Mediagazer: Torstar Corp. announces it has agreed to acquire iPolitics Inc., a political website based in Ottawa, with the deal expected to close about October 1 (CBC News)

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Shalini Ramachandran / Wall Street Journal:

ESPN says it has signed up more than 1M paying subscribers for ESPN+, its $4.99 a month streaming service launched in April — For $4.99 per month, ESPN+ offers a range of sports programming; doesn't offer live ESPN channels — ESPN said it has signed up more than one million paying subscribers …

Discussion: Recode, ESPN MediaZone U.S., SportsBusiness Daily, The Wrap, Fortune, Awful Announcing, @adviserdavid, @davidamoyal, /Film, FierceVideo, Multichannel News and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »

Matthew Belloni / Hollywood Reporter:

Interview with Disney CEO Bob Iger about Disney's upcoming streaming service, ESPN's politics problem, and how #MeToo changed the company — The Disney CEO and most powerful person in entertainment opens up about his plan for a Netflix rival, ESPN's politics problem and how #MeToo has changed his company

Discussion: @thrmattbelloni, @joeovies, @markwillard85, BGR, /Film, @aaroncouch, CNNMoney, Awful Announcing, The Verge, Gizmodo, The A.V. Club, Vanity Fair, Polygon, The Week, The Playlist, Business Insider, TVWeek.com and Just Jared

CBC News:

Torstar Corp. announces it has agreed to acquire iPolitics Inc., a political website based in Ottawa, with the deal expected to close about October 1 — Newspaper publisher says plan is to expand Toronto Star coverage of Parliament Hill — Torstar Corp. announced Thursday that it has signed …

Discussion: Canada NewsWire Group, @paulvieira, @susandelacourt and @mariekewalsh

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

How the nonprofit Carolina Public Press has shown slow, steady growth from its start in 2011 covering western North Carolina to statewide coverage now — Angie Newsome launched Carolina Public Press on a sunny spring day in 2011. She doesn't remember much about that first story she published …

Discussion: @johnnewsomnr, @jkristufek and @kristenhare

Lauren Johnson / Business Insider:

Twitter tests Twitter Timeline Ads, which places ads into Timelines embedded in publisher sites; The Street, Advance Local, and others are testing the program — - Twitter is starting to place ads within tweets on publishers' websites, starting with a group of titles including The Street.

Discussion: @openx, @laurenjohnson, @businessinsider and Marketing Land

Ed Pilkington / The Guardian:

Ian Buruma, who left the NYRB on Wednesday, says he stepped down due to social media hounding and pressure from academic advertisers — Publication remains silent over rift with Ian Buruma, who faced criticism over his editorial decisions on #MeToo movement

Discussion: @jiatolentino, @bobbrigham, Washington Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Observer

Cara Buckley / New York Times:
Ian Buruma, editor of NYRB, has left his position amid an uproar over publication of an essay by Jian Ghomeshi, a former broadcaster accused of sexual assault

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

AT&T responds to the DOJ's appeal of the case allowing AT&T to buy Time Warner, saying DOJ has failed to show the merger is harmful to competitors or consumers — AT&T has filed its response to the government's appeal of its acquisition of Time Warner, a 58-page catalog of what the company …

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, CNNMoney and MediaPost

Jem Aswad / Variety:

RIAA: revenues from streaming up 28% YoY to $3.4B in H1 2018, accounting for 75% of recorded music revenue; 75% of streaming revenue comes from subscriptions — The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) issued a bullish mid-year report today: Total revenue from recorded music rose 10% …

Discussion: RIAA, VentureBeat, Billboard, The Verge, Rolling Stone and Music Ally, more at Techmeme »

Amy Beth Hanson / Associated Press:

Lee Enterprises to fold Montana Magazine after nearly 50 years of publishing — HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana Magazine is folding after nearly 50 years of publishing stories and stunning images of the state's people, geography, history and culture, owner Lee Enterprises announced.

Discussion: Montana Standard, Folio, KTVQ-TV and Montana Magazine

Noah Smith / Washington Post:

LA Times owner Soon-Shiong says his purchase of Daybreak Game Company is part of a wider strategy to combat fake news, help the Times reach more young people — LOS ANGELES — The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times has made a career, and multibillion dollar fortune …

Discussion: Variety, @kauweloa, VPEsports, Los Angeles Business Journal, sandiegouniontribune.com, Digital Journal and Gamasutra

Kevin Loker / American Press Institute:

Study: only 43% of people can easily sort news from opinion in online-only media, and just 55% can easily distinguish news from opinion in news media in general — People often don't know whether the content they see is news or opinion, according to our recent pair of Media Insight Project surveys.

Discussion: Nieman Lab

Charles Riley / CNNMoney:

The UK's takeover regulator says it will hold an auction for Sky on Saturday between Comcast and 21st Century Fox if there's no resolution by end of Friday — Sky's fate is likely to be decided in a one-day auction between Comcast and 21st Century Fox. — The UK Takeover Panel announced Thursday …

Discussion: Press Gazette, Wall Street Journal, @hadas_gold, FierceVideo and Broadcasting & Cable

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Online publishing platform Minute Media, which has raised $77M in funding, acquires Mental Floss — Minute Media has raised $17 million in funding back in May, and now it is investing that money with the acquisition of consumer media brand Mental Floss, which will help the company continue its vision of targeting millennial audiences.

Discussion: New York Business Journal, Associated Press, Adweek and Business Insider