Browse FishbowlNY June 2011 archives - FishbowlNY

ESPN: The Movie? |Replacing Beck | Rowling Drops Agent

Jerry Barmash — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:44:14 +0000

SportsNewser: Deadspin reports that Hollywood is interested in bringing the history of ESPN to a theater near you. It would be based on the cable network’s oral history by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller.
TVNewser: Fox News Channel unveils new program to take Glenn Beck’s so-to-be vacated slot . The Five, in The View mode, features a roundtable five rotating Fox News personalities.
GalleyCat: First her agent, now famed Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has jumped ship from the Christopher Little Literary Agency

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WRXP Cancels TakLiberty Rock Festival Fueling ‘Flip’ Speculation

Jerry Barmash — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:57:51 +0000

As we’ve been reporting, Emmis sold WRXP to veteran broadcasting executive Randy Michaels. Earlier this month, Michaels created Merlin Media for the takeover of ‘RXP and two other Emmis stations based in Chicago.

There has been much speculation that WRXP’s days as a Alternative Rocker are limited. Rumors persist that Michaels will flip the station to News/Talk, Sports, or even a Country music format.

Now for the latest proof that WRXP will drop Rock once the paperwork goes through later this summer.

The station’s TakLiberty Festival, planned for the PNC Arts Center in New Jersey on September 18, is no more.

A brief statement from Emmis read, “The WRXP TakLiberty Festival featuring Coldplay has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Refunds are available at the point of purchase.”

In a touch of irony, WRXP originally announced plans for the day-long concert one day before Michaels purchased the station.

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FishbowlNY Newstand: Your Morning at a Glance

Jerry Barmash — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:06:55 +0000

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Above and Beyond | Musical Star | Awake

Chris O'Shea — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:47:45 +0000

TVSpy: A Dallas, Texas, meteorologist tweeted the five o’clock news forecast because a power outage at the station kept the programming from airing. Someone give that guy a raise. That’s dedication.
AgencySpy: Here’s a video of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar promoting the Smashing Pumpkins. Yeah, we don’t know either.
FishbowlDC: Find out what time Chuck Todd pees each morning. We have nothing further to add.

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Glenn Close and Damages Cast Celebrate Season Four

Diane Clehane — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:30:26 +0000

— DIANE CLEHANE

Before dashing off to their summer cottages in the Hamptons for the long holiday weekend, the media mavens and moguls were at their regular perches at Michael’s today for a bit of last minute networking. It was SRO at the bar and the dining room was jam packed, because the Garden Room was reserved for a party hosted by the cast of Damages, the water cooler legal drama starring Glenn Close as a ruthless Manhattan attorney.

Last year, FX cancelled the show after three seasons, but it got a stay of execution from Direct TV which will air the season four premiere on July 13. I caught up with the series’ co-creator and show runner Daniel Zelman (who happens to be Debra Messing‘s husband, in case you didn’t know) before the party to find out what he thought of the move. “FX was wonderful and terrifically supportive, and Direct TV has been great. We’re thrilled about their commitment to the show,” he told me, adding that Damages will be the first stateside television series to air exclusively on the company’s new Audience Network. (They also aired the beloved but viewer deprived Friday Night Lights, which they shared with NBC.)

I asked Daniel what ripped-from-the-headlines news story would serve as the inspiration for the upcoming season. “The privatization of war industry,” he told me, saying that the new scripts are “loosely based” on those stories about for-hire firms like Blackwater who are paid to go to Iraq and Afghanistan. “The stories behind the for-profit companies involved in the war effort are very interesting. There is a lot to explore,” he said. Last season’s scalding Shakespearean version of the Madoff saga certainly made for very compelling human drama, and Daniel says that while there is no single larger than life figure this season, faithful viewers will be rewarded. “At the end of it, we hope they feel like they’ve been watching a 13-hour movie and feel satisfied with their investment.” With a stellar cast (all in attendance today) headed by Close, Rose Byrne (loved you in Bridesmaids!), John Goodman and Dylan Baker, we’re sure viewers will have plenty to chew on. We’ll be watching.

I had a lively lunch today with Self’s editor-in chief Lucy Danziger who arrived on her scooter with entertainment director Laura Brounstein. Rounding out our foursome was Huffington Post’s new women’s editor Lori Leibovich who is busy these days getting ready to launch a host of new verticals including ones devoted to parenting, baby boomers and pets.

