Morning Media Newsfeed: TV News Covers Republican Sweep

[emailonly]{{{ sbox300x250 }}}[/emailonly] Click here to receive Mediabistro's Morning Media Newsfeed via email. TV News Covers Republican Congressional Takeover (Mediaite) During the 11 p.m. ET hour, several networks announced the big news of the night: the Republican Party will be in control of the U.S. Senate starting in January. And with the GOP projected to hold onto the House of Representatives, this will set up a new dynamic of power in Washington: a Republican-dominated Congress versus the Democratic president. TVNewser The coverage produced several interesting moments; take CNN’s call on control of the House of Representatives. CNN’s Anderson Cooper threw to Wolf Blitzer with a promise of a “big projection.” Blitzer said it was, bigger than big, a “major, major projection” in the fight for control of the House. “Which party is coming out ahead? Get ready for that major projection right now.” And CNN rolled the full screen "CNN Projection" graphic, after which Blitzer himself poured ice water all over the preceding 30 seconds of dramatic hype: “Not a major surprise by any means.” TVNewser John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, hosting their first election night for BloombergTV, were discussing the West Virginia Senate race when Halperin said, “Two news organizations, both CNN and Fox News, are predicting that Shelley Moore Capito will be the winner.” A few minutes after that, Bloomberg cited CNN once again, which had called the Ohio governor race for John Kasich. Politico / Dylan Byers on Media Fox News broadcast exit polls from the New Hampshire Senate race almost two hours before polls closed in that state, a move that is likely in violation of agreed-upon rules by the media companies that commission the exit polls. TVNewser Earlier Tuesday, Jon Stewart stopped by CNN for an interview with Christiane Amanpour. Stewart told Amanpour he didn’t vote because, having just moved out of New York State, he didn’t know where his polling place is. TVNewser On his live show Tuesday night, he took a moment to apologize, saying it should have been more clear that he was just kidding, and he did, in fact, vote. Mediaite Stephen Colbert decided to show up CNN, Fox News and MSNBC with some over-the-top midterm coverage of his own. Only his involved the dark arts, a giant cauldron and Colbert selling his soul to the devil himself. TVNewser Legendary NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw was making an appearance on MSNBC’s election coverage when suddenly it sounded like a fire alarm might be going off in the studio. Brokaw then surprised Rachel Maddow and pulled out a giant smartphone with the alarm ringing on full blast. Time Inc. Revenue Increases (FishbowlNY) Time Inc.’s third-quarter report reveals that revenue increased despite some problems that impact the entire industry: Declining print and circulation sales. Capital New York While print advertising revenues were down 1 percent in the third quarter of 2014, the decrease was offset by the acquisition last September of American Express Publishing, which includes upmarket titles like Departures and Travel + Leisure. Total advertising revenues were flat at $428 million. NYT Circulation revenue declined 2 percent, to $279 million, and newsstand revenue -- an area hit across the industry -- declined 7 percent to $98 million. Other revenue, a category that includes events and conferences, some of the great hopes of the publishing industry, increased 11 percent to $114 million. AdAge Time Inc. will test paywalls on its magazine websites next year and finish a review of its portfolio that could result in the sale of certain titles, chairman-CEO Joe Ripp said during a call Tuesday to explain the results. Discovery Misses Q3 Earnings Estimates With Anemic U.S. Ad Sales (Deadline Hollywood) Discovery reported Q3 net income of $280 million, up 9.8 percent from the period last year, on revenues of $1.57 billion, up 14 percent. Analysts expected revenues to come in a little higher, at $1.59 billion. Along with its soft results, Discovery lowered its full-year outlook: It now projects revenues of as much as $6.35 billion, down from the $6.53 billion it anticipated in August. The forecast for adjusted net income is now down to a high of $1.3 billion from $1.4 billion. THR Discovery Communications is planning to take about $20 million in impairment charges in the fourth quarter for recently canceled shows Here Comes Honey Boo Boo on TLC and Sons of Guns on the Discovery Channel. WSJ The cable networks and film division at 21st Century Fox drove earnings growth in the latest quarter, offsetting weakness at its television segment. Net income fell to $1.04 billion, or 47 cents a share, for the fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30, down from $1.26 billion, or 54 cents a