Top News:
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Disney says it plans to launch ESPN's D2C service in August or the fall of 2025, and include integration with ESPN's fantasy platforms and ESPN Bet — - ESPN will launch its flagship direct-to-consumer streaming service in the fall of 2025, Disney CEO Bob Iger said Wednesday.
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, NBC 7 San Diego, The Wrap, Sportico, Variety, Sports Media Watch, Front Office Sports, Engadget, AllEars.Net, Cord Cutters News, @bristei, @bristei, @jtoonkel, @thebauminator, New York Daily News, @bristei, Hollywood Reporter, @bristei, @maccable, Gizmodo, @richlightshed, @alex_kirshner, @sherman4949, Media Play News, KEYT-TV, Barrett Media and UPROXX
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Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Disney Q4: 111.3M Disney+ subscribers, down from 112.6M in Q3, Disney+ Hotstar adds 700K subscribers to 38.3M, and expects streaming profitability by Q4 2024 — In its financials, which cover the Mouse House's first quarter for its fiscal year 2024, Disney projects adding between 5.5 million …
Discussion:
The Streamable, IndieWire, @bristei, Media Play News, AllEars.Net, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei and ComingSoon.net
Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Disney plans to invest $1.5B for a stake in Epic Games and collaborate on a new “universe” connected to Fortnite with content from Disney, Pixar, and more — - Disney is investing $1.5 billion for an equity stake in Epic Games in its biggest jump yet into the gaming world.
Discussion:
The Verge, Fast Company, TechCrunch, The Wrap, Neowin, @ballmatthew, Bloomberg, @disney, @fortnitegame, @genepark, Business Insider, Ars Technica, @mgsiegler@threads.net, Variety, The Information, Yonatan Raz-Fridman on LinkedIn, Bill Young on LinkedIn, @loudmouthjulia, The Walt Disney Company, Neil Duffy on LinkedIn, Polygon, @great_katzby, @bristei, @loudmouthjulia, @tomwarren, Engadget, Deadline, WORLD SCREEN, KEYT-TV and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: NFL, NBA, and other sports leagues were kept in the dark about the sports streaming platform being launched by Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox — NFL, NBA digest details of new platform looming over their businesses — Sports leagues including the National Football League …
Discussion:
Ad Age, The Atlantic, @nikosray.bsky.social, Financial Times, Ars Technica, AllEars.Net, Business Insider, USA Today, Axios, Associated Press, Deadline, Engadget, The Hill, New York Times and Reuters
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Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
A sports streaming platform jointly owned by Disney, WBD, and Fox could reshape the TV industry but could also anger pay TV distributors and sports leagues — - A new sports-focused streaming platform could anger pay TV distributors and sports leagues. — Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery …
Discussion:
CNBC, CNBC, @sherman4949, @pkafka, @pkafka, The Wrap, Poynter, USA Today and Wall Street Journal
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Fubo says it is concerned about the “impact on fair market competition” after Disney, Fox, and WBD announced a sports streaming platform; FUBO closed down 20%+
Discussion:
The Desk, The Streamable, The Desk, Next TV, @matthewkeyslive, @matthewkeyslive, @tvgrimreaper, @davezatz, Media Play News, Sports Media Watch, Cord Cutters News, The Walt Disney Company, New York Post, The Guardian, The Information, Los Angeles Times, MediaPost, Business Insider, The Wrap and Bloomberg
Claudia Chiappa / Politico:
Tucker Carlson faces backlash from American and Russian journalists after claiming that Western media is not making an effort to hear Putin's side of the story — The controversial pundit is interviewing the Russian leader. Now other journalists are raging at “this SoB.”
