Overall U.S. advertising spending will grow 6% in 2018, but areas of decline outnumber areas of growth, according to a report issued today by Morgan Stanley. The forecast includes a slight revised total growth number, up to 6.1% from 5.9%. Morgan Stanley’s team, headed by analyst Benjamin Swinburne, notes cyclical…

CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves predicts that the network might find itself bidding against deep-pocketed tech giants for NFL rights when its contract with the league ends in five years. Google’s YouTube, Amazon and other tech players making major investments in entertainment programming were absent from the…

David Wells, CFO at Netflix, offered a two-word explanation for the streaming giant’s decision to fork over up to $300 million to elite showrunner Ryan Murphy earlier this month: “customer joy.” Speaking at the Morgan Stanley media and telecom conference in San Francisco, Wells elaborated, “These deals are going to be…

EXCLUSIVE: Tang Media Partners Entertainment which recently formed the umbrella company Global Road Entertainment to oversee its acquisitions of Open Road Films, IM Global and IM Global Television, has just hired investment bankers Moelis & Co. and Morgan Stanley to raise what sources said is an additional $200M in…

More than a month after MSNBC's Morning Joe announced former Dem Congressman-turned Morgan Stanley exec Harold Ford Jr. would not appear on its air pending an investigation into his exit from Morgan Stanley,  the financial services firm has issued a statement "clarifying" the cause of Ford's exit. Ford also serves as…

Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski got to announce that yet another contributor’s status has been change in the wake of a sexual harassment allegation.  This time it’s former Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford Jr., who has agreed with the network that he will not appear on its air pending the network’s looking into the…