Mediagazer: Interview with Disney CEO Bob Iger about Disney's upcoming streaming service, ESPN's politics problem, and how #MeToo changed the company (Matthew Belloni/Hollywood Reporter)

Top News:

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, Awful Announcing, SportsBusiness Daily, The Wrap, /Film, Multichannel News, MediaPost, Fortune, Business Insider, FierceVideo and @davidamoyal, 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: Awful Announcing, /Film, The Verge, Gizmodo, Business Insider, Vanity Fair, @thrmattbelloni, @joeovies, @markwillard85, The Week, The Playlist, The A.V. Club, Polygon and Just Jared

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

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Spotify says it will now allow indie artists to directly upload their music to the service; the upload feature is debuting in beta on an invite-only basis in US — Spotify today is taking another step that may make record labels uncomfortable. Fresh off reports that the streaming service …

Discussion: artists.spotify.com, The Verge, The Wrap, RAIN News, Fast Company, @odeamusic, @mmasnick, @mallymack_, @iamnoahmiller, @pkafka, @danideahl, @lucas_shaw, @bluechoochoo, @edmundlee and @joshconstine, more at Techmeme »

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

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

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

Anne Davies / The Guardian:

How Rupert Murdoch's News Corp steers politics in Australia to a more conservative approach, with two former prime ministers blaming Murdoch for their falls — In his farewell speech as prime minister last month, Malcolm Turnbull pointed to “an insurgency” in his own party and …

Discussion: @epeckham, @raymoynihan, @stegersaurus, @nickreeves9876, @margokingston1 and The Guardian

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

Google launches real-time hub on Google Trends ahead of midterms that includes state and county-level data on candidates and election issues — With close to 500 House and Senate seats in play with the midterm elections, Google News Lab started thinking about how local reporters might use local data in their work.

Discussion: The Keyword and @grove

Eric Peckham / TechCrunch:

A look at “old media” publishing giants that have invested in e-commerce, digital markets, and new media startups globally — From marketplaces to VR, media giants seek relevance through startup investing — The Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 eras weren't kind to the world's largest media conglomerates …

Discussion: @markscott82

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Study: online ad sales will increase 16% this year to $106.6B accounting for more than half of all US ad sales — - With new video services, their next phase of growth targets TV — Politics bolster local, national TV, Magna Global report says — Online advertising will account …

more at Techmeme »

Alex Wickham / BuzzFeed:

Documents show UK proposals for internet regulator: companies to be liable for online content and sanctioned for slow removal of illegal material, hate speech — Exclusive: BuzzFeed News has obtained details of plans being drawn up by ministers that also include a compulsory code of conduct …

Discussion: @bbw1984, @liambyrnemp, @janinegibson, @malwarejake, @buzzfeednews and @janinegibson, more at Techmeme »