Top News:
Sam Thielman / FOREVER WARS:
Sam Thielman, a freelancer Substack hired to edit several writers, says he was fired in retaliation against a writer he edited who chose to move to Ghost — Edited and With a Coda by Spencer Ackerman — IN JULY, Spencer took this blog off Substack immediately after his contract with the newsletter company expired.
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@samthielman, @attackerman, @thrasherxy, @zinoman, @bilgeebiri, @davekarpf, @athertonkd, @adamweinstein, @mmoyr, @s_m_i, @lainnafader, @petersterne, @samthielman, @alissamarie, @adamserwer, @ashleyfeinberg, @justinhendrix, @jaredlholt, @nicholasrfish, @alicedreger, @moorehn, @thomdunn, @adamgurri, @andrewliptak, @aricohn, @jbouie, @samthielman, @maxkennerly, @lmlauramarsh, @juliacarriew, The Future, Now and Then, @nathantankus, @mikeduncan, @josephfcox, @mattbors, @schwarz, @johnknefel, @shortformernie, @katzonearth, @jordanzakarin, @crosberg, @jeremylittau, @athertonkd, @alexhern, @caseyjohnston, @mmasnick and @simonowens
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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Variety, Radio & Television …, The Streamable, TVSpy, Adweek, Ad Age, The Hollywood Reporter, Axios, Media Play News, @kristenhaynes_, @film_girl, @jbflint, SlashFilm, @jbflint, @emilylongeretta, @kaludiasays, @jbflint, @jbflint, @quartzen, @benfritz, @tvgrimreaper, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, Digital TV Europe, Wall Street Journal, Next TV and Reuters
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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 …
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@maxjgao, The A.V. Club, Next TV, Too Much TV Newsletter, @pathryn34, @fourhman, @automaticzen, @kendrawrites and @laynemorgan
Reuters:
Walmart partners with Paramount to include the $4.99/month ad-supported tier of the Paramount+ streaming service as part of its Walmart+ subscription — U.S. retailer Walmart Inc (WMT.N) on Monday struck a deal with Paramount Global (PARA.O) to offer Paramount+ streaming service to the subscribers …
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Walmart Inc., Fast Company, MediaPost, Wall Street Journal, Variety, Digital TV Europe, Broadband TV News, @loudmouthjulia, @lucas_shaw, The Streamable, @sherman4949, @markdistef, @sherman4949, @anthony, Deadline, @tjamesnd, TechCrunch, Media Play News, @bjmendelson, The Wrap, Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter, @bryandfischer, @pkafka, @davidlaz, Axios, @tvgrimreaper, @robnashville, @aagave and Associated Press, 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, @jessebrown, @jbenton, @iancapstick, @polakottawa, @brenttoderian, @brandongonez, @tanyatalaga, @perrinbeatty, @studiojude, @davidcommon, @consumersos, @brittlestar, @danalbas, @craigsilverman, @kamilkaramali, @ianhanomansing, @gmbutts, @dtapscott, @lisakirbie, @kvickers, @robertfife, @taraslone and Barrett Media
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Jesse Brown / CANADALAND:
Sources: Bell Media's VP of News Michael Melling fired CTV's Lisa LaFlamme for pushing back against his ideas; Melling also interfered with CTV's news coverage — “He doesn't like it when women push back.” — Lisa LaFlamme, chief anchor of CTV National News, was unceremoniously …
Discussion:
@consumersos, @fatimabsyed, @tanyafusco and @daviddoel
Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
HBO Max lays off ~14% of its staff, or ~70 people, impacting reality, casting, international, and acquisitions, as part of leadership changes — An estimated 70 staffers have been let go as Sarah Aubrey adds international but loses comedy oversight.
Discussion:
Variety, Deadline, MediaPost, New York Times, Digital TV Europe, Bloomberg, The Wrap, @snoodit, Los Angeles Times, TechCrunch, @whenbatmenfly, @deggans, CNBC and @jmaasaronson
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, Reuters, Fortune, Digital TV Europe, Wall Street Journal, Variety, @sportstvratings, New York Post, Financial Times and Bloomberg
New York Times:
Penguin Random House CEO Madeline McIntosh defends the Simon & Schuster acquisition in the DOJ antitrust trial, arguing the industry is vast and varied — Madeline McIntosh argued that the publishing industry extends far beyond its biggest players, and that the government has focused on a tiny sliver of deals.
Discussion:
Courthouse News Service, MCCM Quarterly and Law360
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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, The Verge, @turnernovak, @techcrunch, Earlywork, Tubefilter, @marshacollier, ScreenRant, 9to5Mac and @snapchat, more at Techmeme »
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Nielsen strikes a deal with Amazon to measure Thursday Night Football, the first time a streaming service will be included in Nielsen's weekly TV viewing report — Three-year deal marks first time ratings firm will include viewership of a streaming service's programming in traditional TV report
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:
The Desk, @kevincollier, @snubs, @josephfcox, @checkmyadshq, @lorenzofb, Raw Story and @feoh
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Jezebel, The 19th, The Cut, and other women-centric publications that support abortion rights have seen a surge in readership since SCOTUS reversed Roe v. Wade — The surge of readers has buoyed a part of the digital media world that has gradually declined in recent years.
Discussion:
@katie_robertson, @robinmarty, @spj_tweets, @angryblacklady, @rewirenewsgroup and CNN