Rupert Murdoch
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Fox is the first US sports network to put its name on a gambling app
At the same time as sports hub theScore announced it's launching a new betting app, media giant Fox has unveiled its own gambling platform. Fox Bet rolls out first in New Jersey, and will give users access to sports content, news, expert insight, commentary and analysis, as well as real money wagering experience. Fans can bet on a wide range of live sports and events, including football, baseball, motor sports, hockey, golf, tennis and soccer.
News Corp. to shut down iPad-based newspaper, The Daily
News Corp.'s experiment with the newspaper of the future is coming to an end. In a press release covering a wide range of corporate restructuring initiatives, the media conglomerate announced that it is closing The Daily, the tablet-only newspaper that launched with much fanfare in early 2011. Though a "bold experiment in digital publishing," the venture was not "sustainable in the long-term," explains News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch in the press release. Publication of The Daily will halt on December 15. Remaining assets and some staff of the iPad-based magazine will be folded in to the New York Post. The digital newspaper had approximately 120 employees after laying off staff earlier this year. [Via AllThingsD]
BBC iPlayer comes to Sky+, Hell reports incoming frost
The BBC and Sky may represent polar, warring opposites of the broadcasting business, but that doesn't mean their technology platforms can't get along. Following a promise made all the way back in January, internet-connected Sky+HD boxes will be able to access BBC iPlayer from today. The service has been integrated into Sky's world-class program guide, with users even able to plump to catch available shows in high definition. The announcement also let slip that 4OD, the last remaining holdout to the service, will be added in early 2013. If you've yet to hook your Sky box up to the internet, you just need an Ethernet cable or wireless adapter -- but let's hope for your sake they aren't at opposite ends of your house.
Sky bags exclusive rights Warner Bros. movie catalog, makes LoveFilm and others wait
Sky has bested its broadcast and video-on-demand rivals by signing a deal with Warner Bros. for exclusive rights to its films in the UK and Ireland. Once the six-month cinema window has elapsed, each new flick (including Man of Steel and The Dark Knight Rises) will remain Murdoch-only for a full year before arriving on LoveFilm and its kind. Meanwhile, back-catalog titles like The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix will remain locked in the partnership's walled garden for an undisclosed period of time. Good news if you're a Sky customer, we suppose, and not if you're not.
Fox, Warner, SanDisk and Western Digital's Project Phenix: promotes DRM, misspelling
Studios Fox and Warner Bros. have teamed up with SanDisk and Western Digital to create "Project Phenix." Beneath the orthographically offensive name, it's pitched as DRM that'll permit you to organize, move and watch high-definition content on more than one device. It's the brainchild of the Secure Content Storage Association (SCSA), which has ensured compatibility with UltraViolet, so that users will be able to download cloud-based media to compliant WD and SanDisk storage -- to play on any alliance-approved TVs, tablets and display devices. We'll see the technology available to license later in the year, which promises to render content ten times faster than streaming media on "over the top internet" (translation: streaming services). Yes, there's PR after the break, but we'd only suggest taking a look if you've got a good pair of waders.
The Daily celebrates a year with 100,000 paid subscribers on iPad
One of the iPad's first regular periodical publications (if not the first one) The Daily launched a year ago. It's been a fairly rocky year. Originally, the Rupert Murdoch-funded app hoped it could get at least half a million subscriptions to keep its publication going; a few months ago we heard that there were 120,000 daily readers, and now Mashable says the paper boasts 100,000 paid subscribers. Despite not nearly reaching its original goal, The Daily still seems to be rolling on. Publisher Greg Clayman says that when the app originally launched, the goal was to make an experience unique to the tablet. That's why The Daily began only on the iPad and has only recently added content on the Android platform, via the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Clayman says that while the company has kept its choice of platforms slim, The Daily has been delivering on its promise to break news; it was the first to report on the story of Paula Deen having diabetes and Alec Baldwin wanting to run for mayor in New York. Clayman says that The Daily is still headed for profitability "over the next couple of years," which he says is actually better than most traditional publications. The Daily might not have the readership that it hoped to have, but a year into its existence Clayman seems optimistic about the publication's future. "We now have a fully baked, fully functional app CMS, and a large, engaged readership," he says. "A year ago we were asking how to build the boat. Now it's about understanding the best way to steer the boat."
The Daily averaging just 120,000 readers per week
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch introduced the iPad newspaper The Daily (free) almost eight months ago with expectations that the paper would easily meet the half-million subscribers required for the publication to break even. Now Bloomberg is reporting that The Daily is well behind that goal, with an estimated weekly circulation of only 120,000 readers. The Bloomberg post cites advertising exec John Nitti of Publicis Groupe SA as saying that the 120,000 reader figure is for unique weekly visitors, which also includes readers who are taking advantage of the paper's two-week free trial. As a result, the actual number of paying subscribers is less than the total readership figure. After the free trial, The Daily is available for US$0.99 per week or $39.99 a year. Nitti thinks that 120,000 readers is still a respectable number for The Daily, and expects that his client (Verizon) will continue to advertise on the paper. Bloomberg notes that The Daily is expanding beyond the iPad, adding a Facebook version this month and an Android edition within the next three weeks.
Specific Media buys MySpace, already has one friend named Tom
To be honest, we weren't entirely surprised to hear rumors back in February that News Corp. was looking to hand off MySpace -- after all, most of the luster seems to have left the once-mighty social network, and Rupert Murdoch's time these days is pretty full running a media empire and saying things in an Australian accent. Word got out this week that the site has landed firmly in the hands of the broadly-named Specific Media, a digital ad network that apparently couldn't get together a cool $19.1 billion for the first-place Facebook. According to rumors, the company scored MySpace for the rock-bottom price of $35 million, a fraction of the $580 million its predecessor paid a half-dozen years ago. No word on whether Murdoch's electroclash band will continue to use the service to promote its gigs.
New York Post blocks iPad access through Safari browser, hopes you'll pay for a subscription instead
Well, that's one way to make people pay for puns. The New York Post, that bastion of fair, balanced, and not-at-all sensationalistic reporting, has blocked iPad owners from reading its stories through the tablet's Safari browser. If folks want the full spill on Hugh Hefner getting ditched at the altar, they'll be prompted to download the iOS app, which requires signing up for a subscription starting at $6.99 on a month-to-month basis. Setting aside News Corp.'s hubris for a moment, what's odd about this is the number of workarounds Rupert Murdoch & Co. left us cheapskates. You can still read the site on a desktop browser or a phone, including an Android one. Basically, then, News Corp. is strangling web access, but only for a select group of readers. That's a stark contrast from other content providers (even the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal), which have been more platform-agnostic. Then again, there's the dim possibility that News Corp. targeted the iPad in an effort to re-brand the Post as a glossier sort of tabloid, à la The Daily. To which we say, that's some wishful thinking there, Rupe.
The Daily generated 800,000 downloads, $10 million loss in first quarter of operation
It's still too early to pass judgment on News Corp's daring venture into tablet-only newspapers, The Daily, but at least we now have an idea of how much it costs to get a project like this off the ground. Having spent $30 million developing the concept before launch, the company's latest quarterly reports indicate another $10 million loss was incurred on the early operations of The Daily. That's resulted in 800,000 total downloads of the iPad-only app, though a breakdown of how many of those were just trying out the free trial and how many have stuck around for the paid version hasn't been forthcoming. News Corp stresses that The Daily is still a work in progress, one that we've heard may also be making its way onto Android tablets, and looks very much committed to seeing its plan through to the end. So if this digital-only, subscription-paid news idea fails, it won't be for lack of trying.
The Daily coming to Android tablets this spring?
Been sick with jealousy over all those people reading The Daily on their iPads? Well, it looks like that could all end some time soon if AllThingD's PKafka has heard correctly. Apparently, News Corp's tablet-only magazine / newspaper will be heading to Android this spring (or some time in Q2). Considering the team has gotten quite a bit of help from Apple on the development side (word is Apple also rushed to help them fix some of the early bugs) and was the first to use Apple's new subscription service, that does seem a bit quick, but we're certainly not complaining about more apps coming to those Honeycomb tablets. We just hope the random crashes and slow load times are fixed by then.
