Viacom is making a change at the top of Comedy Central: President Michele Ganeless will be replaced by Kent Alterman, who as president of original programming guided shows including Inside Amy Schumer. Ganeless said in a statement that the decision to leave was hers, adding that she wanted to challenge herself in new ways.
As expected, the FCC on Thursday approved — with conditions — Charter Communications’ purchase of Time Warner Cable for $55.1 billion. The commission said an order detailing its reasoning and the conditions will be issued in the coming days.
Charter Communications Inc.’s purchase of Time Warner Cable Inc. has won approval from a majority at the FCC, a person familiar with the vote said. The development leaves assent from California as the final regulatory hurdle for the $55.1 billion deal.
Exclusives
Discovery Communications is planning staff cuts to the tune of $40 million-$60 million through the end of September. The company disclosed in an Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday that it began notifying employees of a voluntary buyout initiative.
The FCC said late on Tuesday it had approved European telecom group Altice NV’s acquisition of U.S. cable company Cablevision Systems in a $17.7 billion deal that includes assumption of debt. The Dutch firm still needs approval from the state of New York and New York City. If the deal is approved, Altice would become the fourth largest U.S. cable provider. Cablevision has 3.1 million subscribers, mostly in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
ESPN and Vice are collaborating on content in a deal that will see films from ESPN’s 30 for 30 series airing on the new Viceland network and Vice Sports producing new series for ESPN, the companies said today. One curious note in the announcement came via ESPN President John Skipper on his upstart new partner: “I applaud [Vice CEO] Shane [Smith] for understanding that television is the smartest path to worldwide leadership.”
Donald J. Hall Jr., chief executive officer of Hallmark Cards, announced that Hallmark has completed the short-form merger with Crown Media Holdings, home of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, and has taken the company private.
Charter Communications expects to finally close its acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks “within a few days” of the California Public Utilities Commission’s May 12 approval vote of the deals. The combined company will be named simply “Charter.”
On Wednesday, Entertainment Studios Inc. (ESI) and The National Association of African American-Owned Media (NAAAOM) sent a letter to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) claiming that BPU […]
Charter Deal For TWC Looks Good To Go
The U.S. Justice Department approved Charter Communications’ proposed $88 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable and Bright House networks on Monday. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler then circulated an order seeking approval of the deal from the five-member FCC.
Ricardo Bilton lays out a few key details about Univision and Fusion now that Disney is out of the picture. First, the millennial site is now part of a new Fusion Media Group division, which also includes The Onion and The Root. Reportedly, Disney and Univision also clashed over the brand’s edginess and “political tone.” But the move, along with Univision’s many recent ones in digital, is costly. Univision is $50 million in the hole to buy Disney out, and meanwhile Fusion had $63.5 million in revenue last year and $37 million in losses.
Univision won’t say how it came to assume the Disney-owned network’s stake in Fusion — which had been a joint venture — or, assuming it’s a sale, how much it paid. But it does say that it has already replaced ABC in distributing the network, and handling ad sales.
Comcast is going to launch an app on the streaming-TV gadget Roku that takes the place of a cable box. Comcast is also working on a cable-TV app for Samsung smart TVs. Comcast doesn’t say when the apps will be available. Only people in places where Comcast provides cable service could get it, but they don’t have to get Comcast internet too.
Curt Schilling helped the Boston Red Sox end an 86-year championship drought and then immediately started squandering the goodwill he had earned. Even before the celebratory champagne could go flat, […]
For the past 18 months, the brain trust at USA Network has been focused on finding a solution to a marketing dilemma: How to freshen the brand of a general entertainment channel in an on-demand world. The team led by Alexandra Shapiro, marketing and digital EVP for the entertainment group at NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, did extensive market research about the cultural mood of its target audience and focus-group testing of numerous concepts before settling on the network’s first new tagline since 2005: “We the Bold.”
Empire reruns are coming to TV One this year. The cable network has cut an off-network licensing deal for the top-rated drama series with Fox’s Twentieth TV arm.
