Mediagazer: How telecoms and media giant Altice, led by billionaire Patrick Drahi, became weighed down by scandals and debt-fueled acquisitions from a low-interest-rate era (Bloomberg)

12:40 PM ET, October 25, 2023

Top News:

Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:

Internal Slack messages show senior NYT editors dismissed suggestions from some staff that the paper hedge in its initial framing of the Gaza hospital explosion — Internal messages obtained by Vanity Fair offer a glimpse into the newsroom decision-making process and reveal pushback among …

Discussion: New York Post, Media Nation, Talking Biz News, @lessin, @fendien, @vinodsreeharsha, @stevesi, @rachaelrad, @panyol, @jessicalessin, @smarterparrot, @nthnashma, @lessin, Fox News and CNN

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
The Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine wars are fueling graphic videos online for a global audience, sometimes as propaganda, and potentially causing more trauma

Discussion: Politico, @drewharwell.com and The Hill, more at Techmeme »

CNN:
Asked about their coverage of the hospital blast in Gaza, the WSJ declines to comment, the AP and Al Jazeera ignore inquiries, Reuters and CNN admit no fault

Discussion: @charlottetklein, @hafsaquraishi_, @nick_field90, @arictoler, @sheerafrenkel@threads.net, @freecharlesdavis@threads.net, @lawrencehurley@threads.net, Los Angeles Times, NPR, @coreypein.bsky.social, New York Times and Wall Street Journal

Shruti Rajkumar / HuffPost:

Scholastic drops plans to separate books based on themes about race and gender at US school fairs, after criticism that segregating books enabled censorship — The publisher had said it would segregate books with themes on race and gender at school fairs in order to navigate a rash of bans across the country.

Discussion: Publishers Weekly, NPR, The Daily Beast, @petersuber@fediscience.org, @fangmous, @mikejungwroteabook …, @mikejungwroteabook … and @mikejungwroteabook …

Nilesh Christopher / Rest of World:

Amazon Live and Flipkart's Vibes are trying to revive livestreamed e-commerce in India, after most startups that tried to popularize the retail push struggled — Most startups that tried to popularize livestream commerce in the country are struggling. — • BENGALURU, INDIA

Discussion: @nilchristopher and Nilesh Christopher on LinkedIn, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:

How telecoms and media giant Altice, led by billionaire Patrick Drahi, became weighed down by scandals and debt-fueled acquisitions from a low-interest-rate era — He built his telecoms empire in an era of low interest rates. Now, with soaring debt costs and a corruption case in the corporate suite …

Discussion: @aservais1 and @abhinavvr, more at Techmeme »

Naomi Forman-Katz / Pew Research Center:

Survey: US adults who say they follow the news all or most of the time fell from 51% in 2016 to 38% in 2022; in 2022, 19% said they follow the news now and then — Americans are following the news less closely than they were a few years ago, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.

Discussion: American Press Institute, MediaPost, Poynter, @pewresearch, Media Voices, @benjamintoff and Next TV

Scott Nover / Slate:

US v. Google: Judge Amit Mehta has repeatedly accepted Google's requests to redact documents and hold private testimony, alarming press advocates and reporters — U.S. v. Google was supposed to be the “antitrust trial of the century”—the highest-profile, and potentially the most consequential …

Discussion: Washington Post, @lutherlowe, @scottnover@mas.to and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Amazon launches a generative AI tool for advertisers to create “lifestyle imagery” backgrounds or scenes for their products in beta — Amazon is beta testing AI image generation tools for its advertisers, offering an easy way to create backgrounds or scenes around whatever product ad buyers are hoping to sell.

Discussion: TechCrunch and The Information, more at Techmeme »

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

WGAW apologizes for the “tremendous pain” caused by its silence on the Israel-Hamas war, saying that the guild generally takes stances only on domestic issues — The Writers Guild of America West issued an apology to its members on Tuesday for the harm caused by its decision …

Discussion: @jonatha65804577, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Bollyinside and The Wrap

Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:

Apple increases the price of Apple TV+ from $6.99 per month to $9.99 per month and News+ from $9.99 per month to $12.99 per month — Apple today announced that it is increasing the prices of some of its subscription-based services, including Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and Apple News+ …

Discussion: Variety, Screen Rant, Reuters, TVLine, Next TV, The Wrap, Bloomberg, 9to5Mac, The Hollywood Reporter, Engadget, CNBC, @ballmatthew, The Verge, @tvgrimreaper, @markgurman, @bzamayo and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »

Nilay Patel / The Verge:

