Mediagazer: 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 (Sara Guaglione/Digiday)

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, Awful Announcing, New York Times, The Information, Reuters, @zdarsky.bsky.social, The Hollywood Reporter and CNN, more at Techmeme »

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, The Wrap, Collider, IndieWire, 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

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, The Verge, IndieWire, Insider, Breitbart, ComingSoon.net, WHNT.com, @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: Vox, @theuncharles, The Atlantic, Axios, Variety, Poynter, The Athletic, New York Times, Barrett Media and Axios

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, @urbanachievr, @sally_yachts, @matthewkeyslive, @aaschapiro, @bubbaprog.ilovecitr.us, @matthewkeyslive, @aaschapiro, @mathewi and @aaschapiro

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

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, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Inside Radio

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

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, @mckaycoppins, @dlberes, @bykenarmstrong and American Press Institute

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 …

Pamela McClintock / Hollywood Reporter:

Netflix reopens NYC's iconic Paris Theater after major upgrades with plans to screen its original movies and host special events, retrospectives, and filmmakers — The iconic cinema will be able to screen 70mm film for the first time in years and also has a new Dolby Atmos system.

Discussion: The Wrap