Top News:
Luke Bouma / Cord Cutters News:
Dish reports that Dish TV lost 197K subscribers in Q2, leaving 6.9M subscribers, and Sling TV lost 97K subscribers, leaving 2M subscribers — Today DISH announced its 2nd quarter 2023 earnings and reported that DISH and Sling TV lost 294,000 subscribers. This worked out to the company …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, @tvgrimreaper, Media Play News, The Streamable and The Desk
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Wall Street Journal:
Charlie Ergen strikes a deal to merge Dish and EchoStar, as he shifts away from the shrinking pay-TV network to compete with wireless giants like AT&T — Deal aims to give Dish the financial flexibility it needs to compete in the next generation of wireless
Agence France-Presse:
News Media Canada, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, CBC, and Radio-Canada ask Canada's competition watchdog to investigate Meta's blocking of news — Media on Tuesday asked Canada's competition watchdog to investigate Meta's blocking of news articles on Facebook and Instagram …
Discussion:
The Guardian and Canadian Association …
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Given the countless times Elon Musk has walked back announcements, the business media must rethink its coverage of X, Musk, and the fight with Mark Zuckerberg — After a weekend of whoppers about X and fighting Mark Zuckerberg, the press should take a more skeptical approach
Discussion:
The Wrap, New York Post, TheBlaze, @blackamazon, Insider, @jkohlmann@mastodon.social, Android Police, Media Matters for America, @niedermeyer.io, @chargrille@progressives …, @karlbode, ET Canada, Techlusive, New York Magazine, New York Daily News, Mediaite, Variety, CBS News, Associated Press, The Hill, Gizmodo, Fortune, Fox News, The Guardian, Digital Journal and Politico, more at Techmeme »
Jane Friedman:
An author finds “garbage books”, most likely AI-generated, uploaded to Amazon under her name and added to Goodreads; both services have since removed the titles — Update (afternoon of Aug. 7): Hours after this post was published, my official Goodreads profile was cleaned of the offending titles.
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Reuters:
Sources: earlier in 2023, Disney created a task force to study how the company can apply AI, develop in-house AI apps, and form partnerships with startups — Walt Disney (DIS.N) has created a task force to study artificial intelligence and how it can be applied across the entertainment conglomerate …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Puck raised a $10M+ Series B led by J Rothschild Capital Management and plans to hire 8 to 10 new people in 2023; the outlet currently has 31 employees — Puck, the buzzy media startup that covers the intersection of Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Wall Street and Washington …
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Information and @sarafischer
Sara Fischer / Axios:
The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson says the outlet hopes to be profitable in 2024, plans to seek higher-margin ad deals, and has 925K subscribers — The Atlantic has booked $19.5 million in advertising and events revenue so far this year, according to data shown to staff during …
Discussion:
@sarafischer
Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Rhoda Karpatkin, the former executive director and president of Consumer Reports who doubled subscriptions to 4.3M, is dead at 93 — The first woman to be named executive director of Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, she expanded its readership and its influence in Washington.
Discussion:
@jimshultz, @chrishendel, @mltellado and TACD
Sara Fischer / Axios:
OpenAI plans to fund a new initiative at NYU's journalism school with a $395K grant, which will provide workshops on journalism ethics issues — OpenAI, the parent company to ChatGPT, will fund a new journalism ethics initiative at New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute …
Discussion:
@tonyajoriley, Shelly Palmer, @_felixsimon_ and @dicktofel
Financial Times:
Sources: Google and UMG are in talks to license artists' melodies and voices for AI-made songs; goals include making a tool for fans and paying copyright owners — New technology that can mimic artists' voices has been seen as growing threat — Google and Universal Music are in talks …
Mark Hicks / The Detroit News:
Bob Giles, who led two newsrooms to Pulitzers, oversaw Nieman Journalism Lab's launch, and selected and hosted hundreds of Nieman Fellows at Harvard, dies at 90 — Former Detroit News editor and publisher Bob Giles ― who led the paper to a Pulitzer Prize, the highest honor in journalism …
Discussion:
@jodeet, @bethelmckenzie, @erniesuggs, @tommytomlinson, Detroit Free Press and Nieman Foundation
Max Kim / Los Angeles Times:
The Korea Broadcasting Actors Union says Netflix is not responding to calls to meet as the union fights for a better compensation system that includes residuals — As news of the SAG-AFTRA strike broke in mid-July, Song Chang-gon, a 51-year-old actor and current president …
Discussion:
New York Post, Inverse, Rolling Stone, @aliciadcarroll, @wgawest, @sev___, @oriana_banana, @carriecnh12, @judyberman.bsky.social, @elisewho, @lawoftd, @dasgoot1, Screen Rant and Collider
Alex Webb / Bloomberg:
How Lionel Messi coming to MLS may help Apple attract international TV+ subscribers, as the service has almost no content made for non-English-speaking markets — Lionel Messi may be just what Apple TV+ needed. But first... Apple TV+ has come a long way in a relatively short period of time.
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, @karissabe, @fos, @messiquote, @pkedrosky and The Athletic
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