Top News:
Hadas Gold / CNN:
Twitter suspends account of a former Saudi royal court adviser suspected of involvement in Khashoggi murder and six accounts linked to Saudi state media — London (CNN Business)Twitter has suspended or removed thousands of accounts linked to governments in the Middle East …
Discussion:
Twitter, Adweek, The Hill, ABC News and BleepingComputer, more at Techmeme »
Patrick Shanley / Hollywood Reporter:
NBCU announces it is shutting down its gaming division, formed in 2017, and laying off 5% of staff in its cable division, which includes E!, Oxygen, Bravo — Universal Games and Digital Platforms, formed in 2017, will no longer publish mobile titles as part of a restructuring plan at the company …
Discussion:
Fox Business, MediaPost, Variety, @pshanley88, Polygon, TVWeek.com and The Wrap
Leo Barraclough / Variety:
Viacom joins Britbox, the BBC and ITV joint venture, making Comedy Central's UK productions as well as Channel 5 shows available on the platform — Viacom-owned Channel 5 and Comedy Central have joined BritBox, the “best-of-British” subscription streaming service created by the BBC and ITV.
Discussion:
Reuters and Broadband TV News
Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:
Stephen Brown has been named editor-in-chief of Politico Europe — Stephen Brown has been appointed editor-in-chief of politics and policy news title Politico Europe. — The European arm of Politico was launched in 2015 as a joint venture with German publisher Axel Springer.
Matt Donnelly / Variety:
Sources: Tinder will release a six-episode choose-your-own-adventure series in October and intends to use viewers' choices to make matches — Popular dating app Tinder is set to release a choose-your-own-adventure-style original series in early October, marking its first outing …
Discussion:
Adweek, Gizmodo, Engadget and Vanity Fair, more at Techmeme »
Financial Times:
Amid rising competition and a dramatic fall in US subscribers during Q2, doubts arise over the sustainability of Netflix's debt-driven business model — On a sunny midsummer weekend in Los Angeles, Netflix turned the Santa Monica Pier — one of the city's busiest tourist destinations …
Discussion:
@mattgarrahan and @generalboles
Richard Middleton / TBI Vision:
At TV conference, Reed Hastings says Netflix has spent £400M in the UK in 2019 and plans a “big increase” next year — Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has said the streamer will spend £400m ($500m) on UK programming this year and added that there would be a “big increase” …
Discussion:
Reuters and The Guardian
Bloomberg:
The trial of two Bloomberg journalists, along with 36 other defendants, has begun in Turkey, where they're accused of trying to undermine its economic stability — A Turkish court held its first hearing on Friday of a case against two Bloomberg reporters accused of trying to undermine the country's economic stability.
Discussion:
Financial Times
Greg Dool / Folio:
Q&A with Andy Cohn, president and publisher of 20-year-old music magazine The Fader, on diversifying while remaining committed to the growing print magazine — President and publisher Andy Cohn reflects on survival, leadership, diversifying revenue and why he still believes in print.
Discussion:
@brittany0925, @foliomag and @foliomag
Steven Zeitchik / Washington Post:
Experts say the enormous amounts spent on old shows like Seinfeld and The Big Bang Theory ignore a key point: we have no way of knowing how much shows are worth — The numbers are enough to make you think it's 1995 and George is first getting mad at Jerry for breaking their pact.
Discussion:
@alexgiess and @jeffjarvis
BBC:
UN report discusses Iran's harassment and persecution of BBC Persian journalists and their families after BBC's formal complaint to UNHRC in February — In a report presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva today (19 September 2019), UN assistant secretary-general Andrew Gilmour …
Discussion:
Press Gazette
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Kavanaugh book authors say the reason they couldn't agree to terms to interview Kavanaugh was because he wanted them to lie and say he hadn't been interviewed — Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly, the New York Times reporters behind the book “The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and @erikwemple