Mediagazer: Sources: Netflix is in talks to buy the full works of Roald Dahl, expanding on its three-year deal to make animated shows based on his material (Lucas Shaw/Bloomberg)

10:40 PM ET, September 21, 2021

Top News:

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

ViacomCBS bundles Paramount+ and Showtime for a promotional price of $10/month with ads and $13/month without — ViacomCBS has officially begun marketing Paramount+ and Showtime's streaming service as a combined offering, with an initial promotion starting at $10 a month.

Mark Savage / BBC:

UK government asks its competition watchdog to review Sony, Warner, and Universal Music and weigh YouTube's streaming dominance, amid poor returns for musicians — The UK's major record labels could face an inquiry into whether their practices are distorting the music market.

Discussion: Billboard, Variety, Financial Times and musically.com

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Fortune hires Alyson Shontell, previously the number two editor at Insider, as editor-in-chief, reporting to CEO Alan Murray starting October 6 — Digital-media veteran plans to focus on increasing business magazine's online readership and subscriptions — Fortune hired digital-media …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Disney CEO Bob Chapek says Disney+ global subscriber growth slowed this quarter, citing production delays and challenges for Latin America's Star Plus launch — Disney Plus global paid subscribers will increase by “low single-digit millions of subscribers” for the quarter ending September 2021, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said.

Discussion: The Wrap, MediaPost, @richlightshed, Hollywood Reporter, Ad Age, The Verge, The Wrap, @richlightshed, CNBC, The Streamable, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, @richlightshed and Insider

Knight Foundation:

Survey: adults 18 to 34 years old care most about outlets' transparency and fact-checking; older adults care deeply about reputation and “no political slant” — - Differences in citizens' trust in the national media and attitudes about the media's role in democracy vary not just by political partisanship but age as well.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @knightfdn and @gallupnews

Panyi Szabolcs / Direkt36:

Photojournalist Dániel Németh is the latest to join the list of Hungarian journalists surveilled using Pegasus spyware, very likely by state actors — Have a good story? Contact us! — On June 24, 2021 in Amalfi, near Naples in Southern Italy, Lő …

Discussion: The Guardian, @jsrailton, @ryp__, @skirchy, @botherder, @hneumannmep, @talkopan, @dangillmor, @skirchy, @jsrailton, @evacide and @jsrailton

Matthew Keys / FierceVideo:

YouTuber Bill Omar Carrasquillo and two others indicted on charges of copyright infringement, wire fraud, and more for allegedly offering pirated streaming TV — A popular YouTube personality and two other individuals are facing criminal charges for allegedly operating a large-scale pirate television service over the Internet.

Discussion: @sixfever and @matthewkeyslive

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Business outlet Industry Dive, which expects ~30% profit margins and $80M in revenue in 2021, buys trade pub PharmaVOICE, its fourth acquisition in 18 months — Industry Dive, a Washington, D.C.-based business journalism outlet, is acquiring PharmaVOICE, a trade publication …

Discussion: @seangriffey, @joshsternberg, @seangriffey, @sarafischer and Talking Biz News

Tatiana Cirisano / Billboard:

Twitch and NMPA reach deal after tensions over takedown notices; sources: deal doesn't include music licenses, and Twitch will issue warnings before suspensions — Twitch and the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) have reached a long-awaited agreement focused on building …

Discussion: PC Gamer, The Verge, GameSpot, @verge, Variety, Music Business Worldwide, Tubefilter, @colinstutz, @devolore, @concordmusicpub and Forbes, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Local newsletter network 6AM City raises $5M+, is expecting $5M in revenue this year, and plans to have launched in 24 cities by Thanksgiving — 6AM City, a newsletter-driven local news company, has raised a new round of funding north of $5 million, Axios has learned.

Discussion: GlobeNewswire News Room, @samhoisington, Poynter, @wihbey, @hksperl, @michael_mazzara, @6amcity, @dankennedy_nu, @ryanheafy and @axios

Andy Meek / Forbes:

Maven, owner of Sports Illustrated and TheStreet, rebrands as The Arena Group and says it's generated $142M in revenue in the year ending on June 30, up 53% YoY — 2021 has proven to be one of the most consequential in recent memory for the publishing company behind Sports Illustrated …

Discussion: Digiday

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: Netflix is in talks to buy the full works of Roald Dahl, expanding on its three-year deal to make animated shows based on his material — Netflix Inc. is in talks to purchase the works of the late British novelist Roald Dahl, according to people with knowledge of the matter …

