Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » News Corporation

Next Issue Media Is The “Netflix For Digital Magazines”

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:53:15 +0000

Even though the iPad has been around for two years, it has not made much of an impact on the digital magazine market. Digital magazines make up only 1% of the industry circulation total and the publishers know that this could be a problem. This is why Next Issue Media has announced an Android app, which encourages users to read more publications on their tablet. Next Issue is a joint venture between five magazine publishers: Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredeth, News Corp. and Time Inc.

Next Issue Media is considered the “Netflix for digital magazines.” Subscribers would pay for a fixed monthly fee and would get access to a virtual newsstand. By paying $10 per month you would get unlimited access to the digital editions of Next Issue’s entire catalog of magazines, which are custom-designed for the tablet. By adding another $5 per month, you would also get access to weekly magazines like THe New Yorker. Currently there are 32 magazines in the newsstand that include Sports Illustrated, Fortune, Vanity Fair, and Esquire.

The app is currently only supported on Android Honeycomb tablets, but there is no word on whether it will be available on the iPad, Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble Nook. The Next Issue Media Android app has a 30-day free trial.

Hulu Planning To Raise Additional Funding For Expansion Into Original Programming

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:36:18 +0000

Online TV service Hulu.com, the company that is owned by ABC, NBC, and Fox is intensifying their competition against Nextflix and they are planning to raise money to expand into more original programming. Hulu is releasing their first scripted show “Battleground” on February 14th and is weighing an option to raise cash this year according to chief content officer Andy Forssell.

“We have a very healthy business,” stated Forssell. “When you have a healthy business, capital is not a problem. There are plenty of people who want to help.” Last year Hulu cancelled a sale and postponed an IPO. Hulu also ordered 10 new episodes of Morgan Spurlock’s “A Day in the Life,” a documentary series that is returning in March.

Hulu Plus customers pay $7.99 per month and they can watch shows in high-definition and they can access programs on mobile devices. Last year Fox started restricting when new TV show episodes will become available to nonpaying viewers. Hulu hit $420 million in total 2011 revenues.

[Bloomberg]

Hulu Makes $420 Million In 2011 Revenues

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:23:56 +0000

Hulu.com, the joint venture video streaming company of NBCUniversal, Fox Entertainment Group, and Disney, has reported their 2011 numbers and they are BIG! Hulu has grown 60% from 2010 to $420 million in revenues despite the slow economy, which directly affects the advertising market. Hulu’s ad business grew aggressively and Hulu Plus helped their revenues shoot up from between $200-$300 million in 2010.

Hulu Plus has about 1.5 million paying subscribers and their numbers are growing at a rapid pace. Hulu Plus is attracting more than 2 times the number of subscribers each day when compared to the same time last year. In 2012, Hulu is planning on spending about about $500 million in content on behalf of their users.

“At scale, our model allows us to profitably pay content owners approximately 50% more in content licensing fees per subscriber when compared to other similarly priced online subscription services. We believe our approach will enable us to secure more valuable content for our users and to secure content in more attractive windows than would otherwise be possible. To that end, we are excited to invest approximately half a billion in content in 2012 on behalf of our users,” stated Hulu CEO Jason Kilar on the company blog.

News Corp Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch Joins Twitter

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:56:22 +0000

Steve Jobs biog interesting but unfair. Family must hate.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) December 31, 2011

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corporation, has decided to share his thoughts by joining Twitter (@rupertmurdoch). The account has been confirmed and he has already sent out tweets about his trip in St. Barths and what he thinks about the Steve Jobs biography. Below are some additional tweets:

Have just. Read The Rational Optimist. Great book.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) December 31, 2011

Saw Fox film Descendants.Thank God, one to be proud of. Star Geo Clooney deserves Oscar, maybe film too.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) December 31, 2011

I LOVE the film “we bought a zoo”, a great family movie. Very proud of fox team who made this great film.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) January 1, 2012

News Corporation Lost $254 Million On MySpace Acquisition

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:50:24 +0000

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) had lost $254 million on their acquisition of MySpace said News Corp. This pushed News Corp.’s Q4 net income down 22% to $683 million.

