bundle up : at&t wants to use its $85.4 billion acquisition of time warner to access one of the more elusive cohorts in the tv landscape: cord-cutters. speaking at the wsjdlive conference, at&t chief executive randall stephenson announced that the company<u+2019>s new online video service, directv now, will launch next month and carry more than 100 channels for $35 a month , the wall street journal reports. it will, of course, carry time warner<u+2019>s suite of tv properties. it<u+2019>s still early days in the live streaming world, with companies like hulu and google hard at work to cobble together their offerings. but at $35, directv now is a pretty good deal for a not-so-skinny bundle . both mr. stephenson and time warner ceo jeff bewkes, who joined him on stage, played down skepticism that the mega merger won<u+2019>t pass regulatory muster. mr. stephenson pointed to the $35-a-month service as a reason consumers shouldn<u+2019>t be concerned. <u+201c>anybody who characterizes this as a means to raise prices is ignoring the basic premise of what we<u+2019>re trying to do here,<u+201d> he said. mr. bewkes said the acquisition is also about bringing more competition to the advertising market to take on google and facebook. respect your elders : if you thought the media world just didn<u+2019>t feel right without some juicy legal drama surrounding sumner redstone, you<u+2019>re in luck. as wsj reports, the 93-year-old media mogul is suing his two former companions , manuela herzer and sydney holland, for elder abuse, including swindling him of more than $150 million. mr. redstone wants his money back, <u+201c>with interest.<u+201d> the complaint alleges that the two manipulated him to dip into his vested viacom and cbs stock options to give them a combined $90 million. that gift triggered a tax bill of nearly as much, forcing him to take out a loan from his holding company national amusements. the suit says that the women isolated and confused mr. redstone, which incidentally is very similar to the argument ms. herzer made about his daughter shari redstone in a lawsuit that was thrown out months ago. the complaint also reveals that mr. redstone<u+2019>s condition has deteriorated to the point that he now uses an ipad programmed with his voice from excerpts of old interviews and speeches to communicate. trump tv? : donald trump<u+2019>s son-in-law jared kushner reached out to a prominent investment banker about a possible post-election media venture in recent months, but the republican nominee has denied that any <u+201c>trump tv<u+201d> project is in the works. but as wsj reports, mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign has reignited the rumor with its new nightly facebook live broadcast hosted by two advisers and tomi lahren, a conservative pundit from theblaze. <u+201c>trump tower live,<u+201d> which is to air nightly at about 6:30 p.m. et, promises to give viewers an unfiltered campaign message free of the media bias mr. trump has railed against. the first episode<u+2019>s stream averaged 40,000 to 60,000 viewers, according to cnn. as for whether the facebook live show is laying the groundwork for something more formal, mr. trump told a cincinnati radio station that he has no interest in creating a trump tv venture , cnn reported. <u+201c>i have one interest, that<u+2019>s on november 8,<u+201d> he said. british invasion : the british are coming<u+2014>this time into the u.s. bro media market. as cmo today reports, lad bible and unilad, two young male-focused, u.k.-based digital publishers that have exploded thanks in large part to the rise of facebook video, have set their sights on the u.s. the duo are already huge players in online video, amassing more than 3.6 billion video views each in september, according to tubular labs. both companies, whose memes and viral pratfall videos you<u+2019>ve likely seen in your facebook feed, say that much of their audience is already here, and now it<u+2019>s just a matter of setting up shop. unilad says it plans to open a new york office by march 2017, while lad bible says it<u+2019>s eyeing expansion next year as well. young men are coveted consumers for advertisers, but some traditional publishers don<u+2019>t see <u+201c>lad<u+201d> media companies as much of a threat. troy young, president of hearst magazines digital media, which owns esquire, described the bro content fare as <u+201c>kittens for dudes.<u+201d> hbo chief executive richard plepler said vice<u+2019>s daily news program drew <u+201c>hundreds of thousands<u+201d> of viewers in its first two weeks on the air, though he said he doesn<u+2019>t care so long as the show is <u+201c>additive to our brand.<u+201d> [ wsj ] former aol ceo steve case, who knows a thing or two about what it<u+2019>s like to merge with time warner, has written about his advice for the at&t-time warner deal. mr. case said that the right idea isn<u+2019>t enough, and that the two companies need to align culturally and follow a <u+201c>one company<u+201d> strategy. [ wsj ] comcast corp. reported better-than-expected financial results thanks to strong growth at its nbcuniversal unit, which was powered by the rio olympics. the cable provider added 32,000 video customers in the third quarter. [ wsj ] <u+201c>the walking dead<u+201d> on amc brought in 17 million viewers for the premiere of its seventh season, a 16% increase from last year<u+2019>s debut. [ cnn ] groups backing gop house and senate candidates are running ads that depict them as a check against a potential hillary clinton presidency, a strategy shift that acknowledges her lead in the polls. [ wsj ] marketers are particularly drawn to this year<u+2019>s world series, given the cubs<u+2019> attempt to break a fabled 108-year curse and the indians<u+2019> attempt to secure their first championship since 1948. a 30-second ad is running brands about $565,000. [ ad age ] a.g. sulzberger, the new deputy publisher of the new york times and son of current publisher and chairman arthur sulzberger jr., discussed his new role, saying that the paper has caught up to its digital competitors since his leaked 2014 <u+201c>innovation report.<u+201d> [ poynter ] apple<u+2019>s revenue and profit declined for the third consecutive quarter, though the company had a bullish outlook for revenue in the current quarter thanks to the iphone 7. ceo tim cook said that apple, which is still the most profitable u.s. company, is <u+201c>open to acquisitions of any size.<u+201d> [ wsj , multichannel news ] follow us on twitter: @wsjcmo , @digitalshields , @vranicawsj , @jackmarshall , @perlberg , @alexbruell , @srabil , @asharma subscribe to our morning newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox, at http://on.wsj.com/cmotodaysignup . write to steven perlberg at steven.perlberg@wsj.com
cmo today: at&t announces new $35-a-month online video service - wsj
steven perlberg