Top News:
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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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, @chronotope, Deadspin, @williamfleitch, @mckinneykelsey, @katiedrumm, @ashleyfeinberg, @barry and Awful Announcing
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 …
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.
Amol Rajan / BBC:
Daily Mail soft-launches Mail+, a bulletin-based digital service separate from its free Mail Online that will charge readers for some content in upcoming months — The long heralded next chapter of the Daily Mail's push into digital media will take shape this week, as consolidation across …
Discussion:
Press Gazette and @amolrajan
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:
Tubefilter, @xpangler, Ad Age, Fortune, Business Insider, Engadget, Variety and The Wrap
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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, @shalini, @ptolemy_3, @lucas_shaw, @xpangler, @reckless, The Drum, Reuters, Fox Business, CityAM, CNBC, Ars Technica, Bloomberg, The Verge, Deadline and New York Times, more at Techmeme »
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:
Politico, @thisfamilymeal and @joepompeo
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 Guardian, @bradbirda113, @juddapatow, The Playlist, @jimwaterson, NME, @d_kompare and @sepinwall, more at Techmeme »
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, @baltimoresun, @jamesfoleyfund, @brianstelter, @capgaznews, @capgaznews, The Wrap, Axios, VICE and Metro.co.uk
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, New York Post, Deadline, Washington Examiner, Washington Times and Fox News
Jessica Davies / Digiday:
FT says it is testing subscriber-only podcasts, deviating from its audio strategy of ad-supported open-access podcasts, hires its first global head of audio — The Financial Times has expanded its audio strategy to include subscriber-only podcasts, a first for the publisher.
Discussion:
Press Gazette and RAIN News
Matthew De Silva / Quartz:
Spotify says 14% of MAUs listen to podcasts, podcast hours streamed grew 39% QoQ, and podcast engagement is driving increases in free to paid conversion — Spotify's stock price leaped 15% today (Oct. 28) as the music streaming service delivered a surprise profit for its third quarter.
Discussion:
Fortune, Complete Music Update, CNBC, @brettbivens and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »
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