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Rupert Murdoch

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Convergence

Hulu Represents Triumph of Rupert Murdoch Over The People

Hulu — the NBC-Universal/Fox owned video website that is not so different from the numerous other websites offering full episodes of television shows, is the subject of a fawning, incredulous profile in today's Los Angeles Times. While all of the major networks already offer the bulk of their primetime line-ups for free online, Hulu boldly puts a bunch of it together on one site, thereby saving precious seconds of web surfing time. In an embarrassing display of old media-ness, reporter Scott Collins rhapsodizes over Hulu's "special features."

How do you Hulu? You don't have to pay anything, download a special player or even register your name or e-mail address. The site, which went up in mid-March, is free; in exchange for watching relatively brief ads, you get access to complete high-resolution episodes of top TV series such as "24" and "30 Rock," as well as impressively cataloged clips from "Saturday Night Live" and other shows.

Wow. Imagine how excited he'll be when he finds out about BitTorrent. Jests aside, Hulu may not seem like much of an innovation to anyone with more than a passing familiarity with the internet. But according to Collins, Hulu represents the next step in Rupert Murdoch's plan to rule the world. Hulu's innovation is not what it can do — it's what it can't do.

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12:55 PM on Mon Jun 16 2008
By DroppedCall
1,554 views, 10 comments

Latest by Benovite: My favorite is still the Scranton commercial.[www.hulu.com] more »

trade roundup

Strike Rumor: Studios To Break Off Talks, Blame Writers For Everything Bad That Follows

· A happy thought as we head into the weekend: Before joining this morning's negotiations, the WGA released a statement addressing rumors currently circulating that the studios are soon going to accuse the writers of stalling, storm away from the bargaining table until after the holidays, and trash the entire fall TV and spring seasons in an effort to prolong the strike. The Guild assures the public that it wants to continue negotiations for as long as it takes to get a deal done, and that no one should take seriously the full-page THE WGA WANTS TO DESTROY CHRISTMAS ad, featuring a Santa Claus bludgeoned to death with a WGA picket sign, that the AMPTP will take out in major publications on Monday. [Variety]
· The strike has decimated the ratings for late night shows, as TV audiences are unwilling to sit through the repeats that have been running since writers hit the picket line in early November. The Tonight Show has been the most adversely affected, with numbers off 40 percent from last year. Amazingly, viewers are finding that "vintage" Leno episodes featuring the hottest stars of 1994 plugging long-forgotten projects haven't aged well. [Variety]

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12:25 PM on Fri Dec 7 2007
By Mark
1,432 views, 3 comments

Latest by Sweet Panda Love: @BabylonSister: Oh dear heavens...is this why we haven't seen Incredible Picketing Baby in a week? more »

short ends

Rupert Murdoch Not Going To Let The Strike Ruin His Xmas Party Plans

· Tom Cruise's career as a studio mogul is off to an inauspicious start, as poor box office results for Lions for Lambs suggest he hasn't quite cultivated the hitmaking instincts MGM believed he had when they handed him United Artists. Next up: Tom tries to kill Hitler! [Variety]
· Entertainment companies are facing a difficult choice as the year draws to a close: Should they continue on with their holiday party plans despite the presence of nearby striking writers, pelting them with cocktail weenies and cups of eggnog purchased with money they're saving on internet residual payments? Or should they shut down their galas, recognizing the economic hardships brought about by the work stoppage? For its part, Fox will continue on with a somewhat scaled-down version of the weenie-and-eggnog assault plans, as Rupert Murdoch was especially looking forward to drenching a couple of strikers himself. [THR]

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12:00 PM on Fri Nov 30 2007
By Mark
895 views, 7 comments

Latest by Her Royal Empress Dr. Bufflekins III, Esq.: @Sweet Panda Love: They did this past May! But they had to leave bigger tips for the margaritas than the talent. more »

hollywood strikewatch

The Strike, Day Five: Rupert Murdoch To Be Honored At WGA Striking Man Festival


As this exciting and eventful first week of striking draws to a close (enjoy it while it lasts, for the picket lines probably won't stay so well-stocked with your favorite out-of-work TV stars a few weeks hence), we offer this Friday morning round-up:

