espn<u+2019>s fumble : it once appeared as if espn would be immune to the wider challenges in the cable tv universe, but now struggles at the <u+201c>worldwide leader in sports<u+201d> continue to drive investor fears at parent walt disney, the wall street journal reports. espn saw advertising revenue fall 13%, resulting from a decline in daily fantasy sports commercials and the fact rival nbcuniversal gobbled up ad dollars for the olympics. disney also said affiliate revenue declined because of espn<u+2019>s subscriber loss, which sparked a heated back and forth with nielsen when the measurement company reported that espn lost 621,000 subscribers in a month. on a conference call with analysts, disney ceo robert iger said he was <u+201c>bullish<u+201d> about espn<u+2019>s future, which helped the stock recover in after-hours trading. he also said deals with streaming services such as hulu and at&t could help espn target the young customers ditching traditional cable packages. media moguls : there<u+2019>s a battle happening between enterprise software giants like oracle and salesforce to build out their marketing technology capabilities. and adobe, for its part, just made its next move, acquiring video ad buying company tubemogul for about $540 million, cmo today reports. adobe has made a series of marketing tech and data acquisitions in recent years, but tubemogul<u+2019>s technology, which lets marketers purchase video ads from different sources and display them across devices, plugs a gap for adobe in a fast-growing pocket of the ad business. adobe agreed to purchase tubemogul for $14 a share in cash, an 83% premium from where the shares closed wednesday and double the company<u+2019>s 2014 ipo price. but tubemogul hasn<u+2019>t been immune to the public markets<u+2019> punishment of ad-tech stocks, and the shares traded at more than $23 less than two years ago. adobe hopes the acquisition will help the company build out its capabilities in the much-hyped, but still relatively new, automated tv ad buying space . facebook<u+2019>s influence : facebook has been in the spotlight throughout this election season, as the tech platform increasingly becomes a hub for american news consumption . while tech executives generally take a hands-off approach when it comes to editorial matters, facebook is responding to criticism that the amount of fake news stories surfacing on news feeds might have influenced voters. as wsj reports, facebook ceo mark zuckerberg said at a conference thursday that it was a <u+201c>pretty crazy idea<u+201d> that fake news on facebook influenced the election in any way and that internal research said the company doesn<u+2019>t create a <u+201c>filter bubble<u+201d> of like-minded people. facebook<u+2019>s foray into the news and political world has been rocky. the company reversed its decisio n to delete a post containing the famous <u+201c>napalm girl<u+201d> vietnam war photo, faced backlash over its editorial guidelines for news employees that curated the service<u+2019>s <u+201c>trending<u+201d> tab, and employees engaged in a fierce internal debate over whether donald trump<u+2019>s posts violated the service<u+2019>s terms on hate speech. mr. zuckerberg has been clear that the tech giant will never be a media company , but facebook now is being forced to deal with the fact it already may be one. letter of the law : at&t exempts its own streaming video services from data-usage caps for its wireless customers in a practice known as <u+201c>zero rating.<u+201d> but that<u+2019>s becoming a source of controversy for the telecom company, particularly in the wake of its planned $85.4 billion purchase of time warner. as wsj reports, the federal communications commission is getting involved . the regulator sent a letter to at&t to express concerns over the practice, which at&t plans to continue in its forthcoming over-the-top service directv now. zero rating might <u+201c>obstruct competition and harm consumers by constraining their ability to access existing and future mobile video services not affiliated with at&t,<u+201d> jon wilkins, the head of the fcc<u+2019>s wireless division, wrote in the letter. at&t has maintained it will offer any company the same payment terms available to its directv unit, but the fcc doesn<u+2019>t look as if it<u+2019>s buying the argument that zero rating promotes competition. former gawker editor a.j. daulerio could go it alone in challenging the judgment awarded to hulk hogan. gawker<u+2019>s settlement with the wrestler wouldn<u+2019>t erase $100,000 in punitive damages mr. daulerio faces. [ wsj ] instagram is working on a live video feature for its app, following in the footsteps of owner facebook, which has made a big live video push in recent months. [ the verge ] both the wall street journal and the new york times are among the print papers cutting back on arts and entertainment coverage amid steep print ad revenue declines. [ deadline ] snapchat spectacles went on sale thursday morning to high demand in large automated vending machines near snap<u+2019>s venice offices. the video-camera glasses cost $130. [ la times ] donald trump will sit down with <u+201c>60 minutes<u+201d> for his first television interview as president-elect. the interview will air sunday. [ politico ] mr. trump is said to be considering steve bannon as white house chief of staff. mr. bannon led conservative outlet breitbart news before joining mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign in august. [ cnn ] in her new book, megyn kelly details her battles throughout the campaign with mr. trump, including the fact that the candidate reached out to fox news because he heard that the first question at a debate would be a pointed one directed at him. [ nyt ] at 21st century fox<u+2019>s annual meeting, rupert murdoch pushed back when asked by an investor if fox news would face a backlash over favorable coverage of mr. trump. he also said there was never any risk mr. trump would launch a tv competitor. [ the hollywood reporter ] shari redstone said she didn<u+2019>t support the decision to separate viacom and cbs a decade ago and that a merger between the two companies would bring more leverage in the tv marketplace. [ 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: espn struggles amid subscriber decline - wsj
steven perlberg