After being tipped on Matthew Perry’s death, the site’s close ties to law enforcement and habit of paying sources gets new scrutiny.
TMZ is teaming with parent company Fox on a four-week trial run of game show Who the Bleep Is That?, hosted by comedian Jeff Dye. The show will premiere on Fox Television Stations in 12 markets — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Houston, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Detroit, Orlando and Milwaukee — on Monday, March 6.
The two syndicated entertainment shows will air on the Fox O&Os through the 2024-25 season.
Fox Corp.’s entertainment division has closed its acquisition of TMZ from WarnerMedia, confirming that founder and managing editor Harvey Levin will continue with the newly situated company. Terms were not disclosed, but the deal is believed to be worth in the range of $100 million to $125 million.
Exclusives
AT&T is in talks to sell WarnerMedia’s celebrity gossip site TMZ to Fox in yet another deal paring down the telco’s entertainment assets, one that comes as it prepares to spin off Warner and merge it with Discovery.
“I am both concerned and disappointed by public reports regarding patterns of unacceptable behavior that have been raised in recent weeks,” WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar told staff in an email on Thursday. In another memo, Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff said she had also “empowered, and will hold accountable, the Studios and Networks HR and Legal teams to act on any issues that are brought to them. These groups are a safe harbor where you can register any concerns.”
Fox is jumping on the Tiger King bandwagon with a quickie special from TMZ delving into the subjects of the Netflix docuseries. The hourlong special, titled TMZ Investigates: Tiger King — What Really Went Down?, will feature TMZ head Harvey Levin, interviews with people connected to the case of Joseph Maldonado-Passage, aka Joe Exotic, and “never-before-seen footage.” It is set to air Monday.
The deal clears the all-new Extra, The Real, TMZ and TMZ Live and will eliminate end breaks across the Fox-owned stations across the country.
Mike Walters left TMZ after clashing with Harvey Levin. Now he is running The Blast, a well-financed entrant on the sharp-elbowed celebrity news scene.
There are rumblings at the highest executive levels that AT&T’s top executives are considering divesting some Time Warner assets — including news organization CNN and celebrity gossip site TMZ — after they merge.
The NAB Show Super Session, “The Real Story: A Take on Syndicated Entertainment News,” will take place on April 24. Cicha and Levin will discuss the origin of the Fox TV/TMZ partnership and TMZ’s evolution from a web brand into a leading syndicated television entertainment news property, as well as Fox’s testing strategy for content.
The entertainment magazines syndicated by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution will continue until the 2019-20 season.
About two years of reporting went into Nicholas Schimdle’s New Yorker profile of gossip news org TMZ and its “jittery” founder, Harvey Levin. It’ll be a must-read this week, especially by an anxious Levin and his lawyers as Schimdle pulls back the curtain on the operation.
Fox Stations To Test WBDTD Game Show
South of Wilshire comes from TMZ’s Harvey Levin and will get an eight-week tryout beginning in January.
The New Yorker is readying a year-in-the-making expose on celebrity news site TMZ, and the site and its chief, Harvey Levin, are nervously bracing for impact. Levin has apparently instructed staffers not to speak with its writer, Nicholas Scmidle.
TMZ Changes Media Landscape And History
Some people, particularly in the world of legacy media, still can’t bring themselves to think of TMZ and its companion site, TMZ Sports, which first broke the Ray Rice video in February, as the press. Memo to the head-in-the-sand gang: Get over it, grow up, quit being hypocrites and acknowledge the truth about the new media world we live in during these revolutionary times.
Both reported before the fact that the NBA would fine L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling $5 million. The actual amount turned out to be $2.5 million.
TMZ Slam-Dunk Leaves Other Media Chasing
TMZ struck again and forced the mainstream news media into hot pursuit over the weekend, writes Howard Kurtz. He notes that news media found itself crediting the primarily entertainment website when TMZ broke one of its biggest stories and created an NBA crisis in the midst of playoffs.
‘TMZ’ Gives Shout Out To WNYW’s ‘Good Day NY’
Is TMZ The Future Of Local TV News?
The real revolution in news reporting is not the fluff that springs from the minds of Fox execs. It’s what you find in the work of local independent news operations. But decision makers at broadcast conglomerates are too focused on chasing profits to see the potential for hard-hitting journalism in the communities they’re supposed to serve.
At a hearing to determine the fate of a man accused of extorting Stevie Wonder, the judge, district attorney and defense lawyer were shocked to find they were being surreptitiously recorded.
TMZ founder Harvey Levin is handing over his managing editor title to Josh Dickey, who has just resigned as Variety’s film editor. Dickey will take on daily newsroom duties of the tabloid news site to allow Levin and other senior staff to pursue new verticals and television ventures.
The Warner Bros. syndicated magazine show has been cleared in more than 75% of the country, including on Fox O&Os. Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution has renewed Telepictures Productions’ entertainment news magazine TMZ through the 2013-14 season on Fox Television Stations, and on stations covering more than 75% of the country. The extension includes all of the owned-and-operated Fox affiliates, including WNYW New York, KTTV Los Angeles and WFLD Chicago, bringing TMZ to a seventh season.
