Hulu chief Jason Kilar used careful language in an interview at the D: Dive Into Media conference when discussing major content deals. He wouldn't confirm or deny any talks to bring Hulu Plus to the Apple TV. The executive was aware it was a potentially loaded question and denied it twice when pressed.
Hulu followed in Netflix's footsteps Sunday by launching its first fictional, original TV series. Battleground covers a fictional political campaign in Wisconsin and is produced by JD Walsh, 500 Days of Summer's Marc Webb, and Hagai Shaham. It should be followed up by more documentaries, including a second season of Morgan Spurlock's A Day in the Life and Richard Linklater's new Up to Speed.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has bought a just under four percent interest in social networking pioneer Twitter. Prince Alwaleed, 26th on Forbes' list of billionaires, is the nephew of Saudi King Abdullah. The Prince paid out $300 million for his investment.
CBS chief Les Moonves may have inadvertently confirmed Apple's negotiations for a streaming TV service during the company's fiscal results call. He claimed that CBS had turned down a deal for a service because it would have split ad revenues. The executive didn't give details of what the service would have involved.
YouTube's professional video channels may be active within a week, anonymous tips maintained on Thursday. The details obtained by the WSJ suggest a broader strategy than thought before and would involve a redesign of the site itself, focusing on channels whether they're live or traditional YouTube subscriptions. Some of the live producers would be takes with filling in specific categories, such as comedy, food, or news.
Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was extremely critical of Fox News, and Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of the network's parent company News Corp., Reuters notes. The information comes from the Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson, which shipped on Monday. In June 2010 Jobs agreed to speak at News Corp.'s annual management retreat, breaking a personal policy against such speaking engagements. Why he agreed is unclear, although Apple and News Corp. would later launch The Daily for the iPad.
A Saturday Night Live dress rehearsal sketch, now online, satirizes industry reactions to the death of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Executives from many companies were quick to praise Jobs in the days immediately after Apple's formal announcement. The SNL sketch jokes, though, that many corporate heads claim to admire Jobs without actually understanding what makes Apple products work.
With yesterday's report that Hulu is no longer for sale, a new report from SAI sources suggests it's still considering a sale to Google. Google did make the largest bid for the streaming service, though it also wanted concessions that Hulu wasn't willing to make. Google's bid, at about $4 billion, was more than twice as big as Dish Network's $2 billion.
Hulu in a brief note said it had decided to stop its attempted selloff. The statement, which had the support of Disney, investor Providence Equity Partners, and Fox's parent company News Corp., claimed that each of the owners though there was too much of a "unique and compelling strategic value" for each of them to sell. It would instead center on existing plans.
The Daily's readership figures are less than a quarter of what they need to be to break even, Publicis Groupe executive VP John Nitti revealed in a discussion Wednesday. Relaying what it had heard directly from News Corp., the advertiser told Bloomberg that about 120,000 unique readers, which could include those on two-week trials, were being tracked every week. News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch had said during the launch event that about 500,000 were needed to break even.
Fox on Tuesday night set out to shelter traditional TV with a long hinted-at plan to delay TV shows on Hulu for non-subscribers. Free viewers will face an eight-day delay for access to Fox TV shows unless they either pay for Hulu Plus or can prove they subscribe to a conventional TV service. Only satellite provider Dish Network is so far cleared to give users same-day access in the strategy, which starts up August 15.
Apple is one of those considering making a bid for Hulu, a pair of sources claimed Thursday. The company is supposedly in "early talks" that could lead to a buyout if all went well. It wasn't clear from Bloomberg tips what stage of the bidding process Apple had reached or how serious Apple's intentions were.
Yahoo's interest in purchasing Hulu may be reigniting. SAI reports that if Hulu's current owners are willing to guarantee four or five years of exclusive access to content, then Yahoo might be interested in paying up to $2 billion for the streaming content provider. Neither Hulu, its owners, or Yahoo have commented.
Update: more hacks) LulzSec returned from its self-imposed exit to launch a new attack against The Sun. The hacker group changed key articles on the British newspaper's page in a retaliation campaign for News Corp's phone hacking scandal. Among the examples were an article claiming that News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch had killed himself through palladium poisoning.
Spotify as promised has at last started up service in US. The music streaming provider is currently active in an invite-only beta but has 15 million tracks and the full feature set of its European counterpart. It includes an expanded free service with ads, a $5 Unlimited monthly plan that gives full streaming on the web, and a $10 Premium plan that gives full access on Android, iOS, and other devices like Sonos and Logitech Squeezebox systems.
New tips Sunday ruled out Netflix as one of the candidates to buy Hulu. The movie streaming service hasn't been actively involved, sources for the WSJ said. Hulu also reportedly hasn't been actively interested, in part since it would create overlap and reduce the number of suppliers, not increase them.
For the past few weeks, rumors have swirled around the possible sale of Hulu. Today, Disney CEO Bob Igor confirmed that Disney, NBCUniversal and News Corp., the TV streaming service's owners are indeed looking to sell off. Igor declined to provide a timeframe for a deal or to hint who might be the acquirer.
