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RUPERT MURDOCH named ROBERT J. THOMSON head editor at the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The move places one of Murdoch’s top editors in one of the most important positions in American media. Thomson, who was previously managing editor of The Times of London, will replace Marcus Brauchli, who was pushed out after less than a year in the position.
Users of NEWS CORP and NBC’s HULU watched 63.2 million videos in April and helped the site gain seven new distribution partners. Amongst Hulu’s new distribution sites is TV.com, part of CNET which will soon be part of CBS. A backdoor deal with CBS could bring three major networks together on Hulu, which is ad-supported and cracked the Nielsen Top 10 this month.
NBCU and the DISH NETWORK have signed an interactive ad deal that will allow users to respond to ads. The move, which NBCU has experimented with on TiVO, will utilize icons that allow users to find out more about a product. The interactive system is seen as a way of combating DVR-aided ad-skipping by effectively reaching interested parties.
MICROSOFT hopes to make a foothold in the search business by offering users a cash reward for purchasing goods by way of the companies search engine. The “Live Search cashback” service is now live and is viewed as a way for Microsoft to disrupt GOOGLE’s search dominance.
TIME WARNER will announce today how it plans to restructure after spinning off its TIME WARNER CABLE division. CEO JEFF BEWKES is expected to speak at a press conference later today that will detail how Time Warner plans to transform into a more focused media conglomerate through movies, television programming and magazines. Time Warner Cable’s board cleared terms of the separation Tuesday and TW plans to approve the deal Thursday.
T. BOONE PICKENS purchased 10 million shares of YAHOO in an attempt to pushCARL ICAHN’s move to unseat Yahoo’s board of directors. The Texas billionaire investor will support Icahn’s proposed board at Yahoo’s shareholders meeting in July. While MICROSOFT is still interested in Yahoo in some form, some shareholders are worried about what could happen if Icahn gains control of the board and Microsoft walks away.