Top News:
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Fox to invest $236M in Canadian gambling company The Stars Group for ~5% equity, marking the first time a big media company puts its name behind sports betting — - Fox is investing $236 million in The Stars Group, part of a partnership to launch Fox Bet, a new online sports betting service.
Discussion:
The Drum, @pkafka, The Big Lead and Engadget
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Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Fox Corporation COO says the company has no plans to launch direct-to-consumer services beyond FoxNation; Lachlan Murdoch says Fox won't reunite with News Corp — The company, slimmed down following the Murdochs' sale of large parts of 21st Century Fox to Disney, holds an investor day to share …
Discussion:
Variety, Broadcasting & Cable and Forbes
Rachel Weiner / Washington Post:
Former government analyst Daniel Hale is charged with leaking info on drone warfare, apparently to The Intercept, the third Intercept source charged under Trump — A former government intelligence analyst has been charged in Alexandria federal court with leaking classified information on drone warfare to a reporter.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix acquires children's media brand StoryBots, its third-ever acquisition, from the founders of JibJab Media for an undisclosed sum — Netflix announced that it has acquired StoryBots, the children's media brand created by brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, the founders of JibJab Media.
Discussion:
CNBC, Bloomberg, Ad Age, TechCrunch, Engadget, @storybots, @sherman4949, @wired, Vox and Benzinga, more at Techmeme »
Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:
In earnings call, Bob Iger confirms that Disney has had talks with Comcast about buying the latter's 30% stake in Hulu — The executive says that Comcast-owned NBCUniversal would likely still continue to license programming to Hulu. — Disney has held talks with Comcast about buying …
Business Wire:
NYT Q1: net income up 37.6% YoY to $30.1M on revenue of $439M with 223K new digital-only subscriptions, for a total of 4.5M subscribers — NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)— The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) announced today first-quarter 2019 diluted earnings per share from continuing operations …
Discussion:
MediaPost, @cnnbusiness, Associated Press, Reuters, @cnnbusiness, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Editor & Publisher and Nieman Lab
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Instagram says it will begin hiding search results for hashtags that consistently return false vaccine information, plans a pop-up to link to high-quality info — The company says it will use machine learning to identify where misinformation shows up most — Instagram will begin hiding …
Discussion:
Gizmodo, CNN, TechCrunch, @kyurieff, @kevinroose, @astepanovich and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Rani Molla / Vox:
Experts say apps like Nextdoor and Ring's Neighbors give people a false sense that the US crime rate is worsening even as violent crime reaches record lows — Why people are socializing more about crime even as it becomes rarer. — Violent crime in the US is at its lowest rate in decades.
Discussion:
@louise_seamster, @tvcolincampbell, @jayohday, Techdirt, @edasante77, @melissakxly4, @mattzollerseitz, @ranimolla, Strange Attractor, New York Post and @dangillmor
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Fact-checking startup Factmata gets investment from Eyeo, creator of Adblock Plus, will take over Trusted News, Eyeo's Chrome plugin that identifies false news — “Fake news” — news content that either misleads people with half-truths, or outright lies — has become a permanent fixture of the internet.
Lucinda Southern / Digiday:
The Association of Online Publishers says the average UK publisher is losing nearly £950K per year in revenue due to ad blocking — U.K. publishers continue to hemorrhage revenue to ad blocking, despite the fact that ad blocking rate growth has steadied, according to a report …
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
The White House has set a difficult-to-meet standard for media “hard pass” credentials but granted exceptions; it refused an exception for WaPo's Dana Milbank — For the past 21 years, I have had the high privilege of holding a White House press pass, a magical ticket that gives the bearer a front-row seat to history.
Discussion:
@milbank, Washington Post, Politico, CNN, @senatorleahy, @kaivanshroff, @davidcorndc, @connieschultz, @dabeard, @capehartj, Talking Points Memo, @patrickesque, @djlavoie, @walshfreedom, @senjeffmerkley, @joycewhitevance, @pgourevitch, @glennkesslerwp, @mollyjongfast, @thegarance, @olganyc1211, @reaganbattalion, @evan_rosenfeld, @oliverdarcy, @brianstelter, @davidfolkenflik, Editor & Publisher, Splinter, The Daily Caller and Mediaite
Jared Holt / Columbia Journalism Review:
A first-person account of a press conference by right-wing activist Jacob Wohl and lobbyist Jack Burkman and why mainstream reporters say they cover such events — On Wednesday, a dozen reporters stood on a brick driveway in Arlington, Virginia. They were awaiting the arrival …
Discussion:
@jaredlholt
Greg Dool / Folio:
Penske Media confirms that Rolling Stone and Andrew Budkofsky, publisher and chief revenue officer, “have agreed on a mutual separation” — A rep for Penske Media calls it “a mutual separation.” — Publisher and chief revenue officer Andrew Budkofsky is out at Rolling Stone …
Discussion:
Digital Music News and @sterlewine
Natalie Jarvey / Hollywood Reporter:
Disney discloses a $353M writedown on its ownership stake in Vice Media, following its $157M writedown in November — The entertainment giant previously recorded a $157 million impairment charge on its Vice stake. — Disney has taken another write-down on its investment in Vice Media.
Discussion:
Vox, Bloomberg, Variety, @ryanlcooper, @moisesnaim, @lgbtqfc, @felixsalmon, @cramersshirt, @jasonabbruzzese, @thrmattbelloni, @natjarv, @pkafka, Yahoo and Business Insider
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Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Disney beats Q2 estimates with $14.92B revenue, up 3% YoY, vs. $14.36B est.; revenue from media networks was $5.53B, down from $5.92B the previous quarter
Discussion:
The Walt Disney Company, @mattrosoff, Variety, BGR, @eriqgardner, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Broadcasting & Cable, FierceVideo and The Verge
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