by tyler | May 9, 2023 | CNN, media
Fox Corp. posted a loss in the most recent quarter after it paid a $787.5 million settlement to Dominion Voting Systems.
The company had posted a profit in the same quarter a year ago.
The company took a $719 million charge including the cost of the Dominion settlements and other legal costs, including attorney fees, which was partly offset by equity earnings of it affiliates and a change in the market value of some of its investments. But the hit left Fox with a $50 million net loss, compared to $290 million in profit a year earlier.
The earnings statement didn’t mention Dominion Voting Systems, although it does refer to charges related to legal settlement costs at Fox News Media. On the company’s call with investors Tuesday Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch referred to the settlement with Dominion as in the best interest of the company and its shareholders, given rulings by the Delaware court that he said limited its defense. He said going to trial could have led to two to three years of appeals.
“We’re proud of our Fox News team, the exceptional quality of their journalism and their stewardship of the Fox News brand,” he said. “So as we look ahead, we are confident in the strength of the Fox brands and the strength of our balance sheet.”
Excluding those special items it had adjusted earnings of $494 million, or 94 cents a share, up from $459 million a year earlier. That was better than the 87 cents a share forecast by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. The company was helped by the profits and revenue gain it received from airing this year’s Super Bowl.
Revenue at the company rose 18% to $4.1 billion, slightly higher than analysts’ forecasts. Most of that gain was due to a 43% surge in advertising revenue, helped greatly by $650 million in Super Bowl ads. Fox did not broadcast the Super Bowl in 2022.
Since its settlement with Dominion, Fox has fired its most popular anchor, Tucker Carlson. Ratings on Fox News have fallen, while other right wing networks have gained audience since Carlson’s firing.
Murdoch denied that Fox News is changing its way of reporting news in the face of the Dominion suit or Carlson’s ouster.
“There is no change to our programming strategy at Fox News,” Murdoch said in response to an investor who asked about Carlson’s ouster.
Murdoch described Fox News as “obviously a successful” and suggested Carlson’s firing was a tweaking of its strategy, not a departure from it.
“As always, we are adjusting our programming and lineup and that is what we continue to do,” Murdoch said.
Fox still faces a lawsuit from another voting machine manufacturer, Smartmatic, which is seeking $2.7 billion in damages. Murdoch told investors that case is “fundamentally different” from the Dominion case and that Fox will have greater defenses available to it than in the Delaware court hearing the Dominion case.
The Dominion settlement was reached on April 18, but it was still reported in Fox’s fiscal third quarter, which concluded March 31. Dominion accused Fox of reporting false statements about Dominon’s voting machines in the 2020 presidential election.
Fox had plenty of money available to pay the settlement. It said it had $4.1 billion in cash and cash equivalent on hand as of March 30, about three weeks before the settlement was reached. It also announced it repurchased $1.8 billion of its shares in the nine months ending March 31, as part of a $7 billion share repurchase plan. So far, Fox has repurchased $4.4 billion worth of shares as part of its plan.
Company executives said Fox is better positioned than many other media companies to ride out the delays and lost revenue that could take place from a prolonged strike by the Writers Guild of America. Some programming, such as late night shows, have already gone dark due to the strike that started last week, and production on other shows has been halted.
But Murdoch said the fact that Fox has more of its revenue and profit coming from sports and news, which are not affected by the strike, puts it in a better position.
“Our healthy balance of scripted and unscripted content on the network puts us in a tremendous position,” he said.
The hit from the settlement was well known by investors ahead of the report. But even with the better than expected results, Fox
(FOX) shares were little change in trading at the market open following the report.
by tyler | May 8, 2023 | CNN, media
More than 20 million people in the United Kingdom tuned in to watch King Charles III’s coronation on Saturday, but the ceremony attracted far fewer British viewers than his mother’s funeral last year.
Average viewing figures for the two-hour service at Westminster Abbey — the main part of the Saturday ceremony during which the King was crowned — reached 18.8 million, according to data provided by the UK Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (Barb).