Lucy just celebrated her 10th anniversary at Self , and she’s more energized than ever. She gave Lori and me a quick tour of Self’s July issue with cover girl Zooey Deschanel on the magazine’s iPad App which featured videos of fashion spreads with Cobra Starship set to music and stop action video demonstrating the exercise moves in the fitness features. This being ‘The Music Issue,’ Lucy and her team came up with some clever ways to get readers’ heart rates up, including playlists designed to motivate and slim them down. “Music is scientifically proven to be a powerful fitness tool,” she says. Just ask May’s cover girl Gwyneth Paltrow.

It was clear from seeing Lucy zip her way around her iPad during lunch that she has completely embraced her magazine’s digital doppelganger (which just launched in April with cover girl Kim Kardashian hosting live chats) and sees it as a way to connect with her readers like never before. ”The print magazine is great. It refreshes a reader’s commitment on a monthly basis,” she explained. “But we can reach the same reader every day with something new with our App. We refresh our content every day and are constantly coming up with new ways to make our readers feel more involved. We had three million uniques last month and, in the digital world, we can reach those readers 24/7.”

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. Lucy Danziger, Laura Brounstein, Lori Leibovich and yours truly

2. Peter Brown

3. ‘Mayor’ Joe Armstrong and Sherrie Westin

4. PR scion Steve Rubenstein

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Myspace Sold for $35 Million

Chris O'Shea — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:11:06 +0000

All Things D is reporting that News Corp.’s Myspace days have finally come to a close. The site has been sold to Specific Media, an advertising network, for $35 million (so we were close). Mike Jones, Myspace’s outgoing CEO, made sure to mention those lay offs in an announcement about the sale:

In conjunction with the deal, we are conducting a series of restructuring initiatives, including a significant reduction in our workforce. I will assist Specific with the transition over the next two months before departing my role as Myspace CEO.

Who knows what will happen to Myspace now, but one thing is for certain, we will always remember the porn spam and the inane bulletins that the site brought into our lives each day. For that we will always be grateful.

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Former WABC/Channel Weather Anchor Heidi Jones Pleads Not Guilty

Jerry Barmash — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:49:05 +0000

Heidi Jones, the former WABC/Channel 7 weather forecaster, pleaded not guilty today to charges stemming from lying to police about an attempted assault last year.

Jones’ lawyer, Paul Callan says he is working on getting the case thrown out.

“Under New York law, the D.A. must be ready for trial within 90 days of arraignment,” Callan tells FishbowlNY. “Heidi was originally arraigned on January 5, 2011 and the prosecution has never been ready for trial.”

Sister site TVSpy has more on Jones’ situation.

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Esquire Sued for Over $100 Million Because of Satirical Article

Chris O'Shea — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:47:29 +0000

Joseph Farah, CEO of WordNetDaily.com, and Jerome Corsi, author of Where’s the Birth Certificate? The Case That Barack Obama Is Not Eligible to Be President, are suing Esquire and a writer of a satirical article that they say defamed them. According to Forbes, the two are seeking over $100 million in damages.

The article in question was written by Mark Warren, and posted on Esquire’s Political Blog right after Obama displayed his birth certificate to the nation. In the piece, Warren pokes fun at the book, which had its premise plainly disproven before it was even released.

Esquire even posted an update hours after the post went up explaining the reasoning behind the article, but Farah and Corsi aren’t satisfied.

FishbowlNY has plenty more to say, but we’ll just go ahead and stop here. We don’t want to get sued too.

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David Cho Leaves The Awl for Grantland

Chris O'Shea — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:11:28 +0000

According to The New York Observer, David Cho, Publisher of The Awl, is stepping down. He will be moving on to Grantland, but details are hazy as to what he’ll be doing for the website.

Cho said in an email, “The opportunity at Grantland and to work with Bill [Simmons] and to work with some of the people at ESPN is the only job that ever could have made me even consider leaving what Choire and Alex and myself have built at The Awl.”

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America’s Got Talent, The Voice Top Weekly Ratings for WNBC

Jerry Barmash — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:07:08 +0000

Three editions of America’s Got Talent took the top slots for the week, according to the Nielsen Company.

The NBC talent competition, hosted by WXRK/NOW FM morning man Nick Cannon, averaged 721,000 and a 3.5 rating.

WNBC/Channel 4 didn’t stop there–tying at number three with The Voice (680,000/3.4). The Voice result show tied for tenth (528,000/2.6).

