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Hearst scooped up Rodale’s magazine and publishing business in yet another example of the consolidation trend of reshaping the business. Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Bicycling and Prevention are among the titles in deal worth in the $225M range. The transaction is expected to close in early ’18. Rodale, which has been on a profit slide, sold off real estate and went through multiple rounds of staff reductions before the entire company was put up for sale earlier this year.
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Verizon is under increasing pressure to release its own streaming service, as consumer flight from basic cable to those services picks up steam. While the company added 66,000 net Internet connections during Q3 2017, it lost 18,000 net Fios Video connections, more than the 15,000 it lost in the second quarter and its dip of 13,000 in the first. Verizon’s new online TV service is now scheduled for a spring 2018 launch, According to Bloomberg, the debut of the service has been delayed at least twice. Verizon earlier this year acquired Yahoo, which it is combining with AOL to form the new Oath unit.
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VidAngel, a service intended to filter out offensive content such as nudity and violence from movies and programs on outlets such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an attempt to hit the pause button on its copyright battle with several major studios. The company is at loggerheads with Disney, 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros, New Line Cinema, Marvel and Turner Entertainment, all of whom claim that the 2005 Family Movie Act—which allows filtering in the home—does not apply to modern streaming devices such as iOS, Android and ROKU. VidAngel launched a new platform in June that covers those devices. VidAngel CEO Neal Harmon said that the filing “gives us breathing room to reorganize our business around the new streaming platform, promote and perfect the new technology, and seek a legal determination that the new system is fully legal and not subject to the preliminary injunction entered in California.”
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.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has named Kenneth Weinstein, former head of the conservative Hudson Institute, as ombudsman for CBS News.