The rainy day kicked off with King Charles III and Queen Camilla traveling from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. Watched by cheering and waving crowds, the couple rode in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach drawn by six horses. The coach was built in 2012 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
According to Barb, which analyzed audience figures across 11 television channels and services, the number of viewers peaked at 20.4 million just after midday when the King received his crown.
The BBC took the biggest share by far, with viewership across its BBC One and Two channels peaking at around 15 million, according to numbers released by the UK public broadcaster.
But the overall peak viewing figure was 9 million fewer than the number recorded for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, according to UK media reports, while the BBC audience was down about 5 million from the 20 million that tuned into BBC One for that service last September.
In 1953, more than 20 million people watched the late Queen being crowned, according to estimates based on surveys by the BBC at the time. Cameras were installed in Westminster Abbey for the first time to cover that coronation, which the BBC has described as the first mass television event in the UK.
Charles III’s coronation also underperformed compared with the wedding of his eldest son in 2011. The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton attracted a peak viewership of 20 million on the BBC, at the end of the ceremony in Westminster Abbey, according to the broadcaster.
Scores of foreign dignitaries, British officials, celebrities and faith leaders gathered in the abbey for Saturday’s coronation. Still, the 2,300-strong congregation was much smaller than in 1953 when temporary structures had to be erected to accommodate the more than 8,000 people who attended.
Following the service, 4,000 armed forces personnel, accompanied by 19 bands, took part in the largest UK military procession for 70 years, cheered on by thousands of spectators.
Some anti-monarchy demonstrators turned out to protest Saturday’s coronation. London’s Metropolitan police said it arrested a total of 64 people on Saturday for a variety of offenses, including “conspiracy to cause public nuisance” and “breach of the peace.” Four of the people arrested have been charged with an offense.
Republic, Britain’s largest anti-monarchy group, told CNN Saturday that police arrested organizers of the protest without providing any reason. The group said in a tweet Monday that the “protest was curtailed to protect the image of the king” and called the arrests “an absolute disgrace.”
Sign up for CNN’s Royal News, a weekly dispatch bringing you the inside track on the royal family, what they are up to in public and what’s happening behind palace walls.
— Duarte Mendonca contributed reporting.
by tyler | May 5, 2023 | CNN, media
Fox sent a cease-and-desist letter on Friday to Media Matters, the progressive watchdog, and its president, demanding that it take down embarrassing behind-the-scenes videos of Tucker Carlson attacking Fox News’ streaming service and making crude remarks while joking with staff.
The footage, published over the last week in a series of clips, comes in the wake of Carlson’s abrupt firing at the right-wing network and as a steady drip of leaked text messages show the former primetime star making racist and denigrating comments.
The sternly worded letter from Fox Corporation lawyers said the “unaired footage” is its “confidential intellectual property” and demanded Media Matters “cease and desist from distribution, publication, and misuse of Fox’s misappropriated proprietary footage, which you are now on notice was unlawfully obtained.”
“Reporting on newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism,” Media Matters President Angelo Carusone said in response to Fox’s demand Friday. “For Fox to argue otherwise is absurd and further dispels any pretense that they’re a news operation. Perhaps if I tell them that the footage came from a combination of WikiLeaks and Hunter Biden’s laptop, it will alleviate their concerns.”
Carlson has not responded to CNN requests for comment about the footage.
The watchdog group published a video clip on Wednesday showing Carlson speaking to colleagues on set between broadcasts candidly discussing the deposition he gave in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation case against Fox. Carlson referred to a Dominion lawyer as a “slimy little motherf**ker” and confessed to his producer “the hate” that he felt for him.
“I don’t want to feel that way. I think it’s wrong. It’s bad. It’s totally bad for you to feel that way,” Carlson said. “But that guy, he triggered the sh*t out of me.”
The footage also showed Carlson trashing the right-wing network’s streaming service Fox Nation, expressing frustration that the platform “sucks” and complaining that its “unbelievable” shortcomings were a “betrayal” of his efforts.
In other clips, Carlson is seen talking about sex ahead of an on-camera interview with Fox Nation host Piers Morgan, saying, “If we’re going to talk about sex, I’d love to hit some of the fine points of technique.”
