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BFD Expert Voices - Media Deals

BFD Expert Voices

Scripps' Kate O'Brian is helping oversee the rebrand of the 14-year-old network Newsy to Scripps News, coming on Jan. 1, to further cement the power of the national news organization within the larger company. 

Why she matters: O'Brian joined Scripps in April 2021. She serves as executive vice president of the Scripps News division. Prior, she spent 30 years at ABC News and was later president of Al Jazeera America.  

O'Brian discussed the year's media trends with Axios. The interview has been lightly edited for length.

What are three trends that you've found most fascinating this year?

1. Extreme fatigue: More attention has been given in the last year to stopping the pendulum in the middle. Yes, there are lots of news organizations and other organizations that trend right or trend left, but I think the American electorate, the citizens of the U.S. are tired of the extremes. 

I've seen more green shoots of news media and other media really looking at the middle, and I think that's a great thing for democracy. That's certainly where Scripps News lives, very vocally and energetically in that middle ground.

2. Expansion of true crime: I have noticed this in the last year partly because I oversee Court TV. I think the resurgence started with podcasts. It started with "Serial." Now you're seeing the results of some of those podcasts and the increase not just in video true crime, but everything that follows that. 

There's a crime convention, CrimeCon in Las Vegas, every year, and it is hugely popular. Regular fans go there to meet Nancy Grace.

3. Erosion of local news: It's not a good trend. It's a sad trend — whether local newspapers are shutting down, local websites are not succeeding, venture capitalists are coming in and buying local media. 

News media is a bedrock of democracy and local media is where the rubber hits the road. That those numbers continue to shrink is very unfortunately a trend and just a bad trend.

As technology advances, the devices used for television have shrunk so that basically you can create an incredible piece on your iPhone. But where does it end? Are we going to find more things that will enable us to do our jobs better and become more immersed in how we cover a story?

Or is it going to go the AI route, where, because of the stresses on the news media, businesspeople are going to try to find solutions that ultimately are not good for the citizens, for democracy.

1 big thing: Scripps' Kate O'Brian on news media 

Photo illustration of Kate O'Brian with a digital globe and abstract shapes.

Photo illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios. Photo: courtesy of Scripps

Major League Pickleball — the buzzy pro circuit that counts LeBron James, Tom Brady and Kevin Durant among its team owners — is gearing up to make a splash, Axios Sports' Kendall Baker reports.

Why it’s the BFD: The upstart sport is trying to turn itself into more than just a pandemic-era fad.

MLP merged with the Professional Pickleball Association’s VIBE League last month in a move that unified team-based pickleball under one brand.

Driving the news: MLP has finalized the format and schedule for 2023, which will see the league double its number of teams (12 to 24) and events (three to six), while ushering in promotion and relegation, Axios has learned.

MLP will announce today that Brian Levine, a former Goldman Sachs partner and top senior pickleball player, has been hired to serve as interim CEO and lead the search for a permanent CEO and exec team.

The big picture: Pickleball became a massive hit during the pandemic, growing from 3.4 million U.S. players in 2019 to 4.8 million in 2021. That growth has led to peripheral business opportunities in areas like apparel, equipment, real estate and media.

What to watch: MLP will unveil team names and the remaining ownership groups set to join James, Brady, Durant, Anheuser-Busch and others ahead of Thursday's draft in Las Vegas 

2. The BFD: Pickleball's big growth

Illustration of a pickleball paddle hitting an exploding ball

Komi, a website builder tool for celebrities and influencers, raised $5m in seed funding led by Contour Venture Partners. https://axios.link/3UN1qgx 

🎵 Concord Music Group, a portfolio company of Wood Creek Capital Management, priced $1.8b of senior notes in what's believed to be the largest-ever securitization of music rights. Apollo Global Management structured the transaction and Apollo funds led the investor syndicate. https://axios.link/3Bm7O7N 

Mediawan, a French media group backed by KKR, agreed to buy a 60% stake in production company Plan B Entertainment from Brad Pitt, per CNBC. https://axios.link/3VLFLXv

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) agreed to buy a 4% stake in the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE: LSEG), valued at £1.5b, as part of a 10-year commercial partnership. The seller was Blackstone/Thomson Reuters. https://axios.link/3FMuAsd

🏀 Jason Pressman (Shasta Ventures) and Jack Selby (AZ-VC, ex-Thiel Capital) offered around $3b to buy the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury from Robert Sarver, per the WSJ. https://axios.link/3HxskpQ 

Acceleration Partners, a Needham, Massachusetts-based portfolio company of Mountaingate Capital, acquired Influencer Response, a direct response-focused influencer agency. https://axios.link/3uGdoOr

Banzai International, a Bainbridge Island, Washington-based virtual event platform, agreed to go public at an implied $380m post-transaction enterprise value via 7GC & Co. Holdings, a tech-focused SPAC formed by 7GC and Hennessy Capital. https://axios.link/3uDDdPc 

3. Deal flow

Markus Dohle resigned as CEO of Penguin Random House following the collapse of the Simon & Schuster deal. https://axios.link/3Fal3JQ 

BBC appointed Damon Buffini, former head of Permira, as deputy chair of its board. https://axios.link/3Hta7JV

Imax hired CAA's Daniel Manwaring as CEO of its China subsidiary. https://axios.link/3uGxJTV

Nancy Daniels, who oversaw Turner networks and some Discovery channels, and Jane Latman, who oversaw HGTV and Food Network, are leaving Warner Bros. Discovery. https://axios.link/3Pw5iBX

Jon Adler, SVP of original series at CNN, is leaving. https://axios.link/3PlYHcQ

Deirdre Findlay, global chief marketing officer of Condé Nast, will depart Jan. 6. https://axios.link/3FhRPJ8

Two more Amazon Studios departures: Ryan Andolina, head of comedy and drama development, and Amanda Greenblatt, head of first-look and overall deals for comedy, are leaving. https://axios.link/3FsSRlM

News Corp appointed Emma Tucker as EIC of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, starting Feb. 1. Matt Murray will work on unspecified new projects in a senior role, starting March 1. https://axios.link/3uFZjRl

4. Movin' on up (or out)

Celebrity promoters sued over Bored Ape NFT endorsements (THR)

"Jimmy Fallon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Justin Bieber have been sued in a proposed class action accusing them and a host of other celebrities who promoted Bored Ape Yacht Club non-fungible tokens of fraud," Winston Cho writes.

How Taylor Swift ended up at Searchlight (Puck)

"Taylor is nothing if not the world’s greatest brand manager of her own personal brand — the stories about her micromanaging when she was repped at WME, before she brought everything in-house, are legendary — and in this sense, Searchlight is very on-brand for her," Matthew Belloni writes.

Exclusive: SBF secretly funded crypto news site (Axios)

"The Block, a media company that says it covers crypto news independently, has been secretly funded for over a year with money funneled to The Block's CEO from the disgraced Sam Bankman-Fried's cryptocurrency trading firm," Sara Fischer reports. 

5. Channel surfing

Illustration of a remote control in the shape of a surfboard leaning against a VW bus.

Situational awareness: Axios will be in NYC on Wednesday, hosting a discussion about the importance of communication with former Disney CCO Zenia Mucha, Ankler Media CEO Janice Min, Spotify global head of public affairs Dustee Jenkins and more. 

@tim_bays: "Harry & Meghan" on Netflix. It's truly a shame that the rest of the royal family can't or won't participate in this. Imagine the fireworks!   

@kerrymflynn: "Renaissance" by Cristobal Tapia De Veer. Now that "The White Lotus" is over, I'll have to get my fix playing the theme song on repeat.

✏️ Thanks to Michael Flaherty for editing and Jay Bennett for copy editing this newsletter.

Thank you for reading Axios Pro Media Deals! Please ask your friends, colleagues and pickleball investors to sign up.

December 12, 2022

1 big thing: Scripps' Kate O'Brian on news media