Top News:
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
Netflix says it has agreed to acquire the entire Roald Dahl Story Company catalog, expanding on a three-year deal to make animated shows, for an undisclosed sum — Netflix has acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company and will expand their existing deal to create a universe spanning several formats.
Discussion:
SlashFilm, The Streamable, The Wrap, ScreenRant, @rickybrigante, About Netflix, Decider, Collider, TechCrunch, Hollywood Reporter, @newsynick, @erinbiba, The Times, @mtsw, @netflixuk, Sky News, @labuzamovies, @jimwaterson, @loudmouthjulia, @silviakillings, @netflixuk, Deadline, The Guardian, Telegraph, @jay_kotakone, The Independent, @netflixuk, @nkulw, @alexritman, @morganjeffery, TechRadar, @trungtphan, @bigblackjacobin, Too Much TV Newsletter, GameSpot, The Streamable, Gizmodo, Bloomberg, The Verge, WORLD SCREEN, Media Play News, Publishers Lunch and The Drum, more at Techmeme »
The Daily Beast:
Trump sues NYT, three of its reporters, and his niece, Mary Trump, claiming they hatched a plot to obtain his private records for a story about his tax history — The ex-president claims there was an “insidious plot to obtain confidential and highly-sensitive records.”
Discussion:
New York Times, TMZ.com, @susannecraig, Washington Post, The Guardian, HuffPost, WBRZ, Al Jazeera, @garylegum, @brianrayguitar, @briankarem, @vabvox, @maxwelltani, Columbia Journalism Review, @nycjim, @oliverdarcy, @bradmossesq, The Week, @swin24, @katiephang, @nycjim, @jeremymbarr, @zoetillman, @adamparkhomenko, @garylegum, @maddowblog, @parismartineau, @keitholbermann, @jessefferguson, NBC New York, @normative, @popehat, Insider, New York Post, UPROXX, The Wrap, The Hill, Axios, The Sun, Mediaite and Rolling Stone
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Comcast unveils XiOne, its first streaming device, available to Sky Q customers in Italy and Germany and rolling out to Xfinity Flex customers in the US — Comcast has launched a new wireless streaming device — the XiOne — that will become the company's standard platform across the globe.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Facebook says Apple's ATT changes will continue to cause headwinds in Q3 and reveals it under-reported iOS web conversions by 15% on average — Facebook said Wednesday that changes to Apple's new privacy terms will continue to cause headwinds for its ads business in the third quarter.
Discussion:
Ad Age, Facebook, TechCrunch, @sarafischer, CNBC, @chrismartin17, @glynmoody, @sarthakgh, 9to5Mac, @eric_seufert, @lagana, @sarafischer and @madelineashby, more at Techmeme »
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
Financial Times:
Sony Pictures India agrees to invest $1.6B in a merger with Zee Entertainment, which would create one of India's biggest media conglomerates — Non-binding deal comes as India's biggest listed media group faces shareholder revolt — Sony Pictures Networks India has proposed a deal …
Discussion:
IGN India, Business Standard, Reuters, @rutujax, The Hindu BusinessLine, NDTV.com, Broadband TV News, Deadline, Al Jazeera, MediaNama, Hindustan Times, TechCrunch and Livemint
Kerry Flynn / CNN:
NewsGuild says it is investigating the workplace culture at Gannett, starting with the issue of unpaid overtime work — New York (CNN Business)The NewsGuild, a labor union that represents thousands of journalists, is investigating the workplace culture of US newspaper conglomerate Gannett …
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
CBS News will phase out the name CBSN for its news streaming service later this year as it brings its broadcast and digital efforts under the CBS News brand — CBSN represented the first effort by one of the traditional broadcast networks to get into the news streaming game, and its name was meant to evoke digital concepts.
Discussion:
Digiday
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Google will start showing details of advertisers' campaign histories for the last 30 days as part “About this ad” tool, starting in the US in the coming months — Starting for US users in the coming months — Google will start giving users more information about who's running the ads they see.
Discussion:
Ad Age
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 — The tweak, which targets the code in accessibility features for visually impaired users, drew ire from researchers and those who monitor the platform
Discussion:
New York Times, @mattblaze, @tonyromm, @juliaangwin, @lauraedelson2, @suryamattu, @corintxt, Engadget and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »
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 — The Washington Post on Tuesday launched an ad network as part of its Zeus advertising technology business, executives told Axios.
Discussion:
@thezedwards, @nandoodles, @thezedwards, @zeus, @dangainor, @rasmus_kleis, @jeremybowers, @pressgazette, @jonst0kes and @jarroddicker
Angela Fu / Poynter:
NewsGuild releases a report on culture and harassment at Pittsburgh Guild, detailing multiple stories of harassment over the past 20 years — The report includes multiple stories of harassment at the Pittsburgh Guild over the past 20 years — The NewsGuild has proposed changes …
Discussion:
@poynter, @kristenhare, @poynter, Editor and Publisher and The NewsGuild - CWA
Scott Roxborough / Hollywood Reporter:
Viaplay, the streaming service owned by Scandinavia's NENT Group, says it plans to launch in the UK in 2022 and expand to 16 countries by end of 2023 — The fast-growing streaming service, owned by NENT Group, aims to be available in 16 countries by the end of 2023.
Discussion:
Digital TV Europe and Deadline