Why the NFL and NCIS give CBS the edge in its DirecTV carriage fight

If you can find a bookie who’ll take some action on the latest pay-TV carriage dispute, bet everything you have that the stalemate between AT&T and CBS will end before the 2019 NFL season kicks off in September. Like Time Warner Cable before them, the phone company and its DirecTV subsidiary are about to learn a hard-fought lesson in leverage, a quality that’s in short supply for an industry that can’t seem to stop hemorrhaging subscribers. If history is any guide, AT&T will have a new agreement with CBS worked out before both sides knock off for the long Labor Day weekend. As much as AT&T is placing the blame at the network’s feet—the first line of the on-screen message that now greets New York-area DirecTV subs when they navigate to WCBS-2 reads, “CBS has removed this channel from your lineup despite our request to keep it available to you”—the operator will bear the brunt of the blowback should fans fear they’re in any danger of missing out on the start of football season. The clock is ticking. AT&T needs to get its ducks in a row by Sunday, Sept. 8, when CBS’s regional NFL coverage kicks off. Jets, Dolphins, Ravens and Seahawks fans who subscribe to DirecTV in the 17 markets impacted by the blackout will have to scramble to make other arrangements if their CBS feed remains offline, and things will only get uglier as the season progresses. CBS’s first national NFL TV window is scheduled for Sept. 22, and features what should be an all-out air war... Continue reading at 'Advertising Age'

[ Advertising Age | 2019-07-22 20:52:00 UTC ]

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New York state will allow Charter Communications to stay

Charter Communications Inc., the largest cable provider in New York state, will be allowed to continue operating in New York after reaching an agreement with regulators. The state Public Service Commission approved a settlement with Charter today, reversing a decision it made a year earlier to... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2019-07-12 11:50:50 UTC ]
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In another post-merger purge, Donna Speciale splits with WarnerMedia

The aftershocks of AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner continue to rumble through the WarnerMedia unit, as longtime ad sales chief Donna Speciale is parting ways with the company just one week after she closed out the last bit of its upfront business. Speciale, who joined WarnerMedia... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-07-11 01:55:08 UTC ]
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AT&T considers selling regional sports networks to slash debt

AT&T Inc. is weighing a sale of its regional sports networks as part of a plan to cut as much as $8 billion in debt by the end of the year, according to people familiar with the matter. The four regional networks, which includes rights to teams such as the hockey’s Pittsburgh Penguins,... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-07-02 19:54:11 UTC ]
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From Amazon to Uber, internet companies are driving U.S. ad spend

If you want to see what’s driving ad spending, just look at the gains: The biggest U.S. internet companies—including the likes of Amazon, Facebook and Uber—are powering the ad market as they double down on their own marketing. That’s the key takeaway from the 64th annual Ad Age Leading National... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-06-28 09:00:00 UTC ]
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Whose ad spending is up? The big FANG theory

When it comes to ad spending, the FANG gang has developed some serious teeth. For the first time, all four FANG companies—Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google parent Alphabet—rank among the top 100 spenders in Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2019. FANG—Wall Street lingo for these internet... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-06-25 07:00:00 UTC ]
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Warner Bros. appoints its first woman CEO

AT&T Inc. named Ann Sarnoff as the first woman to lead Warner Bros., filling a key vacancy created by the departure of Kevin Tsujihara following a sex scandal. Sarnoff is currently president of BBC Studios America and has more than 30 years of business and media experience, AT&T’s... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-06-24 21:32:18 UTC ]
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AT&T casts sponsorship spell over new 'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' game

AT&T is now part of Harry Potter lore as the first brand to ink a sponsorship deal with the new augmented reality game about the wizarding world. AT&T stores are incorporated into the landscape of the game, called “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite,” which is by Niantic, the creator of... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-06-21 21:00:51 UTC ]
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Jon Werther Is Out at Meredith After 3 Years as President | People on the Move

[caption id="attachment_160093" align="alignright" width="150"] Jon Werther[/caption] National Media Group president Jon Werther is out at Meredith Corp. after seven years with the company, effective immediately. In a statement from president and CEO Tom Harty, he said that there aren’t any... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2019-06-12 20:33:28 UTC ]
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Charco Press signs North American distribution deal

Scottish indie Charco Press has signed a distribution deal with Ingram's Consortium to break into the North American market.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AT&T raises DirecTV Now prices, making chumps of those who backed Time Warner merger

From the day in 2016 when AT&T announced its $85.4-billion merger with Time Warner, through three years of antitrust wrangling over the deal, the big telecommunications company promised that it would mean lower prices and more choices for consumers. Now AT&T has a message for everyone... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is Big Tech Merging With Big Brother? Kinda Looks Like It

The all-seeing Amazon, Google, and Facebook have every incentive to help the national security state undermine privacy, free speech, and democracy. We’ve read this book before. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2019-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Diane Setterfield | 'We use storytelling to explain ourselves to ourselves'

The third novel by Diane Setterfield centres on a drowned child who miraculously returns to life, and the people who lay claim to her. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AT&T's WarnerMedia takes big swing with golf's match of the century

When AT&T announced in August that it had acquired the rights to a pay-per-view golf duel between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson on Thanksgiving weekend, its rechristened entertainment divisionWarnerMediafaced a challenge: how to create a golf event that would appeal beyond the sport's... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2018-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Another 'walled garden?' Here's what AT&T acquisition of AppNexus means

AT&T is acquiring ad tech platform AppNexus, with plans to integrate it into its advertising and analytics unit, the company said Monday. The move will undoubtedly shake up the current ad landscape as well as challenge the so-called duopoly of Google and Facebook.AppNexus, which has been... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2018-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AT&T completes purchase of Time Warner, ushering in new era for Warner Bros., CNN and HBO

Time Warner Inc. is no more. Late Thursday, AT&T Inc. announced that it completed its $85-billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc., just two days after a federal judge in Washington gave the deal the green light. AT&T wasted little time consolidating its hard-fought prize — a blockbuster... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Justice Department makes final plea to judge to halt AT&T's proposed purchase of Time Warner or significantly scale it back

The government on Monday made its final plea to a federal judge to block AT&T Inc.’s $85.4-billion purchase of Time Warner Inc. or order it significantly scaled back, arguing that the combined company would be so powerful it would hinder competition and raise pay TV prices for consumers.... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes calls government antitrust allegations 'ridiculous'

Time Warner Inc.’s chief executive testified Wednesday that the government’s assertions that AT&T Inc. wanted to buy the company to use its programming as leverage over distributors “makes no sense” because it would limit viewership. “I think it’s ridiculous. It’s not how this works,” Jeff... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Who wore it best? Take your pick of Zuckerberg-as-Gulliver covers

Citizens of Lilliput, unite! We must subdue the evil Gulliverer, Zuckerberg!Variety's just-released cover story doesn't exactly say that, but that's the subtext of the trade magazine's "Gulliver's Travels"-inspired cover illustration (above right). In his piece headlined "Facebook Under Fire:... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2018-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Do Books partners with Chronicle in the US

Indie publisher The Do Book Company has concluded a hybrid publishing and distribution deal with Chronicle Books in San Francisco. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AT&T wants to buy Time Warner to 'weaponize' its content, government says at start of antitrust trial

The biggest U.S. antitrust case of this century kicked into high gear on Thursday as a government lawyer warned that AT&T Inc. wants to buy media giant Time Warner Inc. to “weaponize” its must-have content — a move that would raise prices for consumers and hinder innovation. “Time Warner... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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