A Hollywood source has slipped me media executive search consultant Mercury Group's highly confidential "Profile for The Hollywood Reporter Publisher Position". (Did I mention it's got "Confidential" printed across every page?) I think what follows is self-explanatory. Check back this morning to read Part 2 about The Hollywood Reporter post-sale:
CLIENT COMPANY – e5 Global Media
POSITION SPECIFICATION – Publisher, The Hollywood Reporter
COMPANY BACKGROUND
e5 Global Media is a newly formed company whose assets include The Hollywood Reporter, AdweekMedia (which includes Adweek, Mediaweek and Brandweek), Billboard, The Clio Awards, The Film Expo Group (comprising of CineExpo, CineAsia, Show East and Show West), International Film, Journal & Backstage.
E5 acquired the brands from Nielsen Business Media on Dec. 31. The company was formed by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners. It's chaired by Jimmy Finkelstein, CEO of News Communications, parent of Congressional Journal the Hill.
Richard Beckman, formerly of Conde Nast, is the new company’s CEO. He plans to grow e5's assets by extending them to new platforms.
"What we have to do is take these storied brands and create meaningful, multiplatform brands with a global imprint that in aggregate become a very important media and entertainment business," he said. "I want a footprint across multiple platforms. It could be anything from television to broadband to event-based businesses. I see us creating a burgeoning branded-entertainment business."
Beckman didn't rule out forays into consumer-aimed media, where he has spent most of his career.
"These brands like The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard have
... Read More »
Broadcasting & Cable reports that Ryan O’Hara, who stepped down as TV Guide Network president on February 5th, has been named CEO of Topps, the trading card and media company owned by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner and Madison Dearborn Partners. O'hara will start there March 1st and be based in New York City.
The trade whose content is now behind a paid wall just announced it has hired the online editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer to become editor of Variety.com and its editorial content. (Sure, because newspapers' websites are so swell... Hilarious!) Chris Krewson begins in February, replacing Dana Harris who segues to a new position as editor of Variety's so-called "paid information product".
I just heard that Video Business is closing effective immediately.
BREAKING NEWS! So much for the accuracy of tracking. There's obviously huge online curioisty about James Cameron's 3-D latest. The Hollywood Reporter's glowing early review of Avatar released just now has crashed the trade paper's website because of a Drudge Report pickup. The Times of London, KTLA's Sam Rubin, and other stellar reviews are pouring in and revving up Internet traffic...
Avatar premiered in the UK today. Even though London critics had to sign away their firstborns promising not to review the film until Monday, their drooling reactions are starting to dribble onto the Internet especially via Twitter. I can't find anyone who seriously says Avatar stinks up the joint. Instead, many are quite effusive in their praise and think it's kickass spectacular. Generally, the critical reaction is far above average, which bodes well for the film's word of mouth. Then again, the British may not be familiar with Smurfs.
I told you months ago this was coming, and it's even earlier than expected. Variety has announced that, starting tomorrow, Variety will begin its rollout of the website's paywall as part of an overall revamp of the publication's subscription structure. 
But the trade issued this warning: "After clicking on two pages of content at Variety.com, one in 10 randomly selected visitors will be prompted to register for further access. Print and digital subscribers who have logged in with a user name and password have full access to Variety.com. Nonsubscribers may access only five pages of content in any given month.
So start forking over that introductory subscription rate of $248 to gain access to all Variety products, including the print editions of Daily Variety and weekly Variety, as well as Variety.com and Digital Variety. "This initial phase allows us to gather more information about our paying customers worldwide and hone the user experience so we can continue to provide the best subscriber experience for all paying customers," said Variety president Neil Stiles. "The number of unique visitors to Variety will decline, but the people who remain on the site are our core audience. These are ultimately the people we want to reach." Here's only what left for free: the home page, headlines, brief article summaries and search results. As I've said before, Variety had no choice but to go to this model ... Read More »
Why in the world ex-Los Angeles Times' errand boy Leo Wolinsky has been named editor of Daily Variety (both the LA and NY editions) is bewildering to say the least. 
The guy knows nothing about the entertainment biz. He was long considered a joke at the LA Times and infamous for secretly helping wrangle billionaire potential local backers like Eli Broad, Ron Burkle, Richard Riordan and David Geffen when then bigwig editors were fighting with Tribune Co. (Finke/LA Weekly: Baquet's Billionaire Boys Club). He briefly sat atop the LA Times' entertainment and feature sections as a seat-filler until he was let go. Nevertheless, Wolinsky will be responsible for all Variety editorial content for the print edition. He will begin in January, reporting to Variety Group editor Tim Gray. I'm truly surprised at what a bad choice this is. Then again I don't think like the trades, and for them a top editor who likes to suck up to the rich and powerful could be just the godsend Variety needs now that Peter Bart has been put out to pasture.
