Top News:
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: WBD plans to add live sports to Max at no extra cost for a limited time later in 2023, and start charging a sports fee likely in February or March 2024 — Customers will need to pay an additional amount for sports starting next year, likely around February or March, said the people …
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, The Desk, The Verge, Reuters, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei, The Streamable, Front Office Sports, Cord Cutters News and The Messenger
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Interviews with 25+ people who worked with Bob Iger and Bob Chapek between 2020 and 2022 detail how Disney's CEO succession plan went awry and brought back Iger — - What did a private bathroom, Oogie Boogie and a hippo have to do with the behind-the-scenes chaos between Bob Iger and Bob Chapek at Disney?
Discussion:
IndieWire, Fox Business, New York Post, @sherman4949, @murraymatt, @mattrosoff, @jbflint, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, The Verge, Awful Announcing and KNSD-TV
Joe Coscarelli / New York Times:
Ghostwriter, the anonymous creator who used AI to mimic Drake and The Weeknd, has met with record labels, Grammy organizers, and more, and releases a new song — The anonymous artist, who stirred conversation with the A.I. track “Heart on My Sleeve,” has been quietly consulting with executives, while also gunning for a Grammy.
Discussion:
Billboard, The Verge, Engadget, Forbes, Variety, Deadline, Futurism, The Fader, Gizmodo, TMZ.com, The A.V. Club, UPROXX, Consequence, The Messenger and ET Canada
Lane Brown / Vulture:
How Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer, an important metric in entertainment, became erratic and reductive as some PR firms hack its score by paying obscure “critics” — In 2018, a movie-publicity company called Bunker 15 took on a new project: Ophelia, a feminist retelling of Hamlet starring Daisy Ridley.
Discussion:
The Wrap, IndieWire, SlashFilm, IGN, @stevenrosenthal …, ComingSoon.net, @samuelaadams, @projectseestra, @huginspl, @_zeets, @leask, @sicrook, @milkman__dead, @mikeryan, @tomilaffly, @luke_winkie, @nathanpester, @chrisecrowley, @moviedeathblows, @hamrahrama, @seanmburns, @mattzeitlin, @boringdrew, @ipreferpi314, @sonnybunch, @nick_field90, @walthickey, @katiewalshstx, @beatonna and @themanfromrio2
Barbara Krasnoff / The Verge:
Some small independent publishers struggle after Amazon ended Kindle Periodicals on September 4; Fantasy Magazine said its last issue will be in October 2023 — I like short stories. I read them, and I write them. I grew up subscribing to and reading The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction …
Discussion:
MediaPost and Fantasy MagazineRSS
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
How the NFL conquered Hollywood via $110B in deals for exclusive live games with broadcasters and streamers, producing scripted and unscripted content, and more — To the tune of $110 billion, the league has shrewdly leveraged the fact that media — whether NBC, CBS, Fox and ESPN or Amazon and YouTube …
Discussion:
New York Magazine, @alexweprin and @alexweprin
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Roku plans to lay off 300+, or 10% of its staff, close offices, and take an up to $65M impairment charge in Q3 2023 for cutting some content; ROKU jumps 5%+ — Roku will cut more than 300 staffers — laying off 10% of its workforce — as the streaming-platform company continues its battle to control costs.
Reuters:
A Burmese court sentences photojournalist Sai Zaw Thaike to 20 years in prison, the longest known prison term given to a media employee since the 2021 army coup — A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Wednesday sentenced a photojournalist to 20 years in prison, his employer said …
Discussion:
Fox News and Committee to Protect …
Thomas Claburn / The Register:
Google started rolling out Chrome's Enhanced Ad Privacy, part of its Topics API, via a popup; some say the Got It button is misleading for leaving tracking on — YMMV, based on where you are — Google has been gradually rolling out Chrome's “Enhanced Ad Privacy.”
Discussion:
Neowin, @jon@henshaw.social, The Verge, @nixCraft@mastodon.social and The Messenger, more at Techmeme »
Deadline:
A look at Netflix's success-based residuals in France, Germany, and Scandinavia, driven by laws about authors' rights, as some in the US debate such metrics — Since the outbreak of the dual Hollywood labor strikes, the issue of residuals has risen to the fore as a key battleground dividing …
David Pierce / The Verge:
Spotify is testing making song lyrics a Premium-only feature, currently “with a limited number of users in a pair of markets” — A number of Spotify users began to notice something strange over the last day or so: the in-app lyrics, which typically pop up under the currently playing song …
Discussion:
9to5Mac, @jon_speaks_, @realjoseph123, Gizmodo, @thequietkid4l, Music Business Worldwide, Music Ally, Billboard, TechCrunch and Engadget, more at Techmeme »
Davey Alba / Bloomberg:
Google plans a November policy update requiring election advertisers to prominently disclose when their ads contain generative AI-based images, video, or audio — Audio, images and video on political advertising will need to be labeled … The policy update, which applies starting mid-November …
Discussion:
The Verge, The Hill and The Messenger, more at Techmeme »
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