share, a year earlier. But last year’s result was boosted by a one-time tax refund of nearly $500 million from the Australian government. Earnings per share from continuing operations increased to 39 cents from 33 cents, excluding items such as gains this year from BSkyB’s sale of a stake in ITV, and gains last year related to BSkyB’s share repurchase program. NYT Faring poorly was the Fox broadcast network. The 21st Century Fox division that houses the network recorded $174 million in operating income, a 25 percent decline. [emailonly]{{{ jodslot01 }}}[/emailonly] Warner Bros. Begins Layoffs to Cut Costs (NYT) Warner Bros. on Tuesday began layoffs that will ultimately eliminate about 1,000 jobs, or 12.5 percent of the studio’s total staff, as it tries to increase profitability in the face of weak domestic box-office sales and a challenged television business. THR The layoffs are expected to affect more than 10 percent of the company’s 8,000-person global workforce. Most of the company's business groups began the process Tuesday. However, CEO Kevin Tsujihara said some groups, like finance, MIS and technical operations, are undergoing more complex reorganizations, and staff changes won't be complete until the first quarter of next year. Additionally, some of the cuts in international operations won't take place until the first part of 2015. Variety Warner Bros. isn’t the only division of Time Warner making staffing cuts. Turner Broadcasting and HBO are also pink-slipping hundreds of employees in an effort to reduce overhead. Dish Network’s Charlie Ergen Calls Loss of CNN, Turner Nets A 'Non-Event' (Deadline Hollywood) Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen was in rare form Tuesday in his quarterly earnings conference call with analysts and media -- especially when asked about his battle with Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting. All of its channels except for TBS and TNT went dark on the No. 2 satellite company on Oct. 21 as a result of a contract dispute. And Ergen says he’s prepared to dig in his heels, including doing without CNN which he says is “not a top 10 network anymore. Unless they find the Malaysian plane.” Variety For now, Dish is still carrying TBS and TNT but “we have to be prepared that those channels will come down as well,” Ergen said, noting that programming deals typically are bundled together. That may result in a loss of subscribers, “but we have a responsibility to our shareholders to not do stupid deals.” THR Dish Network on Tuesday reported lower third-quarter earnings as it lost subscribers and had higher expenses. On the earnings front, the satellite TV company posted earnings of $146 million, compared with $315 million in the year-ago quarter. The financials missed Wall Street expectations. Dish lost 12,000 net pay TV subscribers in the latest period to end September with 14.04 million. In the third quarter of 2013, the company had added 35,000 net subscribers. SoundCloud Signs Licensing Deal With Warner Music (NYT) SoundCloud, a streaming music service that attracts 175 million users each month, has moved one step closer to being legit in the eyes of the music industry. After months of talks, SoundCloud -- which makes millions of songs available free, but until recently has never paid royalties -- has signed a licensing deal with the Warner Music Group, one of the three major global music companies, the two companies announced on Tuesday. Fortune The alliance is a major victory for SoundCloud, which is hoping to build up a catalogue of major artists to attract listeners to both its existing free service and a subscription service it plans for next year. Warner Music fits the bill with a big stable of stars like Bruno Mars, The Black Keys, Flo Rida and Red Hot Chili Peppers. [emailonly]{{{ sbox01 }}}[/emailonly] Paul Buccieri Exits ITV, Hired for Top A+E Networks Job (THR) Paul Buccieri is leaving ITV Studios and has joined A+E Networks in a senior role. The veteran executive, who has served as chairman of the U.S. Group at television behemoth ITV, will serve as president of A+E cable networks, History and A&E. Variety Buccieri had been with ITV Studios U.S. since 2007. He spearheaded the company’s growth and acquisitions of several indie reality production outfits, including Gurney Prods., High Noon Entertainment, Thinkfactory Media and Leftfield Entertainment. His move to A+E Networks comes as a surprise to many. It’s a sign that A+E Networks prexy-CEO Nancy Dubuc was looking to strengthen her senior management team as it prepares for the retirement of Abbe Raven as chairman in February. Deadline Hollywood Buccieri comes from distribution background, which is considered one of his strongest suits. Distribution had been one of the areas at A+E Networks handled by Raven, so Buccieri will likely assist Dubuc in that and possibly more on the business