Mediagazer: Sesame Street is moving from HBO to HBO Max in 2020 and will produce five new seasons; as before, it will air for free on PBS Kids after it premieres (Frank Pallotta/CNN)

Top News:

CNN rejects an ad from the Trump 2020 campaign, saying it fails to meet ad standards because it disparages CNN and its journalists and makes false claims — The 30-second spot paints the president as a victim of Democrats and alleged “media lapdogs” like CNN.

Andy Campbell / HuffPost:

HuffPost laid off 11 full-time employees and two contractors in its video department on Thursday, citing new strategy to focus on “high audience engagement” — About 11 full-time employees — including five managers — were cut as HuffPost “realigns its video strategy,” the company said.

Discussion: Deadspin, @huffpostunion and Awful Announcing

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Print magazines and digital media companies are joining forces for more digital scale plus the potential of trusted media brands and premium print products — The paper magazine has increasingly become a luxury good, as more publishers jettison titles into digital lifeboats.

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Vice Media agrees to acquire Refinery29 in a deal expected to close before the end of 2019; source: Vice is issuing mostly stock to Refinery29's shareholders

Discussion: CNBC, Press Gazette, The Drum, @pkafka, @mattrosoff, Adweek, @rasmus_kleis, @sizpatel, @moorehn, Digiday, Talking Biz News, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @mdudas, @mattdpearce, @rafat, @jboorstin, @xpangler, @johnjcook, @vicecomms, bookforum.com, @andreagonram and The Wrap

Brent Lang / Variety:

Elisabeth Murdoch, former 20th Century Fox CEO Stacey Snider, and UK TV producer Jane Featherstone launch Sister, a global content production company — Elisabeth Murdoch, Stacey Snider and Jane Featherstone are joining forces to launch Sister, a global production and development company …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Deadline and The Wrap

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

TikTok says it is banning political ads because they don't fit with its “positive, refreshing environment” — Already under fire for advancing Chinese foreign policy by censoring topics like Hong Kong's protests and pro-LGBT content, the Beijing-based video app TikTok …

Discussion: @clearpolitic5, The Next Web, Gizmodo, Engadget, NBC News, Adweek, Boing Boing and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Whistle, a digital sports and entertainment startup, to buy Vertical Networks, a content studio founded by Elisabeth Murdoch focused on Snapchat original shows — Whistle, a digital sports and entertainment media company, reached a deal to acquire Vertical Networks, a content studio focused …

Discussion: Business Insider, @jcaporoso, @nmcalone, Deadline and The Wrap

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Writers of works like Terminator and Beetlejuice are terminating copyright grants made to studios 35 years after publication, as allowed by law — Warner Bros., Disney and Skydance receive copyright termination notices over existing IP, potentially giving other studios an in.

Discussion: @markjkings, /Film, The Playlist and Plagiarism Today

Frank Pallotta / CNN:

Sesame Street is moving from HBO to HBO Max in 2020 and will produce five new seasons; as before, it will air for free on PBS Kids after it premieres — New York (CNN Business)"Sesame Street" is heading to WarnerMedia's new streaming service, HBO Max. — Sesame Workshop …

Subrat Patnaik / Reuters:

Thomson Reuters buys B2B events specialist FC Business Intelligence, which it will rebrand as Reuters Events and operate as part of the news division — (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO) (TRI.N) said on Friday it had acquired business-to-business events specialist, FC Business Intelligence (FCBI).

Discussion: Press Gazette and Reuters

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Aldi, the fifth biggest supermarket chain in the UK, will no longer sell newspapers or magazines in its UK stores — Discount supermarket giant Aldi has stopped selling newspapers and magazines at all of its UK stores. — Aldi, which was ranked as the UK's fifth biggest supermarket earlier this year …

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

FT says an independent review cleared its journalists of claims of collusion with investors when covering alleged irregularities at the fintech company Wirecard — An independent review has exonerated Financial Times reporters of colluding with investors over its reports on alleged irregularities …

Discussion: Reuters and Talking Biz News

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Fire TV has no deal yet to carry Disney+ because Amazon is pushing for the right to sell a percentage of the ad inventory on other Disney apps — Disney resists Amazon push for some of the ad revenue from entertainment giant's apps — Amazon.com Inc. AMZN .07% and Walt Disney Co. DIS -.69% …

Discussion: Variety, MediaPost, Ad Age, The Verge, @petersontee, @raju, @jank0, @jank0, IndieWire, The Desk, New York Post, Engadget, Variety, The Streamable and CNBC, more at Techmeme »