TGIT! Here's the latest on Paramount, the NYT, NPR, Mark Levin, MSNBC, Jessica Rosenworcel, ESPN, Universal, "Hamilton," and much more... |
The David Ellison era of Paramount Skydance begins today.
The protracted and politically tainted transaction, shifting control of Paramount's iconic media brands from Shari Redstone to Ellison and Gerry Cardinale, officially "closed," in merger speak, just a few minutes ago.
Ellison and some of his key lieutenants are dropping by the CBS News offices in NYC right now — a symbolic first stop on his tour around the newly combined company. Then it's off to Paramount's Times Square HQ for, among other meetings, a luncheon with media reporters.
Ellison was intentionally very quiet during the Trumped-up merger review process. Today is his first real chance to articulate his plan for the media company, beginning with this open letter to employees, shareholders, and consumers.
"We recognize that realizing our ambitions in today's dynamic and fiercely competitive global market won't be easy," he wrote, noting "generational change in our industry," which Ellison, 42, is very much a part of.
He named three priorities: "Investing in our growth businesses anchored by our creative engines and superior storytelling," "scaling our direct-to-consumer business [Paramount+ and Pluto TV] globally," and "driving efficiency enterprise-wide with a focus on long-term free cash flow generation."
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Ellison's 'big push to digital frontiers' |
Ellison "was once shrugged off as a billionaire's son (his father is Oracle founder Larry Ellison) with an airplane collection," Variety's Matt Donnelly writes in this walk-up piece. "But sources across the media sphere say that he has matured into a worthy leader, with a grasp of both the business and the art of making movies and shows."
THR's Steven Zeitchik and Alex Weprin have another excellent look ahead here, noting that Ellison has privately "talked up his tech game and has cited family friend Steve Jobs as a mentor who gave him early tough love on Skydance." Their sources indicate that Ellison is keenly interested in gaming, reflecting his plan to "make a big push to digital frontiers."
Ellison has assembled a strong senior leadership team and has foreshadowed big changes. (Backend tech functions at Paramount are "archaic," Donnelly's story says, and Ellison's letter this morning pledges to fix that, citing "tech" ten times.) But Donnelly also notes that Ellison has "never run something as massive as Paramount, with its more than 18,000 employees." His first town hall with staffers will be fascinating to watch, especially since he's telling Wall Street that he expects "to not only achieve — but meaningfully exceed — the $2 billion in real efficiencies we previously announced."
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Still pursuing The Free Press? |
Ellison's letter also touts "60 Minutes" by name and nods to the news division's "storied" history. He says "we recognize it's been a challenging period and we're deeply grateful for your resilience, professionalism, and unwavering commitment to the news business. We take immense pride in CBS News' legacy of impactful journalism and look forward to continuing to foster a newsroom culture where journalists are empowered, trusted, and equipped to do their best work."
CBS News president Tom Cibrowski sent a note to the newsroom this morning encouraging people to come welcome Ellison. One topic the CEO will likely dodge if asked: Anything relating to his meetings with Bari Weiss and pursuit of The Free Press. There is no deal at the moment. There has also been buzz about David Rhodes possibly returning to run CBS News, "but, as of now, that doesn’t appear to be happening," Oliver Darcy reported in Status last night.
Speaking of Paramount's assets...
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'South Park' does it again |
Last night the animated series "stepped up its rampage against the Trump administration in the highly anticipated second episode of its new season, targeting numerous conservative figures," from Kristi Noem and JD Vance to Charlie Kirk. The Daily Beast's Michael Boyle has a recap here.
>> Ellison's letter also references the show, saying "our focus remains on investing in areas where we see meaningful opportunity for growth, as demonstrated by our recent five-year global streaming exclusivity deal for South Park on Paramount+."
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Teeing up Trump with misinfo |
For the past decade, I have been writing newsletter items about President Trump being misled by his right-wing media sources. (Remember "last night in Sweden" in 2017?) Rarely, though, have I seen an example as clear and on-camera as this one:
While reporters asked important questions during an Oval Office photo op yesterday, Brian Glenn of Real America's Voice threw out an "entertainment" topic for Trump to chew on. Glenn mentioned Stephen Colbert's cancellation, then said "Howard Stern announced" that he is "parting ways" with SiriusXM, and suggested the "hate-Trump business model" has failed.
The problem: Stern hasn't announced anything like that. As we wrote yesterday, there is a tabloid story saying SiriusXM doesn't expect Stern to accept their new contract offer, but Glenn's statement was all wrong. Trump sounded surprised — "What happened? He got terminated?" — but went along with the premise, since, after all, Glenn is one of his very favorite White House questioners...
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Thus, Trump was misinformed, in real time, and regurgitated the misinfo to the public. Trump went on to claim that his old shock jock pal Stern "went down when he endorsed Hillary Clinton." (His implication was that Stern's show became a failure, but four years after that endorsement, SiriusXM signed Stern to another five-year contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars.)
Anyway, an ordinary White House correspondent would feel mortified for misinforming POTUS like that. But Glenn is a pro-Trump internet personality. 🤷♂️ To borrow a cliche, he plays by different rules. He recently teed up a question to Trump about his girlfriend Marjorie Taylor Greene's No Tax on Home Sales Act without any disclosure. (Then MTG tweeted to Trump, thanking him for supporting it.)
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NPR CEO asserts confidence |
"Roughly half of our membership" will "have to make significant adaptations in response to losing federal funding," NPR CEO Katherine Maher says in a new interview with WaPo's Scott Nover. Dozens of stations may go dark. Others may need what NPR is calling "fee relief." Maher is expressing confidence in the overall system's ability to evolve. She said stations are "working in a more coordinated and strategic fashion than they've had to in the past." Read on...
