The 11th Hour Dispatch — Wednesday, October 3, 2018
BINGE WATCH
“We love that Chronic-WHAT-cles of Narnia!” is relevant again today, because it’s been announced that Netflix is adapting the popular C.S. Lewis fantasy novel series into feature-length films and a new series. The projects are part of a new multi-year deal between the streaming giant and The C.S. Lewis Company. This is the first time the rights of the entire seven book series have been held by a singular company. Netflix will produce all Narnia productions alongside producer Mark Gordon of Entertainment One. Douglas Gresham and Vincent Sieber, who worked on past Chronicles of Narnia films, will executive produce any series and serve as producers for the movies.
YOUNG MONEY
Geo-location startup Foursquare just closed a $33 million funding round, which counts Union Square Ventures, Korean search engine Naver Corp., and the VC arm of real estate giant Simon Property Group, Simon Ventures, as investors. The participation of Naver and Simon appears to be extremely intentional. “We’re super excited by this set of investors because for us it’s more than capital. It’s about cementing these leading customers who want to be advocates for us. For the next few years, our focus will be on retail, dining, and media publishers,” Foursquare CEO Jeff Glueck said. Foursquare has evolved from a consumer-facing social media app to a geo-location tool used by many of today’s most popular social media apps including Twitter, Tinder, and Spotify. Foursquare last raised $45 million in 2016 in a deal that valued the company at about half of the $650 million in had been valued at in 2013. No details were given on the valuation this time around, but Foursquare did note that the new valuation is higher than the last round’s total.
BIG BUSINESS
A group led by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) has filed a complaint with the FTC against Facebook’s Messenger Kids app. The group claims that the app’s “parental consent mechanism” doesn’t meet requirements of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which allows it to obtain the personal info of children without prior parental permission. The complaint was drawn up by the Communications & Technology Law Clinic at the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown University Law Center. This isn’t the first time CCFC has spoken out against Messenger Kids. It actually asked Zuckerberg to put it to bed completely earlier this year. “While evidence shows that excessive social media use negatively impacts the wellbeing of children and teens, Facebook is trying to get kids hooked at the tender age of five,” CCFC executive director Josh Golin said in a statement.
NOTHIN’ BUT ‘NET
A Michigan cheerleader was busted for giving out pot brownies in exchange for Homecoming Queen votes.
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