Top News:
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Nexstar plans to buy a 75% stake in The CW from Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, both of which will retain 12.5% stakes and supply scripted content — The CW is about to enter a new ownership era, as local TV giant Nexstar Media Group has confirmed a pending deal to acquire …
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Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Nexstar will absorb The CW's debt but won't pay any cash or stock up front for its stake and wants make the network profitable by 2025, partly through cost cuts — As it transitions to new ownership, the CW will likely not look dramatically different in the near term, but Nexstar Media Group intends …
Discussion:
Next TV, @laynemorgan, Decider, @automaticzen, @pathryn34, @fourhman, @maxjgao and TVLine
Richard Howorth / New York Times:
A Mississippi indie bookseller on the proposed Penguin Random House-Simon & Schuster merger, as the industry increasingly favors best sellers over new writers — OXFORD, Miss. — Penguin Random House, the largest English-language trade book publisher in the world, has made an offer …
Erik Hayden / The Hollywood Reporter:
Dan Loeb's Third Point increases its stake in Disney and calls on the company to cut costs, explore spinning off ESPN, and integrate Hulu into Disney+ — The billionaire's Third Point firm is building its stake in the Hollywood giant.
Discussion:
CNBC, The Wrap, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Variety and Bloomberg
Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Sources: Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch are expected to sit for depositions as soon as this month in Dominion's suit against Fox, and there were no settlement talks — The suit, filed by Dominion Voting Systems, could be one of the most consequential First Amendment cases in a generation.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Snap says its Snapchat+ subscription, launched in June, now has 1M+ users globally and adds features, including priority Story replies to celebs — Snap said today that the company's paid subscription plan Snapchat+, which launched in June, now has more than 1 million users across the globe.
Discussion:
Adweek, @turnernovak, 9to5Mac, The Verge and Snap Newsroom, more at Techmeme »
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
Hacker conference DEF CON permanently bans OANN for violating its privacy policy by “repeatedly taking photo and video showing people's faces” without consent — Organizers said OAN journalists violated the conference's privacy policy. — Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
Discussion:
@kevincollier, @feoh, b'Raw Story, @lorenzofb and @josephfcox
Check My Ads Institute:
NewsGuard makes a push to become the ad industry's partner in combating disinformation, even as its rating system regularly omits critical context about outlets — Welcome back to BRANDED, the newsletter uncovering how adtech companies fund hate and disinformation. Here's what's new with us:
Discussion:
@stopfundinghate, @nandoodles and @nandoodles
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple ads team lead Todd Teresi now reports directly to Eddy Cue and wants to increase the group's ad revenues from $4B per year to double digits — Apple is set to expand ads to new areas of your iPhone and iPad in search of its next big revenue driver.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, @markgurman, Protocol, 9to5Mac, CNBC, @patrickmoorhead, @hbkirb, @venkatananth, @neiltwitz, BGR, @chris_ciaccia, @alex_gurevich and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
Casey Bloys' HBO Max and HBO group lays off ~14% or ~70 staff, impacting reality, casting, international, and acquisitions units, as part of leadership changes — An estimated 70 staffers have been let go as Sarah Aubrey adds international but loses comedy oversight.
Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Warner Bros. strikes a multiyear deal to distribute MGM's movies internationally, excluding the next James Bond film; MGM's previous partner was Universal — The multiyear pact succeeds a similar deal MGM had with Universal.
Reuters:
Unity Software rejects AppLovin's $17.54B all-stock takeover offer, saying it would proceed with its deal to acquire ironSource for $4.4B in stock — Gaming software maker Unity Software Inc (U.N) on Monday rejected AppLovin Corp's (APP.O) $17.54 billion takeover offer and said it would go ahead …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, TechCrunch, AdExchanger, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Protocol and PC Gamer, more at Techmeme »
Sarah Krouse / Wall Street Journal:
Antenna: 19% of US streaming users canceled 3+ subscriptions from June 2020-June 2022; average monthly customer defections were 5.46% in July, up from 4.46% YoY — Customer loyalty to Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max and other services declines amid stiffer competition — Netflix Hit a Subscriber Peak, Here's How It Plans to Keep Growing
Discussion:
@jasoncolavito, @sherman4949, @anthony, @bradybrendan1, @bysarahkrouse, @jtoonkel and @asharma
The Wrap:
Brian Kilmeade tries to portray Fox News airing an altered image of the Mar-a-Lago search judge as a joke, saying that “we were showing a meme in jest” — Fox News host Brian Kilmeade has taken to social media in an effort to clean up the mess that was made Thursday night …
Discussion:
@rpsagainsttrump, @adl, @dangillmor, @underoak, Los Angeles Times, @sephspeaks, @michaelshermer, @kenolin1, @fred_guttenberg, @jeffjarvis, Insider, @benestes, @thewrap, Politico, @crewcrew and The Racket News
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Stephen Proctor / Yahoo Entertainment:
Fox News' Brian Kilmeade showed on air an altered image depicting the judge who signed off on the Mar-a-Lago search grafted over an image of Jeffrey Epstein
Discussion:
@kilmeade, @atrupar, @karen_e_bender, @mt_hardison, @johncusack, @deggans, @mattgertz, @badfoxgraphics, @markgongloff, @chronfalkenberg, @asfleischman, @ericmgarcia, @mehdirhasan, @maxfawcett, @pattonoswalt, @cindy_banyai_fl, @mattxs, @chrisgeidner, @bgrueskin, @normornstein, @fordm, @pbump, @moelleithee, @aodespair, @mattyglesias, @anneapplebaum, @paullahticks, @walshfreedom, @jeffsharlet, @jeffsharlet, @kimmasters, @jkbjournalist, @aodespair, @jackiekcalmes, @davidfolkenflik, @repriggleman, @baddcompani, @ananavarro, @parkermolloy, @mehdirhasan, Mediaite, Boing Boing, The Wrap, @mehdirhasan, The Guardian, The Daily Beast and Insider
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