· Finding Wednesday's ShowrunnerPalooza to be a great success, the WGA has even higher hopes for this morning'smore ambitious Striking Man festival at Fox Plaza, during which between 2,000-4,000 Guild picketers, hundreds of members of the media, and countless News Corp employees idling in traffic jams will join together to form an hours-long protest community and listen to an acoustic set by Tom Morello (we were just joking about the Rage performance last time, but now it's for real). At the conclusion of the event, a 50-foot tall effigy of Rupert Murdoch constructed from surplus picket signs will be burned to the ground, a dramatic expression of solidarity that will be cheered wildly by the thousands of red-shirted strikers who tossed matches into the pyre. [THR]

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9:12 AM on Fri Nov 9 2007
By Mark
3,664 views, 11 comments

trade roundup

NBC: Kevin Reilly Wasn't Fired, He Just Wasn't Comfortable Sitting In Ben Silverman's Lap All Day

· At the TCAs, non-rock-star NBC co-chairman Marc Graboff repeats the hilarious party line on Kevin Reilly's non-firing "'He wasn't fired,' Graboff revealed, inspiring instant guffaws. 'What happened was when Ben [Silverman] became available, about three months after we made Kevin's new deal, we jumped at the opportunity to bring Ben on board to the company. We thought he would be able to be the person that was going to take us to the next level. Kevin, when that happened, realized or determined, frankly, that there was just no role for him at the company and decided to move on.'" In fairness, it does get a little hard to do your job when the new guy keeps interrupting your meetings to replace another piece of your office furniture with his own. [THR]
· Acquisitive News Corp. mogul Rupert Murdoch moves closer to buying Dow Jones and adding the Wall Street Journal to his ever-growing pile of media playthings. [Variety]
· Producers open their negotiations with the WGA by offering the guild a choice: either get down on your knees and put off the issue of internet compensation until a study about new media can be completed or bend over and let us recoup whatever costs we think are fair before we pay you any residuals. Talks have been convened until Wednesday to give the writers time to craft a counterproposal that doesn't start with the words "Go fuck yourself, greedy maniacs." [THR]
· Says Var on the tenor of those initial negotiations: "The gloves have already come off." But, as noted above, not the pants. Yet. [Variety]
· Hell's Kitchen still inexplicably popular. [Variety]

11:36 AM on Tue Jul 17 2007
By Mark
451 views, 4 comments

Latest by gwendolyn: Mock HK all you like. It is the only 'appointment television' (slice off my fingers now! I just used that horrid expression) I have 'booked' this 'summer' because Gordon Ramsey calls people 'donuts' as well as 'donkeys' (and 'jumped-up cave more »

trade roundup

Trade Round-Up: More On Rupert's 'Borat' Boner

· More on Rupert Murdoch's "Borat boo-boo," a slip-up weird beyond its inherent inaccuracy because News Corp. neglected to mention a Borat sequel while it was bragging about how much the original film had boosted its quarterly earnings, and for Fox's previous bitching that Bruno was too expensive for the studio to purchase. [Variety]
· Julia Roberts will star in the ensemble drama Fireflies in the Garden, which "explores the complexities of love and commitment in a family torn apart when faced with an unexpected tragedy," shorthand for, "My Oscar is feeling a little lonely all by itself up on that mantel." [THR]
· "I've finally admitted to myself that I am afraid of my own lawyer." Var's Peter Bart looks at how entertainment lawyers have scared the town shitless. [Variety]
· ABC wins Thursday night with another great Nielsen performance by Grey's Anatomy, which is on such a roll that the network is considering making public at least one ugly feud from the Grey's set each month. [THR]
· In a completely unsurprising move, Disney is making a big-screen spinoff from its wildly successful TV movie High School Musical. [Variety]

