Morning Media Newsfeed: Alibaba's Jack Ma Eyes Lionsgate Stake

[emailonly]{{{ sbox300x250 }}}[/emailonly] Click here to receive Mediabistro's Morning Media Newsfeed via email. Alibaba Eyeing 37 Percent Stake in Lionsgate (New York Post) After getting a taste of The Hunger Games, Alibaba billionaire Jack Ma has an appetite for more. The Chinese Internet tycoon is hungering after Mark Rachesky’s 37.4 percent of Lionsgate, the studio behind the blockbuster film franchise. THR Hedge fund manager Rachesky, the chairman of Lionsgate and its biggest shareholder, is looking to unload his influential stake in the mini-studio. Variety A sale of his stake to Alibaba could be announced in November or perhaps sooner. Lionsgate and Alibaba reps declined to comment on the report. Rachesky and reps for Rachesky’s MHR Fund Management did not respond to requests for comment. New York-based MHR manages about $6 billion of capital. Deadline Hollywood Ma will be in Hollywood this week to talk with different studios. He already knows Lionsgate: Alibaba partnered with the studio this summer when it launched its Chinese subscription streaming service, Lionsgate Entertainment World, which features the studio’s movies and TV shows. Adweek China is the No. 2 film market in the world, making the convenience of online subscription content a natural fit for Alibaba’s e-commerce network. However, China is not a straightforward place to do business. Last month, Chinese regulators announced they would cap the amount of foreign TV programs local providers could stream to online subscribers. Former CNN, CNBC, Fox News Business Anchor Terry Keenan Dies at 53 (TVNewser) Terry Keenan, a former CNN and Fox News anchor, has died. She was 53. THR Keenan was most recently a Sunday business columnist for the New York Post. Her last column was posted online on Oct. 19. Keenan formerly worked as an anchor and business correspondent for Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, hosting the Saturday investing program Cashin' In. She left Fox News in 2009, according to reports. Deadline Hollywood She learned the ropes in the 1980s working on Louis Rukeyser’s PBS series Wall Street Week and then on Lou Dobbs’ Moneyline at CNN. She worked at the latter network for nine years starting in 1986, becoming an on-air reporter and eventually hosting Moneyline Weekend Edition With Terry Keenan. While at CNN, she was the first journalist to report live from the New York Stock Exchange as the market crashed on Black Monday in October 1987. Keenan also worked as a reporter and anchor at CNBC from 1995-98. New York Post The cause of death was a cerebral brain hemorrhage. FBI Warning: ISIS Targeting More U.S. Journalists (The Boston Herald) The FBI is warning journalists to be on high alert after receiving “credible information” showing ISIS terrorists are looking to kill American media members both in the U.S. and abroad -- listing them among other “high-impact targets.” WJLA While the FBI did not issue an official press release on the situation, the agency did provide an unclassified Intelligence Bulletin to media outlets detailing the threat so that it could take security precautions as necessary. The document was headlined "Islamic State of Iraq And The Levant (ISIL) Identifies Reporters And Media Personalities as Desirable Targets." The FBI bulletin indicated that, following the beheading of American journalists overseas by ISIL, a recent online posting in Arabic on an ISIL-dominated forum issued a call to action for the 2.6 million Muslims living in the U.S. TVSpy The bulletin also reportedly warns “members of this group might try to mask their affiliation with (ISIS) to gain access to journalists.” [emailonly]{{{ jodslot01 }}}[/emailonly] TV Ratings: CBS' Thursday Night Football Run Ends on High Note (THR / The Live Feed) CBS' Thursday Night Football run has come to an end -- at least for this season. And regardless of how it performed compared to ratings-gazer's expectations, it gave the network assured victories every Thursday since early September. The final shared football telecast between CBS and the NFL Network this season brought the second-highest overnight ratings yet. Deadline Hollywood Thursday night’s game, a 35-21 Broncos victory in Denver, surged 23 percent among adults 18-49 over the previous week’s fast nationals of 3.9/12. As of Friday, CBS took Thursday night with a 4.5/14 rating and 14.64 million viewers. Variety Through seven games this season on CBS and NFL Network, Thursday Night Football averaged an 11.4 overnight household rating/19 share, a big 81 percent improvement over last year (6.3/11) when the games aired on NFL Network alone. TNF continues this week with New Orleans at Carolina exclusively on NFL Network, and CBS premieres its Thursday lineup including The Big Bang Theory, Two And A Half Men and Elementary. Roku Working on Plans to File Confidentially for IPO (WSJ) Roku Inc., maker of streaming media players, TVs and software, is working on plans to file confidentially for an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter. NYT / DealBook The company, which has been working with banks like Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, would be likely to keep its preliminary paperwork under wraps under the provisions of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act. The law lets companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue file confidentially. An offering could raise as much as $150 million, one of these people added. Mashable Founded in 2008, Roku reported last month that it sold 10 million of its set-top boxes to date. In comparison, Apple has sold at least 20 million Apple TVs. So far, Roku has secured $140 million in funding. Men’s Journal Publisher Out After One Year (New York Post / Media Ink) The revolving door at Wenner Media’s Men’s Journal has swung again. Vincent Krsulich is out as publisher after only a year on the job. FishbowlNY Krsulich had been with the magazine since 2008. He served as associate publisher for five years before being promoted. Krsulich’s departure means yet another publisher for Men’s Journal, which has seen quite a few over the past six years. Since 2008, Men’s Journal has had five different people fill that role: Fran Farrell (2008-2009), Matt Mastrangelo (2009-2010), Michael Wolfe (2010-2012), Chris McLoughlin (Jan. 2012-Aug. 2013) and Krsulich. [emailonly]{{{ sbox01 }}}[/emailonly] The Queen of Twitter: British Monarch Sends First Tweet (AllTwitter) The Queen sent her first ever tweet during a visit to the Science Museum in London Friday. “It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting,” she wrote, signing off her tweet with “Elizabeth R.” The Guardian The account had previously been managed by palace officials. The Queen’s Twitter debut comes a few months after that of her grandson, Prince Harry, who sent a message on the social network in May to celebrate the forthcoming Invictus Games. James Foley Was Reportedly Tortured Before ISIS Beheading (NYT) The story of what happened in the Islamic State’s underground network of prisons in Syria is one of excruciating suffering. Executed journalist James Foley and his fellow hostages were routinely beaten and subjected to waterboarding. THR For solace, Foley and many fellow captives converted to Islam, the faith of those who were holding them hostage. Of the 23 prisoners he was held with, Foley, and three British men reportedly suffered the worst torture, their captors were upset with their countries' roles in the war on terror, and because the U.S. and Britain were the least amenable to negotiate with ISIS on ransom terms. FCC Postpones Auction of Broadcast TV Spectrum to 2016 (Deadline Hollywood) Television station owners have more time than some probably ever imagined to decide whether to let wireless broadband providers buy airwave spectrum that they use to transmit programming. The FCC has been working on a voluntary auction for years with plans to have it take place in mid-2015. But Friday the agency says it will postpone the sale to early 2016 as it grapples with a lawsuit from the National Association of Broadcasters that says the plan will hurt stations that choose to keep the spectrum that they license. [emailonly]{{{ sbox02 }}}[/emailonly] Another Morning Joe Staffer to CBS News (TVNewser) Another Morning Joe staffer is heading to CBS News. T.J. Asprea, the show’s director, has been named director of the CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley. Two weeks ago, Morning Joe producer Jon Tower left MSNBC for CBS This Morning. New York Times Invests in Dutch 'iTunes for News' Company (GigaOM) Blendle, a Dutch startup that sells access to news and other content from a variety of European media outlets on a per-article basis, says it has closed a Series A financing round of $3.8 million that was led by The New York Times Co. and German media giant Axel Springer. The company says it plans to use the money to expand to other European countries over the next several years. Canada's CBC Presses Ahead With Job Cuts (THR) The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Friday revealed new details on deep cost-cutting measures at the struggling public broadcaster. CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson confirmed that the network plans to cut another 400 employees by the end of March 2015, on top of 657 jobs already announced in April. [emailonly]{{{ sbox03 }}}[/emailonly] Rwanda Suspends BBC Broadcasts Over Genocide Documentary (HuffPost / AP) The Rwandan government on Friday suspended all BBC radio broadcasts in Rwanda's most common language, Kinyarwanda, to protest the news organization's recent documentary about Rwanda's genocide. Saturday Night Live Ratings Rise With Host Jim Carrey (Deadline Hollywood) Veteran movie stars still have a pull with Saturday Night Live audiences and Jim Carrey proved it Saturday night. With him as the week’s host, SNL drew a 4.1 household rating in the metered markets and a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating in the local people meters. That is up 8 percent in households and up 22 percent in 18-49 from SNL‘s last original, hosted by alumnus Bill Hader. NPR Reduces Its Environment Team to One Reporter (Inside Climate News) NPR has cut back on the number of staffers focused solely on the environment and climate change. Earlier this year, the news outlet had three full-time reporters and one editor dedicated to covering the issue within NPR's science desk. One remains -- and he is covering it only part-time. 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Morning Media Newsfeed: Alibaba's Jack Ma Eyes Lionsgate Stake | Terry Keenan Dies at 53

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