Top News:
Spriha Srivastava / CNBC:
UK broadcaster Sky says it has accepted $39B takeover offer from Comcast, urges shareholders to accept the offer immediately — - Comcast outflanked rival Twenty-First Century Fox after submitting a much higher bid in a three-round auction on Saturday. — Comcast offered £17.28 per share …
Discussion:
CNBC, The Verge, Talking Biz News, Bloomberg, Variety, BBC, Fortune, @sherman4949, Bloomberg, New York Times, Sky News, Financial Times, Bloomberg and @amolrajan
Nellie Bowles / New York Times:
Julia Angwin and Jeff Larson are starting The Markup, a news site to cover big tech using data science, with a $20M gift from Craig Newmark and other funding — The Markup, dedicated to investigating technology and its effect on society, will be led by two former ProPublica journalists.
Discussion:
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Michael Sheetz / CNBC:
Satellite radio company SiriusXM to acquire music streaming service Pandora in a $3.5B all-stock deal — Satellite radio company SiriusXM is acquiring music streaming service Pandora in a $3.5 billion all-stock deal, the companies announced Monday. — Pandora shares rose 14.4 percent …
Discussion:
@readdanwrite, @eamonjavers and @claireatki, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: digital publisher Vox Media will struggle to achieve double-digit percentage revenue growth this year, likely missing its goal by more than 15% — Other digital-media firms have struggled to live up to ambitious growth goals in a challenging online ad market
Discussion:
@alexkoppelman, @benmullin, @jbenton, @mdudas, @jbenton, @benmullin, @rafat and @jrreed
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple delayed launch of a streaming video service twice, most recently until March, and spiked a Dr. Dre series as it seeks less edgy content — The tech giant wants to make scripted shows for streaming, only without violence, politics and risqué story lines
Discussion:
TechCrunch, MacRumors, Business Insider, Gizmodo, @tomgara, @kbandersen, Fortune, @wsj, Deadline, Mashable, Engadget, The Verge and 9to5Mac
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: WPP is considering a merger between its digital-ad firm VML and Young & Rubicam, which WPP bought in 2000 for $4.7B — New CEO Mark Read is preparing to consolidate some of the ad giant's major properties to keep pace with the industry's digital shift
Isaac Chotiner / Slate:
Interview with NYT reporter Michael Schmidt about evaluating and protecting sources in his latest story on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — In a blockbuster story in Friday's New York Times, Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt reported that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein …
Discussion:
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Lucia Moses / Digiday:
TicToc, Bloomberg's 24/7 streaming video network, now has nearly 400K Twitter followers, 2.2M average daily views, 1.4M average daily viewers, and 60+ employees — Bloomberg Media is trying to turn its Twitter network TicToc into a full-fledged media brand.
Jon Levine / The Wrap:
CNN political commentator Jason Miller has left the network after court docs allege he secretly administered abortion pills to ex-lover; Miller denies claims — Pro-Trump CNN political commentator Jason Miller announced Saturday that he has “decided to step away” from the network …
Discussion:
@jasonmillerindc, Splinter, @thegarance, @kyliesparks, @kath_krueger, Newser, Deadline and @joshtpm
Nyay Bhushan / Hollywood Reporter:
Q&A: Amazon Prime Video India head Vijay Subramaniam on Indian content for worldwide audiences, sparking conversation, and passing on film production for now — Led by Vijay Subramaniam, the service has been aggressively ramping up its slate with a mix of fiction and unscripted shows …
Hanna Kozlowska / Quartz:
Chartbeat: when Facebook experienced a 45-minute outage on August 3 in many parts of the world, direct traffic to news websites spiked by 11%, search was up 8% — What happens when internet users can't go on Facebook? Some turn to other social media platforms to joke about it.
Discussion:
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Amanda Meade / The Guardian:
Michelle Guthrie has been fired as managing director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; David Anderson is now acting managing director — Chairman Justin Milne says board resolved to seek ‘fresh leadership’ and thanks Guthrie for her service — Michelle Guthrie has been sacked …
Discussion:
Variety, Mumbrella, Crikey, Peta Credlin, The Guardian, Hollywood Reporter, @p_hannam, The Guardian and @kathswinbourne