kelly green : contract renewal talks between fox news<u+2019> megyn kelly and the network<u+2019>s top brass are heating up, with the star anchor seeking a salary north of $20 million , the wall street journal reports. rupert murdoch, chief executive of fox news and co-executive chairman of parent company 21st century fox, weighed in, telling wsj that he doesn<u+2019>t want to lose ms. kelly, but <u+201c>it<u+2019>s up to her<u+201d> and <u+201c>we have a deep bench of talent, many of whom would give their right arm for her spot.<u+201d> (mr. murdoch and his family are major stakeholders in both 21st century fox and wall street journal owner news corp.) ms. kelly<u+2019>s star has risen during the 2016 presidential cycle, in part because of a run-in with donald trump. rivals like cnn and abc may try to lure her, since she<u+2019>s separated herself from other fox talent by being less of an ideologue. (the new york times looks at her latest <u+201c>megyn moment,<u+201d> a feisty interview with trump surrogate newt gingrich that went viral.) and while some colleagues defended former network boss roger ailes against sexual harassment accusations, she participated in the internal investigation that led to his downfall. mr. ailes has denied the allegations. turn back time warner : wall street is expecting an extremely tough regulatory review of at&t<u+2019>s $85.4 billion acquisition of time warner, judging by how the media giant<u+2019>s shares are trading compared to the offer price . wsj<u+2019>s greg ip writes that the growing power of the presidency when it comes to regulatory rulemaking is looming over the deal. with donald trump<u+2019>s rise in the gop, both sides of the aisle now are backers of a robust regulatory state, he argues, and <u+201c>regardless of who is elected president, american companies should get used to a more pervasive federal presence in their lives.<u+201d> speaking about the acquisition for the first time, hillary clinton said that the deal raises questions and concerns and that she expects the government to conduct a <u+201c>very thorough analysis before making a decision,<u+201d> bloomberg reports. for more on how the deal came together and its broader media implications, check out a special extra episode of the wsj media mix podcast with media bureau chief amol sharma and wsj reporter keach hagey. the other football : much has been written about the national football league<u+2019>s struggle in the ratings so far this season, as media and advertising executives wonder whether the fall is the result of outside factors like the election or whether the league isn<u+2019>t as immune to the changing tv landscape as people thought. but as the new york times reports, ratings are also down across the pond for the other football, the english premiere league. the u.s. election certainly can<u+2019>t account for the epl<u+2019>s 20% ratings drop, but one could argue that the storyline has been less captivating this year than when leicester city made a shocking run last season. like the nfl, english soccer has spread its games across more days of the week to collect larger rights fees, and a bidding war between sky sports and bt pushed up rights payments to about $6.3 billion for the british market alone. though soccer fandom and viewership has grown domestically for three years, u.s. viewership for the premier league has fallen 17% on nbcsn and 18% on nbc, the times notes. the altar of facebook : plenty of media companies have made the headlong dash into embracing a <u+201c>distributed<u+201d> model of digital publishing, letting more of their content live on platforms like facebook, snapchat and google. but mike dyer, president and publisher of the daily beast, has a different view, and the site does not participate in programs like facebook instant articles or google amp. <u+201c>we do not worship at the altar of the <u+2018>distributed<u+2019> media or <u+2018>distributed<u+2019> audience model,<u+201d> he said on the wsj media mix podcast . <u+201c>we<u+2019>re not opposed to the benefits that a facebook or a snapchat or a twitter can bring to us, but we focus day in and day out on building a relationship with an audience that wants to come to us directly.<u+201d> mr. dyer said that about half of the beast<u+2019>s audience comes to the site directly, and that while big social media platforms can help a publisher grow an audience, it<u+2019>s still unclear if that will lead to meaningful revenue. the beast has therefore spent much of its energy on building its content marketing business, which mr. dyer says accounts for more than 70% of its ad revenue. for more, subscribe to the wsj media mix podcast on itunes , google play music , spotify or stitcher. snapchat is looking to raise as much as $4 billion for its initial public offering. [ bloomberg ] salesforce chief executive marc benioff said that the company, which walked away from a possible acquisition of twitter, had a <u+201c>very exciting vision<u+201d> for the company, but that shareholders ultimately opposed the deal. [ wsj ] twitter will cut 9% of its workforce, or 350 people, focused mainly on the company<u+2019>s marketing and sales team. [ recode ] publicis media exchange ceo dave penski said that facebook<u+2019>s video metric miscalculation will <u+201c>impact client spending<u+201d> and boost industry resolve to push for better third-party measurement to avoid another <u+201c>10 walled gardens.<u+201d> [ mediapost ] verizon is buying vessel, the young streaming service launched by former hulu ceo jason kilar. but the company will be shutting down the service and hanging on to the product and technology. [ recode ] <u+201c>mad men<u+201d> creator matthew weiner<u+2019>s next major tv project will be on amazon after a bidding war between six parties. the eight-episode order secured a $70 million commitment. [ deadline ] the root, a black news and culture site owned by univision, has announced it is seeking to unionize. univision-owned digital media outlet fusion also has been pushing its parent company for a union, but employees say the effort has faced resistance . [ mic ] two hollywood executives, jeff sagansky and harry sloan, are in advanced talks to acquire playboy through their acquisition company. the magazine would be a part of a portfolio of investments they are seeking to buy from playboy<u+2019>s majority owner rizvi traverse management for between $2 billion and $3 billion. [ reuters ] ibm chief executive virginia rometty says that watson, its artificial-intelligence technology used in industries ranging from medicine to marketing, will be used in some form by a billion people by the end of next year. [ wsj ] meanwhile, general motors said it would use watson<u+2019>s technology in its onstar system, which will allow users to opt into relationships with retailers through the service. [ wsj ] 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: megyn kelly seeks big payday at fox news - wsj
steven perlberg