 Kevin Spacey |
Kevin Spacey was one of the few low points for Netflix in its generally upbeat fourth-quarter earnings presentation. Deadline Hollywood reports that the $39 million write-down included in that presentation was at least partly related to two projects that involved Spacey—the final season of the streamer’s hit series House of Cards and the feature Gore, which he starred in as Gore Vidal. The House of Cards set was shut down following the charges made against Spacey in October and the already-completed Gore was shelved. While Netflix CFO David Wells noted that write-downs are not that unusual for the company, “we just hadn’t had one of this magnitude.” Despite that setback, there was much for Netflix to be happy about—including 8.3 million new subscribers in the fourth quarter despite a price hike, and profits of $186 million. That performance brought the company’s shares up 8 percent, to a record price of $246.
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Digital media company Funny or Die is letting go of its entire editorial staff, according to a report on Paste. Founded by Creative Artists Agency and Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy, with Judd Apatow a principal partner, the company previously laid off about 30% of its staff during a restructuring in the summer of 2016. “Like a lot of other digital media companies, we’re facing tough challenges that we can no longer ignore, and so we must adapt,” Funny or Die CEO Mike Farah wrote in a memo to employees. The cuts are said to be part of a strategy by the company to move away from online content and toward producing shows for television.
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Comcast’s fourth-quarter financials, reported yesterday, show that streaming services aren’t the only companies benefiting in the current media environment. While Comcast saw more than 33,000 video customers head for the exits in the fourth quarter, the blow was softened by the addition of 350,000 high-speed internet customers. The company now boasts more than 29.3 million subscribers overall. In addition, Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit showed record profits for 2017. Universal Pictures brought in $5 billion in revenue for the year, while theme parks, broadcast and cable networks also saw increases. The cable networks segment boosted its revenue by 7.5 percent, and content licensing and other revenue were up 34.5 percent.
Fox News Media issued a pretty sparse release to announce the departure of one of its stars. “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media,” it reads.
Brunswick Group partner John Simons has joined CNN as senior director of business & media. He held top jobs at Time and the Wall Street Journal.
WNET, the nation’s largest public media company, names Edward O’Keefe its next president and CEO, effective September 21. O’Keefe succeeds Neal Shapiro, who becomes president emeritus and will retire at the end of the year... The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would empower news publishers and other content providers to defend themselves by mandating transparency for all bots crawling their sites, in introduced in the House by Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC)... Google gets socked by European Union regulators with a $1 billion fine for using the platform’s dominance as a search engine to illegally undercut competition.
Boston Globe Media acquires InstaTrac, a company that provides subscription-based services aimed at making government information easier to find, track, and understand... AARP names former New Republic CEO and publisher Michael Caruso as its SVP and chief content officer, unifying the organization's portfolio of media, live events and digital platforms... The Fund for American Studies, an educational nonprofit, awards its inaugural Journalism Excellence Fellowships.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
