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The London Times and Sunday Times say that 105,000 people have paid for access to the papers’ websites.
In its first report on the success of the pay wall, News International said 100,000 other people signed up for a joint subscription to the printed edition and the web. Get the full story »
Tribune Co. is renaming its Tribune Interactive division Tribune Digital, in a reorganization that places Don Meek, who had been chief revenue officer for the company’s publishing and interactive operations, in charge as executive vice president.
Tribune Co. creditors filed sprawling lawsuits on Monday that take aim at Sam Zell, his banks and advisers for the disastrous leveraged buyout that plunged the publisher into bankruptcy two years ago.
The lawsuit accuses billionaire Zell and the Tribune board of defrauding Tribune’s creditors by pursuing the buyout of the owner of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune knowing it would lead to bankruptcy. Get the full story »
A group of hedge funds sued the four banks that funded Tribune Co.’s 2007 leveraged buyout, alleging that the lenders knowingly rendered the company insolvent and precipitated its 2008 bankruptcy.
The suit, filed on Friday in New York state court, charges JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch Capital Corp., Citicorp North America Inc. and Bank of America with breach of contract, breach of good faith and negligence. It asks the court to set damages. Get the full story »
YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley is stepping down as CEO of the world’s most popular Web site for watching video.
Hurley’s decision to give up the leadership role at the 5-year-old site formalizes a transition that has been in the works for some time as YouTube’s owner, Google Inc., asserted more control. Get the full story »
Tower Ticker | Dish Network and News Corp. announced an agreement on carriage fees Friday. This averts removal of Fox-owned broadcast stations. It also restores cable channels FX and National Geographic, as well as 19 Fox regional sports networks, that were taken off the satellite service four weeks ago as negotiations dragged on.
Dish’s contract to carry the cable channels had expired at the end of September. Its contract to carry Fox-owned broadcast stations such as Chicago’s WFLD-Ch. 32 and WPWR-Ch. 50 was set to expire at the end of this month, which put Dish subscribers at risk of losing World Series baseball, Chicago Bears football and shows such as “Glee,” “House” and “Family Guy” as of Monday.
For TV viewers, this cutthroat election year is a riot of attack ads and media saturation made possible by big-money donors. For TV stations, it’s a stimulus package.
One research group expects TV political spending to hit a record $3 billion. The windfall may continue well past Election Day because regular advertisers are getting squeezed out of the schedule and could spend their ad budgets later.
Business Insider | Lee Abrams tells online video studio My Damn Channel that the stories of the “frat boy” atmosphere at Tribune Co., which ultimately cost him his job as chief innovation officer at the media giant, were “blown out of proportion.”
James Tyree, the Mesirow Financial chief executive who last week disclosed that he has stomach cancer, will begin chemotherapy next week.
“I feel pretty good,” he told the Tribune Wednesday night. “I’m sitting here stronger and greater than ever, and it’s stunning that these things are inside me”
In a note to Mesirow workers on Thursday, Tyree said that, over the past week, he has completed additional tests and consulted with several more doctors. Get the full story »
Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy Enterprises, said in an interview the company is “probably going” to move its headquarters out of Chicago.
A Playboy spokeswoman said Tuesday, however, that the company has “no plans” to move from Chicago.
Hefner, who is Playboy’s editor-in-chief and chief creative officer, was asked by Matt Pais of Chicago Tribune Media Group’s Metromix.com whether the offices will be moving out of Chicago, where Hefner launched his groundbreaking Playboy magazine and empire in 1953.
Get the full story: Tower Ticker
And now, a word from our sponsors. A very brief word. TV commercials are shrinking along with attention spans and advertising budgets. The 15-second ad is increasingly common, gradually supplanting the 30-second spot just as it knocked off the full-minute pitch decades ago.
For viewers, it means more commercials in a more rapid-fire format. For advertisers, shorter commercials are a way to save some money, and research shows they hold on to more eyeballs than the longer format. Get the full story »
Todd Ricketts (Jose M. Osorio/Tribune)
By Phil Rosenthal | Todd Ricketts apparently got himself fired from a Chicago Cubs maintenance job when he attempted to secretly work for the ballclub his family owns for the CBS show “Undercover Boss.”
CBS, which announced Monday that it plans to air the Ricketts episode Nov. 7, said he fights for the chance to redeem himself after getting canned on his second day on the job.
Paid print circulation figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations showed the April-to-September average paid U.S. circulation figures dipped 5 percent weekdays and 4.5 percent Sundays compared to the same period a year ago.
The Chicago Tribune average paid circulation declines for the six-month period was in line with that, slipping year-to-year around 5.2 percent weekdays and almost 4.4 percent Sundays. The Chicago Sun-Times’s average paid circulation fell 9 percent on weekdays and 5.5 percent on Sundays.
The Sony Walkman. (Sony)
Sony is sending its cassette tape Walkman into retirement in Japan as demand for a music player that was ground-breaking in its day dwindles to a tiny niche in the era of digital technology.
Sony stopped Japanese production of the portable music player in April and sales will end once the last batch disappears from stores, company spokeswoman Hiroko Nakamura said Monday. Get the full story »
Amazon.com Inc. is going to allow the lending of e-books purchased from its Kindle Store.
The online retailer announced the upcoming feature in a discussion forum for the Kindle on its website Friday, saying that later in the year it will start letting Kindle users and people who use its free Kindle apps loan books to others for a two-week period. During the loan, the book’s owner will not be able to read the book, Amazon said.