Multichannel News is reporting today that, although Paul Allen still controls 35% of the vote, the uber-secretive gazillionaire is not listed as a board member in a recent press release announcing new appointments to Charter Communications' directors. Instead, Apollo Management partner Eric Zinterhofer, was listed as chairman of the 11-member board. "Charter would not officially comment but an executive familiar with the company confirmed that Allen is no longer chairman," the trade said. Charter just emerged from bankruptcy protection a few days ago. Allen's zillions helped create Charter, which just emerged from bankruptcy protection, through a series of acquisitions during the height of the cable consolidation frenzy.
UPDATE (includes Harpo letter): Both Broadcasting & Cable & Variety, followed by The New York Times and The Washington Post, and every other media outlet just came out today with news headlines reporting what I did first on November 5th: That Oprah Winfrey will end her long-running talk show in 2011. They say she'll air this on her program Friday. Here was my original scoop: THE END OF 'OPRAH' AS WE KNOW HER: Daytime Diva Giving Up Syndie Talk Show & Moving It To Her Cable Network In 2011. Before I recap the news from my story 14 days ago, here is the letter which Harpo Inc President Tim Bennett sent out to affiliates and others today:
Dear Friends:
Over the past several weeks, my team and I have had conversations with many of you to help address your questions about the future of "The Oprah Winfrey Show". Of course, the one question we couldn't answer was the one that only Oprah could. And tomorrow, she will do just that.
But before she speaks to her loyal viewers, we wanted to share her decision first with you our valued partners for more than two decades.
Tomorrow, Oprah will announce live on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that she has decided to end what is arguably one of the most popular, influential
... Read More »
Broadcasting & Cable is reporting NATPE is leaving Las Vegas for Miami's Fontainebleu and adjacent Eden Rock hotels in January 2011.
UPDATE: Now The Hollywood Reporter is telling some staff that the trade publication will be going from a daily to a weekly by April. 
This follows the bosses there telling Hollywood players to advertise in the print edition before the end of the year when the trade would go online only. This was backed up by THR ad staff trying to pressure the studios and networks to agree to help with special issues honoring their respective moguls only before December. Repeatedly, the staff said the issues had to run by December or not at all. Obviously the THR situation is very fluid. We'll see what happens. Meanwhile, Variety is still planning to put its online content behind a paid wall after the new year.
EXCLUSIVE: In my opinion, this is a necessary step if the financially beleaguered trades are going to survive the current economic downturn. Even if advertising does pick up for other media outlets. Because the contraction in the entertainment industry, and the change to a no-frills attitude regarding lavish awards advertising, 
has permanently hurt the trades which in turn have tried to staunch the bleeding by massive layoffs. (On a personal note, no matter how hard I compete with Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, I'd hate to see either trade disappear from the showbiz landscape. Too many people work there, and too many people need the niche content.) That said, I've known that Variety spent 6 months intensely studying all its options. Now toppers Neil Stiles and Brian Gott have decided to go to a paid strategy right after the first of the year. That means the website will no longer be free. So online and print content will both be subscriber-based. Exactly which combination of content and services will be offered has yet to be determined. But this is being done in recognition of the sad fact that, ever since Variety pulled back that paywall in 2006 (back when all that mattered was traffic numbers at the expense of subscription dollars), the trade has lost a ton of money. Meanwhile, sources tell me that The Hollywood Reporter is about to dump its daily print version. The date ... Read More »
Longtime Variety columnist Army Archerd died this afternoon at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center of a rare form of cancer. He was 87. He was posting on his online column as recently as July 27th. But he was best known for his "Just for Variety" column in the print edition of Daily Variety from 1953 to 2005. And, long before Ryan Seacrest even held a microphone, Army was a fixture on the Red Carpet at the Academy Awards as the interviewer of record. Conventional wisdom had it that an Oscar campaign wouldn't be successful without multiple mentions in Archerd's column. Among his countless news exclusives was the tragic 1985 news that Rock Hudson had the AIDS virus. This, like everything showbiz, Army handled without sensation. Though Hudson's publicist Dale Olson had tried to cover up Rock's illness, Archerd learned of Hudson's hospitalization in Paris and "wrote one of the most carefully written pieces I have ever seen," Olson recalled to Variety when Army retired his print column. "That's one of the secrets of Army's success. He would do a story, even if it was a difficult personal story, and not write it like gossip. The message was there, but it was gentle. His column will really be missed. There is no way to replace Army Archerd." I, too, thought Archerd one of the last true gentleman journalists working in Hollywood, and one of the most accurate. He was always sweet and supportive towards me. My condolences go out to his wife ... Read More »
MPAA chairman/CEO Dan Glickman is claiming the U.S. film industry won a major victory today in its years-long battle to open the Chinese movie market. The World Trade Organization (WTO) decided that America vs China market access case, dating back to 2007, in the U.S. government’s favor on virtually every count, and declared that some of China’s most difficult barriers to its entertainment market are clear violations of international trade rules. "The decision points a way forward that will begin to even the playing field in this important market," Glickman said in a statement. "The WTO struck down China’s film import monopoly as well as the barriers that keep U.S. companies from importing and distributing DVDs in China. The U.S. government also challenged the monopoly China maintains over the distribution of U.S. movies shown in Chinese theaters, and the WTO ruled that — based on the statements that China made during the proceeding — China’s laws do not prevent opening this market to competition, another long-sought objective of the industry."
