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News Corporation

6/19/2013, 10:39 AM ET

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Wednesday, January 9, 5:52 PM InterActiveCorp-backed (IACI) Aereo has received a fresh $38M in funding - some of it from IAC - to expand its innovative broadcast TV streaming service to 22 new markets by spring, including Chicago, Dallas, Philly, and Houston. Aereo's $12/month NYC service has already driven local broadcasters up the wall and into the courtroom - they see it as a threat to the carriage fees they've begun charging pay-TV providers. (AP review) Comment! [Tech, Consumer]
Friday, January 4, 4:30 PM It finally happened: Well-respected Hulu (DIS, CMCSA, NWS) CEO Jason Kilar says he's leaving in Q1, and that CTO Rich Tom is joining him. Hobbled by the licensing and distribution restrictions placed by media industry owners generally terrified of upsetting their pay-TV industry clients, money-losing Hulu's total monthly viewers have been surpassed by Netflix's paid subscriber base. Kilar's departure could have something to do with a reported request for a fresh $200M in funding. (also) 1 Comment [Consumer, Tech]
Friday, December 28, 2012, 11:56 AM News Corp (NWSA -0.2%) acquires SportsTime Ohio, a regional sports network based in Cleveland. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but the price tag is estimated to be about $230M. The deal is part of an effort by the company to ramp up efforts to control the rights to key sports teams in response to Time Warner Cable's $3B deal in 2011 to carry the Los Angeles Lakers basketball games on its SportsNet Channel. Comment! [Consumer, M&A]
Thursday, December 13, 2012, 6:31 AM Amazon (AMZN) has chalked up another victory in the global book wars after the EU accepted an offer from Apple (AAPL) and four publishers to ease price-cutting restrictions in exchange for ending an antitrust investigation. The publishers include CBS's (CBS) Simon & Schuster and News Corp. (NWS) unit HarperCollins. Interestingly, Apple didn't accept a similar deal in the U.S. and is going to trial. 4 Comments [Tech, Consumer]
Tuesday, December 11, 2012, 1:06 PM Tribune Company looks for a banker to help it find a buyer for some of its newspaper properties, including Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, after the company emerges from bankruptcy in a few weeks. Sources indicate News Corp (NWS, NWSA) has already expressed an interest. Another interesting Tribune asset to watch will be CareerBuilder.com, a website which still ranks in the top 150 in the U.S. by traffic (Quantcast chart). 1 Comment [Consumer]
Monday, December 3, 2012, 9:08 AM News Corp. (NWS) confirms the appointment of WSJ Editor-in-Chief Robert Thomson as the CEO of its publishing operations. Thomson will start the job on Jan. 1. The publishing company will retain the News Corp. name, while the media & entertainment business will be called Fox Group. News Corp. indicates that its breakup will still occur in June next year. That appears to be contrary to a report that the split will be concluded at the end of this month. (PR) Comment! [Consumer, Breaking News, Top Stories]
Monday, December 3, 2012, 2:42 AM News Corp. (NWS) has reportedly advanced its break-up into two companies to the end of this month in order to limit the damage from the U.K. phone-hacking scandal to the publishing arm of the firm. In June, Rupert Murdoch said the unit's split from the film and TV business would take 12 months. The speculation comes along with reports that WSJ managing editor Robert Thomson will become CEO of the publishing ops, while News International CEO Tom Mockridge is leaving. Comment! [Consumer]
Sunday, December 2, 2012, 8:24 PM Rupert Murdoch loses another top executive as Tom Mockridge resigns as CEO of News Corp's (NWS) U.K. newspaper arm. A 22-year veteran of the company, Mockridge was brought on as chief of News International in July 2011. "His decision to step down is absolutely and entirely his own," says Murdoch. (PR) Comment!
Saturday, December 1, 2012, 3:34 PM News Corp. (NWS) will tap Robert Thomson - now editor in chief of Dow Jones, and managing editor of The Wall Street Journal - as the CEO of its new publishing company, Reuters reports. News Corp. is in the process of splitting into an entertainment company and a publishing operation, and may delay announcing Thomson's role as it firms up other executive slots. 2 Comments
Monday, November 26, 2012, 5:24 AM Sales of cinema tickets over the five-day Thanksgiving period starting on Wednesday hit a record $290M. Lions Gate's (LGF) "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2" led the way with $64M, bringing the film's total domestic revenue to $227M, while Sony's (SNE) "Skyfall," generated $51M, and Fox's (NWS) "Life of Pie" $30.2M. 1 Comment [Consumer]
Tuesday, November 20, 2012, 6:13 PM News Corp. (NWS) is in preliminary talks with CBS about acquiring its Simon & Schuster book business, WSJ reports. News Corp. is in the process of splitting in two, with one company containing entertainment assets such as 20th Century Fox and Fox News, and the other - expected to have plenty of cash on its balance sheet - with publishing assets including WSJ and HarperCollins. 1 Comment [Consumer, M&A]
Monday, November 19, 2012, 4:34 AM News Corp (NWS) will reportedly this week close a deal to acquire 49% in YES TV, the home TV channel of the New York Yankees, and will have an option to boost the stake to 80% within 3-5 years. YES would be valued at $3B under the initial transaction, more than the Yankees, whose holding company owns 34% in the cable channel. Goldman Sachs (GS) and Providence Equity own another 40%. (previous) Comment! [Consumer, M&A]
Thursday, November 15, 2012, 3:56 AM News Corp (NWS) is reportedly in advanced talks to buy a stake - possibly almost 40% - in YES, the cable channel that televises New York Yankees games. News Corp is likely to acquire most of the holding from Goldman Sachs (GS) and Providence Equity Partners. The potential deal is likely to value YES at $3B. Comment! [Consumer, M&A]
Wednesday, November 14, 2012, 5:01 PM Third Point reports initiating new stakes in Mondelez (MDLZ), Nexen (NXY), Symantec (SYMC), WESCO (WCC), Autodesk (ADSK), while increasing its stakes in AIG (AIG), Apple (AAPL), Murphy Oil (MUR) and LyondellBasell (LYB). The firm liquidated positions in Plains Exploration (PXP), Liberty (LINTA), News Corp (NWSA), Capital One (COF) and DISH (DISH) over the quarter, and reduced stakes in Cigna (CI), ARIAD (ARIA), Cabot (COG) and Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE). (13-F) 1 Comment [Financials]
Tuesday, November 13, 2012, 4:20 AM Average primetime ratings for live and same-day viewing among 18-49-year-olds have slumped by over 10% for ABC (DIS), CBS (CBS) and Fox (NWS) this season, UBS finds. However, Comcast's NBC is up 22%. TV execs attribute the fall to consumers watching shows at their own convenience, although Disney CEO Bob Iger admits that the absence of "new, big, real, buzz-worthy hits" might have something to do with it. Comment! [Consumer]
Tuesday, November 6, 2012, 4:07 PM News Corp. (NWSA): FQ1 EPS of $0.43 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $8.14B (+2% Y/Y) in-line. (PR) Comment! [Earnings]