Others show him asking a makeup artist if “pillow fights ever break out” in the women’s bathroom, discussing his “postmenopausal fans” and describing a woman as “yummy.”
by tyler | May 4, 2023 | CNN, media
Already strained movie theater companies could be hurt most from the Writers Guild of America strike, according to an analysis released Thursday.
The strike by film and TV writers entered its third day Thursday, with no negotiations currently scheduled with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, which represents management for big studios such as Disney, NBC Universal and CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.
“New big-budget tent-pole releases tend to fill theaters,” said Moody’s in its new analysis. “Theaters rely on these volumes for food and beverage sales as well, so exhibitors could feel the effects of a protracted strike more significantly.”
Broadcast and TV networks would be hurt too, as viewers would be left without their favorite shows move to streaming. The streaming services themselves would be affected least, since their libraries of content could carry them through a prolonged strike. They could even get a cash boost, as they did during the pandemic when production was halted, according to Moody’s.
But movie theaters have already been reeling from pandemic closures and the rising popularity of of streaming.
“Movie theaters have low credit ratings and less financial flexibility as compared to most studio and TV network owners, which makes them more vulnerable to a long strike. But in terms of the volume of content produced, television (networks and streamers) has more exposure,” said Moody’s.
The WGA is striking against streamers and movie studios over pay, employment levels and the changing way in which shows and movies are distributed. The strike comes at the beginning of the spring writing season for fall shows.
“Television will bear the brunt of a long strike as the implications of the writers’ strike will play out more noticeably for TV networks, stations, cable channels, and streamers. TV networks, particularly broadcast networks, consistently schedule new prime-time shows to begin in the fall,” the Moody’s analysis said.
This will hurt broadcasters’ ability to attract audiences and, in turn, advertisers. All four broadcast networks are owned by major studios.
“A quick settlement or a limited strike resolved in a month or two, in our view, would have a nominal impact on the financial health of the affected media companies,” according to Moody’s. “If a protracted strike occurs, and lasts six months or longer, it could hurt many media companies, especially smaller production companies.”
Media companies that are well diversified — that is, if they offer sports, news, or have a strong content library — will weather the storm the best. But Moody’s warned that customers may eventually have to pay higher prices to help offset the strike’s impact.
“We believe the strike will be temporary and unlikely to cause the investment grade issuers to see rating pressure in isolation, but it could cause some disruption and ultimately a settlement is highly likely to result in higher costs for all producers and distributors, and potentially for consumers, which could moderately impact subscription growth and churn rates,” said Moody’s.
The WGA said its proposal to the studios would result in approximately $429 million per year for writers, while AMPTP’s offer is about $86 million per year. Moody’s estimated a new three-year contract would likely cost media companies an extra $250-$350 million a year.
by tyler | May 4, 2023 | CNN, media
Fox said in a court filing Wednesday that it settled the monster defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million to “buy peace,” and strongly opposed motions to unseal additional redacted material in the case.
“Fox agreed to settle this case, with this Court’s encouragement, in large part to bring to an end the continued media spectacle, and chill on First Amendment rights, that this case had become,” Katharine Mowery, an attorney for Fox, wrote in a letter to Judge Eric Davis.
“It would create profoundly perverse incentives the next time parties are encouraged to settle a high-profile trial,” Mowery added. “After all, if $787.5 million is not enough to buy peace, parties will certainly think twice before settling in the future.”
In the letter, Mowery told the judge that Fox strongly opposes motions filed by news organizations to unseal additional redacted material contained in thousands of pages of court filings. Fox has redacted significant swaths of the material, which news outlets have objected to.
Days after Fox settled the lawsuit with Dominion, the company fired its star prime time host, the right-wing extremist Tucker Carlson. Reporting from several news outlets has indicated that some of Carlson’s communications, redacted in the court filings, played a crucial role in Fox’s decisions to sever ties with him.
In one message, which was first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by CNN, Carlson made a racist comment as he confessed he briefly hoped to see a group of Trump supporters kill a protester.
“It was three against one, at least,” Carlson wrote in the hours after the Jan. 6 attack. “Jumping a guy like that is dishonorable obviously. It’s not how white men fight. Yet suddenly I found myself rooting for the mob against the man, hoping they’d hit him harder, kill him. I really wanted them to hurt the kid. I could taste it.”