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A constitutional coding error? |
"Congress' website for the U.S. Constitution was changed to delete the last two sections of Article I, which include provisions such as habeas corpus, forbidding the naming of titles of nobility, and forbidding foreign emoluments for U.S. officials," Samantha Cole reported for 404 Media yesterday. Later in the day, the Library of Congress said the error was caused by missing code and rectified the error.
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Stanford Daily files suit |
Stanford's student-run newspaper, The Stanford Daily, is suing the Trump admin "over its decision to use part of a federal immigration law to target and deport pro-Palestinian activists, arguing the government’s effort has impermissibly chilled students' First Amendment rights," CNN's Devan Cole reports.
As evidence of the chill, "attorneys for the newspaper said in the lawsuit that international students on staff are turning down assignments related to the war in Gaza or 'seeking removal of their previous articles about it.'" (Other campus papers across the country have reported the same.)
"There's real fear on campus and it reaches into the newsroom," Stanford Daily EIC Greta Reich said in a statement. The plaintiffs are being represented by FIRE, which also represents student activists Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk. "If this case fails, we become the kind of country free thinkers avoid, not one they aspire to find," FIRE CEO Greg Lukianoff said.
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>> New York Times Co. shares surged more than 15% yesterday on the back of a sterling quarterly earnings report. (Poynter)
>> Dylan Byers says "earnings season has thrown the disparate fortunes" of NYT Co. and Dow Jones "into sharp relief with the worsening situation at The Washington Post." (Puck)
>> The Post buyouts have been "gutting." What's next? Ike Allen says "current and former Post journalists feel conflicted about what this moment represents." (Washingtonian)
>> Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN's parent) "posted a surprise second-quarter profit" this morning "as its subscriber base expanded from the international rollout of HBO Max and blockbuster hits like 'A Minecraft Movie' boosted the studio unit." (Reuters)
>> Variety and Rolling Stone are holding their annual Truth Seekers Summit next week. (Variety)
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Google exec dismisses 'Google Zero' |
Google really, really wants you to believe that publishers aren't being eviscerated by the shift from traditional search results to AI-driven answers, even though many news websites have been feeling the impacts. In a blog post countering the "Google Zero" narrative yesterday, Liz Reid said, "total organic click volume from Google Search to websites has been relatively stable year-over-year" and "average click quality has increased." But user trends, she said, are "shifting traffic to different sites, resulting in decreased traffic to some sites and increased traffic to others." I heard from news execs who scoffed at the argument...
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>> "MasterChef" is back on TV with "a new series that was filmed before hosts Gregg Wallace and John Torode were sacked." (BBC)
>> Fox's Mark Levin is back at #1 on the NYT best sellers list with his latest release, "On Power." (NYT)
>> MSNBC is announcing another seven hires for its DC bureau. Meanwhile, NBC News is promoting Michelle Perry to be its deputy DC bureau chief. (TheWrap)
>> The Daily Beast media reporter Corbin Bolies is heading to TheWrap. (X)
>> Former FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is becoming exec director at MIT Media Lab. (MIT)
>> The Verge is launching three new subscriber-only newsletters, including "Regulator" by Tina Nguyen, looking at "how tech and politics have crashed into one another." (The Verge)
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FCC chair Brendan Carr says he wants to "empower local broadcasters." He says "localism is one of the key guiding stars of our media policy." So what's he going to do about the ownership cap? Comments were due to the FCC earlier this week, resulting in some familiar battle lines being drawn.
NAB, the trade group that advocates for station owners, wants the caps eliminated, of course. It's "an outdated rule that prevents local broadcasters from reaching more than 39% of U.S. households," NAB says. And "the need for TV broadcasters to gain scale now has become an emergency."
But numerous other groups oppose raising or removing the cap, from pay TV operators to press freedom groups and labor unions. Even Newsmax weighed in, warning that loosening the current rules "would stifle media diversity" and "diminish local news coverage." Many of the players also argued that the FCC lacks the authority to adjust the cap.
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>> Brian Lowry asks: "Can ESPN cover the NFL fairly now that it's part of the team?" (TheWrap)
>> No, says Ray Ratto, who scathingly writes that ESPN is now "the cymbal-playing windup toy in the NFL's media orchestra." (Defector)
>> There is considerable confusion about ESPN's deal for "WrestleMania" and other premium WWE events. Ben Axelrod tries to sort it out. (Awful Announcing)
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Universal's warning to AI systems |
For two months, Universal Pictures has "attached a legal warning at the end credits of its films stating that their titles 'may not be used to train AI,'" a disclaimer that the studio has so far attached to "How to Train Your Dragon," "Jurassic World Rebirth," and "Bad Guys 2." THR's Winston Cho writes that, in doing so, "the worldwide insertion of the language adds another layer of protection against the theft of its movies for data mining and AI training purposes."
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Entertainment notes and quotes |
>> Jussie Smollett is returning to Fox, joining "the network's competition show 'Special Forces: World's Toughest Test' in the fall" more than six years after leaving the network's "Empire." (THR)
>> Marking the 10-year anniversary of Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton," Disney "will be releasing their feature-film version" theatrically on Sept. 5. (TheWrap)
>> Speaking of "Hamilton," Hannah Sampson profiled Thayne Jasperson, "the only actor who's been in 'Hamilton' the whole time." He's not throwing away his shot! (WaPo)
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