Discussion:
@amanpour, @lexfridman, National Review, @albats, @bbcstever, The Wrap, @yarotrof, @anneapplebaum, Newsweek, @sarahrainsford, Mediaite, @walshfreedom, @radiofreetom, @repdonbeyer, @jaketapper, @ianbremmer, The Hollywood Reporter, THE DC PATRIOT, @anthony, @adamscochran, The Hill, @dszeligowski, @decodingfoxnews, @edwardgluce, @abbydphillip, @ggreenwald, El País, @shayan86, @kasparov63, @billbrowder, The Daily Caller, @jakluge, @shteyngart, @darthputinkgb, @iaponomarenko, @phillipspobrien, @fermerzpolissia, @john_mcguirk, @anders_aslund, @2russophobic4u, @elonmusk, @p_kallioniemi, Newser, @oalexanderdk, @saintjavelin, @maxseddon, @dkaleniuk, @jimmysecuk, @florida_sophia, @eliothiggins, @gretagrace20, @growing_daniel, @maxseddon, @ianbremmer, Washington Post, inews.co.uk, New York Post, Rolling Stone, Bloomberg and Reuters
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Meduza.io:
Russia says Tucker Carlson is “not correct” to say no Western reporter tried to interview Putin, and Carlson is different from “traditional Anglo-Saxon media”
Discussion:
Voice of America, Telegraph, Mediaite, Washington Post, The Hill, The Daily Beast, Associated Press, Vanity Fair, Forbes, Reuters, @michaeldweiss, @apocalypticanow.bsky.social, Barrett News Media, Rolling Stone, @meduza_en, The Daily Caller, @maxseddon, @ronfilipkowski, TechCrunch, @dylanburns1776, VICE, Poynter, Reason, The Daily Beast, CNN, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, New Republic, Media Matters for America, The Guardian, Variety and CBS News
Dave Lawler / Axios:
Former Fox host Tucker Carlson says he has traveled to Moscow to interview Vladimir Putin and will air the interview “unedited” on his website and on X
Discussion:
@tuckercarlson, The Hill, Mediaite, New York Times, BBC, Forbes, Reuters, @ozkaterji, @maxseddon, THE DC PATRIOT, The Guardian, @ianbremmer, @rferl, @jason, Barrett News Media, @jonathanlanday, @justinbaragona, The Wrap, BBC, Politico, @maxseddon, @karaswisher@threads.net, @karaswisher@threads.net, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, @mediaite@threads.net, The Daily Beast, Deadline, @warrenterra.bsky.social, @everythingism.bsky.social, New York Times, The Kyiv Independent, The Kyiv Independent, The Daily Caller, @kevinrothrock@infosec …, The Hollywood Reporter, The Daily Beast, Daily Kos and Columbia Journalism Review
Jem Aswad / Variety:
Memo: Warner Music plans to lay off 10% of its staff, or 600 people, wind down its podcast network Interval Presents, and sell the websites Uproxx and HipHopDX — The tough news continues for the music industry as Warner Music announced that it will lay off 10% of its staff, or 600 people, in the coming weeks.
The New York Times Company:
The NYT reports Q4 revenue up 1.3% YoY to $676M, subscription revenue up 3.3% YoY to $404M, and a $129M operating profit; Athletic revenue grew 31.3% to $38.5M — NEW YORK, February 7, 2024 - The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) announced today fourth- quarter and full-year 2023 results.
Discussion:
@jaguaranalytics, @nataliekorach, @pressgazette and The Wrap
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Katie Robertson / New York Times:
The NYT finished 2023 with 10.36M subscribers, 9.7M of them digital-only, helping push annual revenue for digital subscriptions above $1B for the first time
Discussion:
@katie_robertson, Nieman Lab, @palewire, @benjstrauss, @thestalwart, @thestalwart and The Information
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
An interview with Nebojša Vujinović Vujo, who runs 2,000+ AI-generated news sites, often hosted on once-popular domains, and claims to have ~12 human editors — Serbian DJ turned internet entrepreneur Nebojša Vujinović Vujo floods abandoned news sites with AI-generated articles.
Isaiah Colbert / IGN:
Funimation plans to shut down on April 2, and provides an option to merge users' account with Crunchyroll; copies bought on Funimation won't work on Crunchyroll — Funimation subscribers can access their anime history and queue on Crunchyroll by merging their accounts.
Discussion:
Comic Book, @mcmovieman, @eposvox, @eposvox, @jezcorden, @_cckirby, @ordinarygamers, @minoru79, Funimation and CBR
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
Filing: Kevin Spacey and House of Cards producer MRC settle a $31M judgment against him; he will pay $1M and testify for MRC in a lawsuit against its insurer — Under the deal, the actor will help producer MRC in pursuing a nine-figure claim against its insurer.
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, The A.V. Club, Deadline and Variety
Alberto Fittarelli / The Citizen Lab:
How a network of 123+ China-based websites posing as local news outlets in 30 countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America spreads pro-Beijing disinformation — Key Findings — A network of at least 123 websites operated from within the People's Republic of China while posing …
Discussion:
Reuters, @campuscodi@mastodon.social, @jsrailton, @paper_trail_m, @jsrailton, @citizenlab, @jsrailton and @jsrailton
Kara Swisher / New York Magazine:
An excerpt from Kara Swisher's upcoming book, Burn Book: covering digital media in the '90s, Facebook and Google becoming information gatekeepers, and more — My front-row seat to a slow-moving catastrophe. — In the early 1990s, I was a reporter at the Washington Post.
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