Tubi Founder and CEO Farhad Massoudi Exits as Fox Forms Tubi Media Group

McKinley Franklin editor Larry Poland, the founder of Mastermedia International, died on May 3 in Illinois after suffering a stroke. He was 83. Poland founded Mastermedia to serve as “a trusted voice of faith to the mainstream media leaders.” Mastermedia teams in Hollywood and New York cultivate relationships with industry pioneers through conversation, consulting and support. The organization provides research and consulting on reaching America’s Christian market, working with executives from major networks and movie studios. Poland grew up in Ohio and devoted his life to Christian service through obtaining a higher education, international volunteer service and pursuing consulting with entertainment industry leaders. He graduated from Wheaton College with a Bachelors in sociology, and was a was a previous director of the Agape Movement, an international volunteer service organization under Campus Crusade for Christ, Intl.

Thania Garcia Rita Lee, one of Brazil’s top-selling rock artists and an original member of the tropicalia band Os Mutantes, died on May 5 after struggling with lung cancer. She was 75. The news was confirmed on Tuesday morning via Lee’s official Instagram account which, translated from Portuguese, stated: “We announce the death of Rita Lee, at her residence, in São Paulo, capital, late last night, surrounded by all the love of her family, as she always wanted.” The post also made note that Lee’s body will be cremated, according to her wishes, and included a public invite to attend her wake on May 10.

No one was expecting an apology and in fact Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch applauded “the highest journalistic standards” displayed at Fox News, saying the near $800 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems was a business decision made to resolve the dispute and “avoid the acrimony of multi-year litigation.”

Axios reported Monday, citing an internal memo.In the note to staff, editor-in-chief Jon Kelly thanked Purzycki and hailed him as “incredibly gifted at operationalizing start-ups during the incredibly fraught zero-to-one stage.” He added that the company is seeking a new chief executive to lead Puck through its “next phase of execution.”Purzycki co-founded Puck with Kelly and Max Tcheyan in September 2021, aiming to cover what it called the “four centers of power”: Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Washington and Wall Street. It raised $7 million in Series A funding and will begin pursuing another round, Axios reported.Purzycki “will remain as an advisor to the company in the coming weeks as we transition,” Kelly’s memo said.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Tucker Carlson is out at 8 p.m. on Fox News Channel, and the network hopes that a host of blue-chip advertisers that for years avoided his controversial hour will soon come back in. Since Carlson’s stunning exit last month, a timeslot that has been shunned by many Madison Avenue stalwarts seems as if it is being embraced. Procter & Gamble, one of the nation’s largest and most influential advertisers, has been running ads in “Fox News Tonight,” the network’s new 8 p.m. program, for female-skewing products like Venus razor blades by Gillette and Secret underarm deodorant. Also showing up in commercial breaks: Novo Nordisk’s trendy medication Ozempic, and Scotts Miracle-Gro.

Prince Harry fulfilled predictions that he wouldn’t be sticking around for any post-coronation pleasantries with his family.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding at the coronation of King Charles III. During the historic ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, The Ascension Choir — comprised of eight singers from the Kingdom Choir, hand selected for the occasion — was led by Abimbola Amoako-Gyampah in performing «Alleluia (O Sing Praises)» by composer Debbie Wiseman. The Kingdom Choir previously sang during Harry and Meghan's 2018 nuptials at St George's Chapel.The Kingdom Choir, a gospel group based in southeast England, was said to have been personally invited by King Charles to perform at his son and daughter-in-law's wedding.

Timeless lady! Princess Kate arrived at King Charles III’s coronation in a regal outfit fit for a royal.

Tom Brady is calling out a report about himself after retiring from football.

A statement from @GoAngelo on Fox's attempt to silence free speech: pic.twitter.com/ky6bcvynNuAlong with the “FOXLEAKS” videos, Carlson’s eyebrow-raising “that’s not how white man fight” text about his having mixed feelings about GOP supporters beat an “Antifa kid,” was shared by the New York Times earlier this week. Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly said on her Sirius XM show that she believes Fox public relations Senior Executive Vice Irena Briganti is behind the “mysterious out-takes,” calling it “an orchestrated hit-job.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer With major cost-saving initiatives in effect at Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, Amazon, Paramount and more mega media companies and economic uncertainty on Wall Street, the content spend free-for-all is definitely over. Today, the focus is turning to scalable franchises that work for in a multiplatform media world where Hollywood will get the biggest bang for more limited bucks. According to Perkins Miller, CEO of media company Fandom, the financial focus for the next 18 months should be on mining IP and franchises for all their worth. “My view is that, you don’t want to stifle innovation, I think creativity is incredibly important and you want to see that breakout show that is interesting or that movie that was greenlit because the story was so remarkable that it breaks the mold,” Miller said on the latest episode of Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast. “And I wouldn’t suggest that anybody should stop those kinds of activities. I think that are important, obviously, from a creative standpoint. But from an economic one, which is the question you’re asking, what is the most economically smart thing to do, I think the most economically smart thing to do is to focus on franchises and figure out your scaled production against them.”