12:15 PM on Fri Feb 9 2007
By Mark
110 views, Comment

anna nicole smith

Conspiracy TheoryWatch: The Anna Nicole-Borat 2 Connection

Almost completely lost in the media chaos following Anna Nicole Smith's death was the fact that soon after News Corp. potentate Rupert Murdoch shocked—shocked!—the entertainment industry by bragging that his 20th Century Fox division had locked up Sacha Baron Cohen for a Borat sequel, the studio had to very delicately inform the world that while Fox loves and admires Cohen and would like nothing better than to lavish millions of dollars upon him for such a project, things were not quite as contractually finalized (the phrases "casual discussions" and "too preliminary to discuss" figured in the statement) as the boss might have erroneously hinted. Following such a public backtracking off a blockbuster announcement, it's not too hard to imagine that an embarrassed Murdoch's vague order to "Make this go away. I don't care how," being taken by an overeager underling as an opportunity to demonstrate his skill in creating the kind of media smokescreen only achievable by the mysterious and unexpected passing of a troubled celebrity. More »

9:30 AM on Fri Feb 9 2007
By Mark
668 views, Comment

fox

Rupert Murdoch Reveals Plans For 'Borat 2'; First Lawsuit From Angry Victim To Be Filed Later Today

Speaking at a media conference in NY, Rupert Murdoch was apparently so overcome by the rush of updating the press about the latest phases of News Corp.'s ruthless plans for global takeover (there's nothing quite like basking in the shocked gasps of an audience that's just been told that an army of MySpace predators has been dispatched to infiltrate the day care center at Viacom headquarters) that he let slip that Sacha Baron Cohen will return to Fox for a Borat sequel. The Financial Times reports that Murdoch claimed Cohen will regrow his mustache and don his famously unwashed suit once he's done shooting Bruno: More »

10:00 AM on Thu Feb 8 2007
By Mark
5,141 views, 3 comments

Latest by Bogart Shwadchuck: They'll probably just do a straight, non-guerilla feature, like they did with Ali G. And it will probably suck, just like it did with Ali G. more »

trade roundup

Trade Round-Up: Rupert Murdoch Explains How He Might Eventually Milk MySpace's Cash Cow

Rupert Murdoch tells investors that he can potentially make money from MySpace from a combination of advertising, videos and "internet telephony," but admitted that even News Corps' best business minds have yet to find a legal way to monetize the site's community of sexual predators, who wield an impressive discretionary income. [Variety]
Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Gary Sanchez Productions moves into TV with P.E., a single-camera comedy for HBO about "a guy who, after flaming out as a major league baseball pitcher, returns to his small Southern hometown to teach physical education at the middle school he once attended and has to make amends with all the people he turned his back on." It is unclear whether HBO plans to back out of the deal once they discover that Ferrell himself will not be starring in the project. [THR]
The Class and Studio 60 have "solid" premieres, but it's hard to get too excited about numbers that earn the headline "Big Hopes, OK Debuts." [Variety]
Former WB Network bigshot Garth Ancier gets the standard, "Hey, sorry we fired you, but please accept this bag of money and an office on our lot as a token of our affection" shingle at Warner Bros. TV. [THR]
George Lucas will donates $175 million to USC Film School, at least $10 million of which is earmarked for the commissioning of a 50-foot-tall bronze statue of the director kicking Steven Spielberg in the ass. [THR]

1:31 PM on Wed Sep 20 2006
By Mark
27 views, 4 comments

Latest by nojo: It's not TV. It's an HBO me-too sitcom. more »

sumner redstone

The Fresh Blood Of Trophy Wives Keeps Aging Moguls Feeling Young

Today's LAT celebrates seemingly immortal media moguls Sumner Redstone and Rupert Murdoch as "the last of the titans," two old-school autocrats who will be separated from the empires they've built only by the unlikely occurrence of corporeal death. And what's the secret to their impressive twilight-year vigor? Wives young enough to withstand the pharmaceutical-powered assault of reproductive organs that lesser, weaker men might have retired decades ago: More »

10:38 AM on Mon Sep 18 2006
By Mark
700 views, 7 comments

trade

Trade Round-Up: Rupert Murdoch Ready To Dump His 'Turd Bird'

