Top News:
Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Fast Company took its website offline after a hacker used its Apple News account to send two obscene push notifications; Apple disabled the outlet's channel — It's been a little while since we had a high-profile media feed hijacking, but tonight someone sent an Apple News notification …
Discussion:
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
SEC filing: Lionsgate plans to explore spinning off its studio business, not Starz; its international streamer StarzPlay will be rebranded as Lionsgate+ — Lionsgate is now looking at spinning off its studio business — rather than kicking out the Starz premium network and streaming business.
The Daily Beast:
Sources: CNN lays off around 20 people who were the last remaining CNN+ staffers, a few days after it laid off eight from its audio division — Five months after the network axed its much-hyped but short-lived streamer, it gave pink slips to the remaining staffers on the failed endeavor.
Discussion:
Insider, @justinbaragona, Deadline and New York Post
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
How The Telegraph and Reach are using personalized newsletters to improve page visits, while The Toronto Star says most users want “what everyone else got” — As companies like The New York Times and The Washington Post experiment with personalizing their homepages to get readers …
Discussion:
Michael's Newsletter, The Golf Newsletter, @nbj914, The System Newsletter and Illusion's Newsletter
Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
Epix will be rebranded as MGM+ on January 15, 2023; Epix 2 will become MGM+ Hits, Epix Hits becomes MGM+ Marquee, and Epix Drive-In becomes MGM+ Drive-In — The linear network as well as its streaming offering will be rebranded starting in January. — Epix is joining ABC Family, IMDb TV and Spike TV in the network name scrap heap.
Discussion:
Variety, Next TV, Adweek, The Streamable, The Wrap, Ad Age, The A.V. Club, Deadline, @billsimmons, Media Play News, @drewkerr, TVLine, @xpangler, @sherman4949, @loudmouthjulia and IndieWire
Eamon Lynch / Golfweek:
Sources: Saudi-backed LIV Golf nears a deal to purchase air time for its tournaments on Fox Sports 1; a source says Lachlan Murdoch directed Fox to get involved — LIV Golf is nearing a deal to purchase air time for its tournaments on U.S. cable television, multiple sources have told Golfweek.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon updates its Fire TV lineup with a new $140 Fire TV Cube media player, Fire TV Omni QLED Series starting at $800, and a new $35 Alexa Voice Remote Pro — Amazon today introduced two new Fire TV devices designed to cater to customers seeking a more premium experience.
Discussion:
CNET, The Streamable, Gizmodo, ZDNet, Engadget, The Verge, The Shortcut, Engadget and @reckless, more at Techmeme »
Reuters:
Sources: Vietnam prepares rules to limit which social media accounts can post news content, expected by the end of 2022, expanding on media guidelines from July — Vietnam is preparing new rules to limit which social media accounts can post news-related content, three people familiar with the matter said …
Josh Dickey / The Wrap:
A pension fund and Warner Bros. Discovery shareholder sues the company, saying Warner Bros. inflated HBO Max subscribers by up to 10M amid the Discovery merger — Warner Bros. cooked its HBO Max subscriber numbers by as many as 10 million and misled shareholders in other ways that violate …
Discussion:
Observer, The Hill, @slack2thefuture, @tvgrimreaper, @matthewkeyslive, @theculturednerd, @whenbatmenfly, @culturecrave, The Desk and Vulture
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
A look at tappable podcast ads in mobile games, which trigger episode downloads; source: iHeartMedia got ~6M unique listeners/month through such ads since 2018 — Want more stories like this from Ashley Carman? Podcasters are always hunting for new, flashy places to promote their shows …
Discussion:
Garbage Day, @ashleyrcarman, The Verge, @acfou, @jamesrenner, @rodimusprime, @taylorlorenz, The Rephonic Blog, @immortaltech, @rdbinns, @mrasquith, @paultassi, ScreenRant, Podnews, @stacyherbert, @technology, @technology, AdExchanger, @ashleyrcarman, @nickbenevenia, @ryanbarwick, @dannypage, @simonowens, @loudmouthjulia, Gizmodo and PRWeek, more at Techmeme »
Annette Nwabeke / KERA News:
North Texas public radio station KERA plans to buy the Denton Record-Chronicle, which will become a nonprofit, with help from the National Trust for Local News — KERA announced plans Tuesday to acquire the Denton Record-Chronicle, the historical and primary newspaper of Denton County.
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
A profile of Creative Artists Agency co-chairman Bryan Lourd, who Ted Sarandos and other executives say has become one of the most powerful people in Hollywood — After shocking the corporate world last year with the news Discovery Communications would merge with WarnerMedia …
Discussion:
@sarthakgh, @sherman4949, @kimmasters, @mgsiegler, @mattrosoff, @sherman4949 and @sherman4949