Shaun Ryder has formed a new band consisting of ‘90s music icons, called Mantra Of The Cosmos.The Happy Mondays frontman revealed the new supergroup in an interview with The Sun’s Bizarre column, and announced to fans that new music and a Glastonbury debut are imminent.Mantra Of The Cosmos is formed of Ryder, former Oasis bassist Andy Bell, The Lightning Seeds guitarist and vocalist, Ian Broudie, and drummer Zak Starkey — who has previously performed with The Who.Former Happy Mondays percussionist, Bez — real name Mark Berry — is the final name completing the lineup, and as confirmed by Ryder, an album is on the way.“I’ve got a new band together. It’s me, Zak Starkey, you know, Ringo [Starr’s] son, and the drummer in The Who, Andy Bell from Oasis and Ian Broudie from The Lightning Seeds.

Perry Sook, who has led Nexstar Media Group from humble beginnings two-plus decades ago to its current status as the top owner of TV stations and the parent of The CW, made $39.3 million in 2022.

Koala Man and the upcoming series “Hazbin Hotel” (platform TBD and co-produced with A24). December 2022 saw Bent Box enter a multi-year production service agreement with leading Irish animation studio Boulder Media, which includes “Krapopolis” and “Grimsburg.”In 2021, Bento Box and Fox formed BCL, which launched Web3 platforms for unscripted series like “The Masked Singer,” “Krapopolis,” the United States Football League (USFL), Fox Deportes, SXSW, Dolly Parton and WWE.Daniel Weidenfeld, senior vice president of Animation at Fox Entertainment, will transition over to Bento Box, where he will be involved in development, working closely with creative Director Ben Jones.  They will jointly report to Coker.

EXCLUSIVE: Scott Greenberg, co-founder and CEO of Fox’s animation studio Bento Box Entertainment, the company behind Dan Harmon’s Krapopolis and Apple TV+’s Central Park, is leaving.

McKinley Franklin editor Frank Agrama, founder and chairman of Harmony Gold, died on Tuesday. He was 93. Agrama’s career as an entertainment pioneer saw him founding several production companies including the Film Association of Rome and then Harmony Gold, which launched television series such as “Shaka Zulu” and “Robotech.” He was born on Jan. 1, 1930, and became a child actor in Egypt with his own TV series. While his father was the Surgeon General of Egypt, Agrama initially followed in his father’s footsteps by acquiring a degree in medicine and surgery from the University of Cairo. By the time he was 23 years old, Agrama was a medical doctor. 

Fox Corporation is restructuring its digital operations by forming the Tubi Media Group as Farhad Massoudi, founder and CEO of the Fox-owned free, AVOD platform Tubi, is leaving the company.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Tubi founder and CEO Farhad Massoudi is stepping down as Fox Corporation is forming the Tubi Media Group led by Paul Cheesbrough. Massoudi will remain with Tubi through a transition period until the end of June. A new CEO of Tubi Streaming will be announced at a later date. “Our strategic acquisition of Tubi in 2020 established a cornerstone in our digital streaming strategy, which under Paul and Farhad’s leadership has driven record growth and is now the clear market leader in AVOD in the US,” said Lachlan Murdoch, executive chair and CEO of Fox Corp. ““Building off this momentum, and complementing the strong growth being driven in our company wide digital revenues, now is the right time to bring these efforts together into a new business unit which will be tasked with spearheading our digital expansion and partnering with our brands to drive continued growth.”

Emmerdale 's Karene Peter is thought to be leaving the soap, after playing the role of Naomi Walters for just one year. The 31 year old actress who plays the 22 year old character is said to be in the midst of filming her final scenes after deciding to leave the role. Karene joined the action on in the Dales in summer last year, when she entered the soap as Vicar Charles Anderson’s long-lost daughter Naomi Walters.