Soon after, “an alarm went off” in his brain, Carlson added, telling his producer he realized he was “becoming something” he didn’t “want to be.”
Neither Fox nor Carlson have commented on the message.
by tyler | May 4, 2023 | CNN, media
A Manhattan jury found Ed Sheeran’s hit “Thinking Out Loud” did not infringe on the copyright of the classic Marvin Gaye song “Let’s Get It On.”
The jury determined that Sheeran did not wrongfully copy compositional elements or melodies from “Let’s Get It On.” The jury found that Sheeran independently created his song.
Sheeran later said he is “obviously very happy with the outcome of the case,” adding “it looks like I’m not having to retire from my day job after all.”
“But at the same time I’m unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all,” he said. Sheeran said eight years were spent talking about two songs with “dramatically” different lyrics melodies “and four chords which are also different and used by songwriters everyday all over the world.”
The trial concerned Sheeran’s song “Thinking Out Loud,” which won the 2016 Grammy award for song of the year. The family of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote “Let’s Get It On” with Gaye, had accused Sheeran of copying the 1973 hit.
The plaintiffs had alleged similarities between the chord progression, harmonic rhythm, and certain melodies in the two songs. Sheeran’s legal team had argued that the melodies are different and the elements used in both songs are common in pop music.
The case was closely watched for its potential to further complicate the legal landscape for songwriters, after a number of high-profile music copyright lawsuits in recent years.
During the trial, Sheeran performed the opening line of “Thinking Out Loud” for the jury in an attempt to rebut the testimony of the plaintiff’s expert witness. Sheeran also said he found the allegations in the case “really insulting.”
Sheeran testified that he and co-writer Amy Wadge wrote “Thinking Out Loud” in less than a day in February 2014 when Wadge was staying at his house in the UK.
Sheeran said he and Wadge both had relatives who were ill or had recently died, and thinking about their long marriages served as inspiration for the song.
Ben Crump, a lawyer representing the family of the co-writer for Gaye’s 1973 hit “Let’s Get It On,” said in his opening statement that Sheeran played his ballad and Gaye’s song back-to-back in a medley during a concert, and called the moment a “smoking gun.”
During his testimony, Sheeran said the idea of creating the medley was “probably mine.” He said if he had, indeed, copied “Let’s Get It On,” then he “would’ve been an idiot to stand on stage in front of 20,000 people.”
Music copyright lawsuits have become increasingly common in the music industry over the past few years.
Gaye’s family has previously sued other artists for copyright infringement—and won. The estate successfully sued singer Robin Thicke and producer Pharrell Williams for $7.4 million in 2015 for borrowing from Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” for their hit “Blurred Lines,” though the case turned into a five-year legal battle that ultimately saw the judgment reduced to $5.3 million. The ruling also awarded Gaye’s family 50% percent of the royalties from “Blurred Lines” moving forward.
But other, recent copyright cases have had different outcomes.
Taylor Swift faced a similar case in 2017 over her smash hit “Shake It Off,” which was settled and dismissed last year. Led Zeppelin was sued in 2014 over its iconic tune “Stairway to Heaven” by the estate of late Randy California, former lead guitarist of the 1960s band Spirit, for lifting part of their single “Taurus.” A 2020 appeals court ruled in Led Zeppelin’s favor.
Sheeran, meanwhile, has faced previous legal battles over his music and won. In a 2022 case over his song “Shape of You,” a judge ruled in Sheeran’s favor that he did not copy grime artist Sami Switch’s song “Oh Why” after the musician accused Sheeran of plagiarizing a key part. He was also sued in 2016 over his single “Photograph,” which was settled out of court.
After his successful 2022 legal battle, Sheeran posted a video to his Instagram voicing his concern over the recent wave of music copyright cases, calling it “really damaging to the songwriting industry.”
On Thursday, Sheeran and Kathryn Townsend Griffin, a plaintiff in the case, hugged and spoke at length after the jury returned the verdict.
“I’m glad that we could hug this thing out,” Griffin said after court. She added that Sheeran had invited her to one of his upcoming shows.
