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, Radio & Television …, Variety, The Streamable, Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter, 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
RELATED:
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, @maxjgao, @pathryn34, TVLine, @fourhman, @automaticzen, @laynemorgan and Decider
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Walmart agrees to a deal with Paramount Global to offer the Paramount+ streaming service to Walmart+ subscribers, to better compete with Amazon Prime — Paramount+ shows will be part of perks retailer offers subscribers to Walmart+ membership program
Discussion:
Variety, The Streamable, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, @robnashville, @tvgrimreaper, @anthony and @loudmouthjulia
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, TechCrunch, Los Angeles Times, Deadline, The Wrap, Bloomberg, CNBC, IndieWire, @deggans and @snoodit
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, Tubefilter, @turnernovak, The Verge and 9to5Mac, 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 …
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, Bloomberg and @sportstvratings
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.
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
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 »
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
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.
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
RELATED:
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