France-Presse:
Norway becomes the first country to shut down national broadcasts of its FM radio network after an eleven month transition

Discussion: Daily Mail, The Independent, DailySabah and Huffington Post Australia

Jason Koebler / Motherboard:
Motherboard and Vice to build and document a Brooklyn community internet that will connect to NYC mesh network and will not rely on a traditional ISP

Discussion: @catfashionshow, @mathewi, @tjl, @karlbode, @jason_koebler, @ameliainahurry, @jason_koebler, @igorclark, @joshcogs, @camcameroncam, @jbrodkin and @vruz, more at Techmeme »

Ben Fox Rubin / CNET:
Amazon says it will start selling Apple TV and Google Chromecast again, two years after removing them

Discussion: Variety, Mashable, Reuters, Fortune, The Verge, GeekWire, xda-developers, The Next Web, ZDNet, TechCrunch, iDownloadBlog.com, 9to5Mac and AppAdvice.com, more at Techmeme »

From Techmeme:

Lee-Anne Mulholland / The Keyword:
Google files its proposed remedies in the DOJ's search antitrust lawsuit, including letting browser companies have multiple default agreements across platforms

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Exploring the scaling challenges of transformer-based LLMs in efficiently processing large amounts of text, as well as potential solutions, such as RAG systems

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page