EXEC SUMMARY: Hello from the David Koch Theater, where the tenth annual Women in the World summit is underway. There's lots of breaking news... From American Media selling the National Enquirer to the Washington Post responding to the Sandmann lawsuit... Scroll down for details...
Disney+ day is here
Thursday afternoon's Disney investor meeting is a seminal moment in the streaming wars. We're about to learn a lot more about Disney+.
Brian Lowry emails: Disney will showcase the studio's eagerly anticipated plans for Disney+, drawing upon the super-team of assets — Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar, and now Fox — that CEO Bob Iger has assembled. Some of the high-profile projects have already been announced or leaked out, but there are still plenty of unknowns, starting with how Disney decides which programs to develop where. Read on...
The details
Frank Pallotta emails: Greetings from California! The investor event will begin at 2pm local time, 5pm ET... We will have complete coverage on CNN Business...
>> Per the WSJ's Erich Schwartzel, Disney+ will launch in November. He says "the undertaking requires a whole new set of skills, and a major cultural shake-up... Employees from the backlots in Burbank to technology centers in Nebraska say the pressure is on to make it work..."
What to expect
"We expect the discussion to include specific details" about Disney+, "a strategic update on Hulu now that Disney owns 60% (vs. 30% pre-Fox) as well as the long-term vision for ESPN+, which launched exactly one year ago this week," BTIG's Richard Greenfield wrote in a blog post Wednesday. "Investors essentially want to understand whether Disney can make the transition to a 'tech company' or will this be yet another technology failure, not just for Disney but for the broader legacy media universe..."
Discovery's pitch
Television upfront season is in full swing: The "new Discovery" pitched advertisers on Wednesday, one year after Discovery acquired Scripps Networks. "We have made fantastic strides in our mission," CEO David Zaslav said. Jon Steinlauf, the company's head of ad sales, said "we've become a hit-making machine..."
What stood out to me was Steinlauf's framing of the TV playing field. "Consumers now face an avalanche of content," he said, "and in our opinion way too much of that content is commercial-free." (A jab at Netflix and Amazon.) On ad-supported TV, "sports is expensive" and "news is polarizing, and can even leave your brand at risk," he said, leaving unscripted and scripted entertainment...
>> TLC is Steinlauf's "No. 1 priority in this year's talks," AdWeek's Jason Lynch reported...
DIY Network is becoming the Chip and Joanna Gaines channel...
The "Fixer Upper" stars came on stage at Wednesday's upfront to celebrate their newly signed deal with Zaslav. The Gaines family will take over Discovery's existing DIY Network cable channel in the summer of 2020. USA Today's Gary Levin had the scoop on Wednesday morning.
Here's more from CNN's Sandra Gonzalez: "A new subscription streaming service is also in the plans... The pair will serve as chief creative officers and current HGTV president Allison Page will serve as president of the new joint venture..."
BREAKING:
NYT Opinion's Privacy Project is live
"Rather than hurriedly consenting to someone else's privacy policy, it's time for us to write our own," NYT editorial page editor James Bennet writes.
This is the launch of The Privacy Project, what Bennet calls a "monthslong initiative" to explore these issues. A set of articles will appear in a special section of Sunday's paper, though many are already online. | | Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger has a candid editorial, "How The Times Thinks About Privacy," that says the paper is "working to ensure that our own data practices live up to our values." He explains why the Times uses "trackers;" points out that other news sites use more; and says he's committed to increasing "transparency and protections." Here's the piece...
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Discovery's networks are coming to YouTube TV... And YouTube is hiking subscription package prices to $50 a month... (CNN)
-- Another bundle announcement: T-Mobile is rebranding Layer3 TV as TVision Home. "The service starts at $100 per month for more than 150 channels, minus a $9.99/month discount for T-Mobile customers, which will initially be offered to everyone..." (TechCrunch)
-- There's been a lot of grumbling about these high prices, and I understand why. Some customers signed up for a cable-like experience at a lower price. But I think these streaming products are primarily about making the cable experience better: More portable, more personal, more user-friendly. Hey, just my two cents...
Big new issue of THR...
The Hollywood Reporter's annual New York issue will be out on Thursday... Including its Most Powerful People In New York Media list...
👀 Russell Crowe as Roger Ailes
THR also has an exclusive new look at the cast members from the forthcoming Showtime series based on Gabriel Sherman's book about Fox... The feature includes this jaw-dropping photo of Russell Crowe as Roger Ailes: | |
Buy the Enquirer
Who's going to buy the National Enquirer? And at what price?
