What's Next: Rupert Murdoch's Third Son: 21st Century Fox President Peter Rice is poised to become the head of the Disney/ABC Television Group after the acquisition and a top candidate to replace Bob Iger as CEO of Disney.
That is a major coup for Rupert Murdoch, who considers Rice something of a third son, per sources familiar:
• Murdoch has known Rice since his youth, and hired him to Twentieth Century Fox when Rice was in his early 20s. Rice has been a Fox lifer ever since.
• After the sale, Murdoch will become one of Disney's largest shareholders. He has an interest in positioning a protégé near the top of Disney.
• Positioning Rice near the helm of Disney could also allow Murdoch to maintain his influence over the Fox assets even after they're sold.
A Hollywood exec texts: "In a few years, Peter could very well be the next CEO of the company. That would be a triumph for Rupert: Selling his company but maintaining his influence."
What about Rupert's actual sons? Lachlan will take over "New Fox," which includes Fox Sports and Fox News. James' future is TBD. | | | PACIFIC
The Agenda Good morning. What Rupert is reading: Tronc is cutting staff at New York Daily News, the chief competitor to Murdoch's New York Post, by a staggering 50%. It says it's re-focusing on breaking news coverage of "crime, civil justice and public responsibility."
The Post may soon be the only true tabloid in Manhattan.
NY Post's Keith Kelly: "None of the reporters at the Post are happy about this. ... You want your team to win on the field, you don't want the other team to have a heart attack or suffer a crippling injury." | | Profit Margins
State of the Stream
The streaming services that were meant to provide a cheaper alternative to traditional cable "haven't changed the fundamental cost structure of cable," the Information's Jessica Toonkel and Tom Dotan report:
• The total number of people using streaming services -- YouTube TV, Hulu Live, AT&T's DirectTV Now, etc. -- is close to six million. That's 75% higher than last October, but "still a fraction of the estimated 92 million people who still pay for satellite and cable."
• "These streaming services have yet to figure out how to make money. In fact, the more people they sign up, the more money they lose. That's because the services are paying more for programming than what they're charging consumers."
• "YouTube TV, for instance, is estimated to be paying $49 per subscriber a month—$9 more than it charges—for most of its channels, according to people familiar with the situation."
The Big Picture: "Entertainment companies charge the new services as much—or in some cases, more—than what they charge satellite and cable services to carry their TV networks. Entertainment companies couldn't offer discounts to the new services even if they wanted to. Contractual provisions ensure that big cable operators like Comcast always get the lowest rate on programming."
Or, as Michael Wolff might say, "Television is the new television." | | Talk of Tinseltown
Don't say anything
"Hollywood's longstanding say-anything, do-anything culture is rapidly turning into one where the wrong words can have career-killing consequences," WSJ's Joe Flint reports:
• "Top executives at Viacom's Paramount Pictures and Netflix, as well as creative talent who worked on the 'Lethal Weapon' television series and "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies have been fired in recent months after allegations of offensive remarks, verbal abuse and other inappropriate behavior that in the past was more likely to have been tolerated."
• "In Hollywood, the [#MeToo] movement marked a dramatic turn from the longstanding practice of considering the bad behavior of executives and talent to be a cost of doing business."
• "The corporatization of the entertainment industry combined with online activism and a new generation of workers not afraid to push back is leading to far less tolerance of misconduct, along with fear of public fallout for not taking swift action."
Top Quote: Ivy Kagan Bierman, a partner at Loeb & Loeb: "We do have this creative process that is much different than the way people would speak to each other in a bank ... We have to strike that balance between not thwarting the creative process while making sure people are not committing harassment or discrimination." | | The Awards Race
'Star is Born' to Venice
Bradley Cooper's remake of "A Star Is Born," starring himself and Lady Gaga, will premiere at the 75th Venice Film Festival net month -- a sign that the film is positioning itself for an Oscars run.
The Big Picture, via Variety's Henry Chu:
• Venice "is steadily gaining in prestige as an awards launching pad for Hollywood product. ... 'La La Land,' ... 'Gravity,' 'Spotlight,' and 'The Shape of Water' all launched from the Lido."
The Warner Bros. film will debut in US theaters this October. | | In Memorium
Jonathan Gold, 1960 - 2018
Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times restaurant critic who died this weekend, was a revolutionary force in restaurant criticism.
He was democratic, writing about street food and hole-in-the-wall joints around greater L.A. with a reverence that most critics reserved for high-end dining. He was compassionate, seeking to celebrate food, flavor and the diverse, polyglot culture of Los Angeles, never to wield his power to destroy a chef. He was L.A.'s anthropologist and its ambassador, a civic institution unto himself.
Like Anthony Bourdain, Gold seemed to have one of the most enviable jobs in journalism. Where Bourdain went global to discover and celebrate the local, Gold went local to discover and celebrate the global. Both men got to eat and drink and write for a living, and both reminded us that the world, at home and abroad, is a fascinating place. | | What Next: "Finding Yourself in Los Angeles: The novelist Reif Larsen seeks out sites of reverence in and around this sprawling city, places of quiet contemplation far from the gridlock and glamour." (NYT)
See you tomorrow. | | | | | |
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