Hulu's shopping itself around also includes Amazon, AT&T, and Verizon, insiders revealed Tuesday. The companies are part of a "short list" that included Microsoft as its first stop last week and will include Yahoo and Google next. AllThingsD's sources didn't learn how Microsoft had reacted but also heard Hulu will bring up the idea to Facebook, Liberty Media, Netflix, and Samsung.
(Update: Justin Timberlake is involved) MySpace's imminent sale has now been finalized as a new leak confirmed a deal has been struck. Ad producer Specific Media has agreed to buy the social network for $35 million. Under the terms seen by AllThingsD, current owner News Corp would have a "less than five percent" stake but cut the 400-person staff count in half.
Myspace is rumored to be cutting up to 300 employees from its workforce over the next few weeks. TechCrunch reports that 150 employees will receive pink slips tomorrow and probably another 150 will be shown the door over the next few weeks. This comes as the struggling company could have a new owner as soon as tomorrow.
The New York Post took a risky move to try and push iPad readers to its native iPad app. Those who try to visit the home page from mobile Safari, even from an alternate link, are redirected to a page linking to the app. Desktop users and even other mobile platforms, like Android, don't face the same limit.
News Corp, the owner of MySpace is getting closer to signing a deal for MySpace since formally opening a bidding process in April. However, it appears that instead of an outright takeover, any deal will be in the form of a major partnership. News Corp, which paid $580 million for MySpace in 2005 had been hoping for offers at around $100 million for the struggling website, but has not received any credible offers in that vicinity.
The French government said Friday that it will hold a summit where big presences on the Internet such as Amazon, Facebook and Google will debate how countries can bring innovation to the web. The forum will be held on May 24 and 25 in Paris and is a part of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans. In attendance will be Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt and Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos.
News Corp's plans to sell off MySpace will come to a head this week, insiders said Tuesday night. About six companies, possibly including Vevo and Bebo's recent acquirer Criterion Capital Partners, were all expected to make bids by the end of the week. A Wall Street Journal source named an unnamed Chinese company as having talked about a deal, but it wasn't said whether this company would make the bid.
News Corp.'s iPad-only news magazine The Daily is losing traction, says the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. It's currently impossible to gauge the exact performance of the publication, as neither Apple nor News Corp. have released detailed figures. Because of Twitter integration, though, it becomes possible to gauge relative activity.
(Updated with iTunes app changes) The New York Times on Thursday outlined its long referenced plans to put up a paywall and start offering subscriptions. Everyone will get their first 20 articles per month for free, but further reading will need a monthly subscription. A $15 per month plan offers full web access as well as a smartphone app; $20 per month swaps out the phone for the iPad, and an unusually steep hike to $35 is required to get both phone and iPad use.
Pew and the Knight Foundation in a new study has said the web has finally overtaken newspapers as the primary source of news. Internet sources are now only less popular than TV for news, and the gap between the two was "closing," Pew said. About 47 percent of those were getting news from a smartphone or another mobile device, usually for quick info such as traffic and weather.
Hulu is reportedly set to downsize its board of directors, as part of a leadership reorganization designed to enable quicker decision making, unnamed sources have told the Wall Street Journal (sub. required). Several of the media executives on the current 12-seat board are said to hold conflicting views on the strategic direction the company should take.
Wall Street Journal publisher Les Hinton has highlighted the strong performance of paid subscriptions for News Corp's tablet editions. The number of paid subscribers is said to have quadrupled from last year, reaching a current level of 200,000, according to Hinton's comments today at a speech in Boston.
News Corp. has reportedly ramped up efforts to divest its MySpace assets, unnamed sources have told the Wall Street Journal. Investment bank Allen & Company is said to be scheduling meetings with prospective buyers on behalf of the company, while providing the first in-depth looks at MySpace's financial information.
News Corp in a talk on Wednesday confirmed some expectations that it would extend trial periods for The Daily. Publisher Greg Clayman said that users would get extensions for 'several more weeks' to help accommodate the problems with the iPad app, including "stability issues" and other unusual behavior. He argued to paidContent that some of the problems would have been difficult to address without a wide-scale test.
(Update: iPad-friendly video) News Corp during the Super Bowl made a first for a tablet magazine with both the first real TV ad (below) for The Daily as well as one the most expensive iPad app marketing efforts to date. The ad is relatively low-key and pushes both the range of content for the iPad magazine as well as its interactivity. Although it uses an iPad throughout its 30 seconds, the commercial notably doesn't make any mention of Apple's hardware by name and just refers to it as a "tablet" magazine.
Hulu's chief executive Jason Kilar might be removed from the top spot for a post that challenged traditional TV from studios. A News Corp executive said on Thursday that the Internet video maven would very likely be forced out as Comcast-NBC, Disney and News Corp's Fox are upset that he would criticize their TV business. The SAI tipster suggested Kilar was aware of it and was risking a 'poison pill' gesture that would lead to retaliation.
