Top News:
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Activist investor Daniel Loeb backs off his proposal for Disney to sell ESPN, citing a “better understanding” of the company's “growth and innovation plans” — Activist investor Daniel S. Loeb of Third Point has backed off his proposal from last month for Disney …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Observer, @bradsling, Bloomberg and Deadline
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Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Q&A with Disney CEO Bob Chapek on Hulu's and ESPN's future, buying out Comcast's 33% stake in Hulu before 2024, a seamless bundle, activist investors, and more — “You should see the backstage,” actor Diego Luna told the D23 Expo crowd Saturday morning as he talked up his new “Star Wars” …
Discussion:
@danielsloeb1, Bloomberg, Financial Times, New York Times, Deadline, The Streamable, @nickzararis, @kimbhasin, @markjburns88, @kerrymflynn, @neilcybart, Gizmodo, Awful Announcing, Axios, The Hollywood Reporter, @susanlitv, @carlquintanilla, @sportstvratings, The Wrap, @kirbyslastsnack, Reuters and The Wrap
Liz Schwartz / Shorenstein Center:
Brian Stelter joins the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard as the Fall 2022 Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy Fellow — The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School is pleased to announce that Brian Stelter will join …
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
HBO and HBO Max won 37 awards at the 74th Emmy Awards, while Netflix won 26, Hulu eight, Apple TV+ seven, NBC seven, Disney+ six, and Amazon Prime Video six — The combined HBO and HBO Max surged past rival Netflix in this year's overall Emmys tally, winning a dozen prizes tonight for a total …
Wall Street Journal:
Internal Meta research: Instagram users spend 17.6M hours/day on Reels vs. TikTok's 197.8M hours/day; only 20% of Instagram's ~11M US creators post on Reels — Reels faces formidable competition from the leading short-video platform; creators follow the views
Discussion:
Insider, @caseynewton, @jeffhorwitz, @stevekovach, @sal19, Transistori, @iamthetrinity, @reaganbrad, The Neue, @itsmeglinehan, @michaelsayman, @newley, Gizmodo, @benfritz, Kenan's Thoughts and Reads, The Verge, @firstadopter, @wsj, @moorehn, HEAVY METAL EMAIL, Tubefilter, @shiraovide, @meghanbobrowsky and @anthony, more at Techmeme »
Bloomberg:
The New York Times offered branded lunchboxes to welcome workers back to the office, as 1,200+ employees work from home to protest stalled contract negotiations — Hundreds of New York Times Co. employees are working from home this week in defiance of the company's renewed return-to-office push.
Discussion:
@nytimesguild, Observer, @imtheq, @niubi, @jordannovet, @josheidelson, @josheidelson, @zagatam, @whet, @thekvetcher, @bizboyle and Washington Post
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Roku updates its OS, adding a short-form content hub, refreshes its $30 Roku Express streaming player, and launches a $130 Roku Wireless Bass subwoofer — Roku unveiled a software update to its streaming operating system — OS 11.5 — that among other features will introduce a new section …
Discussion:
Roku, TechCrunch, @henshaw, ScreenRant, The Streamable, @aagave, Cord Cutters News and The Verge
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Analysis: Amazon is projected to spend $15B on programming including sports in 2022, ahead of Netflix's $13.6B, Disney+'s $9.5B, WBD's $6.5B, and Apple's $6B — Good afternoon from Los Angeles. I am headed to Singapore and Seoul at the end of the month. If there is anyone I should meet …
Discussion:
@lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw and TechCrunch
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
The Verge launches a redesign with a “modern newsfeed experience”, including links to other sites, alongside a new logo, typefaces, comment system, and more — Revolutionizing the media with blog posts … We've got a whole new Verge for you today. Radically new.
Discussion:
@verge, The Verge, @vinayaravind, @parkerortolani, @r3dash, @alex, @jonporty, @jjvincent and @reckless
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
The Athletic rolls out its first on-site ads after six months of planning, a key development in The New York Times' strategy to expand its global ad footprint — Beginning Monday, The Athletic will feature ads for the first time in its six-year history — After six months of planning …
Discussion:
The Athletic, Poynter, Axios, Awful Announcing, AdExchanger, @mattlanza, @mattlanza, @markstenberg3 and @sarafischer
Ashley Gold / Axios:
UNC's Center on Technology Policy: programmatic ad firms need clearer policies on political ad content, disclaimers, targeting, transparency, and accountability — After Big Tech platforms cracked down on political ads in the 2020 election's wake, political advertisers have increasingly flocked …
Discussion:
@eriksherman, American Press Institute, @axios and @ashleyrgold
Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
A look at Google News Initiative's Innovation Challenge, which has funded $33M across 260 projects in eight years, preferring small grants and replicable ideas — While others practice a long-term ‘go-big-or-go-home’ strategy, Google's philanthropy has taken the opposite tack.
Discussion:
Media Voices, @frankwords, @uscannenberg, @poynter, @poynter, @dmitryshishkin and @poynter