Mel Martin: The Daily through the eyes of one journalist
I've spent most of my life in the news business, both in reporting and management. Given that, something like The Daily is of high interest to me, both as a new media observer and as a voracious news consumer. From where I sit, The Daily looks pretty good. It's attractive, has some depth and has a varied mix of news. The creators clearly understood that providing news in the digital age isn't just about moving static content to a tablet, but using the features the tablet includes to enable video, audio, animation and graphics in a way simply not possible with something delivered on a piece of paper. I think the pricing is right. At $0.14 an issue, versus Time Magazine at $5 an issue, it seems a reasonable toll. If I were the New York Times, Washington Post or others planning expensive web editions, Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp, just ruined my day. Today feels a bit like the day in the 80s when I first saw a CD-ROM filled with thousands of text files. It was something different that had the power to change the way we consume information. I'm just as excited to see how media companies will respond to The Daily. Apple is finally helping the process along by allowing subscriptions from the App Store. This way, more media companies will join the battle for subscribers. It isn't clear what kind of money Apple is extracting from publishers, and we don't know for sure Apple is giving media companies subscriber information, but I think it is likely Apple will report something -- we just don't know what. The change of terms in the iTunes Store, released today, says that Apple may ask for permission to provide some of your personal info to publishers for marketing purposes. The new terms aren't very specific as yet, but it's clearly a change from the old policies that is enabling things like The Daily to go forward.
Steve Sande: A first look at The Daily
I haven't read a newspaper since the Rocky Mountain News went belly-up a few years ago, and I'm not a fan of broadcast or cable news at all. So Rupert Murdoch (at right, during this morning's press conference) and his minions at News Corp have a long way to go to impress someone who pretty much gets all of his news from RSS feeds, occasional peeks at news websites, and Twitter. I downloaded The Daily for free a few minutes ago and will be reading it for the next two weeks courtesy of Verizon, but the big question is whether or not I'll continue to read the iPad-only newspaper after that point. At first glance, The Daily appears to be a good "national and international news source." As noted during this morning's press conference, it uses the capabilities of the iPad to the max. As the inaugural editorial mentions, "Modern technology has given us more ways to tell stories than ever before -- words, pictures, audio, video and interactive graphics. The Daily will deliver them all." Indeed, The Daily even provides such TUAW staples as app reviews, with direct links to the App Store. But before you stop reading TUAW, realize that we cover "nothin' but Apple." With The Daily, you'll get opinion pieces on Bollywood as well... The Apps & Games section of the The Daily included a video today about The Oregon Trail moving to Facebook, and you can flip to the News section with a tap or two and watch a video piece about the uprising in Egypt. There's also a daily video update that is available from the carousel page with links to the top stories. You tap on the video to go right to a featured story. Click read more (below the gallery) for the rest of my first impressions. We'll have more impressions from other TUAW writers later today. %Gallery-115577%
The Daily now available in the App Store
As of this writing, Rupert Murdoch and team are taking questions from the press during The Daily's launch event, and the app itself is now live in the App Store. The long-anticipated app was finally demonstrated and released earlier today. Verizon is sponsoring a free two-week trial period for all customers. After that it will cost US$0.99 per day week or 39.99 per year. We'll have more on The Daily throughout the day, so check back often.
