Top News:
Kayla Cobb / The Wrap:
Bob Iger says cord-cutting trends are “unmistakable” and Disney is considering “a variety of strategic options” for its linear TV assets such as ABC — Bob Iger says the company is “considering a variety of strategic options” for assets like ABC
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters, @zdarsky.bsky.social, The Hollywood Reporter and CNN
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Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Disney reports Q3 revenue up 4% YoY to $22.3B, a $460M net loss, down from a $1.41B net income YoY, and India's Disney+ Hotstar service losing 12.5M subscribers — Disney+ loses 300K customers in U.S. and Canada while streaming-only Hulu gains 300K — The Walt Disney Co. saw …
Discussion:
Forbes, IndieWire, The Wrap, Axios, CNBC, Media Play News and The Walt Disney Company
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Disney plans to raise US prices of Disney+ Premium, Hulu without ads, and ESPN+, and to expand Disney+ ad-supported plans to Canada and nine European countries — Ad-supported Disney+ tier to expand to Canada, U.K. and eight other European countries this fall
Discussion:
Adweek, MediaPost, AdExchanger, CNET, SlashFilm, The Verge, The Streamable, Bloomberg, TVLine, Ad Age, CNBC, The Wrap, IndieWire, UPI, TV Insider, Collider, The Information, AppleInsider, ComingSoon.net, Media Play News, Deadline, Bloomberg, @sherman4949, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @sherman4949, The Hollywood Reporter, @ppatel@mstdn.social, @sherman4949, Insider and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
Adam Chitwood / The Wrap:
Bob Iger says Disney is “actively exploring ways” to crack down on password sharing and “will roll out tactics to drive monetization sometime in 2024” — Disney+ will begin cracking down on password-sharing in 2024 in an effort to drive monetization …
Discussion:
CNET, Insider, IndieWire, The Verge, Breitbart, KFOR.com Oklahoma City, @carnage4life@mas.to and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
The Penn-Barstool deal made sense for Penn and Dave Portnoy when he sold Barstool in 2020, and the Penn-Disney deal makes sense now as Portnoy regains Barstool — Also WeWork's decline, Yellow's equity value, Target as a securities-fraud target and a Reata M&A typo. — Barstool
Discussion:
@theuncharles, Vox, The Atlantic, Awful Announcing, Axios, Variety, Poynter, The Athletic, New York Times, Barrett Media and Axios
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Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
Filing: Dave Portnoy acquired Barstool Sports for $1 from Penn Entertainment, which says it expects to record a loss of between $800M and $850M on the deal — Penn Entertainment estimates that it will take a loss of as much as $850 million on Barstool. — Just how much did Dave Portnoy pay …
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, Sportico, Bloomberg, Variety, Fortune, New York Post, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and Barrett Media
Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:
Q&A with Mark Rasch, a lawyer for Tim Burke, whose PCs and equipment were seized in a probe of Fox News video leaks, on the case's implications for journalists — In May, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed up at Tim Burke's home in Tampa, Florida, and seized several computers …
Discussion:
Mediaite, @mathewi, @matthewkeyslive, @aaschapiro, @aaschapiro, @urbanachievr, @sally_yachts, @matthewkeyslive, @aaschapiro and @bubbaprog.ilovecitr.us
Thomas Germain / Gizmodo:
CNET is deleting older posts, calling such cuts a best practice for sites “primarily driven by SEO traffic”; Google says purging to improve SEO is “not a thing” — Google says deleting old pages to bamboozle Search is “not a thing!” as CNET erases its history.
Discussion:
The Verge, @searchliaison, @searchliaison, Search Engine Roundtable and @dannyjpalmer@infosec.exchange
Steven Waldman / The Atlantic:
Funding US local news, which could mean ~$1.5B per year to sustain 25K local reporter positions, would more than pay for itself and “save American democracy” — The decline of local journalism isn't just a threat to democracy. It's also costing us money. — Zak podmore did not bring down a corrupt mayor.
Discussion:
Media Nation, @jrussellmi, @stevenwaldman, American Press Institute, @mckaycoppins, @dlberes and @bykenarmstrong
Scott Mendelson / The Wrap:
Lionsgate reports Q1 revenue up 1.6% YoY to $909M vs. $893M est., a $70.7M net loss, and Motion Picture revenue up 46% to $406.5M driven by John Wick: Chapter 4 — Strong holdover box office from “John Wick: Chapter 4” and consistently strong TV and library business help the mini-major come out on top
Discussion:
Variety, Lionsgate, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and Media Play News
Yuvraj Malik / Reuters:
The world's largest news media organizations sign an open letter calling for a framework to “collectively negotiate” use of their IP with AI model operators — A group of the world's biggest news media organizations called for revised regulations on the use of copyrighted material …
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
Gizmodo EIC Dan Ackerman sues Apple, the Tetris Company, and others, accusing them of adapting his book about Tetris into a feature film without his permission — Dan Ackerman, editor in chief of the tech-news website Gizmodo, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on Monday accusing Apple …
Discussion:
New York Post, @xpangler, IndieWire, PC Gamer, Plagiarism Today, @reedalbergotti, @11thjeff, Metro, The Verge, Engadget, Talking Biz News, The Wrap, Variety, 9to5Mac and AppleInsider, more at Techmeme »