 Jeffrey Katzenberg |
NewTV, the mobile video startup from Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, has attracted $1B in seed financial from investors including Sony, MGM, Viacom and Madrone Capital, which is led by Walmart chairman Greg Penner. The venture, which is scheduled to launch by the end of 2019, will consist of short-form programming tailored to be viewed on smartphones. According to Katzenberg, there will be a two-tiered subscription structure: a plan that will carry no advertising plus what is being referred to as an “advertising-light” option. The focus on smartphone viewing, Katzenberg says, means that NewTV will not be a competitor with such services as Hulu, Netflix or the broadcast networks. “It’s a completely different use case,” he told Variety. The service is projected to feature both scripted and nonscripted shows in a number of genres, but it will not include live TV. The company will not produce its own shows, instead relying on licensed programming.
 Bob Iger |
The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger says that its new streaming service, slated for next year, will likely be positioned as a lower-cost option to Netflix. One reason for that is what Iger says is the smaller amount of content the service will have in relation to the streaming giant. “They’re in the high-volume game,” Iger said, “but we don’t really need to do that.” In addition to titles from Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel, the Disney service will include ESPN+, the sports network’s streaming service that was launched in April, and Hulu, which Disney now controls following its recent acquisition of a significant portion of Fox. It will also generate such original programming as a live-action Star Wars series and new Marvel content. Iger says that the company feels little need to rush to acquire more content, since “the only place people will be able to get Disney-Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel product will be here.”
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Snapchat lost two million daily users in the second quarter, the company says, the first quarterly drop it has reported. Analysts had expected a gain of nearly two million users. The drop is being interpreted as a possible sign of slowing growth for social media. A portion of the blame is being placed on a poorly received redesign in February, which had been intended to lead users toward watching more videos on the site. Snapchat has also been impacted by the growing prominence of Instagram Stories, which reports that it has 300 million daily active users. Despite the user shortfall, Snap’s revenues maintained their upward trend. With average revenue per user increasing to $1.40 from $1.05 a year ago, Snap brought in $262 million, topping the average estimate of $250.43 million. And the fact that Snapchat has more users than Instagram in the 12-to-24 demographic may be a sign of future growth.
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach an agreement that will make a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars available for use by Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform... CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has moved Tony Dokoupil, a co-host at “CBS Mornings” since 2019, into the anchor’s chair for the “CBS Evening News,” following the departure of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois... USA Today editor-in-chief Caren Bohan has left the paper.
Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her site for $155M... C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence... A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low.
