A man living in upstate New York recently learned that if he wanted broadband internet access in his home, he'd have to pay for installation fees totaling $20,000. Even worse: his only option is fucking Time Warner.
Unexplained network outages appear to have hit Time Warner Cable's 12 million American internet service customers around 6 a.m. EST this morning. In keeping with the company's (terrible) reputation, they have no estimate as to when everyone will be back online.
Huge media conglomerate Time Warner rejected an $80 billion takeover offer from News Corp today, but the company may still be "in play," so it's not too late for an even more enormous portion of the U.S. media to fall under the control of Rupert Murdoch, a rich old climate change denier.
Sky News is reporting that Vice Media is currently in negotiations to sell "a major stake in itself" to Time Warner in a deal that would value Vice at $2.2 billion. Perhaps they'll finally make enough money to pay their staff a living wage?
Robert Marcus took over as CEO of Time Warner Cable in January. Six weeks later, the company was sold to Comcast. When the deal goes through, Marcus will receive $80 million, "a severance payment that amounts to more than $1 million a day in compensation for the less than two months he ran the company." He earned it.
Time Warner Cable subscribers have been blocked from watching CBS shows on the channel's website, and TWC has dropped CBS in several markets, due to an argument about the fee TWC pays CBS to carry its signal. If you're affected, don't worry: You are better off without Big Brother.
Hey girl, Time Warner figured out your not-at-all-depressing Valentine's Day plans: The otherwise-execrable cable company announced this week that February will feature an entire channel of Ryan Gosling On Demand.
In your packed Thursday media column: Jeff Bewkes hides in plain sight, News Corp's looking to poach from the NYDN, the decline of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, AMI's bankrupt, and Vice comes to MTV.
In your salacious Thursday media column: Olivier Zahm is a sexual prophet, the massive corporate media monsters flourish, ladies leave the New York Observer, and "The Way We Live Now" belongs to us!
In your autumnal Monday media column: the NYT Co's paying back Carlos Slim early, the NYO may buy Dealbreaker, Richard Spencer's OK! mag deal confirmed, Richard Siklos goes into PR, and Nikki Finke is as litigious as ever.
New York City parks are getting free wireless internet! As part of the deal that's renewing the Time Warner and Cablevision cable franchises, the companies are outfitting 32 city parks with wifi. Of course, there's a catch.
A CNN employee has just forwarded us an alarming email that she and her colleagues received informing them that bedbugs have infested the Time Warner Center. Will they bring down America's largest media company, from the inside? Yes. Memo below!
Everyone likes AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. But they're not sure he has any clue what he's doing. Especially now that yet another senior AOL content executive—Mike Porath, editor of AOL News—is headed out the door.
• CBS News laid off more than 150 staffers this week. Will Katie Couric be forced to take a pay cut when her contract expires next year? Some say yes; CBS News chief Sean McManus is denying the report. [NYP, Politico]
• Avatar has dominated the box office for seven straight weeks now (and has officially bested Titanic…
In your icy Tuesday media column: Michael Wolff vs. David Carr vol. 89, a belated apology for the "worst deal of the century," a Christian is found in the liberal media, and the NYT luvs Kim Kardashian (maybe).
• The cover of Vanity Fair's February issue will likely turn plenty of heads: It features a barechested Tiger Woods pumping iron. The photo by Annie Leibovitz was taken before the Woods sex scandal unfolded, however. [VF]
• Is New York Post editor Col Allan retiring? That's the rumor, although Allan says it's just…
The great Time Warner Cable-Fox TV standoff continues. Though TWC threatened to stop broadcasting Fox's channels at midnight last night, the deadline has extended and negotiations are still under way—and nobody knows whether the Sugar Bowl will air!
• Nielsen has concluded a deal to sell handful of trade titles like The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard to a consortium of investors that includes Jimmy Finkelstein and Guggenheim Partners. Rupert Murdoch's son Lachlan was once part of the investor group, but ended up dropping out. [AdWeek, NYP, LAT]
• Nielsen also…
Time Inc. has opened up a fantastic new market: charging its freelancers for the privilege of being paid for their work in a timely fashion.
Just in time for Christmas, AOL is asking 2,500 of its workers to volunteer for buyouts starting Dec. 4 (layoffs come after) as the company separates from Time Warner and a shadow of its former online conglomerate self.