· The best thing to come out of the Toronto International Film Festival so far, says Variety, is a transcendent documentary from a little known Eurasian filmmaker with a "chram thick like tube of Pringles." [Variety]
· We hope Nick Meyer, formerly of Lionsgate, likes hugs, because his new co-president at Paramount Vantage, John Lesher, prefers to celebrate every new acquisition with a big, bear embrace from behind. [Variety]
· Second-tier Rocky and Bullwinkle regulars Mr. Peabody and Sherman get their own CGI feature, in which Sherman finally shuts up the know-it-all, time-traveling mutt by threatening him with a one-way ticket to Dr. Kebarkian's Furry Friends Cat & Dog Clinic. [Variety]
· Rupert Murdoch is looking to dump his controlling interest in DirecTV, a company he has been dismissively referring to lately as his "turd bird." No joke. [Variety]
· "Lolita Davidovich has been cast opposite Lili Taylor in Lifetime's drama pilot State of Mind." Davidovich, fine. But Taylor? A Lifetime pilot? Things sure have taken a turn for the worse since Nate buried her in a burlap sack in the desert. [THR]
· Universal Music CEO Doug Morris tells shareholders YouTube and MySpace users are violating copyright laws, but that he has a great plan to catch them that involves a smoking hot 16-year-old chick with an online video diary. [THR]

1:39 PM on Fri Sep 15 2006
By Seth
39 views, 1 comment

Latest by MonkeyinDiapers: when I heard Lili doin voice-oevrs for Advil I knew she needed to make mortgage payments and indie-cred be damned. more »

trade roundup

Trade Round-Up: Redstone Scion Moves One Step Closer To Patricide

Pixar philosopher-kings John Lasseter and Ed Catmull might find themselves investigated by the SEC for receiving possibly illegal backdated stock options, potentially tarnishing their reputations as Disney's new, infallible Messiahs. [Variety]
· Rupert Murdoch pops a fistful of Viagra, publicly chubs up upon News Corp's announcement that the company boosted earnings 19 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter. [THR]
A Maryland court rules that Brent Redstone's lawsuit against dad Sumner's National Amusements company can go forward, but also decrees he must wait until the completion of the trial to snuff out the old man with a throw pillow while he naps during a Golden Girls rerun. [Variety]
Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson will recapture their How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days chemistry in the adventure comedy Fool's Gold, which is described as "just go rent Romancing the Stone and save yourself a trip to the theater." [THR]
· NBC greenlights reality competition You're the One that We Want, in which viewers choose which singing and dancing contestants will star in a revival of Grease. Travolta's going to look pretty ridiculous trying to squeeze into the old leather jacket during his audition, and even more so when Hugh Jackman beats him out for the part. [Variety]

12:51 PM on Wed Aug 9 2006
By Mark
79 views, 3 comments

Latest by Sulky Girl: Wow! 2 Adrian Zmed mentions today. Welcome back to the lexicon. Team Zmed. more »

fox

Rupert Murdoch's Warmest Holiday Wishes

It's a scene that should melt the heart of even the most abused News Corp. employee: Fearless leader Rupert Murdoch settles into a high-backed leather chair in front of a crackling fire, snuggled underneath a red, velvet blanket, then orders the immediate execution of the incompetent charged with informing him that no number of reindeer will be sufficient in meeting his goal of flying to every one of his underlings' place of business to deliver his holiday wishes individually. His face twists in disappointment as he realizes that he'll have to settle for an unacceptably impersonal mass e-mail, in which a celebration of the year's accomplishments always seems overpowered by a call to resist the complacency engendered by the largely successful world domination plan of the past year. Also, he is greedily licking an enormous candy cane: More »

