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

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 10:40 PM ET, September 21, 2021.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Output Producer, CA — AP

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Senior Assignment Editor, DC — WaPo

Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — Globe & Mail

Local Government Reporter, IA — The Gazette

Research Director, CA — OCBJ

Immigration Enforcement Reporter — Documented

Presque Island Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Contributing Parks Ed. - SW, CA — SFGATE

AI Content Editor, WA — Outlier

Legislative Reporter, TN — Daily Memphian

Editorial Assistant, Remote US — Launch Potato

Elon Musk Reporter, NY or CA — The Information

Government & Politics Editor, WA — Seattle Times

Business & GA Reporter. VT — VTDigger

Sports Reporter, WA — Everett Herald

Energy Reporter, TX — Houston Chronicle

Senior Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — FT

Reporter, WI — Racine County Eye

Political Newsletter Writer, CO — The Lever

Jackson Reporter, MS — Verite

Music Editor, AZ — Phoenix New Times

Breaking News Reporter, NV — Las Vegas Sun

Fearless Reporter/Producer, IA — BPC

Reporter II - Technology, Remote — NPR

Editor, Remote US — Daily Kos

City Reporter, WA — Tacoma News Tribune

Executive Editor, OR — Lookout Local

Education & Budget Reporter, CA — Politico

Senior Writer/Editor, FL — Gulfshore Business

Media Editor, Remote — Axios

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

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:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Kevin Roose / New York Times:
A look at Amazon's revamped drone delivery program near Phoenix, Arizona, where the company's new MK-30 drones deliver dozens of packages a day to customers

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page