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Thursday, July 18, 2024

Hello, from the final night of the RNC in Milwaukee. CNN and Fox News remember Lou Dobbs, Netflix reports Q2 numbers, WBD weighs its NBA decision, Secret Service blasts right-wing attacks against female agents, Mark Zuckerberg reportedly slices into metaverse division, Max teases "Dune: Prophecy," Hollywood mourns Bob Newhart, and so much more.

THE A1

Trump Takes the Throne

CNN Photo Illustration/Rebecca Wright

Donald Trump has pulled off an unprecedented feat.

When he accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president on Thursday night, Trump completed a remarkable and once unthinkable comeback, cementing his victory not only over fellow Republican contenders, but also over one-time GOP kingmaker Rupert Murdoch.

It's hard to overstate how formidable of a task it was for Trump to capture the Republican nomination while swimming upstream against Murdoch Media and much of the Republican party. Comprised of Fox News, the New York Post, and The Wall Street Journal, Murdoch's media outlets hold significant sway over the Republican base and the party elite.

In the wake of the 2020 election and January 6th attack, Murdoch exiled Donald Trump from his right-wing media kingdom, privately vowing to make the disgraced former president a "non-person." Soon after, Trump vanished from the airwaves of Fox News. And in his place was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Murdoch's media outlets regularly lavished praise on the Republican governor, with the Post even going so far as to declare him "DeFuture" on its cover.

But Trump easily slayed DeSantis in the GOP primaries, despite Murdoch having backed the anti-woke warrior and bathed him in the warm light of his kingdom. After vanquishing DeSantis, Trump effortlessly defeated the rest of the Republican field, comprised of former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and others.

That turn of events was accomplished largely due to the ascendent tenets of MAGA Media. Trump, who managed to remain popular among grassroots supporters, harnessed the power of those loyal forces, with popular figures such as Steve Bannon, and outlets like The Gateway Pundit and Breitbart, keeping his message alive.

Just a decade ago, it was far more difficult to circumvent Murdoch. But the 93-year-old mogul's power — while still considerable — has waned as a horde of online outlets have cut into his command of the flow of information to the Republican base.

That fact has not been lost on the Trump family. Speaking to Axios at the Republican National Convention this week, Donald Trump Jr. bashed Murdoch, declaring in no uncertain terms that he no longer holds the position of the ultimate power broker in Republican politics.

"There was a time where if you wanted to survive in the Republican Party, you had to bend the knee to him or to others," Trump Jr. said. "I don't think that's the case anymore. I don't think the influence of sort of mainstream cable is what it used to be."

Now that Trump has won the nomination and taken his spot back on the GOP throne, Murdoch is the one bending the knee. Not only is he attending the RNC, witnessing the coronation in person as Trump runs away with the party's nomination despite his efforts, but Murdoch's media companies have reverted back to serving as a mouthpiece for the election-denying and insurrection-inciting candidate.

It's an illustrative moment in GOP power dynamics. Murdoch, without question, remains powerful, but his powers have limits. And Trump, over the course of the 2024 campaign, has put them on display for the world to see.

CONVENTION COVERAGE

Night four of the RNC heavily featured a lineup of entertainment personalities, including Tucker Carlson, Hulk Hogan, Kid Rock, and Dana White.
Tucker Carlson spoke to Michael Grynbaum for a piece on his RNC stardom, in which he praised Rupert Murdoch, who fired him last year: "I've never felt anything but gratitude to him, and I mean that." (NYT)
CNN and MSNBC opted not to broadcast on their air Carlson's off-the-cuff speech to the RNC; Fox News did.
The fact Carlson was tapped to speak in prime time on the final night of the RNC underscores how welcomed he has been in recent years by the Trump inner-circle, despite the former Fox News host having privately ranted against the former president after the 2020 election. (Mediaite)
Night three of the RNC, featuring J.D. Vance's speech, averaged about 18 million viewers. (USA Today)
"In Milwaukee, everyone in the media was ready for conflict," Ben Smith wrote, adding, "Instead, we found the happiest place on earth." (Semafor)
Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum spoke to Eric Lutz about being in "heaven" covering 2024 chaos. (Vanity Fair)
"MAGAworld would benefit from spending time outside its media bubble," Philip Bump argued. (WaPo)
As 538 serves as an outlier and show the presidential race being a 50-50 tossup, Max Tani talks to a "well-placed source" about why the outlet's modeling gives Biden better odds than anywhere else. (Semafor)

