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 …
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.
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 …
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, The Verge and Snap Newsroom, more at Techmeme »
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.
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, AdExchanger, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Protocol, more at Techmeme »
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.
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:
CNBC, BGR, @patrickmoorhead, @hbkirb, @venkatananth, @neiltwitz, The Verge, @chris_ciaccia, @alex_gurevich and @markgurman, 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:
@nandoodles, @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, Mediaite, @baddcompani, @ananavarro, @parkermolloy, @mehdirhasan, Boing Boing, The Wrap, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, Insider and @mehdirhasan
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:
@rpsagainsttrump, @adl, @dangillmor, Los Angeles Times, @underoak, @sephspeaks, @michaelshermer, @kenolin1, @fred_guttenberg, @jeffjarvis, Insider, @benestes, @thewrap, @crewcrew, Politico and The Racket News
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 — Nearly one-fifth of subscribers to premium services such as Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max canceled three or more subscriptions in two years, new data show
Discussion:
@bysarahkrouse, @anthony, @sherman4949, @asharma and @jtoonkel
Malte Warner / Global Investigative Journalism Network:
A look at Europe's “New Sector” public interest news outlets that operate with a “nonprofit state of mind”; Netzwerk Recherche: 66% rely on foundation support — This post is an excerpt from “The New Sector,” a May 2022 report on the state of independent public interest journalism …
Discussion:
@gijn
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Sources: the Daily Mail has approached Boris Johnson about writing a column for the paper after he steps down as prime minister — Outgoing PM expected to find new home for his old trade as journalist after Telegraph cools on his qualities — Three days before he became prime minister …