Top News:
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:
TechCrunch, The Verge, The Streamable, MobileSyrup, Engadget, CNET, Collider, Deadline, @ppatel@mstdn.social, Ad Age, @sherman4949, Adweek, AdExchanger, @sherman4949, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, AppleInsider, Bloomberg, IndieWire, New York Post, @sherman4949, Media Play News, MediaPost, CNBC, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Bloomberg, TVLine, ET Canada and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
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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:
New York Times, Forbes, SlashFilm, Axios, The Wrap, TechCrunch, The Walt Disney Company, IndieWire and CNBC
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:
The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter, @zdarsky.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck and CNN
Scott Mendelson / The Wrap:
Bob Iger says Disney is expecting content spending in 2023 to be $27B, about $3B lower than previously guided, in part due to the Hollywood strikes — The company had previously expected to spend $30 billion this year — Walt Disney is cutting its content budget for the year by $3 billion …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, Awful Announcing and Hollywood Reporter
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
Bob Iger says “anyone who wanted to speculate about” potential Disney sale “would have to immediately consider the global regulatory environment” — “Obviously anyone who wanted to speculate about such things would have to immediately consider the global regulatory environment …
Discussion:
@carlquintanilla
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”
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”
Discussion:
The Verge, Mashable, MobileSyrup, Screen Rant, @carnage4life@mas.to, Insider and KXAN Austin, more at Techmeme »
Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
Lionsgate delays the planned split of Lionsgate and Starz to the first quarter of 2024, citing the eOne deal, Hollywood strikes, and a “disruptive marketplace” — The Hollywood giant, led by CEO Jon Feltheimer, has pushed the timing for a spin off of its studio business …
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Nicola Agius / Search Engine Land:
X unveils Sensitivity Settings and Enhanced Blocklist to boost brand safety and control for advertisers, rolling out over the next few weeks in the Ads Manager — The new tools give marketers more say over ad placement. — X, formerly known as Twitter, has launched two new features …
Discussion:
X for Business, Engadget, The Register, MobileSyrup, Social Media Today, @elyanathierry, @xbusiness, @lindayax, TechCrunch, Forbes, Mashable and Adweek, more at Techmeme »
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:
New York Post, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Awful Announcing, Fortune, Sportico, Bloomberg and Barrett Media
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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:
@urbanachievr, @aaschapiro, @matthewkeyslive, @sally_yachts, @matthewkeyslive, @aaschapiro, Mediaite, @mathewi, @aaschapiro and @bubbaprog.ilovecitr.us
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Former Fox exec Preston Padden has joined a small band of vocal critics urging the FCC to deny Fox's renewal of its license to operate Fox 29 in Philadelphia — Preston Padden joined the Fox broadcast network a few years after its launch and helped founder Rupert Murdoch make it viable.
Discussion:
@boulderpreston, @boulderpreston, @edourdoo, @farhip, @newscorpse, @davidfolkenflik, The Wrap and Washington Post
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:
Search Engine Land, The Overspill, @searchliaison, @searchliaison, The Verge and @dannyjpalmer@infosec.exchange
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
Podcast revenue at iHeartMedia, Spotify, and Acast grew between 12% and 31% YoY in Q2; PwC projects total podcast ad revenue to grow 25% YoY to $2.28B in 2023 — iHeartMedia, Spotify and Acast reported revenue growth between 12% and 31% year over year in their podcast businesses during …
Discussion:
Podnews, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and RAIN News
Reuters:
PE firm Symphony Technology Group agrees to acquire media editing software maker Avid for ~$1.4B; Avid's products were used in Top Gun: Maverick and other films — Private equity firm Symphony Technology Group (STG) on Wednesday agreed to buy media editing software maker Avid Technology Inc …
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