Wednesday, December 3, 2014

12.3.14

Entertainment:      
·         FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai sent a letter to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, alleging that the online video provider was working to “effectively secure” Internet “fast lanes” for its content
·         Nielsen has released its Q3 2014 Total Audience Report, the highlight of which is the marked reduction in linear TV viewing across every age group except 65+, with an accompanying surge in online video
·         Demarest Films and Kilburn Media have partnered to launch Eclipse Television, a full-service independent producer and financier of small-screen content
·         The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts unveiled its nominees today with sci-fi thriller Predestination leading the pack of feature films at nine mentions.
·         The three class-action suits over alleged anti-poaching and wage-fixing deals by Sony, Disney, DreamWorks Animation and other animation studios have been consolidated into one big lawsuit
·         Ryan Gosling allegedly earns $7MM for his roles in indie films
·         IAC, the digital-media conglomerate headed by Barry Diller, is pulling the plug on nRelate, its native-advertising division that sold content-recommendation ad inventory
·         Please see below for the announcement of the star studded cast of the “Suicide Squad”
·         A clutch of public interest groups, unions and media companies including Dish Network and Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze have formed the “Stop Mega Comcast” coalition to advocate against federal approval of the $45B cable merger
·         Please see below for a list of Spotify’s most streamed artists
·         Richard Rosenblatt is launching a startup called Whipclip in private beta today, and has signed a series of deals with big media companies and attracted a roster of entertainment and venture investors to back a mobile app that allows consumers to clip popular moments from television
·         Please see below for an interesting article on how economics tells us about the trustworthiness of movie reviews
·         UK communications infrastructure and media services company Arqiva has taken a number of its popular channels to the YouView non-subscription on-demand service
Tech:
·         Sonos has raised $130MM to put smart speakers in every home
·         Google announced that many of its “Captchas”—the squiggled text tests designed to weed out automated spambots—will be reduced to nothing more than a single checkbox next to the statement “I’m not a robot.”
·         In a project called Phantom Terrains, Frank Swain and sound artist Daniel Jones hacked hearing aids in order to translate the unseen world of wi-fi signals into soundscapes
·         Dropbox launched an application programming interface, or API, that lets outside developers build software on top of its Dropbox for Business service
·         Bitserve, in conjunction with Gold Bullion International, have created a new gold standard, linking its bitcoin currency exchange and payment services with gold
·         Twitter for iOS and Android today replaced its clumsy photo filter grid with a much simpler Instagram-style row of adjustable filters
·         Valve just announced the beta version of Steam Broadcasting, a tool for watching your friends play from within the company’s popular game store and community hub, to compete against Twitch
·         Please see below for an interesting article on the Internet of Things
·         Games could become the largest ad platform for brands, EA exec has stated
·         Two months after Truecaller nabbed $60MM to help users avoid spammers and nuisance calls, the Swedish startup has now passed the 100 million users
·         Facebook expanded its video advertising offerings Tuesday, announcing that marketers can now feature autoplay video content within the service’s long-offered App Install ads
Deals:
·         Fits.me, the developer of virtual fitting room solutions for e-commerce retailers and New York-based Clothes Horse, a data-driven recommendations tool that helps shoppers find fitting clothes have merged
·         Stripe has raised another $70MM, doubling its valuation to $3.5B
·         Two of Peter Fenton’s startups, Hortonworks and New Relic, will go public next Friday
Business:
·         Google looks to have some big plans for Los Angeles expansion, as news broke this morning that the company has acquired 12 acres in Playa Vista, paying an estimated $120MM on the property
·         The Japanese toymaker Tomy said that it would spend up to $56.1MM buying back around 10% of its outstanding shares, including 4.6% from the private equity firm TPG Capital
·         IBM has landed a 7-year, $1.25B contract to transform and manage WPP's global technology platform
·         Toyota is cutting 2,600 workers in Australia citing high production costs and a strong Australian dollar
Exec Moves:
·         Evan Shapiro exited as Pivot’s president in a management shakeup at Participant Media's startup network, now he is joining NBCUniversal as EVP Digital Enterprises
·         Universal Pictures has tapped Michael Wise as SVP and Chief Technology Officer
·         Jimmy Iovine has joined Live Nation’s Board of Directors
Retail:
·         Coach, Brown Shoe Company and at least one private equity buyer are said to be among the bidders for Stuart Weitzman, the woman’s luxury shoemaker
Startups:
·         Nestio, the NYC-based real estate startup focused on changing the way brokers and landlords go about their daily business, has raised a $1.6MM
·         Skype co-founder Janus Friis is backing a new communications app called Wire, out now for iOS, Android and Mac OS X
·         Misfit Wearables, which develops wearable products with sensor technology for the health and fitness industry, has raised $40MM in its Series C
Government:
·         Speaking a day after President Vladimir Putin said Russia is scrapping a proposed $45B pipeline to Europe, the government predicted the economy will contract next year and canceled a bond auction
·         UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced that the country will pay off the remainder of debt from World War I - the outstanding debt of nearly $3B
·         The euro slipped to a two-year low with the latest dose of drab economic data bolstering expectations of further easing ahead of the ECB’s monthly meeting
Other:


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