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The New York Times reported Thursday, citing three people familiar with the matter.The report said multiple bidders had offered to acquire Vice, but only Fortress was deemed “qualified,” “meaning the others did not meet the bar Vice had set for buyers,” citing one of the sources. A bankruptcy judge must approve any deal before it goes forward.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Joe Hall has been named president and CEO of Manhattan Neighborhood Network, an award-winning cultural organization. The non-profit is also the largest community media center in the country, overseeing two state-of-the-art facilities in Hudson Yards and East Harlem. In his new role, Hall is tasked with setting the vision of Manhattan Neighborhood Network and building out a development team that can market the organization, raise its profile and increase funding.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Ari Wallach has made his living as a professional futurist for more than 20 years. What does that mean? “I work with really large organizations, mostly helping them think about tomorrow — the far-off tomorrows,” Wallach explains on the latest episode of Variety podcast “Strictly Business.” Wallach’s forward-looking intellect is on display in the new PBS docu series “A Brief History of the Future,” which premiered April 3 on PBS in the U.S. He hosts the series and is an executive producer with Kathryn Murdoch, Wendy Schmidt and DreamCrew, the production banner headed by hip hop superstar Drake.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Paramount Global has sold its 13% ownership stake in TV and streaming company Viacom18 to Reliance Industries for $517 million. Reliance was already the majority owner of Viacom18. The pact comes two weeks after Disney and Reliance Industries announced a blockbuster $8.5 billion deal merging their massive Indian TV and streaming businesses.

Walt Disney Company and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries have merged their massive Indian TV and streaming businesses, ending months of speculation. As per the agreement, Reliance’s Viacom18 is merging with Disney’s Star India. The deal is estimated to be worth $8.5 billion on a ‘post-money basis,’ the companies said.

Reliance Industries and Disney India are set to sign a binding agreement to merge their assets, according to local reports.

Bodhi Tree Systems co-founder and former Disney APAC chief Uday Shankar outlined how his new venture – along with Reliance’s JioCinema – are building an alternative to legacy media in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, on the first day of Media Partners Asia’s APOS conference in Bali, Indonesia. 

Disney is planning to offer free cricket on smartphones and tablets in India as it fights back against subscriber loss at its Indian streaming service Disney+ Hotstar. 

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Vice Media Group announced the completion of its post-bankruptcy sale to a consortium of former lenders, in a deal valuing the once-high-flying media company at $350 million. As previously announced, the new owners of Vice Media are funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital.

EXCLUSIVE: Film and TV adaptations of works by the likes of Evelyn Waugh and Langston Hughes could be incoming following a deal struck between Artists, Writers & Artisans (AWA) and International Literary Properties (ILP).

Disney is reportedly considering its strategic options in India — and could sell its streaming and TV business there.

The guest list for the White House State Dinner for Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi includes a number of entertainment and media figures, including Netflix’s Bela Bajaria, Universal’s Donna Langley, director M. Night Shyamalan, Wasserman Media Group’s Casey Wasserman and James Murdoch.

The Tribeca Festival, which gets under way Wednesday in New York, has announced members of the jury who will decide winners in 15 award categories.

the Wall Street Journal.The journal cited people familiar with the matter who it did not name. Vice did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Struggling media company Vice Media Group is gearing up to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — and then sell itself to some of its backers for about $400 million, according to a new report. The Brooklyn-based company post-bankruptcy arrangement to sell to investors including Fortress Investment Group and Soros Fund Management would value it at $400 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. That would be less than 10% of its once high-flying $5.7 billion valuation back in 2017. The New York Times last week reported that Vice was prepping a bankruptcy filing. A spokesman for Vice Media declined to comment. Representatives for Fortress and Soros Fund Management did not respond to requests for comment.

NBCU and Sky owner Comcast has invested in James Murdoch’s Bodhi Tree Systems, which in turn is becoming a key player in a new-look Viacom18.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Comcast, the conglomerate behind NBCUniversal and the Sky European TV giant, is to invest $200 million in Bodhi Tree Systems, a company headed by James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, a former head of Disney in India. The move was approved by the Competition Commission of India on Wednesday. The funds will be directed to buying a small minority stake in Indian media group Viacom18. The move is part of a complicated series of transactions that bind Viacom18 ever closer to Reliance Industries, the petroleum to telecoms conglomerate controlled by Mukesh Ambani which is now upending Indian media with its Jio cellular, broadband internet and streaming companies.