The Daily iPad 'newspaper' launches, $.99 weekly or $39.99 per year
Rupert Murdoch's iPad-only magazine The Daily, once described as "The New York Post Goes to College," is now a go. Launched at a New York event this morning, it pledges to offer "the best of traditional journalism" with "the best of contemporary technology" like 360 degree photos and, naturally, lots of fancy multimedia content that is all pushed directly to the iPad every day. It's priced at $.99 per week or $39.99 annually and launches today, unsurprisingly with Egypt taking the "cover" image. The team behind the new-age zine showed off plenty of that technology, including a magazine-like reading interface, letting you flip through pages, and a "carousel," that gives you a higher-level view of the pages for easier browsing. The Daily also includes audio versions, with professional voiceover so you won't have to worry about GPS voice, plus video overviews of all the content if you just don't have time for reading or listening. You can share stuff you like on Twitter or Facebook and others will be able to read those stories for free via the web -- but not all the content, naturally. The site will offer app reviews and features with links right to the App Store. Sports fans get full schedules and news updates for the teams they like. Again, The Daily launches today, and we're told that the first two weeks will be courtesy of Verizon. Good on ya, VZW! Update: It's now available in the App Store.
Live from The Daily launch event, with Apple's Eddy Cue
Is the future of media an iPad-exclusive daily newspaper that's delivered automatically overnight using a new subscription service? We're here at the Guggenheim Museum in New York for the launch of News Corp's The Daily to find out -- and Apple's VP of internet services Eddy Cue is scheduled to join Rupert Murdoch on stage, so things could get interesting. Join us, won't you?
News Corp and Apple set date for The Daily launch: February 2nd
The Daily, News Corp's iPad-specific news"paper," is living up to speculation about an early February inauguration with the announcement of a launch event on February 2nd. CEO Rupert Murdoch is explicitly mentioned on the invite, though Apple's presence will be fulfilled by Eddy Cue, presumably a late draft-in to substitute for his company's CEO, Steve Jobs, who's currently out on medical leave. Even without the great Apple orator, we expect the arrival of the first tablet-only news outlet to be a significant event, so we'll be strapping on our liveblogging gear and heading out to the Guggenheim Museum for a looksie. You'll join us in spirit, won't you?
'The Daily' iPad newspaper set for launch, according to sources (update)
The good old Associated Press has a couple of good old unnamed sources pinpointing the launch of The Daily -- the first iPad-only newspaper venture -- as January 19th. They even name the location as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is the company making this leap into the unknown (do people even care about news anymore?) and he is specifically named as a presenter at this alleged event for next week, to be joined on stage by Apple's Steve Jobs. An ancillary little note is that journalists are said to have already been hired in bureaus across the country, including the big news-spinning markets of New York and Los Angeles -- which makes all the sense in the world given the widespread expectation that the news app they'll be working for will launch by the end of this month. Update: Did we say the end of this month? Looks like The Daily's more likely to debut in early February instead -- News Corporation confirmed to All Things D that the iPad news service has been delayed, and an unnamed source says that it will be "weeks, not months" before we see it emerge again.
News Corp's 'The Daily' pub to hit iPad in January?
We heard News Corp's "iPad newspaper" The Daily was on track for release in early 2011, but AllThingsD is hearing something more specific -- week of January 17th, in fact, with the caveat that the launch plans have "moved around a couple of times in the past few months." From what we've gathered previously, The Daily will be published daily (surprise, surprise) and cost 99 cents per week (about $4.25 per month) and might leverage a new App Store subscription payment system that could be announced at an Apple event. So... nothing definitive, really. Got that? Good.
"Daily" iPad newspaper to launch January 17
Rupert Murdoch's iPad-exclusive publication, The Daily, is rumored to arrive on January 17. All Things Digital's Peter Kafka quotes "multiple sources," saying "News Corp plans to launch the publication by the week of January 17." The Daily is the much-rumored, iPad-only publication from News Corp. Murdoch has supposedly worked closely with Apple and Steve Jobs himself during the app's development. It was rumored that the app would be revealed at a December press event that was to feature Jobs, Murdoch and an overview of the alleged "newsstand" feature that many believe will introduce in-app subscriptions to the App Store. Kafka notes that The Daily will supposedly sell for US$0.99 per week, and that the extensive staff Murdoch has assembled will produce lots of video and other gee-whiz tech goodies for Daily readers to enjoy. That rumor of a December release turned out to be a dud, so don't get yourself all excited just yet. We'll know soon enough.
