Nikki Finke Out At Deadline By The New Year, Launching Her Own Website

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Beejoli Shah

10/24/13 08:48PM

Filed to: Nikki Finke

I am building out http://t.co/8vaMwz16aD and will unveil it right after the new year. Can't wait to report the real truth about Hollywood.
— Nikki Finke (@NikkiFinke) October 25, 2013

Our gal pal Nikki Finke breaks her silence from "vacation" yet again—she'll be out at PMC-owned Deadline.com come the new year to launch her own venture, to tell the "real truth" that apparently Jay Penske has prevented her from doing so the last few years. She goes on to say:

All that's left is for the lawyers to disentangle me from Penske. I have no idea why he has fought so hard to keep me. I'll be free soon.
— Nikki Finke (@NikkiFinke) October 25, 2013

So what does this mean for Deadline.com? Was Mike Fleming's increased role at Deadline a signal that he'll be taking over the infamous blog, or will be Nikki taking all her staff with her? Will Nikki have to give back the apartment Penske allegedly bought her? It remains to be seen, but here's one thing we can be sure of: no matter how amicable Finke pretends the resolution may be, when those gloves come off in January, PMC properties are definitely going to be the first target.

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mydogatticus Beejoli Shah 10/24/13 09:05PM

hollywood #truth #prizmhwoodstyle #anthonypellicanosghost #nikkifink4evar

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lantdunnbray4lyfe Beejoli Shah 10/24/13 09:22PM

"Real truth". This drives me crazy. There's either truth or there isn't. There can't be "fake truth" because that is by definition not truth. Same with "true facts". All facts are by definition true. False facts are "lies" and/or "untruths".

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JohnTChance Beejoli Shah 10/24/13 09:41PM

Who gets to keep "toldja!"?

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Never Daunted Radio Network Beejoli Shah 10/24/13 09:58PM

OK, so what did I take from her barrage of tweets? That this is going to the courts. As I'd mentioned previously, if she's under contract until 2016, she would have to either buy her way out or face a fight. What she calls being on vacation is obviously a self-imposed exile, since all Jay Penske has to do is wait for her to make the move. By removing the link to the Deadline RSS feed (which I'm not exactly sure how that works, because if you or I set up this the same way via Hootsuite, I don't believe it can be externally undone), the stage was set for war.

NikkiFinke.com was ALWAYS going to happen. From the moment she was shut out of Variety. It was just a question of if Jay would be willing to cut bait with the Deadline name he paid for, and by moving Mike Fleming back to L.A., it's clear he's not at all interested in doing that.

Having said that, I do believe now that my prediction will come to pass concerning Deadline. It will be folded in to Variety in some fashion, because without Nikki, there is no USP anymore. The site will lose more traffic than previously, because this is a site with ZERO edge. What Nikki brought with her, she'll take with her...except for the name.

The only real question is how long will a) The court battle be b) it take before Deadline is completely cannibalized by Variety. However it happens, the Deadline name will be dead within a year or two, and Penske will continue to own the domain just out of spite. As for Nikki, she's been burned, and as the hateful cat lady she is, she'll NEVER go into a deal like this again, and when the pen returns, it will be as poisonous as ever.

If you enjoyed the original Deadline Hollywood Daily, back when it was just a one-woman operation...passive aggressive days are here again.