Glickman called the Chinese system for distributing U.S. films to Chinese audiences "among the most restrictive and burdensome in the world" prompting Hollywood to spend years pressuring the Chinese to ease these barriers. "It is potentially promising that the Chinese government has now, in its own words, indicated that a pathway does exist to ensure that U.S. films are treated in a more even-handed manner and more in line with accepted commercial practices. This decision, coupled with the recent announcement from ... Read More »
What's extraordinary to me is that the trades aren't showing any "Vote No" videos, only "Vote Yes" ones, and are only briefly mentioning the "Vote No" actors in one sentence at the end of their stories on the "Vote Yes" campaign. Ridiculous.
EXCLUSIVE: This news will have reverberations throughout the New York media world. In a phone call just now, Peter Kaplan tells me he has tendered his resignation as Editor-in-Chief of the New York Observer effective June 1st. He says he has no job lined up after 15 years atop the paper. "It's a lifestyle choice," he said. "I want to take care of Lisa and the kids." [Lisa Chase, an editor at Elle magazine, is his life partner.]
The news comes after Gawker posted today about "rumors" that the New York Observer's owner Jared Kushner "would like an elegant, face-saving exit from the failing newspaper business, and that he's had talks with Politico and Huffington Post about buying or merging with the Observer, but neither one has bitten."
First, some transparency. Kaplan has talked to me repeatedly about wanting NYO to buy my website since I began DHD 3 years ago. The NYO named me Media Mensch Of 2007. I was the NYO's first and only West Coast Editor and Hollywood columnist from 1995 to 1998 when I left to take a better paying gig. As a result, I've been privy to much of Kaplan's frustration at the newspaper which used to be well read and well respected and nowadays is barely noticed and hardly quoted. None of that has been Kaplan's fault. It's Kushner's.
Of course, Peter's predecessor as editor-in-chief, Graydon Carter, put the Observer on solid journalism footing with the full engagement and encouragement of then owner Arthur ... Read More »
EXCLUSIVE: Fox Atomic Shutting Down
What a hypocrite. After Variety's Mike Fleming recently and unfairly criticized blogs for even once reporting a rumor, he today did just that. He posted how there was a "rumor" that film label Fox Atomic may be closing and admitted he didn't have even a single source to confirm or deny it. Variety even emailed an alert about the rumor. I heard this same rumor on Friday and didn't post -- and I won't until somebody high up confirms or denies it -- because it would panic the people who work there. As a Fox exec tells me: "Shitty to report rumors when no one has been told." All I can surmise is that Fleming and his (un)trustworthy trade must be desperate to get noticed.
Two weeks ago, while the SAG-AMPTP contract talks were still going on, The Hollywood Reporter came out with a bombshell of a story. 
It claimed "AFTRA is dominating the field this year with at least 50 of the 70-plus broadcast pilots to be produced coming under its jurisdiction". I have since found out this is bullshit. Not even AFTRA knows where THR got those figures. In fact, AFTRA not only never confirmed those numbers with the union, it can't confirm those figures. And the journalist knew this before the story came out. Nor would the reporter tell AFTRA who had provided those figures.
So I decided to discover the truth.
As background first, remember that there are many reasons to explain why a producer would elect to produce a program under an AFTRA contract, such as longstanding relationships and shifting technology. Even AFTRA readily admits that employers aren’t electing to produce under them just because SAG doesn’t have a new pact. As to scripted network pilots intended for 2009/2010 airing as potential series, AFTRA has 21 confirmed so far. SAG has signed 10% (6 of 17) so far. But SAG says there are 46 network primetime pilots announced to date that are not yet SAG's or AFTRA's.
The only AFTRA primetime broadcast scripted shows currently airing or about to air (some were held over from 2007 and 2008 for 2009 because of the writer's strike) are: Rules of Engagement (on CBS), Til Death (Fox), The Reaper (CW), Gary Unmarried (CBS), 90210 (CW), Better Off Ted (the 20th ... Read More »
Crain's New York Business is reporting that Props for Today is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the next week or so. The 28-year-old prop house supplies furnishings for productions like 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live. The impending bankruptcy was disclosed in a bankruptcy filing by Props for Today’s parent company, Interieurs Inc, on Tuesday. Another of Interieurs’ companies, Props for Yesterday, is also expected to file for bankruptcy protection soon. The companies' owner cites the decrease of filmmaking and television in New York, escalated by the loss of the state tax incentives. The company hopes after Chapter 11 to emerge as a healthy company.
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