Top News:
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:
Deadline, /Film, Box Office Mojo, The New York Observer, Forbes, The Wrap, 89.3 KPCC, CinemaBlend, The A.V. Club, IndieWire, Fortune, Forbes, UPROXX and Polygon
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
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Yashar Ali / HuffPost:
Ten current and former Fox News on-air staffers say they faced harassment by execs and talent, refuting Rupert Murdoch's dismissal of allegations as “nonsense” — The media mogul said claims of rampant sexual harassment at the network are “nonsense.”
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, UPROXX and New York Times
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
Discussion:
The Wrap, Sky News, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, CBS San Francisco, TVNewser, Fast Company, The Daily Caller, Bloomberg, Politico, Variety, New York Times, Business Insider, Los Angeles Times, Mediaite and Axios
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, The A.V. Club, Recode, CNBC, Business Insider and Los Angeles Times
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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
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, Deadline, Adweek, Variety, The New York Observer, The Wrap, Boing Boing, TVNewser, /Film and TVSpy
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
Discussion:
New York Times, Business Insider, Forbes, The Guardian, CinemaBlend, Fortune, Radio Times, CNNMoney, CNBC, New York Post, Gizmodo, Polygon, ESPN, Variety, Mashable, Reuters, Reynolds Center, Wall Street Journal, io9, CNET, The Daily Caller, The Wrap, The New York Observer, Fast Company, Home Media Magazine, Washington Post, FierceCable, TechCrunch, Radio & Television …, Bustle, USA Today, The Week and Ad Age
Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost:
Assistant US Attorney Rizwan Qureshi calls journalist's knowledge of terms “black bloc” and “kettle” suspicious in Trump inauguration felony cases — The U.S. government told a D.C. jury that six people — including a photographer and two medics — “agreed to destroy your city.”
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, The Guardian, Forbes, TechCrunch, Pocket-lint, The Verge, VentureBeat, The Ringer, Variety, Mashable, iDownloadBlog.com, UPROXX, CNET, Daily Mail, TIME, Engadget, Business Insider, Mashable and Axios, more at Techmeme »
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.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Ars Technica, Talking New Media, New York Times, Washington State, The Verge, CityLab, Metro, Bustle, Ars Technica, Fast Company, The New York Observer, kottke.org, U.S. Senator Ed Markey …, The Montana Post, Fortune, @matthewstoller, Forbes, Talking Biz News, 9to5Mac, New York Magazine, Free Press, New York Times and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
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, Talking Biz News, @stinson, @gwbstr, @raykwong, @raju, @bethanyallenebr, @anderscorr, @john_hudson, @melissakchan and @whitebison66
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 …
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:
Broadcasting & Cable, 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.
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, 9to5Mac and VentureBeat
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