The BET Awards pulled in a fifth-place performance (635,000/3.1).

60 Minutes kept its familiar pace for WCBS/Channel 2 with a number six (614,000/3.0).

Tina Brown Speaks Out on Creepy Princess Diana Newsweek Cover

Ujala Sehgal — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:03:05 +0000

Did anyone think that the creepy “Diana at 50″ Newsweek cover, featuring a photoshopped image of what Princess Diana would look like at age 50, was a good idea? Perhaps in search of supporters, any supporters at all really, Newsweek went so far as to post a Facebook poll asking for thoughts, the New York Observer reports. Current tally is “Brilliant! Spot on” with 45 votes, a smattering of votes for “She would have looked younger,” “She would have looked older,” and “She would have changed her hairstyle” — and 324 votes for “Dislike.” So, yeah, it’s fair to say Tina Brown‘s vision did not go over well.

Nonetheless, as the Observer observed, “They’re doubling down, in fact–if you find a Photoshopped image of a tragically killed woman offensive, how will you feel when asked if her revivified body would look more youthful?”

In further evidence of doubling down, Brown went on Morning Joe, where she was asked about the bizarre feature story. “I found it really interesting to imagine what she would be doing now,” she said, by way of explanation. “What’s the response been?” Joe Scarborough politely asked. Brown responded:

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Jill Abramson Tries to Stop Defections From the New York Times

Ujala Sehgal — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:22:09 +0000

It’s not just The Daily that has been bleeding talent as of late. The New York Times has itself withstood a series of unexpected departures over the past year, notably to the Huffington Post, which swallowed up “Sunday Business” editor Tim O’Brien as well as business reporter Peter Goodman. New York magazine also had an unexpected coup by taking on Times columnist Frank Rich. So one of new Times editor-in-chief Jill Abramson‘s goals, she tells Gabriel Sherman at New York, is to put an end to all the defections, a surprising problem for the storied paper.

“Retention is becoming a challenge,” she said. “The economy has improved, whether it’s Bloomberg or the Huffington Post, I can feel on any given week that I’m playing whack-a-mole keeping our most talented people.”

Perhaps the Times will take a page out of Arianna Huffington‘s book and add a nap room in for the staff. It certainly can’t hurt.

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News Corp. Might Only Get $30 Million in Myspace Sale

Chris O'Shea — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:40:40 +0000

We haven’t heard any updates on the rumors of massive firings at Myspace yet today, but there’s more news on the possible sale of the site: According to The Los Angelese Times, Myspace will be sold for between $20 and $30 million.

That’s a very, very small return on the investment. Back in 2005, News Corp. paid $580 million for the site, and apparently was hoping to get an offer of at least $100 million. That hasn’t happened. The leading candidates to purchase Myspace are only offering a fraction of that.

We’re betting that the holiday weekend for execs at News Corp. and Myspace can’t come soon enough.

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Bloomberg News, Others, Take Home Multiple Loeb Awards

Chris O'Shea — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:47:56 +0000

Bloomberg News, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal each won multiple Gerald Loeb Awards, which recognize excellence in business journalism. Matthew Winkler, Bloomberg News’ Editor-in-Chief, said of grabbing multiple wins, “As there is no greater measure of respect than to be honored by our peers, we are grateful to be recognized with seven Loeb finalists and three Loeb winners, all of them advancing the public interest.”

The awards were presented last night. Below are the winners, congrats to all.

Bloomberg News:

David Evans- “Profiting From Fallen Soldiers” (News Service Category)
Daniel Golden, John Hechingerand John Lauerman – “Education Inc.” (Beat Reporting)
Amanda Bennett and Charles R. Babcock – “End of Life Warning at $618,616 Makes Me Wonder Was It Worth It” (Magazines)

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New York Times Magazine Editor Departs for Yahoo

Chris O'Shea — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 09:27:10 +0000

Chris Suellentrop is leaving his position as Editor of The New York Times Magazine to become Deputy Editor of Yahoo’s news blogs. Chris Lehmann, Editor in Chief of the blog collective (which inlcudes The Cutline, The Upshot, The Envoy, The Lookout and The Ticket), said Suellentrop’s background will be beneficial for the site.

Suellentrop told The Cutline he hopes to bring more long form writing to the collection of blogs. “Online readers have a huge appetite for long-form journalism. There’s no reason Yahoo News can’t swim in that pool.”

Suellentrop’s first day is August 8th.

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