12:22 PM on Mon Dec 19 2005
By Mark
132 views, 2 comments

Latest by slurred speech: It is kind of ironic that his very own bitch boy Bill O'Reilly -- the same one that helped catapult FNC into the MSM elite -- is leading the charge against governments and companies that dare to go all P.C. more »

trade roundup

Trade Round-Up: Rupert Murdoch To Destroy All Humans

· Studios fear that SAG's intramural executive bloodbath might indicate that the guild might not bend over so readily in future negotiations, perhaps even getting so uppity as to follow through on a work stoppage. The studios, however, will happily detonate a nuclear device and wipe out all of Hollywood before sharing any more DVD revenues, no matter how many people SAG replaces. [Variety]
· Tired of pussy-footing around their world domination ambitions with such society-destabilizing programs as Who's Your Daddy?, Fox announces its plans to Destroy All Humans. Rupert Murdoch will not stop until every last one of us is a smoldering pile of ash. [THR]
· MGM board member Harry Sloan is named new chariman and CEO of the studio, plans to focus on producing more original content if he can figure out how to fill out corporate parent Sony's utterly confusing paperwork. [Variety]
· Desperate NBC is so grateful to My Name is Earl star Jason Lee for starring in a bright spot in the desolation of their primetime schedule that they've agreed to let him develop shows of his own. [THR]
·ABC picks up a script and five script outlines of the reality TV parody America's Next Muppet, in which viewers may actually get the chance to choose a new felt star. The newest Muppet will immediately be written into a six-show arc as Nicolette Sherdian's latest love interest on Desperate Housewives. [Variety]

11:55 AM on Tue Oct 25 2005
By Mark
53 views, Comment

fox

Trade Round-Up: Rupert Murdoch Prepares To Adopt New Son

· Fox News head Roger Ailes is the most likely candidate for "The Son Rupert Murdoch Never Had," and might replace dead-to-him-now offspring Lachlan as chairman of Fox Television Stations Group. They're going to look a little funny running the three-legged race at the News Corp father-son picnic, but Lachlan was always a liability anyway. [Variety]
· Also, Lachlan Murdoch's golden parachute will likely be in the millions of dollars, and his two-year noncompete clause will leave him with little to do but build money-castles on an Australian beach. [THR]
· That harmless little joke that Sony played on the world, where they invented a movie critic to provide glowing pullquotes for their movies, costs them $1.5 million in a settlement with fans. At that piddling price, it was totally worth it! [Variety]
· Paramount snaps up the film rights to writer AJ Jacobs's yet-to-be-published nonfiction book, The Year of Living Biblically, in which the author spends a year trying to abide by all of the Bible's dictates. Wacky, unwatchable spiritual sequel to 40 Days and 40 Nights to follow. Do we have to pitch it? "When Andy is caught cheating on his very religious fiance, he offers to prove his love by obeying every rule in the Bible up until their wedding day." We decline to dreamcast Ashton Kutcher at this time. [THR]
· Hollywood Est Hors des Idées: Warner Brothers will remake the French waiter-and-hilarious-consequences-of-averted-suicide comedy Apres Vous with Billy Crystal as the star. [Variety]

11:24 AM on Thu Aug 4 2005
By Mark
43 views

rupert murdoch

Rupert Murdoch's MySpace Profiles


We should've known that Rupert Murdoch would have already established a MySpace presence before plunking down $580 million to acquire the company. In fact, it seems that he loved making friends on the web so much that he's put up multiple profiles: Rupert, Rupert, Rupert, Rupert, Rupert, Rupert, and our personal favorite, Rupert Murdoch Owns Your Soul. More »

12:03 PM on Tue Jul 19 2005
By Mark
1,922 views

fox

Dude, Rupert Murdoch Is Totally In My Friend Space

On Monday, Rupert Murdoch dispatched his minions to sweep down and acquire MySpace, extending the reach of his worldwide media empire into the computers of 18 million potential Fantastic Four ticket buyers and demographically desirable The O.C. viewers. We could speculate about how the conglomerate is going to utilize the power of a social networking site as a new advertising platform for its various entertainment products, but we've been so excited waiting for Rupe to miraculously appear in our Friend Space that we're spending our time preparing a welcoming Friend Comment instead. Here's what we have so far: "This guy is one crazy mofo! LOL! We were doing tequila shots on the beach in Sydney when he waded into the water and bit a fukkin shark! Then he was all, 'Take that, you toothy poofter, I am king of the goddamn ocean!' RUPE IS THE BADDEST! Newz Korp 4-eva!" We think he's really going to like it. More »

9:38 AM on Tue Jul 19 2005
By Mark
142 views