Those are the big Q's now that WaPo's Sarah Ellison and Marc Fisher broke the sale news on Wednesday. The pair reported that American Media CEO David Pecker has come under "intense pressure" -- from his board and AMI's controlling shareholder Chatham Asset Management -- to part ways with the Enquirer. Per their sources, Chatham's managing partner Anthony Melchiorre was concerned about both "the financial difficulties of the tabloid business" and "the Enquirer's tactics."
Pecker did not comment on any of that, but he did confirm that the tabloids are up for sale. Here's my full follow-up story...
>> If life were a movie… Jeff Bezos or his ex-wife MacKenzie would buy the Enquirer.
Bezos meeting with federal prosecutors
A Reliable newsletter reader spotted Jeff Bezos in NYC earlier this week... I thought about that when Erica Orden and Shimon Prokupecz published this CNN exclusive on Wednesday evening: "Bezos is scheduled to meet with federal prosecutors in New York as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The meeting signals that the US attorney's office is escalating its inquiry connected to Bezos's suggestion that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia was behind a National Enquirer story that exposed his extramarital affair and his claim that the tabloid attempted to extort him..."
>> More: Prosecutors are "seeking to obtain access to Bezos's electronic devices" to assess whether the Saudis really gained access to private info on his phone, as Gavin de Becker alleged...
>> "This could spell more problems for AMI," Prokupecz tweeted: "Prosecutors haven't reached a determination concerning the extortion claim, and they are now working to examine" de Becker's assertions...
THERE WAS EVEN *MORE* PECKER NEWS ON WEDNESDAY...
WSJ: "Hush-Money Probe Gathered Evidence From Trump's Inner Circle"
WSJ reporters Nicole Hong, Rebecca Ballhaus and Rebecca Davis O'Brien started Wednesday with this scoop: NY prosecutors have interviewed Trump's former security chief Keith Schiller -- and others from Trump's "inner circle" -- and learned about calls between Schiller and Pecker. Hope Hicks was also interviewed "last spring as part of their campaign-finance probe, which ultimately implicated the president in federal crimes."
>> On "New Day" Wednesday, Elie Honig remarked, "This is what the Southern District does: They get a thread and they pull until the sweater is completely unwound."
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- As expected, Judy Tygard is succeeding Susan Zirinsky as the exec producer of "48 Hours" at CBS... (THR)
-- Promotions at TIME: Sam Jacobs will be the deputy editor managing the newsroom, and Eben Shapiro will be the deputy editor overseeing "the launch of new editorial offerings in health, business and technology," Edward Felsenthal wrote... More new hires and new titles here... (TIME)
-- The fashion brand Everlane is "teaming up with the NYT to sell t-shirts, celebrate journalism, save the world from climate change, or all of the above..." (NiemanLab)
Facebook's newest updates
Facebook "held a four-hour long event at its Menlo Park HQ for around 20 reporters" to explain "how it is addressing misinformation and other problematic content on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger," CNN's Kaya Yurieff and Heather Kelly report.
The company announced more than a dozen updates. Read Yurieff and Kelly's full story here...
>> Key quote: "When it comes to false information by real people, we aim to reduce distribution and provide context," Facebook's VP of integrity Guy Rosen said...
Post seeks dismissal of Sandmann lawsuit
Tom Kludt emails: "Politics has nothing to do with this case, and law warrants it dismissal." That was the message delivered from the Washington Post's legal team Tuesday to a federal judge in Kentucky, seeking the dismissal of the libel lawsuit brought by Nick Sandmann and his parents. The impetus for the suit, of course, was the Post's coverage of Sandmann's conduct at a hotly contested incident in January. The lawsuit targets a pair of news articles, two pieces of commentary and three Twitter posts linking to the initial news article.
"The news articles at issue were the first of several Post articles that provided ongoing coverage of the Lincoln Memorial incident and its aftermath as additional videos and additional accounts became available," WaPo's motion said. "Plaintiff does not complain of the later news articles, but complains that the earlier ones included the observations and perspectives of the principal Native American participant in the incident and other eyewitnesses. It was neither false nor defamatory, however, for the Post to report the comments of eyewitnesses, including the only participants who were speaking publicly about the matter on the day that videos of the event went viral on the internet. Newspapers are often unable to publish a complete account of events when they first come to light. Stories often develop over time, as more witnesses emerge." The motion continues: "In short, the articles at issue may not have been flattering of the Covington Catholic students, but they do not give rise to a defamation claim by Sandmann. Indeed, the Post's overall coverage—including the articles that the Complaint fails to mention—was not only accurate; it was ultimately favorable to him."
No new comment from Sandmann's legal team
Tom Kludt adds: Sandmann, 16, has filed a similar lawsuit against CNN. In the suit against WaPo, which was filed in February, the plaintiffs' attorneys described the newspaper's coverage as a "modern-day form of McCarthyism." The Sandmanns are seeking $250 million in the suit. The familys lawyers, L. Lin Wood and Todd McMurty, did not respond to my request for a response to WaPo's motion to dismiss. A WaPo spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the motion...
