Mediagazer: Disney says it plans to launch a general entertainment streaming platform internationally in 2021 under its Star brand, would include content from ABC, FX, more (Julia Alexander/The Verge)

8:45 AM ET, August 5, 2020

Top News:

NYT reports Q2 net income of $23.7M, down 6% YoY, revenue of $403.8M, down 7.5% YoY, with ad revenues down 43.9%, and has a total of 6.5M subscribers — NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)—The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) announced today second-quarter 2020 diluted earnings per share …

Discussion: @gerryfsmith, @bgrueskin, @mattyglesias, @thestalwart, @boydhilton, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn and @gerryfsmith

Marc Tracy / New York Times:

NYT says it has added 669K new digital subscribers in Q2 and its digital revenue, at $185.5M, exceeded print revenue, at $175.4M, for the first time — The pandemic squeezed advertising for the web as well as print, but subscription growth was the best ever for a quarter.

Discussion: @jimwaterson, @ericcrawford and @juliehdavis

Julia Alexander / The Verge:

Disney says it plans to launch a general entertainment streaming platform internationally in 2021 under its Star brand, would include content from ABC, FX, more — The big question now is what it means for Hulu — Disney plans to launch a new general entertainment streaming platform overseas …

Discussion: @theericgoldman and @loudmouthjulia, more at Techmeme »

CNBC:

Disney reports $11.78B in Q3 revenue vs. $12.37B est., down 42% YoY, says it has 100M+ paid subs for streaming services including Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ — - Disney reported earnings for its third quarter of 2020 after the bell on Tuesday as it continues to feel the impact of the coronavirus pandemic …

Julia Alexander / The Verge:

Disney's Mulan, originally to be released in March but delayed due to COVID-19, will be released on Disney+ on Sept. 4 as a premium on-demand offering for $30 — Disney's live-action adaptation gets a new release date — Disney's live-action adaptation of Mulan will be released on Disney …

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:

Disney says Disney+ grew to 57.5M subs as of June 27, up from 54.5M three months ago — Between Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus, Disney's streaming services have more than 100 million subscribers combined. — Disney Plus grew to 57.5 subscribers as of June 27, up by 3 million in the last three months, Disney said Tuesday.

Discussion: Variety, TechCrunch, Engadget, Awful Announcing and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Los Angeles Times:

Changes at the USAGM undermine the credibility of US worldwide broadcasting by threatening the firewall that has insulated broadcasters from political pressure — Today a global battle of ideas is raging between representative democracy and authoritarianism.

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Voice of America's 76 foreign employees fear imminent removal from the US as VOA refuses to renew visas, with some fearing a return to authoritarian regimes

Discussion: @malbertnews, Real Clear Politics, @farhip, @karolcummins, @spytalker, @panyiszabolcs, @raju, @debrajsaunders, @kitchen5203 and @niemanreports

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Discovery reports Q2 earnings of $271M, down 71% YoY, on revenue of $2.54B, down 12% YoY; US ad revenues were down 14% and distribution revenues were down 2% — Discovery said second-quarter net income fell 71% after the coronavirus pandemic spurred a pullback in advertising at both its U.S …

Discussion: The Wrap and Hollywood Reporter

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: NBCU begins layoffs across its portfolio, expected to be less than 10% of staff, and WarnerMedia will start layoffs as early as next week — Comcast unit is the latest among entertainment giants, including WarnerMedia, to cut employees in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic

Discussion: New York Post, MediaPost, NBC News, CNN, @jbflint, @alexsalvinews, Multichannel News, Forbes and The Wrap

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Standard Media Index: Q2'2020 US TV ad spend fell 19% YoY and in June it fell 9% YoY to $3.2B, with CNN's ad revenue growing 86% YoY and Fox News' 55% YoY — More people continue to watch TV or other forms of video in the midst of the pandemic, but Madison Avenue is spending fewer dollars to dazzle them.

Discussion: Radio & Television …, Multichannel News and The Verge

CBS News:

Biden campaign announces what it says is the largest TV ad buy ever by a presidential candidate, with $220M for TV ads in 15 states and $60M for digital ads — Pretty soon it'll be hard to escape Joe Biden on your television. Or your radio. Or your phone.

Discussion: @michaeljgwin, @davidlarter and @jeffjarvis

Kevin G. Hall / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

A bankruptcy judge has approved the $312M sale of McClatchy to Chatham Asset Management; Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation will assume McClatchy pension plan — A federal bankruptcy judge approved the $312 million sale of McClatchy Co. on Tuesday, officially clearing …

Discussion: New York Post, New York Times, @kerrymflynn, @kdoctor, @bok_bok_ba_gok and @kdoctor

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Russell Brandom / The Verge:
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Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
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EyeQ, ViacomCBS' video advertising service, will unify digital video buying across CBS Interactive, Pluto TV, and Viacom video

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Knight Foundation:
49% of Americans see “a great deal” of political bias in news; 82% worry that inaccuracies are intentional; 19% of people under 30 view the media favorably

Discussion: CNN, 1A, Trust, Media and Democracy, @thesamgill, @phil_sanchez, @hotlinejosh, @jonzgreenberg, @jeffjarvis, @rishikadugyala, @w7voa, @sykescharlie, @johnfund, Poynter, Tangle, The Hill and Axios

Sara Fischer / Axios:
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Discussion: Poynter, Barrett Sports Media, @nbashaw, @charliebeckett, @csymrl, @evaneparker, MediaPost and Talking Biz News

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:
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Max Tani / @maxwelltani:
Business Insider told staff on Friday that the company will not require employees to return to the offices until July 2021

Discussion: @alexjamesfitz, @kathryncasteel, @rainesford, @melissadahl, @jnaftulin, @benjamingoggin, @lainnafader, @grace_panetta, @rainesford, @mcpli, @katzish, @kevloria, @pdavis_llc, @aaronmehta, @scottnover and @maxwelltani

From Techmeme:

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Meta details Llama 3: 8B- and 70B-parameter models, a focus on reducing false refusals, and an upcoming model trained on 15T+ tokens that has 400B+ parameters

David Pierce / The Verge:
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Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Europol and 19 countries make 37 arrests and disrupt phishing-as-a-service platform LabHost in a year-long operation with help from Microsoft, Intel, and others

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