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Rupert Murdoch said in a recent deposition that he “would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing” Donald Trump’s false claims about the 2020 presidential election, conspiracy theories that the Fox Corp. executive chairman at once called “bulls— and damaging.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox Corp. sought to tamp down furor around a series of implicating quotes and texts culled from corporate executives and Fox News anchors, in the newest filing, part of a closely watched defamation lawsuit from voting-technology firm Dominion Voting Systems. Fox Corp. and Fox News Channel made the case in two filings in the Superior Court in Delaware that many of the colorful utterances from Fox News stars such as Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity and even some from Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch were beyond the scope of Dominion’s case, and urged the court to reject the company’s call for a summary judgement, or a ruling in Dominon’s favor that would negate the need for a trial. Dominion is suing Fox for $1.6 billion in damages it alleges it is owed after Fox News made false claims about the Dominion’s actions and influence on the 2020 election. It is the second legal proceeding made against Fox News for its coverage of the aftermath of the 2020 race for the White House. Smartmatic, a voting technology company, has filed a massive $2.7 billion suit against Fox News. At issue in the suits, are allegations that Fox News falsely claimed the companies had rigged the election, repeated items about the matter and refused to engage in efforts to set the record straight. The 2020 election was not fixed and its results were certified by multiple legal processes.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor David Zaslav sounds tired of taking lumps. After months of cost cutting, write-downs, and getting pilloried among Hollywood natives for killing projects, the Warner Bros. Discovery chief showed off some new truculence, making the case that while his newly-merged company has been having a tough time, so too were others. “‘Last year was a year of restructuring,” said Zaslav, during a call with investors Thursday. “This year will be a year of building.” Over the course of an hour, Zasalv and Gunnar Wiedenfels, Warner’s chief financial officer, made the case that their company was just as well-equipped as any of its rivals — perhaps even more so — to withstand a stormy era during which media companies are pressed to grow their streaming operations but maintain profitability. Zaslav elbowed Netflix for releasing all of the episodes for a program’s cycle all at once; suggested that a move to launch new “Lord of the Rings” movies would take away some of the momentum that Amazon had enjoyed from its launch of a series based on the novels; and told listeners Warner Bros. Discovery could launch an ad-supported streaming service without having to buy an outside asset, as Fox Corp. and Paramount Global had. “We can create a Tubi or a Pluto without having to buy anybody,” he boasted.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The Super Bowl is over. The path to the next one is just beginning. Before most football fans put the Kansas City Chiefs’ 38-35 defeat of the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII behind them, Paramount Global wants to get them to look ahead to the next big NFL spectacular. CBS and various cable networks owned by Paramount Global will Monday evening air a new promo for CBS Sports’ coverage of Super Bowl LVIII in 2024. The spot shows a CBS Sports bus hitting the road on its way to cover the event, scheduled to be broadcast on both CBS and Paramount+ on February 11, 2024, from Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada (one has to assume the bus will take the scenic route, given the substantial time frame). A song from Green Day plays in the background.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Tubi pulled a FAST one on Super Bowl viewers on Sunday night. Tubi, the free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST), ran a clever trompe l’oeil ad that made it look as if viewers’ TVs were changing the channel right in the middle of the climactic end of the Eagles-Chiefs game. The 15-second spot, which ran in the fourth quarter of Fox’s Super Bowl LVII telecast, starts by throwing back to the game’s announcing duo of Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen. (Tubi is owned by Fox Corp.) As Burkhardt and Olsen banter in generalities about the game, an unseen hand pulls up a Tubi on-demand menu on the TV — and after a couple of audible blips, selects “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” the 2005 movie starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, before the Tubi logo flashes on the screen.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., home to media properties including the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones and HarperCollins, announced as it released disappointing quarterly results that it is laying off 5% of its workforce.

Fox Corp. matched Wall Street expectations for its fiscal second quarter, powered by NFL football in the U.S. and football at the World Cup.

Tom Brady told Fox Sports Colin Cowherd on the air this this morning that he will begin his job as broadcaster at Fox during the 2024 NFL season. He spoke about the importance of processing all he’s been through as a reason for taking a gap year.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s plan to distribute Westworld and other key shows via FAST channels has materialized.

News Corp. and Fox Corp., both controlled by Rupert Murdoch, have abandoned a potential merger after a special committee determined that “a combination is not optimal for shareholders.”

For a second straight year, YouTube will host its annual Brandcast pitch to video ad buyers during the heart of what had been a week dominated by traditional TV network upfronts in New York.

AMC Networks is choosing to host an in-person event during the spring upfront season, confirming plans for a presentation for about 200 to 250 guests.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and Fox Corp. have signed 20-year renewals of their leases in their longtime shared headquarters in New York at 1211 Avenue of the Americas.

Fox CFO Steven Tomsic promised that “whatever happens” as its board considers merging with News Corp., creating value for shareholders “will be at the forefront of everyone’s mind.”

Fox Corp. and DirecTV agreed to a multi-year carriage renewal, agreeing to extend talks for several hours beyond the prior deal’s expiration in order to avoid a blackout of several networks and local stations.

A few days before the expiration of a carriage deal with DirecTV, Fox Corp. is warning viewers of its networks about a potential blackout as the companies continue to negotiate.

