Tag Archives: NewsCorp

News Corp is apparently working on a news app called ‘Knewz’

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News Corp wants to give people an alternative to Google News and Apple News. The media company that owns Dow Jones Newswires and HarperCollins is working on its own news aggregation service, reported The Wall Street Journal. The service will be calle...

Sky receives takeover bid from 21st Century Fox

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21st Century Fox is in advanced talks to buy Sky, a major telecoms player and the biggest pay-TV provider in the UK. Negotiations are underway and the directors of both companies have reached an "agreement" of £10.75 per share. As Bloomberg rep...

The Wall Street Journal to launch LinkedIn-style social network

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The Wall Street Journal to launch LinkedInstyle social network

The Wall Street Journal will soon launch a business-minded social network along the lines of LinkedIn, according to a report from The Times of London. The news comes amid reports of restructuring and new financial offerings from the media giant, including a personal messaging system for investors and a newswire service called Dow Jones X. Of course, this isn't News Corp's first social network rodeo, as it had a dubious fling with Myspace that ended rather badly. Though there's no word on an exact date, The Times said it should be arriving in several months -- but we're not sure if corporate types will be high on trusting the Rupert Murdoch-helmed outfit with their personal info.

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Via: Business Insider

Source: The Times of London

Reuters: Media exec Peter Chernin bid $500 million for Hulu

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Since the sun came up today it must mean that Hulu is up for sale, again. The latest extension to the sale rumors for the video streaming site is one from Reuters citing anonymous sources that indicates Peter Chernin, a former News Corp exec and Hulu board member has submitted a $500 million bid. There's no word on how big a stake he'd be interested in taking, but that's significantly lower than the reported $1.9 - $4 billion bids received from Dish and Google when the site was up for sale back in 2011. Of cours,e any sale price may vary on whether or not the acquisition come content included, but either way, we'd expect a few more possibilites to pop up before something (or nothing, like last time) happens. Of course, Peter Chernin was one of the folks pushing for a shorter theater to home release window and more TV on the Xbox, both of which have come to fruition in one form or another -- maybe he can make a deal happen.

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Source: Reuters

Latest Hulu rumors suggest it could be up for sale, again

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While viewers enjoy promotions like free Star Trek and Kurosawa, Hulu's owners are once again considering selling the video streaming site. The last bit of news was that News Corp and Disney were considering buying one another out, but according to Reuters, anonymous sources confirm that the board is reaching out to several potential buyers while it considers its options. Another possibility from Variety suggests that the two would remain as part owners, and welcome another party to join, perhaps CBS. This wouldn't be the first time Hulu's owners tried to sell the site however, as it went through the whole process -- without changing hands -- back in 2011. Perhaps this time, with a new CEO in place, all the companies involved can figure out what they want Hulu to be going forward.

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Source: Reuters, Variety

Amplify Tablet is an Android machine custom-built for education

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Amplify Tablet is an Android machine custombuilt for education

News Corp rebranded its educational unit as Amplify in July. Since then the Joel Klein-headed company has been working with AT&T to develop a tablet expressly designed for the K-12 educational market. After months of testing the Amplify Tablet, an unspecified 10-inch Android slate loaded with custom software, is ready for its official debut. Lots of things have changed since we first caught a glimpse of the project many months ago. For one, the UI has been completely redesigned to be clean, modern and simple. The new look is much more inline with Google's Holo, with extensive use of action overflow buttons, the sharing menu and solid blocks of color-coded material. The default home page offers a grid of app icons, but it also displays student information and lists "notebooks" on the right hands side. Those notebooks deliver quick access to different subjects for students, but they also give teachers direct links to materials for their classes, categorized not just by subject, but also by period. Klein and company don't stop at simple organizational tools and reference materials, however.

Gallery: Amplify Tablet

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Hulu part-owners Disney, News Corp. reportedly discuss buying each other out

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The new owner of Hulu could turn out to be... one of the existing owners. After an aborted sale attempt in 2011, new rumors suggest current part owners Disney and News Corp are talking over the possibility of one buying the other's stake out. The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg both tag people with knowledge of the situation as their sources, indicating a disagreement over the video streaming website's business model -- it announced $695 million in revenue last year -- as a reason for the talks.

Reportedly News Corp. prefers a subscription based model, while Disney sees an advertising-focused approach as best. Both of them own about a third of the site, while Comcast / NBC Universal owns most of the remaining third but can't vote, and according to the rumors would remain as a minority investor if a buyout took place. Also playing into this is CEO Jason Kilar's announcement he will leave the company by the end of Q1, so hopefully any decision on its future are made by the time a new leader is in place.

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Source: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal

The Times UK offers digital newspaper subscriptions with subsidized Nexus 7

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As The Daily closes, The Times UK offers digital subscription with subsidized Google Nexus 7

While News Corporation's big tablet newspaper experiment, The Daily, may have ended with a whimper, it's not stopping the global media company trying new strategies to pick up more (paying) digital readers. The Times, one of the only UK national papers to keep its content firmly behind a paywall, has decided to offer a discounted Google Nexus 7 tablet alongside its digital subscriptions. Knocking £149 from the original £199 price of the 32GB Nexus 7, the device will arrive accompanied by an 18-month subscription with access to the full site and its mobile apps, costing £18 per month, discounted to just shy of £300 in total if you're willing to pay it all upfront. However, it's not the first time we've seen a news organization fold in a gadget incentive for new subscribers -- Barnes and Noble offered discounted Nooks alongside one-year subscriptions to The New York Times at the start of the year. UK readers can check out the deal at the source below.

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Via: The Wall, The Verge

Source: The Times