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- After Warner Bros. made a copyright claim against a pro-Trump video using the "Dark Knight" theme, the video was removed from Twitter... (CNN)
-- TVs at military exchanges -- meaning food courts, malls and other common areas -- "will no longer show news channels 'due to their divisive political nature...'" (Stripes)
-- Read Tyler Pager on "how misinformation is driving the measles outbreak among ultra-Orthodox Jews..." (NYT)
| | "Trump is calling people 'treasonous' with increasing frequency"
That's a quote from Maggie Haberman's Twitter feed on Wednesday night, shortly after the president tweeted that "I think what the Democrats are doing with the Border is TREASONOUS."
"Watching him play with the word 'treasonous' is like watching a kid play with a bunch of fireworks," NYT opinion writer Binyamin Appelbaum tweeted in response...
Nikki Haley's book is coming this fall
Katie Pellico writes: Nikki Haley is joining the illustrious book-deal club. St. Martin's Press announced Wednesday that the (as yet title-less) book "about her life and leadership" will be published this fall. It promises to "candidly" cover her tenure as South Carolina governor and UN ambassador...
Oprah's keynote
Oprah Winfrey delivered the opening keynote on the first day of the tenth annual Women in the World Summit in NYC. Chloe Melas will have a full story up on CNN.com overnight.
Winfrey said she was willing to bet that this year's 42 newly elected congresswomen "have experience with issues that few congressmen have ever had to face." She said "this diverse new generation of congresswomen has been forged by fire, and this is what I know for sure: we are all the better and the sharper for it." She also gave shout outs to other women, including former Democratic candidate for Georgia governor Stacey Abrams -- a "force of nature" -- and Chicago's mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot...
>> Spotted at Tina Brown's dinner after the evening sessions: Gayle King dining with Stephanie Ruhle, Amy Emmerich catching up with Rachel Sklar, Nancy Dubuc, Fiona Carter, Pam Wasserstein, Donna Karan, Kara Swisher, Jessica Bennett, Cyndi Stivers, Ash Bennington, David Fano, Huma Abedin, Padma Lakshmi, Alan Patricof, Poppy Harlow, Richard Haass, Susan Mercandetti, Chris Licht, Richard Cohen, Richard Edelman, and many more...
Chris Cuomo says he's "built for the battle" | | For the aforementioned New York issue of THR, CNN's Chris Cuomo spoke with Jeremy Barr about being "the only 9 p.m. anchor to draw fire from both sides of the political spectrum."
Cuomo on his cable news competition: "Maddow's a professor, Hannity's a preacher... I was built for the battle." Read the full interview here...
How to cover the Mueller Report when it's finally released
Brian Lowry emails: This is a good read from Lawfare's Benjamin Wittes and Quinta Jurecic about the media essentially getting a do-over re: how to read / cover / characterize the Mueller Report, with point-by-point advice on how not to screw it up. Among the key suggestions:
-- "The big story, at least initially, is not how people are reacting to the report."
-- "Accept that there could be more than one story to tell about the report's contents."
-- "There may not be a one-sentence characterization of the Mueller report that is accurate and useful. So embrace complexity."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Debuting on this week's NYT best selling books list: Susan Page's book about Barbara Bush is at No. 3, Ramin Setoodeh's book about "The View" is at No. 5... (Twitter)
-- The NYT's "perspective targeting" project is "a hit," successfully using insights into a given article's "emotional resonance" to sell tailored premium ads. In other words, the NYT sells ads "based on how an article makes you feel," all the while being "less intrusive" in doing... (Poynter)
-- "Asking Alexa for the news will no longer just mean asking for a five-minute MP3 file" of the latest headlines "to be played — it'll be like turning on the radio." By April 15, Alexa devices will offer long-form news when users ask, "Alexa, play news from" their outlet of choice, like NPR, Bloomberg or CNN. Joshua Benton says "this is a big deal for audio news producers, especially NPR..." (NiemanLab)
-- Brian Lowry emails with this recommended read: Rachel Abrams takes a deep dive into the mismanagement and decline of the Friars Club, and unlike its signature roasts, there's not much funny about it... (NYT)
📰 A case for the physical paper...
Katie Pellico emails: Two pieces made the case for the primacy of the physical newspaper on Wednesday: The New Yorker's dotcom editor Michael Luo described the "urgent quest for slower, better news," highlighting the "tyranny of the trending story" and the need for a new system of delivering news online.
