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Federal regulators are on the verge of announcing approval of Comcast Corp.’s deal to acquire control of NBC Universal from General Electric Co. , according to people close to the review.
Federal Communications Commission officials spent the weekend making last-minute revisions to an order approving the deal. FCC commissioners are expected to approve it on a 4-1 vote, with Democratic commissioner Michael Copps, an opponent of media consolidation, voting against. Get the full story »
Tower Ticker | Sun-Times Media’s Pioneer Press group of weekly suburban newspapers has continued to reduce its workforce, including elimination of nine editorial positions in recent days.
Eight newsroom staff members were let go, while another retired and will not be replaced, sources said. Five were reporters and the retiree was an editorial assistant. The others were said to include page designers and a Web content manager.
Jeremy Halbreich, chief executive and vice chairman of Sun-Times Media, was unavailable for immediate comment.
News Corp. is pushing back the launch of the world’s first iPad-only newspaper.
The company declined to comment on why. But a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Friday that News Corp. and iPad maker Apple Inc. have decided to delay the launch while they work on the technology involved in providing subscriptions. Get the full story »
A Redbox kiosk at Walgreens. (Handout)
Shares of Coinstar Inc. fell 26 percent on Friday morning, a day after the electronic kiosk company said delayed releases of DVD titles hurt sales at its unit Redbox during the crucial holiday season.
“This was Redbox’s first holiday season with 28-day delayed titles, and we underestimated the impact that the delay would have on demand during the fourth quarter,” Chief Executive Paul Davis said.
As part of a settlement last year, Redbox had agreed with News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Pictures owned by General Electric and Time Warner’s Warner Bros, to wait for 28 days after a DVD title is released before offering them for rent. Get the full story »
Conrad Black, the wealthy Canadian native who was chairman of a Chicago-based newspaper empire, will be resentenced in June on two counts that survived an appellate court’s review of his 2007 fraud conviction, a federal judge decided today.
Supporters of U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is suspected in one of the biggest security breaches in U.S. history, said Thursday that Web site WikiLeaks has fulfilled its pledge to aid in his defense by contributing $15,100, the Associated Press reported.
The Bradley Manning Support Network announced the gift. Get the full story »
Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs are expected unveil "The Daily" together. (Getty)
Stop the presses — completely. The world’s first iPad newspaper, The Daily, is prepping for launch. Journalists have been hired and are in place at multiple U.S. bureaus, including Los Angeles and New York.
The formal announcement of the digital publication owned by News Corp. will be made at an event at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on Jan. 19, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people said the event will be attended by Steve Jobs, chief executive of iPad-maker Apple Inc., and Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp. Get the full story »
Conrad Black enters a Chicago court room in 2007. (Tribune file)
Will former media mogul Conrad Black eventually head back to prison? Or will the flamboyant, 66-year-old’s long-running legal saga end with a judge setting him free for good? A status hearing Thursday in Chicago isn’t likely to answer those questions definitively, though it could provide clues about what U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve is inclined to do.
Two years into a 6 1/2-year sentence, Black was released last year from a Florida prison while he appealed his conviction for defrauding Hollinger International Inc. investors. Black, whose media empire once included the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Telegraph of London and community papers in the U.S. and Canada, was expected to attend Thursday’s hearing. Get the full story »
Tribune Co. said Tuesday that its Chicago subsidiary has acquired Naperville Magazine, a lifestyle monthly devoted to the Illinois suburb of the same name. Get the full story »
Playboy will be taken private under an agreement with Icon Acquisition Holdings, a limited partnership controlled by founder Hugh Hefner, left. (LATimes)
By Robert Channick | More than 57 years after launching Playboy from his South Side apartment, Hugh Hefner is buying back the bunny.
After six months of deliberation, an improved offer to take Playboy Enterprises private at $6.15 a share passed muster with the board, which voted Sunday to return the magazine empire to its 84-year-old founder.
Shares of Playboy spiked nearly 18 percent on Monday. Get the full story »
The new head of ABC News said Monday he was open to a possible partnership with Bloomberg News as the news network seeks to expand its links with social and other media after a major restructuring in 2010.
Ben Sherwood, appointed president of ABC News in December, told television journalists at the Television Critics’ Association meetings in Pasadena that he wanted the network’s news division to expand its links with Facebook and other organizations. Get the full story »
Chicago Magazine has hired the Chicago Reader’s Whet Moser as associate digital editor for its chicagomag.com Web site. Chicago Magazine is part of Tribune Co.’s Chicago Tribune Media Group.
From The Hollywood Reporter | Playboy Enterprises will take a $13 million charge on its fourth-quarter earnings after having ended its legal dispute with DirecTV, the company said in a filing Thursday.
News Corp. said that it will restructure its Fox television networks division and that Tony Vinciquerra, who has led the business since 2002, will depart.
The company said Vinciquerra has chosen to leave as of Feb. 11 to pursue other opportunities. David Haslingden, chief executive of Fox International Channels, will move to Los Angeles to become president and chief operating officer of Fox Networks Group, reporting to News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey. Get the full story »
