Top News:
CNBC:
Sources: Shari Redstone is likely to replace CBS CEO Les Moonves and the company's board if proposed merger deal with Viacom falls through — - Shari Redstone is likely to replace CBC chief Les Moonves if no merger deal is reached with Viacom, sources tell CNBC.
Discussion:
CNNMoney, Deadline, Multichannel News, New York Post, Business Insider, TVWeek.com, FierceCable and Seeking Alpha
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Kim Masters / Hollywood Reporter:
Sources: Viacom-CBS merger is overshadowed by a dispute between Les Moonves and Shari Redstone over who should be Moonves' No. 2 at new company — Leslie Moonves is open to merging CBS and Viacom — on his terms — but Shari Redstone, eager for power, may be ready to sacrifice Hollywood's most celebrated exec to chart her own path.
Washington Post:
TV stations bought by Sinclair reduce local political coverage, increase national political coverage, and shift rightward, according to Emory researchers — In recent weeks, news anchors at local TV stations across the country have warned Americans about the “sharing of biased and false news” …
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Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Sinclair uses banner ads on affiliates' websites to point to a YouTube video criticizing Brian Stelter and CNN for a “hypocritical attack on Sinclair”
Sinclair uses banner ads on affiliates' websites to point to a YouTube video criticizing Brian Stelter and CNN for a “hypocritical attack on Sinclair”
Discussion:
Poynter, FierceCable, @passantino, @dpclemens, Fox News, @robertfeder, @mattdpearce, Mediaite, @perlberg, HuffPost, @mtdukes, CNNMoney, @brianstelter, @mattdpearce and Deadspin
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify and Hulu launch a combined subscription bundle for $12.99 per month for Spotify Premium users, available to all users later this summer — Last fall, Hulu and Spotify teamed up to offer students a bundle including both of their services for a discounted price, compared with paying for each subscription separately.
Discussion:
Multichannel News, MediaPost, The Wrap, Fast Company, Fortune, Gizmodo, Engadget and MacRumors, more at Techmeme »
David Folkenflik / NPR:
In historic move, staff at The Chicago Tribune, a paper with a decades-old tradition of taking a labor-skeptic stance, inform bosses of their plan to unionize — One of the nation's oldest and most prestigious regional newspapers, The Chicago Tribune, could soon have a unionized staff.
Discussion:
HuffPost, Business Insider, @cmonstah, The NewsGuild - CWA, Chicago Sun-Times, @bisforberkshire, @iduncan, @rexhuppke and @mattdpearce
Todd Spangler / Variety:
European Commission investigators raid London offices of 21st Century Fox's Fox Networks Group in broad probe of anti-competitive practices around sports rights — The London offices of 21st Century Fox's Fox Networks Group were raided by European Commission investigators Tuesday …
Discussion:
Press Gazette, The Guardian, Telegraph, Fortune, NPR, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg, CNBC, The Guardian, Financial Times, Mediaite, The Wrap and Politico
Joseph Otterson / Variety:
Apple is developing a TV series based on Isaac Asimov's “Foundation” book trilogy; HBO previously attempted to adapt it for screen with Westworld's co-creator — Apple is developing a drama series based on the “Foundation” book trilogy by Isaac Asimov, Variety has confirmed.
Discussion:
Deadline, The Verge, @jonrosenberg, TechCrunch, /Film, The A.V. Club, 9to5Mac, The Wrap and Seeking Alpha
Shirley Halperin / Variety:
Apple promotes Oliver Schusser to vice president of Apple Music & International Content, as Music surpasses 40M paid subscribers worldwide — Oliver Schusser is promoted to head of Apple Music Worldwide, reporting to Eddy Cue. — Fleetwood Mac to Tour With Neil Finn …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, The Verge, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Seeking Alpha and Gizmodo
Matt Weinberger / Business Insider:
In his Congress testimony on Tues, Mark Zuckerberg rejected a conventional piece of Silicon Valley wisdom: that platforms aren't responsible for content posted — - Mark Zuckerberg told US Congress that “I agree we are responsible for the content” on Facebook.
Discussion:
The Drum, U.S. Senator Ed Markey … and AOL, more at Techmeme »
Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:
CNN announces six new original series, slated for 2019, including one, American Style, produced by Vox Media's programming division Vox Entertainment — Vox Entertainment is producing a four-part show on fashion called ‘American Style.’ — On Wednesday, CNN announced plans for six …
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
The Washington Post to test subscriber-only features, including cleaner article pages with infinite scroll, midterm elections newsletter, and an audio series — With help from Jeff Bezos' money, The Washington Post has shown the ability to hit big audience gains and grow digital subscriptions …
Discussion:
@maxslaterrobins
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Avi Selk / Washington Post:
Sen. Ted Cruz cited Diamond and Silk, two Trump fans with 1.4M followers whose videos were deemed unsafe, as an example of Facebook's anti-conservative bias — Two sisters famous for praising President Trump say Facebook has deemed their videos dangerous. — Lynette Hardaway …
Jeff Beer / Fast Company:
Ad companies team up to create the Advertising Protection Bureau to have more leverage in demanding accountability from media platforms for ad placement — IPG Mediabrands' UM appoints its first chief brand safety officer and teams with others in the industry to launch the Advertiser Protection Bureau.
Discussion:
MediaPost