Mediagazer: 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 (Maxwell Tani/The Daily Beast)

12:55 AM ET, October 29, 2019

Top News:

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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, Bloomberg, Variety and @dadehayes

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

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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.

Discussion: Fortune, Ad Age, Tubefilter, @xpangler, Engadget, Variety and The Wrap

Dade Hayes / Deadline:
AT&T lost 195K AT&T Now customers and 1.2M premium TV subscribers in Q3, reports revenues of $44.6B, says Randall Stephenson will stay on as CEO in 2020

Discussion: @lucas_shaw, @reckless, @pkafka, @reckless, AT&T and Hollywood Reporter

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.

Discussion: @beyondreasdoubt, @russbengtson, @revrrlewis, @icehockeystick, @_shireenahmed_, @ashleyfeinberg, @rowankaiser, @rossalincoln, @passionweiss, @thescibabe and @tylercoates

Kelsey Mckinney / @mckinneykelsey:

Deadspin writer says G/O Media management removed a letter to the readers from Deadspin staff that criticised the recent addition of autoplay videos to the site — Here is the post that G/O leadership has now removed from all of our sites without warning. Please continue to send emails to g-omediafeedback@googlegroups.com https://twitter.com/...

Discussion: @gmgunion, Deadspin, @chronotope, Awful Announcing, @williamfleitch, @mckinneykelsey, @katiedrumm, @ashleyfeinberg and @barry

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, @slpng_giants, @kevinroose, @juddlegum, @aravosis, @oliverdarcy, @jeffbercovici, @oliverdarcy, @rashadrobinson, @craigsilverman, @anildash, @juddlegum and @zeynep, more at Techmeme »

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% — NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)— Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) today reported financial results for the third fiscal quarter …

Discussion: Variety, Fortune, @ncsh, AdExchanger, @teddyschleifer, @claireatki, @brettbivens, @matt, Bloomberg, Reuters, VentureBeat, Engadget and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

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

Discussion: @teddyschleifer and New York Times

capitalgazette.com:

Capital Gazette shooter Jarrod Ramos pleads guilty to all 23 counts, including killing five employees, in a mass shooting at the Annapolis office in June 2018 — The man who blasted his way into the Capital Gazette newsroom more than a year ago, armed with a shotgun, smoke bombs and a device …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Wrap, @baltimoresun, @jamesfoleyfund, Axios, Metro.co.uk, @brianstelter, VICE, @capgaznews and @capgaznews

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, Deadline, Variety, @bradbirda113, @juddapatow and @sepinwall, 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, USA Today, New York Times, The Wrap, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Examiner, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Fox News and Fox News

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:

The Recount, John Heilemann and John Battelle's short-form video political news outlet, has raised ~$10M seed from investors including Jay-Z and Kevin Durant — A-List investors (Fred Wilson, Jay-Z, Robert Wolf, Kevin Durant) are pouring millions into the journalist's new business.

Discussion: @thisfamilymeal and @joepompeo

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Federal judge reinstates libel lawsuit by Covington Catholic student Nicholas Sandmann against WaPo, narrowing its scope from 33 published statements to three — A federal judge reinstated part of a lawsuit against The Washington Post filed by the family of a Kentucky teenager that alleged …

Discussion: The Hill, Deadline, Washington Examiner, New York Post, Washington Times and Fox News

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Bloomberg:
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