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, The Streamable, The Desk, @tvgrimreaper and Media Play News
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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
Jane Friedman:
An author finds multiple “garbage books” uploaded to Amazon under her name, most likely AI-generated, and on Goodreads, which removed them after her complaint — Update (afternoon of Aug. 7): Hours after this post was published, my Goodreads profile was cleaned of the offending titles.
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Casey Newton / Platformer:
After 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:
Media Matters for America, Insider, @blackamazon, @chargrille@progressives …, @jkohlmann@mastodon.social, @karlbode, @niedermeyer.io, ET Canada, Android Police, The Guardian, Techlusive, New York Magazine, Mediaite, New York Daily News, The Wrap, Variety, CBS News, Associated Press, The Hill, Gizmodo, New York Post, Fortune, Fox News, Digital Journal, Politico, Comic Book and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
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:
@sarafischer
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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Chris Lee / Vulture:
A group of 50+ Marvel VFX employees votes to be represented by IATSE, marking the first time VFX professionals have banded together to form a union — Call it the Hollywood-labor-organizing version of Avengers Assemble! On the heels of more than a year's worth of damning disclosures around …
Discussion:
Fortune, Kidscreen, Vanity Fair, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Playlist, @stevie_mat, @darren_mooney, @parismarx, @__chrislee, Semafor, @henrytcasey, The Guardian, Collider, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, IndieWire, SlashFilm, Deadline, The Wrap, @elenaperez@mastodon.social, The A.V. Club, Gizmodo, @rocketdyke@yellowmustard.club, @glennf@twit.social, @oweeeeendennis.bsky.social, @labuzamovies.bsky.social, @rodhilton@mastodon.social, @hypercubexl.bsky.social, CNN, Screen Rant and ET Canada
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 …
Discussion:
Collider
Jon Lafayette / Next TV:
Nexstar reports net revenue down 0.4% YoY to $1.24B, adjusted EBITDA down 32% YoY to $331M, a $78M loss for the CW, and core TV ad revenue down 2.2% to $404M — Distribution revenue rose 7.7% — Nexstar Media Group reported lower profits amid a non-election year drop in political advertising and losses at The CW.
Discussion:
Adweek, MediaPost, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, The Desk, TVNewsCheck, Nexstar Media Group, Inc. and The Wrap
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:
Screen Rant, Rolling Stone, @aliciadcarroll, @wgawest, @sev___, @oriana_banana, @carriecnh12, @judyberman.bsky.social, @elisewho, @lawoftd, @dasgoot1 and Collider
Wesley Hilliard / AppleInsider:
Apple Music launches Discovery Station, akin to Spotify's algorithmic suggestions, available via the Listen Now tab in the Stations for You category — Discovery and Personal Stations on Apple Music — Apple Music users hoping for more algorithmic discovery options akin to Spotify …
Discussion:
@HilliTech@techhub.social, Music Ally, TechCrunch and The Verge
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Spotify expands its AI-powered DJ beta, available in the app's Music feed, to ~50 markets, six months after debuting the English-only feature in North America — Spotify is expanding its AI-powered “DJ” to dozens of markets globally, six months after debuting the feature in North America.
Discussion:
AppleInsider, Spotify, Gizmodo and @eldsjal, more at Techmeme »
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
The NYT reports Q2 revenue up 6.3% YoY to $590.9M, adjusted operating profit of $92.2M, 9.88M subscribers, and $409.6M in subscription revenue — The company added 180,000 new digital subscribers in the latest quarter, and now has nearly 10 million subscribers in total.
Discussion:
Front Office Sports, Poynter, Yahoo Finance, @loudmouthjulia, @newspaperworld and @loudmouthjulia
Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
Fox Corp reports $3.03B in Q4 revenue and a $369M net income; full-year revenue rose 7% YoY to $14.91B and net income hit $1.25B, up from $1.23B the prior year — The media company reports 74 cents in earnings per share for its fourth quarter as it moves past Dominion lawsuit
Discussion:
The Desk, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, PR Newswire, Deadline, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei and WORLD SCREEN
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