Mediagazer: ViacomCBS says Q3 domestic streaming revenue rose 56% YoY to $636M with 17.9M subscribers, up 72% YoY; Pluto TV MAUs reached 28.4M, up 57% YoY (Lucas Shaw/Bloomberg)

Top News:

ABC, CBS, NBC, and MSNBC cut away from Trump's news conference on Thursday to correct his many false claims, while CNN and Fox News carried it live — Fox News and CNN stuck with the White House news conference, but reported afterward that the president offered no evidence for his accusations of vote fraud.

Discussion: @oliverdarcy, @ralphnader, Business Insider, USA Today, @maustermuhle, @palsule, Boston.com, Washington Post, The Week, @katyturnbc, Newser and Fox News

Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:

Twitter permanently bans Steve Bannon's @WarRoomPandemic and YouTube pulls episode of his show after he called for execution of FBI director Wray and Dr. Fauci — Former Presidential advisor and right-wing pundit Steve Bannon had his show suspended from Twitter and an episode removed …

Discussion: Variety, The Guardian, CNN, NBC News, Business Insider, CNET, @jbenton, Newser, Forbes, @missesdread, The Sun, @rycady, @brian_bessinger, @yoda, Newsweek, @ldy_shay, The Wrap and Talking Points Memo, more at Techmeme »

Elsa Keslassy / Variety:

Netflix is testing Direct, its linear channel with real-time, scheduled programming from its library, which is accessible on its site to subscribers, in France — Netflix has chosen France to test its first channel offering. — Named Direct, the linear channel — which is only available to subscribers …

Discussion: TechCrunch, Broadband TV News, Digital TV Europe, @jonathanex, @scottygb and @manori_r

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Data privacy campaigners file a legal challenge against ICO, the UK's data protection watchdog, arguing data use in ad tech remains a systemic problem — The UK's data watchdog is facing a legal challenge after it took the decision to quietly close a complaint against the adtech industry's …

Discussion: Politico, Forbes, @mikarv, @zackwhittaker, @jimkillock, @f_kaltheuner and @markscott82

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

ViacomCBS says Q3 domestic streaming revenue rose 56% YoY to $636M with 17.9M subscribers, up 72% YoY; Pluto TV MAUs reached 28.4M, up 57% YoY — ViacomCBS Inc. reported strong growth at its three streaming services, a sign it is well-positioned as audiences shift online from its bread-and-butter business of pay TV.

Discussion: The Streamable, Reuters, Hollywood Reporter and Business Wire

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Discovery Q3: net income rises to $300M from $262M on revenue of $2.6B, down 4% YoY; CEO says new streaming service will be unveiled in December — Discovery plans to offer full details on its soon-to-launch streaming service in December, the company's top executive said Thursday …

Discussion: Deadline, The Wrap and Cord Cutters News

Sameer Yasir / New York Times:

As India falls two places on the global press freedom index, Arnab Goswami, an anchor of India's Republic TV, has been detained on charges of abetting a suicide — The conservative anchor Arnab Goswami was detained on charges of abetting a suicide in Mumbai, where an opposition party is in power.

Discussion: @ashoswai, @sudhanshutrived, @cnnphilippines, @penamerica, The Indian Express, Committee to Protect … and The Guardian

Rebecca Rubin / Variety:

Disney to lay off 50+ employees drawn from studio marketing, its NY-based theatrical unit, and Searchlight Pictures, also cuts several hundred open positions — Disney has enacted more layoffs, impacting more than 50 employees in the studio's marketing group, the NY-based theatrical division and Searchlight Pictures.

Discussion: Deadline and The Wrap

New York Times:

Trump and advisers erupted when Fox News called AZ for Biden; source: Jared Kushner called Rupert Murdoch; Jason Miller asked for a retraction that didn't come — The Fox News decision left the president fuming, and his team complaining. Then he began casting aspersions on other states' vote counts.

New York Times:
Nielsen: Fox News had 14.1M prime-time viewers on Election Day, a cable news record, vs. CNN's 9M, and averaged 4.9M prime-time viewers in October, up 85% YoY

Discussion: Washington Post, @karaswisher, Variety, Poynter, The Week, Variety, Business Insider and Vulture

Janko Roettgers / Protocol:

Loupe, which takes a 30% cut of sales of prints of paintings and photos it shows as slideshows on Pluto TV and others, says it'll have 2M viewers by end of 2020 — Good morning, and welcome to Protocol Next Up, a weekly newsletter about the future of technology and entertainment.

Discussion: MediaPost

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

Lionsgate reports a net loss of $18.4M on revenue of $745M, down 20% from $938M YoY, and announces layoffs affecting 15% of its global motion pictures group — UPDATED from conference call: Lionsgate revenue dipped to $745 million last quarter, down 20% from $938 million the year earlier …

Discussion: The Wrap, Deadline, investors.lionsgate.com, Variety, The Streamable and Variety

@kerrymflynn:

Memo: Jonah Peretti says BuzzFeed will be profitable for 2020 despite the pandemic and employees affected by earlier salary cuts will get “restoration payments” — Last month, WSJ reported BuzzFeed was “on target to break even this year for the first time since 2014”: https://www.wsj.com/... Today, CEO Jonah Peretti told staff BuzzFeed reached profitability + all staffers affected by graduated salary reductions will have salaries restored https://twitter.com/...

Discussion: MediaPost, @davidmackau, @kerrymflynn, @gilgul and @kerrymflynn

Elaine Low / Variety:

Roku beats in Q3 with revenue of $451.7M, up 73% YoY, vs. $367.8M est., active accounts up 43% YoY to 46M, monetized video ad impressions up nearly 90% YoY — Active accounts popped by 43% to 46 million, according to the company, while streaming hours rose 54% to 14.8 billion.

Discussion: Radio & Television …, The Streamable, MediaPost, Roku and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »