Here are some of the media industry stories we’re following this week:
- The Big News: Chaos at Al-Jazeera America, including CEO’s ouster, executive resignations and a $15 million discrimination suit (The New York Times), CBS News veteran Bob Schieffer to host final ‘Face the Nation‘ broadcast sooner than first reported (Poynter), Tribune Publishing will acquire U-T San Diego (Chicago Tribune), Mike Huckabee announces 2016 presidential bid (POLITICO) and the boxing match that rocked Facebook (AdWeek/Lost Remote)
- Digital Drive: Several legacy media outlets accelerating digital strategies, including a digital-first shift at The New York Times (POLITICO), a fresh digital team at The Wall Street Journal (Poynter), the appointment of the first chief data officer at Time Inc. (Capital) and the establishment of a software development office at The Washington Post (WaPo)
- In Talks: Following the failed Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger, Cablevision now courts TWC (Capital), while regulators take a closer look at AT&T‘s proposed takeover of DirecTV (The New York Times), also putting a magnifying glass on Apple‘s forthcoming music streaming service (The Verge) while Sony and SoundCloud duke it out over licensing (Billboard)
- Financial Report: Several companies posted quarterly earnings this week, with Comcast (Variety) and Disney (The Wrap) reporting gains, while News Corp. and The Wall Street Journal (Capital) Time Inc. (Fishbowl NY) and the spun-off Tribune Publishing (Chicago Tribune) all saw decreased earnings.
- What’s Now/Next: Snapchat introduces news sharing tool (Wired) Reddit to venture into original video content (The Verge) while Spotify also pursues video content (The Wall Street Journal) and CNN teases new video feature, ‘The Point‘ (Capital)
Photo credit: @remychanteloup via flickr
