Top News:
Sheila Dang / Reuters:
Guideline: X's monthly US ad revenue has declined 55%+ YoY in each of the 10 months since Elon Musk's Twitter takeover in October 2022 through August 2023 — Monthly U.S. ad revenue at social media platform X has declined at least 55% year-over-year each month since billionaire Elon Musk bought …
Bloomberg:
Sources: AT&T is exploring options for its 70% DirecTV stake, such as adding a new investor or selling the stake and exiting the venture as early as August 2024 — - Telecoms giant majority owns DirecTV with private equity TPG — Declining pay-TV customer base has cut into AT&T's cash flow
Discussion:
The Desk and Cord Cutters News
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Comcast-Charter joint venture Xumo launches its first streaming set-top box for new Spectrum video customers, coming to Comcast's Xfinity Internet users “soon” — Can Xumo help cable companies grab a new foothold in the streaming space? — Xumo — the joint venture of Comcast …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Media Play News and Cord Cutters News
Freedom of the Press Foundation:
Over 50 media and civil rights groups write to US AG Merrick Garland, demanding transparency over the FBI raiding Tim Burke's house and seizing his equipment — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: — An FBI raid on the home newsroom of Florida journalist Tim Burke in May prompted over 50 organizations …
Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
X starts removing preview headlines from posts with article links, showing only the lead image and domain name; Elon Musk mentioned the change in August 2023 — The platform formerly known as Twitter now only displays outside sites' featured images on its iPhone app
Discussion:
The Verge, @cburke.bsky.social, @notalawyer.bsky.social, Engadget, @mostlywrite, @cwarzel, @adamjohnsonchi, @dylanljmartin, @tomwarren, @jamesrbuk, @xdaily, @erinkwoo, @adamjohnsonchi, @popbase, @charlescmann, @cwarzel, @cwarzel, @tomwarren, @dsilverman@mastodon.social, @slcw@newsie.social, @mollyjongfast, @alexacorse, The Messenger and The Hill, more at Techmeme »
The Hindu:
The actions on NewsClick by India's government, which has shown itself to be intolerant of critical journalism, smack of extreme vendetta and brazen harassment — The arrests and actions in the Newsclick case are aimed at a chilling effect — Even for a government that has shown itself …
Discussion:
@jagritichandra, @bhadrapunchline, @benarasiyaa, @samar11, @arusbridger, Scroll.in and BBC
Deadline:
SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP met on October 4 for contract negotiations to end the strike, with studio CEOs attending, and plan to meet on October 6 and on October 9 — SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on just wrapped their second day of renewed talks …
Discussion:
Variety, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Wall Street and music industry analysts see Spotify's move into audiobooks as an opportunity for the company to increase its profit margins and value for users — An Evercore ISI analyst expects the effort to be a higher margin business than its music offerings, while a Morgan Stanley expert highlighted …
Discussion:
@tvgrimreaper, Mumbrella, Music Industry Blog, Publishers Weekly, Fox News, RAIN News, CMU, Spotify, Music Ally, Financial Times, The Verge, Publishing Perspectives, Wall Street Journal, Billboard, The Messenger, Consequence, Fast Company, The Sun, TechCrunch, New York Times and Cord Cutters News
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Memo: Amazon is shutting down Amp, its live audio streaming app launched in March 2022 that let users act like DJs by playing music and talking alongside songs — The service launched in March 2022 following a frenzy around live-audio services during the pandemic.
Discussion:
@bradydale, Engadget, @ashleyrcarman, The Verge, The Information, Billboard, KNSD-TV, The Messenger, Pitchfork and New York Daily News, more at Techmeme »
Peter Kafka / Vox:
Netflix and Max both offering Dune illustrates a strategic shift at Big Media companies, which Wall Street has pushed to cut spending and generate more revenue — Remember when Netflix's competitors, like Warner Bros., kept their biggest stuff on their own streaming services? That's so 2021.
Hamilton Nolan / How Things Work:
Cable news networks continue to hire politicians' relatives and former White House flacks as news anchors, breaking the most basic rules of ethical journalism — It's kind of impressive how long cable news has been openly corrupt. — When you work in the parts of the media where I have spent …
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
The Messenger hires AI company Seekr to flag clickbait, bias, and more; reporters can get a score reflecting their political lean that is visible to readers — What counts as clickbait? Merriam-Webster's definition is “something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click …
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