Top News:
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Whoopi Goldberg-backed BLKFAM, a FAST service focused on Black families, launches in the US with 1,000+ hours of kid-friendly animation titles and more — BLKFAM is a free, ad-supported, Black-focused family streaming service launching today to give Black Americans access to more than 1,000 hours …
Discussion:
Variety, The Desk, The Hollywood Reporter, @thestreamable, @pauline98476699, NewscastStudio, @xpangler, The Streamable, The Wrap and Deadline
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
Two ex-Meta employees find an AI clickbait network linked to a Polish IT company, which is “domain squatting” on URLs, including Iowa's Clayton County Register — When two former Meta employees dug into why the website of Iowa's Clayton County Register was spewing dubious posts about stocks …
Discussion:
Sandeep A. on LinkedIn, Anthony Eastin on LinkedIn and @seoconspiracy
Jess Jones / City A.M.:
Sesamy, launched by Acast co-founders to let users in Sweden and Denmark purchase single articles or podcasts as a one-time transaction, plans to expand to UK — Could one-off articles and podcast purchases be the future of publishing? That's the vision of the co-founders of Acast …
Discussion:
Benjamin Webb on LinkedIn, @johnspurlock and @rasmus_kleis
Deadline:
Disney's President of Motion Picture Studios, Sean Bailey, steps down; Searchlight's co-President David Greenbaum takes over — EXCLUSIVE: Effective immediately, Walt Disney's President of Motion Picture Studios Sean Bailey, who turned the company's animation vault into a multibillion-dollar …
Discussion:
Reuters, Variety, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, IndieWire, New York Times, The Playlist, @mattbelloni and The Hollywood Reporter
Bloomberg:
Sources: Charter Communications is exploring a takeover of smaller rival Altice USA, which serves ~5M customers across 21 US states; Altice stock is up 50%+ — - Charter working with advisers on pursuing smaller rival — Both firms have suffered with surge in wireless competition
Discussion:
CNBC, The Desk, Next TV, @fasulo_chris, @maffei_fake, @stopthecap and @lucas_shaw
The Guardian:
Former TV news executives and others criticize Ofcom for allowing GB News to violate broadcasting impartiality rules by dragging its feet with investigations — Ofcom is accused of not treating all broadcasters the same and of dragging its feet with investigations into the rightwing channel
Discussion:
@justicetrousers, @adrian_warner, @michaellcrick, @paulmarsha11, @docrussjackson, @catrollo and Mediaite
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Ampere Analysis: streaming revenue will overtake pay TV subscription revenue in the US for the first time in Q3 2024, helped by streamers' addition of ad tiers — Total streaming revenue will hit $17.3 billion, topping $16.7 billion from pay TV, in the third-quarter of 2024, predicts research firm Ampere Analysis.
Discussion:
IndieWire, Next TV, The Desk, The Streamable, @mtfiii, Media Play News, Broadband TV News, WORLD SCREEN and The Wrap
Sam Buckingham-Jones / Australian Financial Review:
Australian businessman Kerry Stokes launches The Nightly, a daily online newspaper with backing from billionaires Katie Page, Chris Ellison, and Gina Rinehart — Billionaires Katie Page, Chris Ellison and Gina Rinehart are the key backers of Kerry Stokes' new daily online newspaper …
Discussion:
@john_macgowan, @ianpmcleod, @markdistef, @pollyanna_04, @chris_dengate, Crikey, @rachelrwithers, @matt_levinson, Mumbrella and Sydney Morning Herald
Helen Bushby / BBC:
British film censors change the age rating for the classic 1964 film Mary Poppins from U to PG citing “discriminatory language” — Mary Poppins, the classic film starring Julie Andrews, has had its age rating raised by British film censors because it features “discriminatory language”.
Columbia Journalism Review:
A profile of Dale Anglin, first director of Press Forward, a philanthropic effort to invest $500M over five years in local news and aiming to raise $500M more — Dale R. Anglin has spent more than twenty years in the nonprofit sector, channeling millions of dollars to social service organizations.
Max Goldbart / Deadline:
UK's Ofcom delivers its roadmap for implementing the Media Bill, saying regulation of streaming services will not come into place in full for two years — Streamer regulation in the UK will not come into place in full for two years, Ofcom said today. — Delivering its roadmap for implementing …
Discussion:
Broadband TV News
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
News reader Particle.news, which uses AI to summarize articles and aims to fairly compensate authors and publishers, enters private beta — A team led by former Twitter engineers is rethinking how AI can be used to help people process news and information.
Discussion:
@pandemona@threads.net, @pandemona@threads.net, The Hill and @pandemona@threads.net
Patrick Frater / Variety:
France's Canal+ Group says it has increased its stake in Asian streaming platform Viu to 30%, worth ~$300M, and retains an option to increase its stake to 50% — UPPING THE ANTE — France's Canal+ Group said that it has increased its stake in multi-territory Asian streaming platform Viu to 30%.
Discussion:
Deadline and Broadband TV News
Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
NBCUniversal names Gemma Garcia to lead Telemundo's news division as executive VP of news; most recently, she was the head of news at Spain's RTVE Play — The veteran news executive will report directly to chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises Luis Fernández
Discussion:
Variety, Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline