Chris Hughes is blamed (and this is pretty reasonable) for breaking apart “The New Republic”: more than a dozen editors and staff members followed the magazine’s departing editor Franklin Foer and its literary editor Leon Wieseltier in leaving the publication. They were all replaced by newcomers appointed by Guy Vidra, the newly appointed chief executive and Hughes protégé.

As a result, everyone is unhappy now. Contributors and editors accuse Vidra of being snobbish, using faulty language and having a weak understanding of TNR’s roots, while the owner and senior management have already given up their hopes of putting out a fresh issue of the magazine in time for the holidays or of turning the 100-year old behemoth into a profitable business.

While both sides have legitimate arguments in their favor, Hughes’ move was very shortsighted. And the reason for this is his refusal to...

Recently HBO announced plans to start offering its service directly to customers – without requiring them to use cable providers, such as Time Warner, AT&T, or Comcast. While HBO’s step has been a topic of discussion for months (if not years), the company has a myriad of ways to enter this new market. The article discusses which ways will make the most sense, and how they affect the industry in general. The effect of HBO’s decision on other players is expected to be enormous: CBS is starting its own Internet subscription service, while FX and Showtime – no doubt – will also respond sooner or later.

When thinking about how to sell a brand new service, HBO has to keep the commercial interests of its most powerful allies, the cable companies, in mind. They are currently contributing the lion’s share of HBO’s revenues. Unquestionably, they won’t be happy to deal with a new player invading...

The generous offer made by Fox became the first step for Rupert Murdoch, a media executive famous for his deliberate way of pursuing companies he wants to put under his belt, in building the largest vertically integrated media company. But what would Time Warner bring to Mr. Murdoch should this deal finally come through?

First of all, let’s think about the challenges and problems Fox is currently facing. To do that, we need to depict the whole production cycle of bringing a new show to life. The interests of Fox are much broader, but they complement the major product.

Development→Pre-production→Production→Post-Production→Distribution and delivery→Programming and scheduling on-site

Twenty First Century Fox is extremely strong in elements such as Pre-production, Production and Post-Production (which is obvious given they are one of the most successful Hollywood studios). On the other...

Preparing for an interview with one of the largest TV companies, I decided to consolidate the material I read and ideas I came up with in a short presentation. Some parts are not self-explanatory and require additional insights. I hope I will post a different article going through each slide.

I was going to make some research on the media side of the major sports leagues in the U.S. and present it using prezi.com. But it appeared that I had to gather basic information about the leagues first. Here is the link. First, I am talking about the whole ecosystem of the professional sports in the United States, then am covering every league highlighting its challenges and important points they deserve closer attention.
Next time I am going to work on my initial idea of covering the media aspect of the leagues.

Almost every day I open new web sites, test fresh platforms, and try to cruise this constantly growing media world. But on a constant basis, I keep an eye on a few web sources. Some of them are popular and don’t need to be introduced, but some deserve closer attention. As always, here is my list of various pages, projects and web sites dedicated to the media, news, IT, TV, finance and governmental industries.

The Wall Street Journal sends me around 20 emails every working day (on weekends this number drops to 8-10). But this is because I subscribe to all stock news, The 10 Point, European updates, and closing stock reports, not to mention media newsletters. One web site can satisfy one’s needs for any kind of political, financial, or general interest information. Be aware that everything will have a conservative flavor.

We turn now to emails, don’t forget to subscribe to the awesome...

No matter whether you are just an “average” user checking your Facebook news feed two times per day, or a disillusioned communications manager, these platforms will attract your attention during 2014. Using the term “platform,” I assume that communication channels and web site that aggregate and/or deliver information also fall under this category.

Facebook, a few weeks after the New Year, launched “Paper,” an application that could replace Dashboard in mobile devices of those willing to consume information in a traditional “article-like” format. On Paper’s side, algorithms that are presumingly better aggregate topics that are important for a user. Currently they are not active, and the selection is done by anonymous editors, but the social graph will definitely show what it is worthwhile.

What to expect: new optimistic earnings in light of the growing mobile advertising (looks like...

I was going to write this article over the winter break, but I’m typing these words on January 19th, and am still happy with this result. Why? Because a year ago, I wouldn’t have finished it at all. But, thanks to New Year resolutions, I finally categorized the best methods to get the job done and started to use them in a real life.

As a disclaimer, I believe that 9 times out of 10 procrastination is a bad thing that swallows your resources, emotions and leave a bitter feeling of worthlessness. However, somebody suggests calling it “investigation,” “exploration” or “inspiration.” In my life I never gave birth to a new idea surfing buzzfeed.com. But I came up with something new late at night, and luckily jotted ideas into a notebook behind the headboard.

It seems that this problem became much more common with the diffusion of the broadband Internet. Never before has procrastination...