The international cable company Liberty Global agreed on Tuesday to buy the British cable company Virgin Media for about $16 billion, Mark Scott and Eric Pfanner write in The Times. The deal gives Liberty Global access to Europe’s largest cable market and pits Liberty Global’s owner, the American billionaire John C. Malone, against Rupert Murdoch, the biggest shareholder in Britain’s pay-TV provider British Sky Broadcasting. The takeover ranks as one of the 10 largest cable deals of all time, according to data from Thomson Reuters.
Netflix released all 13 episodes of its new political thriller series “House of Cards” simultaneously, raising thorny questions about how best to communicate about a show that allows viewers to immediately devour an entire season. The show, which stars Kevin Spacey and has received largely positive reviews, creates problems for viewers who hope to discuss it on social media without becoming spoilers, Brian Stelter writes. Fans of the show have worked out several methods for talking about it safely, like starting their Facebook posts or Tweets by saying “I’m in No. 5″ or titling a blog post with the warning “If You’ve Seen All of House of Cards, Let’s Discuss.” One thing’s for certain: with more original shows in production for Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, this conundrum is not going away soon.
The Church of Scientology ran an advertisement promoting a gentler, mildly individualistic view of the religion during the Super Bowl, Tanzina Vega and Michael Cieply report. It called on “the curious, the inquisitive, the seekers of knowledge” to “dare to think for yourself, to look for yourself, to make up your own mind.” The commercial appeared after several months of mounting accusations against the church, including an article in Vanity Fair about Katie Holmes’s experience and Lawrence Wright’s investigative book “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood the Prison of Belief.” Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for the church, said the ad was not a direct response to Mr. Wright’s book.
Luna, a nutrition bar marketed for women, has released a new web series called “Debunking the Diet” in an effort to promote their brand in a more engaging manner than a straightforward advertisement, Andrew Adam Newman reports. The spots are two to three minutes long and feature the Funny or Die comedian Erin Gibson questioning women about their dietary needs before detailing the correct requirements in a lab. Luna has focused more on event sponsorship, social media promotion and branded content like “Debunking the Diet” than on traditional commercials. In 2011 the brand earned $180.1 million, a 9.6 percent share of the energy and nutrition bar category.
A Calvin Klein ad featuring the ludicrously-toned male model Matthew Terry during the Super Bowl may have caused more social media uproar than any other. Stuart Emmrich collects some of the best responses. Chris Kluwe, the Minnesota Vikings punter who stood up for same sex marriage during the season, Tweeted: And yes, the Calvin Klein one objectified men just as much as GoDaddy did women. I guess we’re equal now? Hooray?