Succession writers”, a new report has claimed.Since the multi-award-winning HBO show debuted in 2018, many parallels have been drawn between the fictional media family the Roys and the real-life Murdochs.Despite this, no explicit confirmation of any direct inspiration has been given by the show’s creators.In a new feature on the Murdochs for Vanity Fair, a source is cited claiming that Lachlan accused his brother James Murdoch of leaking stories about the family to the writers of the show, with Lachlan then telling his father Rupert.The feature adds that a separate source close to Lachlan denies that any stories were sold.Season four of Succession is currently airing on HBO, and fans have reacted to the “magnificent” twist in its latest episode.Spoilers for Succession season four below.In the episode titled Connor’s Wedding, Logan Roy (Brian Cox) departs on a flight to Sweden with some of his closest advisors to negotiate a new deal with Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård), while Logan’s children Roman (Kieran Culkin), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Kendall (Jeremy Strong) attend their brother’s wedding on a cruise ship in New York.While Connor (Alan Ruck) is hopeful his father will make time for a fly-by visit, Roman, Kendall and Shiv are soon informed by Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) over the phone that Logan has fallen ill during the flight and has become unresponsive.After some emotional final goodbyes over the phone, Logan is later pronounced dead when the private plane lands back on US soil.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Brut, the influential digital media publisher which became one of the main partners for the Cannes Film Festival last year, has just finalized its fourth funding round for approximately $40 million. The company, founded by Guillaume Lacroix, Renaud Le Van Kim and Laurent Lucas six years ago, has enlisted a pair of powerful financial backers: CMA CGM, the world’s third-largest container shipping company owned by billionaire businessman Rodolphe Saadé, which also recently nabbed 10% of France’s second biggest commercial network M6, and the daily newspaper La Provence; and MoonPay, a leading Miami-based financial service company for web3 whose investors include former tennis star Maria Sharapova, as well as Snoop Dogg, Drake and Justin Bieber, among others. Aryeh B. Bourkoff’s LionTree advised the deal with MoonPay.

Naman Ramachandran Fremantle has deepened its relationship with Artists, Writers & Artisans, Inc. (AWA) by making a minority investment in the company. Fremantle had struck a strategic development deal with AWA Studios, the film and television division of AWA, last year. AWA is backed by James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems, SISTER, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. In 2021, the company established AWA Studios, helmed by Hollywood veteran Zach Studin as president. Marvel alum Axel Alonso serves as co-founder and chief creative officer overseeing editorial output. Matthew Anderson, co-chair and president and Jon Miller, co-founder and co-chair, lead AWA’s executive team.

Fremantle has acquired a minority stake in Artists, Writers & Artisans (AWA), the U.S.-based indie backed by Lis Murdoch’s Chernobyl producer Sister and James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems.

Elon Musk is keeping Delaware Chancery Court busy. The same judge who shepherded months of contentious discovery in the billionaire’s legal battle with Twitter will preside at trial in a shareholder lawsuit against Tesla’s board over his 2018 pay package, calling it “the largest in human history.”

Joe Biden, in an interview with Jake Tapper, said that he doesn’t think that Russian President Vladimir Putin would use a tactical nuclear weapon but that it was “irresponsible” for him to talk about it.

Joe Biden plans to return to Los Angeles next week for a pre-midterm swing next week that includes a fundraiser with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBig name executives including Kevin Mayer, Uday Shankar and Punit Goenka are among the headline speakers confirmed at APOS, the Asian media and entertainment conference, in September.Having been held in various online formats during the COVID pandemic, APOS is to return as an in-person event this year. However, it shifts from its usual April slot to Sept.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSUN VALLEY, Idaho — Rupert Murdoch will attend Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley conference this week, Variety has confirmed.The annual event colloquially known as “summer camp for billionaires” kicks off as usual on July 5 at the Sun Valley Lodge in the titular Idaho resort town. Murdoch, 91, arrived on site during the July 4th holiday on Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter, two days after the Fox Corp.

The e-auction’s over, and became clear yesterday, Viacom18 is the big winner of Indian Premier League cricket rights. The company bagged digital rights in India for 410 games over the next five years for $2.6B and today followed up with the international rights for three of the other big cricketing nations — Australia, South Africa and the UK — for around another $420M.

Viacom18, a TV and streaming group backed by billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani, has paid $3 billion to win an online auction for two packages of digital rights to Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket. It now has the leverage to change the Indian broadcasting landscape and to the tip the balance even further in favor of streaming.Variety understands that Viacom18 has agreed to pay $2.63 billion for a five year package of regional digital rights.

Naman Ramachandran Paramount Global’s streamer Paramount+ will launch in the U.K. and Ireland on June 22, with other international territories to follow.