A London-based investor in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and Fox Corp. has reportedly expressed its opposition to the companies’ potential reunification.

AMC Networks followed the discouraging pattern of media and tech companies reporting advertising downturns in the third quarter.

President Joe Biden once again gave a speech warning of the future of democracy, keying in on some GOP candidates’ refusal to commit to accepting the election results.

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch declined to directly address deliberations about a potential reunion with corporate sibling News Corp. during Fox’s quarterly earnings call, but he readily acknowledged the importance of scale in the media business.

Fox Corp. rode a surge in political ad spending and continued growth in streaming in its fiscal first quarter, posting financial results above Wall Street analysts’ expectations.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor CANNES – The newly constituted senior entertainment team at Fox Corp. came to Mipcom this year with checkbooks in hand. The trio of executives who offered the keynote address Monday evening at the international content conference were blunt in telling the crowd that they came to make some new friends around the world and strike some deals. The company is bucking the trend in media toward direct-to-consumer subscription platforms. Fox is putting its resources into content and IP that can travel around the world and be adaptable in many forms. “While others are trying to hide their content behind paywalls, we are doing the opposite,” said Rob Wade, who was promoted this month to CEO of Fox Entertainment (“I’m 10 days in to the job,” he noted with a smile on stage). “We see the potential of working with (outside) networks, producers and distributors to be able to get our content out there further.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor OpenAP was built by traditional TV companies hoping to get their collective hands around new ad-tech that is generating millions of advertising dollars Now they are reaching outside of their circle. The advertising consortium, owned by NBCUniversal, Fox Corp., Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, has enlisted an investment from Snowflake Ventures, a company that specializes in cloud-based data and analytics. Snowflake will be the first company from outside the traditional TV business to have ownership in Open AP. “This investment from Snowflake is really a testament to the publishers saying, ‘We know this is where the industry is going,'” says David Levy, CEO of Open AP, in an interview.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is exploring a re-combination of the family’s Fox Corp. and News Corp., which split into two separately companies nearly a decade ago. The boards of directors of both have set up committees to examine the possibility.

Friday report in The Wall Street Journal.The Journal – itself part of the News Corp side of Murdoch’s holdings – says the discussions are at an “early stage,” with special exploratory board committees forming on both sides. A merger would bring the media empires back under one roof since Murdoch split his holdings in 2013 into News Corp, which is primarily publishing, and Fox Corp., mostly TV.Murdoch, 91, is currently executive chair of both companies.

As the fall sports calendar reaches a peak moment, especially in New York with the Yankees in the playoffs and the Jets finally on a winning path, Fox Corp. has warned Altice customers that a carriage fight could knock sports and other programming off the air.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Subscribers to Altice USA’s Optimum cable service face the prospect of days ahead without Fox’s broadcasts of NFL football and post-season Major League Baseball if contract talks between the two sides fail. Fox is starting to tell Altice subscribers via messages on its broadcast stations and cable networks that they face a potential blackout of programming. Fox and Altice have been in discussions for the past several weeks, according to a person familiar with the matter, but remain “materially apart” on terms. The companies’ current contract is slated to end at midnight Thursday, this person says. Meanwhile, Altice believes Fox is seeking rate increases that would be onerous to subscribers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Fox Corp. is expanding its efforts to track viewers who might toggle between its Tubi video-streaming hub and its mainstream broadcast outlet. The media company has struck a multi-year deal with Innovid that will utilize the ad-tech and measurement firm’s technology to push Fox’s efforts to find new ways to gauge the performance of commercials placed on its media properties, no matter the venue. “As more viewers engage with content across multiple screens, it remains vital that we continue to work with our ad partners and provide them with the necessary data and insights that further display the value of converged TV and the engaged audiences and concentrated impact FOX delivers,” said Dan Callahan, senior vice president of data strategy and sales innovation at Fox, in a prepared statement. “Our partnership with Innovid is another step forward in expanding and delivering cross-platform measurement solutions that further align with our advertisers’ objectives.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Rob Wade has been promoted to CEO of Fox Entertainment following the exit of former chief Charlie Collier. “Since the formation of Fox Entertainment, Rob has been an integral part of the leadership team responsible for delivering on its long-term strategy of creating an independent media company built on broadcast, developing an owned content portfolio and maintaining a disciplined in-house infrastructure,” Fox Corp. executive chief and CEO Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement Thursday. “Given Rob’s sharp creative instincts and proven operational acumen, he is well-suited to lead Fox Entertainment in what promises to be an exciting next chapter in its rich history.”

NPR.The voting tech company argues that by questioning Pirro, it reaches the legal requirement in proving that Fox showed “actual malice” when it repeatedly broadcast and amplified rumors and lies made by Donald Trump, other right-wing personalities and far-right QAnon conspiracy theorists that Dominion tried to throw the presidential race to Joe Biden.“Discovery has revealed that…Fox News host Jeanine Pirro help[ed] spread the verifiably false yet devastating lies against Dominion,” according to documents filed Thursday in a Delaware court by Dominion lawyers. Pirro, however, is not being named as a defendant in the suit against Fox Corp.According to an Aug.