MySpace’s losses during the April-June quarter increased from the previous year. A $614 million annual operating loss in the “Other” division that contained MySpace was due to MySpace’s growing losses.

By the time MySpace was sold, News Corp. was valuing the social network at almost $300 million even when they were trying to sell it for $100 million. News Corp. acquired MySpace for $580 million in 2005 and sold 95% of MySpace for roughly $35 million this past June.

[paidContent]

LulzSec Hacks The Sun Newspaper Website

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 03:45:02 +0000

Hacker group Lulzsec had successfully broke into the The Sun UK’s website and redirected it to their Twitter account. “We have owned Sun/News of the World,” wrote LulzSec on their Twitter account.

News International is in the midst of controversy due to a phone hacking scandal. LulzSec member Sabu is expected to make a statement tomorrow as the hacker group was able to access News International and Sun UK e-mails.

[Reuters]

Hulu Close To Extending Content Deal

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 13 May 2011 06:45:45 +0000

Hulu is currently in negotiations to extend the right to stream TV programs on their website provided by NBC, Fox, and ABC. This would be an extension to a deal that News Corp., Disney, and NBCUniversal signed two years ago.

The deal is being negotiated with Hulu CEO Jason Kilar and executives from News Corp. and Disney. NBCUniversal gave up their Hulu board seats as part of the Comcast merger agreements. Providence Equity Partners also has a vote in the discussions.

[AllThingsD]

Warner Bros. Acquires Flixster, Gaining Ownership Of Rotten Tomatoes In The Process

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 04 May 2011 17:45:12 +0000

Time Warner subsidiary Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. has acquired Flixster. Flixster is a social network that is centered around movies. Through the acquisition, Warner Bros. also gains possession of the valuable Rotten Tomatoes brand. News Corp. sold Rotten Tomatoes to Flixster in exchange for cash and equity last year.

Warner Bros. had an interest in acquiring Flixster since this past March. Flixster’s valuation was rumored to be around $60-$90 million. The company had raised around $7 million in venture capital funding since they launched.

Flixster has a cross-platform movie discovery application and a mobile platform. They saw about 35 million downloads thus far. Rotten Tomatoes receives about 12 million unique visitors per month. Rotten Tomatoes is also heavily integrated into iTunes.

Below is an excerpt from Warner Brothers’ press release:

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group will utilize the powerful Flixster brand and technical expertise to launch a number of initiatives designed to grow digital content ownership, including the recently announced consumer application “Digital Everywhere.” This studio-agnostic application will be the ultimate destination for consumers to organize and access their entire digital library from anywhere on the device of their choice, as well as to share recommendations and discover new content. The Flixster acquisition and “Digital Everywhere,” combined with the Studio’s support of the UltraViolet format are all part of an overall strategy to give consumers even more freedom, utility and value for their digital purchases.

[TechCrunch]

News Corp. Sells Off Honk.com To TrueCar

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 03 May 2011 19:42:48 +0000

It’s no secret that News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) wants to start consolidating some of their web properties and selling off ones that don’t have anything to do with their core competencies. News Corp. is spinning off IGN and wants to sell off MySpace. News Corporation has recently sold off Honk.com to TrueCar.

Honk.com is a website that makes personalized recommendations to car shoppers. TrueCar has data about how much dealers are selling cars for on average. News Corp. will keep a stake in the combined company. Honk.com was co-founded by TrueCar co-founder Tom Taira. The financial details about the acquisition are unknown.

[paidContent]

News Corp. In Talks To Acquire UGO From Hearst

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 02 May 2011 21:21:36 +0000

News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA) is in talks to acquire UGO.com from Hearst. News Corp. is planning to spin off IGN.com and sell off MySpace. News Corp. and Hearst have been discussing the deal through the weekend and an official announcement could be coming soon. Roy Bahat, the head of IGN.com, will most likely end up running UGO.com after IGN is spun off. IGN is expected to make $10 million this year on revenues of $100 million. News Corp. acquired IGN for $650 million in 2005. [AllThingsD]