Comcast aces Tennis Channel! Google’s Hollywood moment is here.
After the coffee. Before listening to another media investment conference.
The Skinny: I was watching “Brooklyn DA,” the CBS documentary series, Tuesday night, hoping for a crossover episode with the cast of “Girls,” but no such luck. Tuesday’s headlines include stories on Comcast’s big win over the Tennis Channel and Google’s Hollywood moment.
Daily Dose: With Comcast winning a big legal battle against the Tennis Channel (see below), speculation will soon start about what this means for the network’s future. There has been talk that Tennis Channel may be on the block. A victory over Comcast -- which would have increased distribution for the network dramatically -- would have increased its value. Now, though, any potential buyer has to be a little wary unless that buyer was Comcast itself. Now that would be ironic.
Game, set, match? The Tennis Channel’s efforts to force Comcast Corp. to carry it in the same number of homes that get the cable giant’s Golf Channel and NBC Sports Network have been thwarted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The court tossed a Federal Communications Commission ruling that had ordered Comcast to carry Tennis Channel in homes that also got the two Comcast-owned sports networks. Tennis Channel charged it was being discriminated against by Comcast. The cable operator countered that Tennis Channel was using the legal system to try to get out of a deal it didn’t like. Coverage from the Los Angeles Times and The Hill.
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What, me buy? News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch pitched the company’s new publishing company to investors Tuesday and said he doesn’t anticipate buying more newspapers. Of course, at the same time he is saying that his lobbyists in Washington are working very hard to relax regulations that make it difficult for News Corp. to buy new papers. If that effort is successful, look for News Corp. to kick a lot of tires. More from the Wall Street Journal.
Don’t be unfunny. The new movie “The Internship” starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as two out-of-work pals who become interns at Google looks like one big ad for the digital giant. That’s not an accident. Google opened its doors to Vaughn & Co. for the movie. Too bad it doesn’t look particularly funny, but then again I may just be tired of Vaughn and Wilson. A look at Google’s role in “The Internship” from Reuters and the Los Angeles Times.
Spending spree. The Weinstein Co. was busy at the Cannes Film Festival picking up a half-dozen titles. Sony Pictures Classics also did several deals and IFC Films’ Sundance Select was a busy shopper as well. The Hollywood Reporter on the high level of deal-making from U.S. companies at Cannes.
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A worker among workers. BuzzFeed takes the temperature of NBC under Chief Executive Steve Burke and says there is less drama and politics than there was under previous boss Jeff Zucker. If true, that should be a good thing but the piece says the company lacks passion. Passion or no passion, the real test of Burke’s leadership will be whether NBC can turn around its prime-time lineup and fix “Today.”
Inside the Los Angeles Times: AMC’s “The Killing” is coming back from the dead. TruTV has named a senior MTV executive as its new president.
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