side. Sean Rad Out as Tinder CEO (Forbes) Sean Rad, the cofounder and CEO of Tinder, an app that over the past two years has completely reinvented how young people date and mate, received a call last month from Barry Diller’s IAC that he was out as CEO of the company he had started. SocialTimes Rad was demoted to president in order to “focus on the product.” Earlier this year, the company’s former VP of marketing Whitney Wolfe sued for “sexual harassment and sex discrimination.” Tinder’s chief marketing officer, Justin Mateen, was suspended (and subsequently resigned). Facebook Asks Users to Declare ‘I’m A Voter’ (FishbowlDC) For those logged into Facebook on Midterm Elections Day, at the top of many users’ feeds was a box indicating “It’s Election Day” with tabs to declare “I’m a Voter” and a link directed to 2014.votinginfoproject.org. AllFacebook During past election years, Facebook has experimented with its voting-related messaging, showing different messages to different users, but that is not the case this year. Facebook also updated its Voting Across the Nation page with real-time data on where its users voted. [emailonly]{{{ sbox02 }}}[/emailonly] Dafydd Rees Named Head of Bloomberg Television in Europe, The Middle East, Africa (TVNewser) Dafydd Rees has been named head of Bloomberg Television in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Rees will lead the Bloomberg Television team across the region and will be responsible for overseeing the channel’s news coverage, programming and development and operations. By The Book: How Belt Publishing Led to an Online Magazine Covering The Industrial Midwest (Nieman Lab) Belt Publishing is a small independent publishing house that tells stories of the industrial (and post-industrial) Midwest, from Pittsburgh to St. Louis. It published its first book, Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology, in 2012, and it launched an online magazine last fall that grew out of the Cleveland Anthology and a successful Kickstarter campaign. “People were like, this was really great and seemed to strike a nerve, let’s do more of it,” editor-in-chief Anne Trubek said. “So I thought, well, OK, let’s try to do an online magazine that would be more journalistic and would cover the Rust Belt, because there was this perceived gap” in coverage. Spanish-Language Cabler Mun2 to Relaunch as NBC Universo (Variety) NBCUniversal is planning a relaunch of its Spanish-language cabler Mun2 that will accentuate the channel’s affiliation with the Peacock. The cabler will unveil its new name of NBC Universo on Feb. 1 as it carries the Spanish-language simulcast of NBC’s Super Bowl telecast. [emailonly]{{{ sbox03 }}}[/emailonly] Liberty Media Set to Complete Spinoff, Revenue Rises (WSJ) Liberty Media Corp. said it expected to complete the spinoff of its cable business Tuesday as the media company also reported its third-quarter revenue and operating earnings improved, mostly thanks to contributions from its stake in SiriusXM Holdings Inc. Google Expands Reach of Disney Movies Anywhere Streaming Service on Android Devices (Variety) After launching Disney Movies Anywhere on Apple devices in February, Walt Disney Studios has partnered with Google to make the streaming service available on platforms that run on Android. The deal should significantly expand the reach of DMA in the U.S., given that Android powers the majority of the world’s mobile devices. NYT Creates International Managing Editor Position, Appoints Magazine’s First Deputy Digital Editor (NYT) Michael Slackman will take on a new position of international managing editor for The New York Times. Slackman began his career at the Times in 2003. Charles Homans, most recently the executive editor of The Atavist, will be joining The New York Times Magazine as its new digital deputy. Mediabistro Blogs AllFacebook Governments’ Requests for Facebook User Data Up 24 Percent UnBeige On the Art of the #Artselfie FishbowlNY Time Inc. Revenue Increases SocialTimes CEO of Tinder Gets Demoted by IAC GalleyCat Out of Print Has Donated 1 Million Books TVSpy KRON Ready to Move in With KGO Next Week AllTwitter The 100 Companies We Most Want to Work For Lost Remote How Bitly Helps Social TV Marketers WithTheir Messaging FishbowlDC Paul McGonagle Named VP, News Director of WTTG 10,000 Words Deca Journalism Co-op Caters to Global Audience Inside Mobile Apps Mobile Monetization Company Fuse Powered Acquires Corona Labs InsideFacebook Does the Cost of Facebook’s Mobile Advertising Outweigh the ROI? TVNewser Skyscraper Live is Discovery’s Most Watched Telecast of 2014 PRNewser Spotify Begs Taylor Swift to Come Back Through Song AgencySpy Sprint Promises to Get ‘Aggressive’ with New Agency MediaJobsDaily NPR Issues Social Media Reminder to Employees on Election Day Advertise on Our Blog Network

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