——— BELOW THE FOLD ———

CNN Photo Illustration/Celal Gunes/Anadolu/Getty Images

The Death of Dobbs: Lou Dobbs, the longtime business news anchor who became one of Donald Trump's most vocal supporters in media, died on Thursday. He was 78. "It's with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of 'the great Lou Dobbs,'" a statement posted on his official social media account said, calling him a "fighter till the very end." Dobbs had a lengthy career in broadcast journalism, spending more than two decades at CNN, which he joined at its inception in 1980 and anchored the program "Moneyline." Dobbs left CNN in 2009 to help Rupert Murdoch launch the Fox Business Network. CNN said, "Lou was one of the CNN originals, who helped launch and shape the network." And Fox called him, "an incredible business mind with a gift for broadcasting." I have more on Dobbs here.

► Here's the moment in which Neil Cavuto broke the news to Fox News viewers. "This really hits the Fox News family," he said.

► As one of Trump's biggest boosters, Dobbs spent the latter part of his career promoting streams of misinformation and conspiracy theories on behalf of the then-president. After the 2020 election, Dobbs used his Fox program to repeatedly promote false conspiracy theories that the vote had been rigged by shadowy companies that flipped millions of votes from Trump to Joe Biden. These on-air comments helped spur voting technology companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic to sue Fox News for defamation.

THE INDUSTRY

CNN Photo Illustration/Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Netflix's Q2 Numbers: Netflix shares remained steady in after-hours trading Thursday after the streamer beat expectations on its second-quarter earnings. Netflix said revenue increased 17% year-over-year to $9.5 billion and added 8 million subscribers, with its ad-supported tier membership growing by 34% quarter on quarter. "Given this sustained progress, we believe that we're on track to achieve critical ad subscriber scale for advertisers in our ad countries in 2025, creating a strong base from which we can further increase our ad membership in 2026 and beyond," Netflix wrote in its letter to shareholders. "Our ad revenue is growing nicely and is becoming a more meaningful contributor to our business." CNBC's Lillian Rizzo has more.

► Netflix raised its expected revenue growth for the full year to 15%, up from the 14% previously projected.

► Netflix will axe its cheapest ad-free plan in the U.S., as it continues to drive subscribers to its more lucrative ad-driven plans.

► He's already exiting?! Netflix ad boss Peter Naylor is departing the company after joining in 2022.

► Netflix poured cold water on a potential bundle with Disney+ or Max, saying it is already a "go-to destination for entertainment."

► Ted Sarandos, however, showed respect to YouTube, saying, "We clearly do compete with YouTube in certain segments of their business. And we certainly compete with them for time and attention."

IN THE BIZ

Warner Bros. Discovery has held discussions to separate Max and Warner Bros. Pictures from its legacy television networks to boost its struggling stock price, Maria Heeter, Antoine Gara, Sujeet Indap, James Fontanella-Khan, and Christopher Grimes report. (FT)
Speaking of WBD: The NBA sent WBD the terms of its proposed media deals on Wednesday night, starting the five-day clock for the David Zaslav-led company to make a play to match, Alex Sherman reports. WBD is expected to take aim at Amazon's package of games. (CNBC)
Apple is in talks to license additional films from major studios as the tech giant looks to beef up its streaming service. (Bloomberg)
Verizon's latest deal: The cellular provider is offering customers a free year of Netflix's premium tier if they purchase an annual Peacock subscription. (Variety)
CBS Sports beat out ESPN in acquiring the media rights for the English Football League, Adam Crafton reports. (NYT)

THE FOURTH ESTATE

Russia's sham trial of Evan Gershkovich is nearing its end. "A court spokeswoman said the court had completed its judicial investigation and would hear 'oral arguments' from both sides Friday," Georgi Kantchev reports. "After that, Gershkovich will be asked for his 'final statement' and the court will consider its verdict, she added, declining to give a time frame for those next steps." (WSJ)
CNBC canceled "Last Call," the evening newscast anchored by Brian Sullivan that premiered last year to replace Shep Smith's canceled program. (Deadline)

