Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Report: Hulu CEO Randy Freer says the company is planning a skinny bundle aimed at “cord-shavers” and priced at less than its current $40/month service — Hulu wants to cater to a new crowd of pay-TV “cord-shavers” with stripped-down, less-expensive live television bundles that include sports …
Discussion:
The Information, MediaPost, @jessicalessin, The Wrap, Engadget, @richbtig and @brianstelter
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PEN America:
PEN America, along with two other organizations, sues President Trump seeking to stop him from using govt to retaliate against news outlets and journalists — “PEN declares for a free press and opposes arbitrary censorship. It believes that the necessary advance of the world toward …
Discussion:
Politico, Associated Press, @penamerican, Fortune, @protctdemocracy, @sulliview, @thedemcoalition, @dangillmor, @chiprolley, TVWeek.com, Law & Crime and Media Law Prof Blog
Jon Levine / The Wrap:
Fox Business remains the last American media partner at Saudi Arabia business conference, after the NYT, CNN, CNBC, and others withdrew — A rep for Fox Business told TheWrap that the network's participation in the conference remained “under review” — Fox Business stands increasingly alone …
Discussion:
CNN, Variety, @ap, The Wrap, Press Gazette, Washington Post, Mediaite, Ad Age, Variety, @kenroth, @markmackinnon and Media Matters for America
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Associated Press:
High-level Turkish official says police found evidence that Jamal Khashoggi was killed at Saudi consulate — ISTANBUL (AP) — Police searching the Saudi Consulate found evidence that Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed there, a high-level Turkish official said Tuesday …
Discussion:
CNN, @jschanzer, CNN, Mediaite, Multichannel News, The Week, @rj_gallagher, VICE News and @sbmitche
Matthew Iles / Civil:
Civil says the sale of its CVL token fails to hit its $8M goal, buyers will be offered full refunds; plans for a “simpler” token sale will be shared soon — A setback, and the path forward. — Key takeaways: — The CVL token sale didn't succeed.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, TechCrunch, CNN, @vivian, @join_civil, @profjeffjarviss, @sashak, @mariabustillos, Columbia Journalism Review, @beejoli, @marklittlenews, @ppolitics, @jon_christian and @thestalwart, more at Techmeme », Thanks:@steverubel
Alex Heath / Cheddar:
Source: Facebook is building a hybrid video chat/TV set-top box, internally called Ripley, which it plans to announce in Spring 2019 — Facebook is developing hardware for the TV, Cheddar has learned. — The world's largest social network is building a camera-equipped device that sits atop …
Discussion:
@alexeheath, The Verge, Softpedia News, VentureBeat, Business Insider, Fast Company, Mashable, @shiraovide, Marketing Land, @andythegiant, Variety, @ow, Engadget, TechCrunch and @jguynn, more at Techmeme »
Michelle Castillo / CNBC:
Netflix Q3: streaming revenue of $3.91B, up 36% YoY, and global membership surpassing 130M paid and 137M total; stock up 13%+ after hours — - Earnings per share (EPS): 89 cents vs. 68 cents estimate, according to a Refinitiv consensus estimate — Netflix shares soared 15 percent …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Chartbeat: traffic to publishers from Facebook down nearly 40% since January 2017, but direct mobile traffic to publishers websites and apps has grown 30%+ — Facebook and Twitter are declining as news and media referral sources on mobile, according to a report from traffic analytics company Chartbeat …
Discussion:
@flipboard, @mariekshan, @jason_kint, @jasonclampet and @monroeschultz
The Guardian:
Facebook rolls out new rules on political ads in the UK, will provide ad library like in US but not require ads on political topics to be labeled and registered — Social network hopes launch of transparency tools will restore trust after series of scandals
Discussion:
Facebook, @hadas_gold, Forbes, Telegraph, CNET, @jason_kint, @alexhern and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
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Joseph Menn / Reuters:
Facebook weighs a ban on posts linking to hacked material, expands ban on voting-related misinfo; sources: months ago execs weighed banning all political ads
Facebook weighs a ban on posts linking to hacked material, expands ban on voting-related misinfo; sources: months ago execs weighed banning all political ads
Discussion:
Facebook, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, Fortune, The Guardian, @josephmenn, @sarahfrier, @kashhill, @arimelber, @sarahfrier, @dseetharaman, Adweek, Mashable, The Hill, The Verge, TechCrunch and Engadget
John McCarthy / The Drum:
UK-based Facebook publisher Unilad has been sold to its rival LadBible, forming the “largest social media publisher ever” with a combined 120M followers — After two weeks of heated legal action, bidding, internal strife and uncertainty at Unilad, The Drum can now confirm …
Discussion:
@perlberg and @johngeemccarthy
Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
Source: NY AG subpoenas 14 trade groups, businesses, and advocacy organizations over its investigation into fake net neutrality comments on FCC website — The New York attorney general subpoenaed more than a dozen telecommunications trade groups, lobbying contractors and Washington advocacy organizations …
Discussion:
Motherboard, The Hill and @newyorkstateag, more at Techmeme »
Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:
Memo: CNN's sister channel HLN, which has struggled with ratings, will cut back on live shows, airing taped programming after 3pm weekdays starting October 29 — HLN is drastically cutting back on its live programming, axing all shows with the exception of Morning Express with Robin Meade …
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable, TVNewser, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, @howardkurtz, Variety, The Wrap and TV Tattle