And Andrew Ferguson, one of The Atlantic's newest staff writers, relayed the results of his "experiment in home delivery," returning to the "four-paper a day" days of yore, "before the internet completed its digital disaggregation of the newspaper business." Ferguson concludes, "I am so pleased by the success of this experiment that I can no longer remember why I undertook it, although through my daze of self-satisfaction I am pretty sure that money was involved."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
-- Independent Journal Review is the latest site to try a "membership" model... It's a "pilot" program... (IJR)
-- Justin Ray addresses "the problem with Captain America's new 'both sides' website." CNN reported Saturday that Chris Evans is planning a "civics engagement project" called "A Starting Point..." (CJR)
-- Netflix is planning to publish a magazine "with the working title Wide" to "promote its programs and stars ahead of this year's Emmys," Lucas Shaw reports... (Bloomberg)
Lori Loughlin's former series returning without her in May
"The Hallmark Channel has announced a return date for Lori Loughlin's former TV series, 'When Calls the Heart,'" Chloe Melas reports. "The period drama, which had been on a production hiatus, will return with two new episodes on May 5 and 6." It is not yet known "how Loughlin's departure will be addressed on the show..."
Nipsey Hussle funeral expected to draw thousands
A "Celebration of Life" service for Nipsey Hussle will be held at the Staples Center in L.A. on Thursday morning... CNN's team will have full coverage...
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
-- Beginning Monday, Netflix is making its massive comedy library available on a new SiriusXM channel, called Netflix Is A Joke... (TheWrap)
-- Chloe Melas emails: Sam Elliott tells me he was once told to alter his iconic voice. Thankfully he didn't listen!
-- The full-length "Lion King" trailer came out Wednesday. I'm not crying, you're crying... | | Chloe's interview with Robert De Niro
Chloe Melas emails: Robert De Niro spoke with me about his reason for releasing "The Irishman" on Netflix later this year and his message to Hollywood's Netflix critics, such as Steven Spielberg. Check it out here...
Hulu orders a Theranos show
Just last night, Jamie and I were chatting with "The Inventor" director Alex Gibney about the hunger for more and more about Elizabeth Holmes... Then I saw this headline...
"Hulu is closing a deal for 'The Dropout,' a limited series starring and executive produced by Kate McKinnon based on ABC News/ABC Radio's podcast about the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and her company, Theranos," Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reported Wednesday. "McKinnon will play the disgraced wunderkind entrepreneur Holmes and will executive produce the limited drama series, whose length is expected to be between 6-10 episodes." Rebecca Jarvis, who hosted the ABC podcast, will also be an E.P....
Lowry not a fan of "Hellboy"
Brian Lowry emails: "Stranger Things'" David Harbour stars in a new version of "Hellboy," 15 years after Ron Perlman played the half-demon hero. But the only innovation in this R-rated version involves ratcheting up the gore, which becomes numbing enough to make sitting through the film worthy of its protagonist's subterranean origins. Read on...
>> Related: TheWrap's Umberto Gonzalez and Tim Molloy has a detailed story about the movie's behind the scenes drama...
FOR THE RECORD, PART SEVEN
By Lisa Respers France:
-- Oprah is partnering with Prince Harry for this documentary series about mental health for Apple...
-- Despite what Jose Canseco claims, Jennifer Lopez doesn't believe her fiancé Alex Rodriguez cheated on her...
-- Elisabeth Moss discussed her Scientology beliefs in this new interview...
"Kim Kardashian West is studying to become a lawyer"
Vogue's Jonathan Van Meter buried this lede in Vogue's May cover story, out Wednesday: Kim Kardashian West made an "unlikely decision... to begin a four-year apprenticeship with a law firm in San Francisco, with the goal of taking the bar in 2022."
If you're wondering why, there are two reasons Van Meter offers from Kim KW: A "combination of 'seeing a really good result' with Alice Marie Johnson and feeling out of her depth." She told Van Meter, "The White House called me to advise to help change the system of clemency, and I'm sitting in the Roosevelt Room with, like, a judge who had sentenced criminals and a lot of really powerful people and I just sat there, like, Oh, s---. I need to know more..."
"Game of Thrones" countdown
Lisa Respers France emails: In a new interview with EW, the "Game of Thrones" showrunners say of course they are worried about how viewers will receive the ending they have come up with for the series finale...
"GoT" on Sunday's "60"
| | Sunday's "60 Minutes" segment, announced on Wednesday, will include "an exclusive clip from the opening episode of the much-anticipated season," CBS says.
Anderson Cooper got up close and personal with Ned Stark's head for the story, and interviewed George R.R. Martin, Dan Weiss, David Benioff, Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, and Kit Harington...
>> Cooper was on Wednesday's "Late Show with Stephen Colbert" with a clip from his "60" story -- where he is made up to be a White Walker from the series...
| | | Thank you for reading. Email me anytime! See you tomorrow... | | | |
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