THE INFO WARS

CNN Photo Illustration/Gene J. Puskar/AP

Secret Service Pushes Back: The Secret Service has had enough. After days of right-wing media attacks on female agents, claiming they failed during the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and shouldn't be allowed in the elite force, the agency pushed back on the misogynist claims Thursday. "It is an insult to the women of our agency to imply that they are unqualified based on gender. Such baseless assertions undermine the professionalism, dedication and expertise of our workforce," Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. The agency, he added, is "appalled by the disparaging and disgusting comments against any of our personnel." The reaction comes after law enforcement professionals, including a former Secret Service deputy director, strenuously disputed the narrative that has been promoted by right-wing social media figures, Fox News, and billionaire X owner Elon Musk. CNN's Hadas Gold has more here.

THE VALLEY

CNN Photo Illustration/David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Hard Reality: Mark Zuckerberg is cutting spending to Reality Labs, the AR/VR division of Meta that houses the billionaire's much-talked about metaverse. The Information's Wayne Ma and Kalley Huang reported Thursday that as Meta ramps up investment in A.I., Zuckerberg is dramatically trimming costs at Reality Labs, which he has sunk tens of billions of dollars into and previously held up as the future of the company. According to Ma and Huang, hardware teams in the division have been told to cut spending by a staggering 20%. Read the full report here.

🔎 Zooming in: As A.I. technology quickly advances, Meta is far from the only company to make changes to their corporate strategy. Nearly every major player in Silicon Valley has made cuts and moved to position their companies for a future dominated by the nascent technology.

TOO MANY TABS

Apple unveiled a suite of immersive content for the Vision Pro, including concerts, the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend, and "the first scripted short film captured in Apple Immersive Video." (The Verge)
A TechCrunch investigation found that the U.S. Postal Service was sharing online users' postal addresses with advertising and tech companies, including Meta, LinkedIn, and Snap. (TechCrunch)
Google said its URL shortener links will no longer be available after August 2025. (Google)
In the U.S., shoppers spent $14.2 billion during Amazon's Prime Day sale, an 11% on-year increase. (Bloomberg)
OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT-4o mini, a smaller, cheaper version of its tentpole product. (Reuters)

CURTAIN CALL

CNN Photo Illustration/Everett Collection

Hartbreak in Hollywood: Hollywood was once again mourning a fallen star on Thursday. Bob Newhart, the legendary comedian and actor, died Thursday. He was 94. The exact cause of death was unclear, but according to his longtime publicist, it occurred after a series of short illnesses. Newhart's death prompted a wave of tributes from figures in the comedy and entertainment worlds. "His brilliant comedy and gentle spirit made everyone he encountered so happy," Judd Apatow said. CNN's Dan Heching and Todd Leopold have more here.

OFF STAGE

IATSE ratified its new three-year deal with the AMPTP. (Variety)
Amazon added a disclaimer to its season four finale of "The Boys," emphasizing that the political violence portrayed in the episode was filmed ahead of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. (Deadline)
Get excited! Max released the second teaser for "Dune: Prophecy," which will premiere some time in November. (YouTube)
James Gunn said "Superman" is "close" to completing filming. (THR)
Kate Hudson said that both she and Matthew McConaughey are open to making a sequel to "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days." (Deadline)
Charlize Theron will star in Netflix's thriller "Apex." (Deadline)
For the first time, Sir David Attenborough will partner with National Geographic for a nature documentary. It will focus on the health of the world's oceans. (Deadline)
Paramount+ dropped a first look of its "Dexter" prequel, "Dexter: Original Sin." It also released a first look at its Julia Garner-led "Rosemary's Baby" prequel, "Apartment 7A." (THR/THR)
Paramount+, however, canceled "Halo" after two seasons. (Deadline)
Ashlee Simpson said she is recording new music. (Vulture)

Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited by Jon Passantino and produced with the assistance of Liam Reilly. Have feedback? Send us an email. You can follow us on Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn. We will see you back in your inbox next week.

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