Top News:
The Walt Disney Company:
Disney will pay $1.58B to acquire additional 42% stake in BAMTech, making it a majority stakeholder — The Walt Disney Company announced today that it has agreed to acquire majority ownership of BAMTech, LLC and will launch its ESPN-branded multi-sport video streaming service in early 2018 …
Discussion:
Deadline, Forbes, TechCrunch, LAist, Gizmodo, The Verge and @mattzeitlin, more at Techmeme »
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Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Disney to end Netflix film distribution deal in 2019, will launch ESPN streaming service in 2018 and Disney streaming services in 2019 — Disney will end its distribution deal with Netflix and launch its own streaming service, the company announced today. It intends to launch the service in 2019.
Discussion:
The Wrap, CNBC, TechCrunch, Business Insider, New York Times, Business Insider, Variety, Engadget, MacRumors, Associated Press, Reuters and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »
Amanda Holpuch / The Guardian:
Less than 24 hours after criticizing the NYT on Monday night for using anonymous sources, Trump tweeted a link to a Fox News segment citing anonymous officials — President shares segment about North Korea that cited ‘US officials’ who ‘requested anonymity’ less than a day after calling out the New York Times
Discussion:
@realdonaldtrump, @ddale8, Washington Post, Bustle, Fox News, MSNBC, Press Association, Business Insider, Axios, Mediaite, CNNMoney, The Daily Caller, AFF and Deadline
Samuel Gibbs / The Guardian:
HBO hackers demand a multimillion-dollar ransom and release emails, scripts, and personal phone numbers of GoT stars in latest dump of stolen data — Group tells company CEO to pay multimillion-dollar ransom or else risk 1.5TB of shows and confidential corporate data being released online
Discussion:
Wired, Associated Press, Vanity Fair, Polygon, The Verge, Fortune, Ad Age, The Next Web, Business Insider, The Week and Mashable, more at Techmeme »
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Tatiana Siegel / Hollywood Reporter:
Hackers leak a month's worth of HBO VP Leslie Cohen's emails and internal documents, HBO says it does not believe that entire email system was compromised
Hackers leak a month's worth of HBO VP Leslie Cohen's emails and internal documents, HBO says it does not believe that entire email system was compromised
Discussion:
Business Insider, New York Times, Fortune, Variety, Vanity Fair, Mashable, The Verge, Polygon, Associated Press, Engadget, Bustle, Gizmodo, Hollywood Reporter and Variety
Christopher Williams / Telegraph:
UK Culture Secretary Karen Bradley asks regulator Ofcom to review Murdoch's bid for Sky again, following the Seth Rich controversy — The Government has erected a new obstacle to the Murdoch family's pursuit of full control of Sky, after asking the media regulator to look again at 21st Century Fox's record as a broadcaster.
Discussion:
GOV.UK, @davidfolkenflik, The Guardian and @davidfolkenflik
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Jeremy Barr / Hollywood Reporter:
Cenk Uygur's political video network The Young Turks raises $20M, in a round led partly by Jeffrey Katzenberg's firm WndrCo — Jeffrey Katzenberg's investment venture WndrCo participated. — Former MSNBC anchor Cenk Uygur's The Young Turks Network has raised $20 million in a new funding round that was led by 3L Capital.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, VideoInk - Medium, Business Insider, Beet.TV, Variety, Tubefilter, @angryblacklady, @wilson__valdez and @candiceaiston
David Uberti / Splinter:
Breitbart names a NYT reporter working on story about government secrecy, lists those who received email from her, and says the reporting demonstrates collusion — Wow, a true shocker. Breitbart's Washington political editor, Matthew Boyle, let the New York Times have it in his lede:
Michelle Castillo / CNBC:
David Letterman to return to screens with a six-episode series on Netflix in 2018, where he will interview notable people — - David Letterman will star in a six-episode Netflix series where he will interview notable people and on-the-scene segments. — David Letterman will return to TV in 2018 in a new Netflix series.
Discussion:
The Wrap, The New York Observer, Adweek, Crain's New York Business, Forbes, Rolling Stone, @chicobarney, Variety and Splitsider
Franklin Foer / The Atlantic:
Franklin Foer, former editor of the New Republic, on Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes' failed attempt to turn around the magazine's fortunes — Chris Hughes was a mythical savior—boyishly innocent, fantastically rich, intellectually curious, unexpectedly humble, and proudly idealistic.
BuzzFeed:
Study of 450+ websites, associated Facebook pages, and their owners reveals inner workings of partisan pages: FB is kingmaker, right-wing's more prolific, more — How ideologues, opportunists, growth hackers, and internet marketers built a massive new universe of partisan news on the web and on Facebook.
Billy Penn:
Shannon Wink named editor of Philly news site Billy Penn, with founding editor Chris Krewson promoted to VP of parent company Spirited Media — The Philly native is one of two women 30-or-younger leading Spirited Media newsrooms. — Billy Penn has a renewed focus on covering Philly's diverse …
Discussion:
@christopherwink, @femmefeministe and @shannonawink
Ted Johnson / Variety:
Progressive organization Allied Progress sends letters to Sinclair and Tribune employees, warning them against merger — WASHINGTON — As opponents of Sinclair's proposed merger with Tribune Media met an FCC deadline to file comments, one group is trying to make the case against the transaction directly …
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable
Natt Garun / The Verge:
ACLU sues Maine's governor for deleting Facebook comments and blocking users, a week after suing KY, MD governors and a month after Knight institute sued Trump — One week after suing Kentucky and Maryland governors — The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine today announced …
Jason Lynch / Adweek:
CBS will roll out a sports-themed 24 hour livestreaming network later this year, with CEO Les Moonves remarking it's “part of our ongoing OTT strategy” — Company hopes to replicate the success of its all-news CBSN — Three years after launching CBSN, an all-news digital network …