Top News:
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson says the company forecasts that HBO Max will reach 50M US subscribers in its first five years after launching next spring — HBO Max will reach 50 million U.S. subscribers in its first five years after launching next spring, according to a forecast issued Monday …
Discussion:
CNBC, Variety, @sherman4949 and @dadehayes
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Wall Street Journal:
AT&T reaches a truce with activist investor Elliott Management, agrees to regular share buybacks, new directors, no more major M&A, and more in three year plan — Elliott had challenged telecom giant's strategy; AT&T commits to regular share buybacks, plans to avoid major acquisitions
Discussion:
Variety, Reuters, Business Insider, CNBC, Bloomberg, The Verge, Ars Technica, Fox Business, CityAM, @xpangler, Deadline and New York Times
Todd Spangler / Variety:
AT&T says it will spend $1.5B-$2B on HBO Max in 2020 and $1B per year in both 2021 and 2022, expects profitability in year four — AT&T is telling investors it has the intestinal fortitude to win in the streaming wars — even as its traditional TV business continues to crumble.
Reeves Wiedeman / New York Magazine:
Deep dive inside Condé Nast amid years of drama, downsizing, and shakeups sheds light on Anna Wintour and others' struggle to revert falling influence and sales — “It's dreadful,” Anna Wintour said in early October, looking out the south-facing windows of her 25th-floor office …
Discussion:
@kerrymflynn, @mollylambert, @oteghauwagba, @teri_ktm, @tomgara, @mradamtaylor, @simonowens, @petersterne, @buzzfeedben, @sruthijith, @leonoraepstein, @eiffeltyler, @lisatozzi, @kerrymflynn, @chaykak and @cd_hooks
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:
G/O Media memo to staff says “Deadspin will write only about sports” and to focus 100% of resources on sports; the site also covered politics, culture, and more — Sports—and sports alone—must be “the sole focus” of the website, new management said Monday in a memo obtained by The Daily Beast.
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Deadspin:
Deadspin staff tell readers they are “as upset with the current state of our site's user experience as you are” regarding autoplay videos — We have received a great deal of feedback from you, our readers, about the sound-on autoplay videos that have been inundating our sites.
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
How Ben Shapiro's massively popular right-wing site The Daily Wire gets promoted in an inauthentic, coordinated manner by 14 Facebook pages followed by millions — This is the online version of the Popular Information newsletter. You can get independent accountability journalism in your inbox every week.
Discussion:
@juddlegum, @juddlegum, @kevinroose, @zeynep, @juddlegum, @oliverdarcy and @oliverdarcy, more at Techmeme »
Justine Coleman / The Hill:
WaPo drew backlash for its digital headline on an obit of ISIS's Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, calling him an “austere religious scholar”; the headline has been changed — The Washington Post changed the headline on its obituary for ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi after initially calling him an …
Discussion:
@kriscoratti, Fox News, Washington Post, CNN, The Wrap, New York Times, The Wrap, USA Today, Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Fox News and Fox News
Theodore Schleifer / Vox:
Spotify says its CFO Barry McCarthy, who pioneered the direct listing model for IPOs, is leaving in January and will rejoin Spotify's board — Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy is leaving the company in January. — Barry McCarthy, the pioneer behind a novel method to take companies public …
Discussion:
@teddyschleifer and New York Times
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Spotify:
Spotify Q3: paid subs rose 31% YoY to 113M; MAUs grew 30% YoY to 248M; revenue up 28% YoY to €1.73B; net income of €241M, up from €43M YoY; stock closes up 16%
Discussion:
Variety, @ncsh, Hollywood Reporter, Engadget, AdExchanger, @teddyschleifer, @claireatki, @brettbivens, VentureBeat, @matt and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
Ben Lindbergh / The Ringer:
With WaPo's new vertical Launcher, mainstream coverage of video games may finally overcome the “generational myopia” that excluded gaming from culture sections — With its new vertical Launcher, The Washington Post is the latest big outlet to dedicate resources to covering video games in a comprehensive manner.
Discussion:
@genepark and @latoyapeterson
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Nvidia unveils new $149 Shield TV and $199 Shield TV Pro with a faster Tegra X1+ processor, AI-based 4K upscaling, Dolby Vision HDR, and Dolby Atmos support — Nvidia has a new family of Android TV-based streaming devices, as tipped early via a couple of leaks from online stores.
Discussion:
VentureBeat, Variety and The Streamable, more at Techmeme »
Piya Sinha-Roy / Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix says it's testing a feature to allow users to speed up or slow down content on their phones, attracting criticism from filmmakers including Judd Apatow — Viewers can increase or slow down the speed of Netflix shows and movies on their smartphones.
Discussion:
The Playlist and Business Insider
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