Discussion: @newsynick, @erinbiba, Gizmodo, @loudmouthjulia, @silviakillings, @jay_kotakone, The Streamable, @nkulw, @bigblackjacobin and The Verge

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Accounting Specialist Editor, Remote US — Reuters

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Asia Credit Reporter, Seoul — Bloomberg

Senior Editor, DC — National Geographic

Sr. Social Media Specialist, NC — espnW

Associate Editor - Aviation, TN — Firecrown

Assistant Editor - Digital, NC — SBJ

Video Producer - YouTube, NY — Morning Brew

Senior Managing Ed. - Daily Desk — The Athletic

Content Managing Editor — Freedom Forum

Editor, MA — Nieman Reports

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More News:

Sara Fischer / Axios:
WaPo expands its Zeus Prime ad network, adding Ad Council, Dallas Morning News, and soon Graham Media Group; non-targeted ads will cost $9 per thousand views

Discussion: @thezedwards, @nandoodles, @jonst0kes, @rasmus_kleis, @jarroddicker, @jeremybowers, @zeus, @thezedwards, @dangainor and @pressgazette

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
When Politico announced a new feature, Congress Minutes, someone else bought CongressMinutes.com the same day, pointing to rival Punchbowl News

Discussion: @markstenberg3 and @markstenberg3

Dina Temple-Raston / The Record:
Investigation shows China-linked hackers launched cyberattacks against India's biggest media conglomerate, BCCL, which publishes The Times of India, in February

Discussion: @byron_wan, Recorded Future, @therecord_media and @byron_wan

Tom Maxwell / Input:
Google's Area 120 incubator is developing Museletter, an experimental tool that lets users publish Drive files like documents and slideshows as newsletters

Discussion: @rsingel, @tsuvik, What's New in Publishing and The Fix

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Minute Media, owner of The Players' Tribune and The Big Lead, says it has raised “tens of millions of dollars” with FanDuel participating in the round

Financial Times:
Sources: DAZN is in advanced talks to buy BT Sport in the UK, which would give it rights to Premier League, rugby, and cricket games

Discussion: @rangerrollins, @fightoracle, @muradahmed, @alex_harvey9, @spflwatch, @graceonfootball, @rugbyinsideline and @financialtimes

John Jurgensen / Wall Street Journal:
The Emmys were a crowning moment of the streaming era, at the expense of broadcast and cable networks, and drew 7.4M viewers, up 16% from last year

Discussion: @johnjurg, @spencerchen, @lucas_shaw, @jbflint, @tim_cook and Los Angeles Times

Earlier Picks:

Corin Faife / The Markup:
Analysis: Facebook appears to be adding code to interfere with automated data collection of News Feed posts by journalists and researchers

Discussion: @mattblaze, Engadget, @corintxt, @lauraedelson2, @suryamattu, @juliaangwin, @tonyromm and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Nielsen is shifting to impressions-based buying and selling in local markets and integrating broadband-only homes in local measurements starting in January 2022

Discussion: MediaPost, FierceVideo, nexttv.com, Radio & Television … and Insights - Nielsen

Natasha Turak / CNBC:
Universal Music Group shares rose by about 36% in its market debut in Amsterdam, valuing the company at over €46B, after being spun off from Vivendi

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Variety, @runciedan, @lesliepicker, @runciedan, Billboard, Music Business Worldwide, Forbes, The Times, Financial Times, The Guardian, Billboard, Rolling Stone and Variety

Amit Gurbaxani / Billboard:
Gaana, India's leading music streaming service, has seen low paid sub growth; India's audio streaming market is 38% ad-supported, behind only China, Venezuela

Discussion: musically.com and Entrackr

Michael King / The Streamable:
Local US news stations are exploring streaming, often affixing a “plus” to their names, as they look for new ways to generate viewers and revenue

Discussion: @aaronkearneyaus, @michellemanafy and American Press Institute

Pew Research Center:
Survey: 47% of US Facebook users regularly get news on the platform, down from 54% in 2020; 29% of US TikTok users regularly get news from the app, up from 22%

Washington Post:
The Washington Post announces 41 new editing roles, including two deputy managing editors to the masthead

From Techmeme:

Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Okta fixes a flaw present since July 23, 2024, that let users log in under specific circumstances with any password if the account's username had 52+ characters

David Pierce / The Verge:
Amazon's plan to rearchitect Alexa around LLMs could finally help Alexa understand what users actually want and reduce the awkward syntax needed to use Skills

Stephen Groves / Associated Press:
US House Speaker Mike Johnson says the GOP “probably will” try to repeal the CHIPS Act, but then walks it back, saying the GOP may “further streamline” the bill

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