Q&A with Harvard law professor and Creative Commons co-founder Lawrence Lessig on AI's impact on social media and free speech, copyright use, TikTok, and more — After 30 years teaching law, the internet policy legend is as worried as you'd think about AI and TikTok …

Discussion: @tressalynne, @catgirlstarbies and @michellemanafy@journa.host, more at Techmeme »

Rania Aniftos / Billboard:

TikTok announces its first live global music event, set for December 10 in Mesa, Arizona, with Cardi B, Niall Horan, Anitta, and Charlie Puth headlining — The event will take place on Dec. 10 at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz. — TikTok is continuing its foray into the music world …

Discussion: Engadget, Variety, Rolling Stone, 9to5Mac and Vibe, more at Techmeme »

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

TelevisaUnivision reports Q3 revenue up 11% YoY to $1.3B, US revenue up 5% YoY to $806.3M, US ad revenue up 3%, and its free Vix streaming service has 40M+ MAUs — The Spanish-language media giant, led by CEO Wade Davis, reports more than 40 million monthly active users for streamer ViX …

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Media Play News, WORLD SCREEN, Deadline, TelevisaUnivision and Bollyinside

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More News:

Barak Ravid / Axios:
Sources: US Secretary of State Tony Blinken told Jewish community leaders that he asked the Qatari prime minister to tone down Al Jazeera's war coverage

Discussion: @pogue.bsky.social, @barakravid, @mashabani, @tparsi and Fox News

Lauren Theisen / Defector:
The Messenger, which launched in May, appears to be speedrunning every stage of a VC-funded, ad-dependent media startup life, from VC darling to barren husk

Discussion: Mediaite, @michaelroston, @nbj914@threads.net, @sokane1@threads.net, New York Post, @reedfrich.bsky.social, @karlbode.bsky.social, @robpegoraro.com, The Wrap and The Daily Beast

Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Snap reports Q3 revenue up 5% YoY to $1.19B, vs. $1.11B est., net loss up 2% YoY to $368M, DAUs up 12% YoY to 406M, vs. 405.7M est., and won't give Q4 guidance

Discussion: NBC 7 San Diego, MarTech, MediaPost, The Information, @carnage4life@mas.to, New York Times, @jonathan_vanian_1@threads.net, Variety, @alexheath@threads.net, Bloomberg, The Hollywood Reporter, Snap Inc., Engadget, Ad Age and Observer

Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTube Q3 ad revenue rose 12.5% YoY to $7.95B, vs. $7.81B est.; in Q3 2022, YouTube's ad revenue fell short of expectations after falling 1.9%

Discussion: CNBC, The Register, Music Ally, @stockmarketnerd, @economyapp, @tookthescenicroute …, Alphabet Inc. and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Marisa Kabas / The Handbasket:
A dozen female former Rolling Stone employees describe Jann Wenner's office culture as “a dictatorship” with “palpable fear” and “a horrible place for women”

Discussion: @pogue.bsky.social, @marissarothkopfeats …, @sareneleedswrites@threads.net, @jorcru.bsky.social, @franzferdinand2.bsky.social, @aprilrc.bsky.social, The Daily Beast, @whatisdoni.bsky.social, @ferrifrigida.bsky.social, @markshore.bsky.social and @marisakabas.bsky.social

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple plans to update tvOS with a redesigned TV app around December and discontinue some of its Apple TV apps to steer more users toward the TV app

Discussion: The Sun, The Verge, @markgurman, The Information, Macworld, Engadget, The Streamable, MacRumors and 9to5Mac

Anja Karadeglija / National Post:
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters urges the government to also regulate services beyond Google's and Meta's, like Apple News, under the Online News Act

Discussion: @jbenton and @jbenton

Chris Welch / The Verge:
Crunchyroll launches its streaming service on Amazon's Prime Video Channels in the US for $7.99+ per month, and coming to Canada, Sweden, and the UK this week

Discussion: CBR, The Streamable, Screen Rant, WORLD SCREEN, Cord Cutters News, Engadget, Media Play News, Billboard, Collider, Next TV, Deadline, About Amazon and The Wrap

From Techmeme:

The Information:
Sources: in recent months, Nvidia has asked its suppliers to change the design of server racks for Blackwell GPUs several times to overcome overheating problems

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
How Tim Cook may navigate Trump's presidency, a closer look at Apple's upcoming smart home command center, sources detail a new AirTag coming in 2025, and more

Bloomberg:
Trump: FCC commissioner Brendan Carr will chair the FCC; Carr has suggested limiting Section 230 of the Communications Act to curb Big Tech content moderation

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