Mediagazer: The Sporting News raised $15M led by Playtech, valuing the outlet in the “eight figures”; TSN was founded as a newspaper in 1886 and became digital-only in 2012 (Sara Fischer/Axios)

Tim Baysinger / Axios:

Endeavor combines the WWE with UFC to form TKO Group, and plans to keep the two separate in US rights deals but leverage them together for global rights deals — - Tim Baysinger, author of Axios Pro: Media Deals — Endeavor plans to keep UFC and WWE separate in U.S. rights deals …

Discussion: Variety, Fast Company, Awful Announcing, @sherman4949, @joepompliano, Los Angeles Times, Fox Business, CNBC, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, The Messenger and Front Office Sports

Sapna Maheshwari / New York Times:

TikTok begins rolling out TikTok Shop to all US users, adding a button to the app's home screen that sends users to a marketplace, and already has 200K sellers — The company is beginning to introduce TikTok Shop to all of the app's users in the U.S., hoping to add a major new revenue stream.

Discussion: Ad Age, CBS News, Reuters, The Verge, @sino_market, TikTok, Gizmodo, The Messenger, @tiktokcomms, TechCrunch and Insider Intelligence, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

The Sporting News raised $15M led by Playtech, valuing the outlet in the “eight figures”; TSN was founded as a newspaper in 1886 and became digital-only in 2012 — The Sporting News, a digital sports news site, has raised $15 million in a growth round led by Playtech, a London-based …

Andrew Albanese / Publishers Weekly:

The Internet Archive appeals a US judge's March 2023 decision that favors publishers in a copyright infringement case over the nonprofit's ebook lending program — As expected, the Internet Archive this week submitted its appeal in Hachette v. Internet Archive, the closely-watched copyright case involving …

Discussion: Plagiarism Today, Internet Archive Blogs, @remixtures@tldr.nettime.org, MediaNama, The Verge, The Bookseller and @glynmoody@mastodon.social

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

Nielsen's Gracenote unveils the FAST Program, designed to help content companies get their FAST channels and programming distributed by major streaming services — Unveiled at IBC in Amsterdam, it promises “better FAST content visibility, consumption and monetization.”

Discussion: Media Play News and MediaPost

Financial Times:

How a decade-long effort to restructure loans extended to the Barclay family culminated in Lloyds Banking Group seizing control of the Telegraph newspaper group — How a decade-long effort to restructure loans extended to the reclusive businessmen's empire culminated in Lloyds Banking Group seizing control of a national newspaper

Rachel Graf / The Information:

Sources describe Apollo's Yahoo turnaround efforts, including layoffs, asset sales, and new partnerships; Yahoo is on pace to generate $7B in 2023 gross revenue — When speaking about the company he inherited in September 2021, Jim Lanzone is remarkably blunt.

Discussion: @rachelagraf, @natebecker, @natebecker, @semaforben, @jessicalessin and @jamesgillespiex

New York Times:

Ex-NFL Network reporter Jim Trotter sues the NFL for racial discrimination, alleging his contract wasn't renewed after he called out the NFL's lack of diversity — Jim Trotter said his contract with the NFL Network was not renewed after he challenged Commissioner Roger Goodell and other executives …

Discussion: Mediaite, Awful Announcing, TMZ.com, Axios, United States District Court Southern District of New York, @claytravis, @nrarmour, The Athletic, @danprimack, @jimtrotter_nfl, Defector, Barrett Media, The Daily Beast, NBCSports.com and The Messenger

Sara Fischer / Axios:

The Economist plans to introduce Economist Podcasts+, a tier that in mid-October will offer exclusive access to all of the Economist's podcasts for $4.90/month — The Economist plans to introduce a new subscription tier this Thursday called Economist Podcasts+ for $4.90 monthly, the Economist president Bob Cohn told Axios.

Discussion: @jackmarshall

Jason Koebler / 404 Media:

As some supposedly “leaked” Harry Styles songs are being sold on Discord, fans and AI-analysis companies struggle to determine if the clips are AI-generated — Discord communities within the Harry Styles and One Direction fandom are tearing themselves apart over “leaked snippets” …

Discussion: @josephfcox and @jason_koebler, more at Techmeme »

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:

MTV partners with Snapchat to let users vote for the Video Music Awards' Best New Artist category through a special Lens, once the three finalists are decided — MTV has partnered with Snapchat to let users vote for a Video Music Awards category through Lenses.

Discussion: @senoj.bsky.social and MediaPost

Hunter Walk:

Why there has never been a better time to be an online creator: it might be harder than ever to earn $1M per year, but it has never been easier to make $50K — I judge the health of the creator economy by one single controversial factor: ease of access and probability of survival for its participants.

Discussion: @obrien, @hunterwalk, The Information and @carnage4life@threads.net

Emma Roth / The Verge:

Disney and Charter's deal bundles ESPN+ with Spectrum TV Select Plus, and the upcoming ESPN streaming channel and Disney+'s ad tier with Spectrum TV Select — Disney and Charter have resolved the carriage dispute that blocked millions of viewers from watching ESPN, ABC, FX, and other Disney-owned networks.

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Interviews with Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro about the Charter deal, how Spectrum expands ESPN+'s reach, and more

Discussion: The Streamable, WORLD SCREEN, Yahoo Entertainment, Deadline, Cord Cutters News, Forbes, Comic Book, Hollywood Reporter and Variety