While News Corp was focusing everyone's attention on its latest iPad app, The Daily, at least one observant attendee reportedly happened to catch a glimpse of a prototype iPad. The device, which was spotted by a Reuters employee, is said to integrate a front-facing camera at the top edge of the glass bezel surrounding the LCD.
News Corp while talking about its latest results confirmed that it was effectively ready to sell MySpace. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey thought that the major redesign and music focus showed "very encouraging metrics" but weren't enough by themselves. Real growth "may be best achieved under a new owner," he said.
Rupert Murdoch during his introduction event for The Daily promised that the publication wouldn't be exclusive to the iPad in the long run. News Corp was "quite honest with Apple" and stressed that the daily publication would come to "all major tablets" at a certain point. He didn't confirm that it was an exclusive, but he characterized Apple as virtually controlling the tablet market for the near future.
News Corp held the introduction of its The Daily iPad publication, which brings with it both daily news for the tablet and iTunes in-app subscriptions. Apple's Internet Services VP Eddy Cue guest hosted along with News Corp's Rupert Murdoch. Check after the story break for updates as they happened in reverse chronological order.
Media conglomerate News Corp. has formally launched The Daily, an iPad-only news publication. The app is described as an "all-media" offering, combining text, photo, video and interactive elements. The latter includes things such as a special weather and sports trackers, integrated Twitter feeds, and 360-degree panoramas. Articles can be shared via Twitter, Facebook or e-mail.
The New York Times today gave an early look at its rough parallel to News Corp.'s imminent The Daily iPad app. News.me, co-developed by betaworks, would take more of its cues from Flipboard and curate content from Twitter. Along with formatting articles from the reader's own feed, the iPad reader alternative would see recommendations for those being followed and show what they might like, not necessarily what they're already reading.
Sources who have "gotten up close" with the publication are offering an early glimpse at The Daily, which is formally launching tomorrow. The iPad app is said to have a mix of conventional and enhanced digital news stories, the latter sporting videos, interactive graphics and/or photos that can be zoomed and swiped. Some articles may have virtually no text.
Apple and News Corp. today fulfilled expectations and sent out invitations to the launch of The Daily. The two will unveil the iPad-specific publication at New York City's Guggenheim museum on February 2 at 11AM. Steve Jobs' medical leave has put Apple Internet Services VP Eddy Cue as Apple's co-host while News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is still scheduled to appear.
Hulu is considering a major shakeup of its business model that could move away from its free format and towards a paid service with live TV, insiders claimed early Thursday. While it wouldn't drop the current model, the service is pondering the option of mimicking cable services by offering live TV in package bundles as well as video on demand. The plan would still be under discussion, the WSJ heard.
The iPad-only publication The Daily should launch "in the next few weeks," according to James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, and the chairman and CEO of News Corp. for Europe and Asia. The title has been in development for some time, and was originally expected to premiere on the 19th until a last-minute delay. The planned 99-cents-a-week pricetag will lower the barrier for "high quality journalism," Murdoch claims.
News Corp.'s delayed The Daily publication will have major ads from the start but won't tap into Apple's own iAds if a slip is accurate. Land Rover, Macy's, Pepsi and Virgin are all reportedly signing onboard for the iPad magazine's first ad run. Despite Apple's rumored direct involvement, though, AdAge heard Medialets would handle the ads instead of Apple's iAd system.
The joint Apple and News Corp. iPad project The Daily has been pushed back just a week before it was due to go live. Sources claimed on Thursday night that the daily tablet news outlet had been set back to help Apple prepare its iTunes subscription plans. The AllThingsD tipsters said the app itself was prepared; it was already known to have been in a dry run phase where editors write only for the test audience.
Apple chief Steve Jobs may show at News Corp's January 19 event after all, sources said today. Citing insiders involved in prep, Yahoo said that plans to have both Jobs and Rupert Murdoch on stage for the iPad-only The Daily publication had been confirmed. The event would take place at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco's SoMa district but had some flexibility in the date.
News Corp's iPad news magazine The Daily should be made public on January 19, a company contact said Tuesday. It had already been narrowed down to that week but now had a specific day. Forbes noted that a teaser page had already gone live and confirmed that it was getting close.
Google is readying a newsstand for Android devices even as Apple is racing to make important concessions on its iTunes news subscription plans, multiple sources said Sunday night. The search engine is reportedly hoping to race Apple to a central periodical platform and would aggregate phone- and tablet-optimized magazine or newspaper apps in a central place. The company would try to lure publishers away from Apple by undercutting its own usual 30 percent cut, the WSJ heard, and by agreeing to give private subscriber information that Apple has so far refused.
News Corp said on Wednesday that it was selling off Fox Mobile to the investment group Jesta. The terms of the deal weren't given but offloaded Bitbop, its fledgling TV streaming service. Online ringtone shop Jamster and Mobizzo were also included with the deal, whose terms weren't given out.
News Corp may have narrowed down the launch of its daily iPad publication until mid-January, insiders leaked on Friday. Still thought to have been postponed from this month, The Daily would go live the week of January 17. Tips to AllThingsD also mentioned a purported 3D effect that early access testers were "very excited about."
