"Because we don't know what the regulation is going to look like, we want to get out front and figure out how to solve the problem."

Details: The immediate focus of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media is to create a working group that will prioritize a set of concrete steps to begin creating a set of actions, processes and protocols for protecting people and brands from nefarious content online.

• The launch members of the Alliance will meet for the first time Wednesday at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France. The meeting will be hosted by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) Board.
• The group so far includes major advertisers like Adidas, Mastercard, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Shell, and Unilever, as well as publishers like NBCUniversal and Verizon.
• It also includes Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter, and other tech platforms are close to signing on. GroupM, the ad buying arm of ad holding giant WPP is taking a lead role on the agency side, but says other ad holding groups will be committed to the effort. All of the major ad trade groups are in.

The big picture: The coordinated industry effort comes as lawmakers around the world debate potential regulations for the digital advertising and content industries.

Be smart: While talks of growing regulation make new laws and rules feel inevitable, the advertising and digital content industries have been particularly good at coming together to self-regulate when their industries face existential crises.

• In 2009, several advertising several trade organizations created the Digital Advertising Alliance to develop self-regulatory principles for online behavioral advertising per the recommendation of the Federal Trade Commission, which had been looking into data privacy rules online.
• In 2016, platforms raced to build sophisticated political advertising transparency tools, eventually beating lawmakers to regulating the problem before the Honest Ads Act won enough support in Congress.
• Today, the alliance is being launched as the industry is faces threats of national privacy legislation that would threaten the data collection necessary to execute many digital ad transactions.

Between the lines: One of the goals of the Alliance would be to create cross-industry brand safety standards that Big Tech companies would use when evaluating content online.

• This would unify tech companies in the decision-making process over what types of content remains on their platforms.

Our thought bubble: We've seen several times in recent weeks that different standards across platforms about what type of content is considered safe on the internet causes confusion and frustration among lawmakers, brands and consumers.

• The standardization of content rules across the major platforms would be a major step forward for the industry, and could help resolve growing skepticism around platform bias.

Go deeper: Big Tech's shifting lobbying army

Between the lines: Traditional luxury department stores haven't been able to crack the digital marketplace in a meaningful way.

• Some luxury aggregation retail sites have broken through — like Rue La La, Gilt, The RealReal and Tradesy — but most have focused on consignment or resale of older goods from luxury brands through third-party sellers.

Be smart: Today's only luxury marketplaces have many risks for consumers, like receiving counterfeit goods or poor quality control on shipping and handling. This is why luxury is still often purchased in-store.

Details: Like Amazon, the company is hoping to differentiate itself by controlling the entire purchasing process. Unlike Amazon, it will not include any pay-to-play search rankings or third-party sellers.

• At launch, Verishop will have almost 1,200 styles and 10,000+ stock keeping units, all hand-picked for quality control and curation.
• Verishop launches today with two-day shipping, available without a subscription fee or minimum order value. They will also offer free returns for 30 days.
• It will launch a "Tastemaker shop" where consumers can discover products liked by their favorite influencers. It's signed up up seven influencers with more than 15 million followers, including Tiffany Ma and Jess Conte.
• It will also launch a "Responsible shop," where consumers can opt to online shop for brands and products that upholder a higher level of social consciousness.

The target consumer for Verishop will be millennial (ages 23-38) with more than $75,000 in annual household income. The average price point for products is approximately $100.

The brands that Verishop will curate include:

• Men's fashion: AG, AllSaints, Anthony Thomas Melillo, Baum und Pferdgarten, Beach Riot, Current/Elliott, Citizens of Humanity, DVF, Equipment, IRO, J Brand, Ksubi, Levi’s, LoveShackFancy, MISA, MOUSSY, NSF, Smythe, Varley,Zadig & Voltaire
• Women's fashion: AG, AllSaints, Anthony Thomas Melillo, Barena, Venezia, BLDWN, Buscemi Chinatown Market, Druthers, EDWIN, Everest Isles, Far Afield, Golden Bear, Hiro Clark, LTH JKT, Miansai, Maximum Henry, PS Paul Smith, Sundek, Veilance, Velva Sheen
• Beauty: Aromatherapy Associates, DedCool, Dr. Loretta, Fur, GOA Skincare, Kahina Giving, Beauty Kari Gran, KORA Organics Kosas, Le Prunier, Leonor Greyl Lily Lolo, Pai Skincare, RAINCRY, Reverie, Rituel de Fille, Orgaid, RMS Beauty, Suntegrity, Tenoverten
• Home: Cire Trudon, Cinnamon Projects, Boll & Branch, Indego Africa, Morrow Soft Goods, Hawkin’s New York, Sien + Co, Primary Goods, Morihata International ettitude, L’Objet, The Beach People, BUNGALOW DENMARK, SOH Melbourne, Norden, LUMIRA

Between the lines: The company to-date has raised more than $17 million from investors led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

• The company's co-founder, Khan's wife Cate, stepped down as head of retail for Amazon-owned Quidsi last year to join the company.
• At launch, Khan has roughly 50 employees and several senior executives, including Jason Bosco, former VP of engineering at Dollar Shave Club, to lead engineering, Former Bloomberg deals reporter Alex Barinka to lead communications, and Matthew Terry, former VP of fulfillment at Thrive Market, to lead fulfillment.

What's next: Verishop hopes to expand into new categories, like shoes, next year.  It also expects to have more than 300 brands listed by the end of the year. 

The details: Sources tell FBN that bankers would try to structure the deal so that the two companies would come together as equals, although CBS is larger than Viacom.

Be smart: Who leads the combined company remains a big unknown, especially given that it was the source of a lot of the Redstone vs. Moonves drama. We hear that the two main contenders are:

• Viacom CEO Bob Bakish, who has helped Viacom lead on advanced advertising and the creation of digital video opportunities for marketers. He also has a close working relationship with Redstone.
• Acting CBS CEO Joe Ianniello, who has led CBS well through the post-Moonves transition. CBS stock is healthy and streaming numbers are good, but Ianniello represents the network's old guard, which butted heads with Redstone.

The big picture: Television industry consolidation has accelerated over the past two years, as large networks struggle to attract live TV audiences and consumers ditch large bundled cable packages for cheaper alternatives.

• This is especially true for entertainment TV networks, which is mostly what Viacom owns, as entertainment content usually doesn't need to be consumed live, like a sports game or newscast.
• CBS' board had resisted a merger, in part, because it worried about the impact that adopting Viacom's cable networks would have on its business, according to sources.
• But as the industry becomes more competitive, scale is becoming an important asset, and Viacom and CBS combined would likely be better positioned to compete with bigger technology firms and TV companies for production power, ad dollars and distribution deals.

Our thought bubble: Viacom is in a much stronger position today than when merger talks first reignited several years ago. The company has dramatically expanded its digital footprint through the acquisition of several digital video companies and has invested heavily in its digital ad business.

• While Viacom's linear cable channels are subject to industry trends of declining viewership, it's remained focused under Bakish's leadership on creating digital opportunities for advertisers to reach a younger demographic at scale.
• CBS has focused on monetizing its younger digital audience through streaming subscriptions. Its streaming services mostly focus on national news, local news, sports and entertainment.
• Viacom's direct-to-consumer products for channels like Nickelodeon and BET could expand the demographic appeal of CBS' direct-to-consumer services.