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 …
Discussion:
TVSpy, Ad Age, Variety, Radio & Television …, The Streamable, Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter, @benfritz, SlashFilm, @emilylongeretta, @quartzen, Media Play News, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Digital TV Europe, Axios, @jbflint, Next TV, @jbflint, @kaludiasays, @jbflint, @jbflint, @tvgrimreaper, Los Angeles Times and The Wrap
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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 to make The CW 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, The A.V. Club, @maxjgao, @pathryn34, @fourhman, @automaticzen and @laynemorgan
Wall Street Journal:
Walmart partners with Paramount to include the $4.99/month ad-supported tier of the Paramount+ streaming service as part of its Walmart+ subscription — Paramount+ shows will be part of perks retailer offers subscribers to Walmart+ membership program — Walmart Inc. WMT 0.23%▲ …
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:
Snap Newsroom, ScreenRant, @marshacollier, Tubefilter, The Verge, @turnernovak, 9to5Mac and @snapchat, more at Techmeme »
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 …
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, @josephfcox, @lorenzofb, b'Raw Story and @feoh
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, New York Post, Variety, @sportstvratings 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.
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.
Discussion:
New York Times, Variety, SlashFilm, TechCrunch, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, Deadline, Bloomberg, CNBC, IndieWire, @jmaasaronson, @deggans, @snoodit and @whenbatmenfly
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:
@markgurman, TechCrunch, Protocol, CNBC, @patrickmoorhead, @hbkirb, @venkatananth, @neiltwitz, BGR, @chris_ciaccia, 9to5Mac, @alex_gurevich and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
Canadian broadcaster CTV's chief news anchor Lisa LaFlamme says she has been forced out of the network; CTV parent Bell Media cites “changing viewer habits” — LaFlamme announced on her Twitter account that Bell Media had made a “business decision” to replace her with Omar Sachedina as host of ‘CTV National News.’
Discussion:
@lisalaflamme_, Bell Media and @craigsilverman
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 and @nandoodles
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 — On Thursday's Tucker Carlson Tonight, guest host Brian Kilmeade showed a clearly photoshopped image of U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart …
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, @mehdirhasan, Boing Boing, The Wrap, The Guardian and Insider
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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”
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”
Discussion:
The Verge, @rpsagainsttrump, @adl, @dangillmor, @underoak, Los Angeles Times, @sephspeaks, @michaelshermer, @kenolin1, @fred_guttenberg, @jeffjarvis, @benestes, @thewrap, Insider, @crewcrew and Politico