Mediagazer: Sources: WBD is in talks with rivals, including Virgin Media, to carry Max content as part of their bundles in the UK after WBD's deal with Sky runs out in 2025 (Daniel Thomas/Financial Times)

7:30 AM ET, July 30, 2024

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Dylan Byers / Puck:

Sources: several Nikkei boardmembers push for consideration of a sale of the Financial Times as they have grown impatient with its economic performance — But first... 🗞️ Will the Financial Times head to the block?: Might the FT, the august salmon-hued internationalist business broadsheet, eventually hit the market?

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:

Podcasting is becoming an industry of megastars with huge deals and the biggest audiences; Edison: the top 25 podcasts reach nearly 50% of US weekly listeners — The top shows are adding video, merchandise and live tours and signing megadeals with Spotify, Sirius and Amazon.

Discussion: The Media Leader, Max Cutler on LinkedIn, 9to5Mac, @robenfarzad, @samro, @joshthomastn, @davidharsanyi, @ckwitt3 and @wsj

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Twitch remains unprofitable a decade after Amazon's acquisition; Docs show Twitch generated ~$667M in ad revenue and $1.3B in commerce revenue in 2023 — The live-video service has slowing user growth, and workers are expecting more layoffs, changes ahead

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, Salvador Rodriguez on LinkedIn, @salrodriguez@threads.net, @vocino@threads.net, @eaustinj@threads.net, @djlink@mastodon.gamedev.place, Dexerto, The Information, @simondowens@threads.net, Ian Whittaker on LinkedIn and Dot Esports

Jason Koebler / 404 Media:

Some popular sites like Condé Nast's titles and Reuters.com modified robots.txt to block Anthropic's bots, but Anthropic has just made new bots with other names — Hundreds of websites trying to block the AI company Anthropic from scraping their content are blocking the wrong bots …

Discussion: The Register, @josephfcox, @gedankenstuecke@scholar …, @dreid@wandering.shop, @neilsweeneyceo and @josephcox@infosec.exchange, more at Techmeme »

Elsa Keslassy / Variety:

WBD says Max and Discovery+ have pulled in more unique viewers in the first two days of the Paris Olympics than in the entirety of the Tokyo games in 2021 — In just two days, Warner Bros. Discovery's Max and Discovery+ streaming services pulled in more unique viewers for the Paris Olympics …

Discussion: Advanced Television, Deadline, Pressroom, @tvgrimreaper, Media Play News and ComingSoon.net

Deadline:
Nielsen and Adobe Analytics: the Paris Olympics opening ceremony drew 28.6M viewers on NBC and Peacock, up 60%+ from Tokyo, plus 666K on Telemundo Deportes

Discussion: Outsports, ComingSoon.net, StreamTV Insider, The Media Leader, The Hollywood Reporter, TVNewsCheck, Sports Media Watch, Axios, NBCSports.com, Forbes, HuffPost, New York Times, Bloomberg, Sportico, TVLine, Reuters, The Desk, The Wrap and Variety

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

Diamond Sports Group and Comcast reach a carriage deal to restore 15 RSNs to Xfinity Ultimate TV subscribers on August 1, ending a three-month blackout — Bankrupt regional sports network operator Diamond Sports Group has reached terms with Comcast on a carriage deal restoring 15 RSNs to Xfinity pay-TV systems.

Discussion: ABC News, Morningstar, Inc., The Desk, @spacemnkymafia, Sportico, Awful Announcing, CNBC, Barrett Media, @alden_gonzalez, @alden_gonzalez, ESPN and Cord Cutters News

Sahil Patel / The Information:

LinkedIn and Pinterest are testing programs that let publishers sell ads on their videos and pages, respectively, in exchange for a cut of the resulting revenue — Social media platforms such as Pinterest, TikTok and LinkedIn are trying a new tack to gain a bigger share of digital advertising …

Discussion: Search Engine Land, Jeremy Jankowski on LinkedIn, AdExchanger, The Media Leader and TVNewsCheck, more at Techmeme »

Ashley Hiruko / KUOW News & Information:

Brady Walkinshaw, a former state lawmaker, bought several Index Media publications, including Seattle's longtime alternative media outlet The Stranger — The Stranger, Seattle's longtime alternative media outlet and self-proclaimed “only newspaper” has new ownership.

Discussion: @sydbrownstone

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

Sources: WBD is in talks with rivals, including Virgin Media, to carry Max content as part of their bundles in the UK after WBD's deal with Sky runs out in 2025 — US group's discussions raise questions over its exclusive agreement with Sky to show programmes such as ‘Game of Thrones’

Discussion: Advanced Television and Broadband TV News

Jay Peters / The Verge:

Twitch rolls out a revamped iOS and Android app, which now shows a TikTok-like feed of recommended content when it's opened, instead of a “Following” list — Twitch's mobile app is getting a major update that puts its TikTok-like feed front and center.

Discussion: Twitch and The Mirror, more at Techmeme »

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:

Substack lets writers add embeds from predictions market startup Polymarket; Polymarket claims news prediction helps fight against clickbait and propaganda — Are prediction markets “the best tool we have to fight back against bullshit, clickbait, and propaganda,” or “just a euphemism for online gambling”?

Discussion: Semafor, On Substack and The Oracle

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Q&A with Ghostery CEO Jean-Paul Schmetz about the service turning 15, the state of ad tracking, why regulation is not the best path to protecting online privacy — The world of online advertising has changed dramatically since Ghostery first launched in 2009 to help people understand …

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More News:

Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg:
WPP says Philip Jansen, former BT Group CEO, will become its chairman in January 2025, replacing Roberto Quarta who's been with the company for almost a decade

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Advanced Television:
Ampere: regular viewing of non-English language TV shows and movies has grown 24% among 18-to-64-year-olds in the UK, US, Australia, and Canada since Q1 2020

Discussion: The Streamable, Media Play News, Broadband TV News and WORLD SCREEN

Tekendra Parmar / Bloomberg:
Scammers are using Meta's copyright protection tools to target influencers in the Middle East; creators see their content removed from Instagram unless they pay

more at Techmeme »

Sam Metz / Associated Press:
Morocco's king pardons journalists Omar Radi, Taoufik Bouachrine, and Soulaimane Raissouni, jailed for years on charges they had denied as politically motivated

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London Evening Standard:
Former BBC presenter Huw Edwards is charged with three counts of making indecent images of children; Edwards resigned from the BBC in April 2024

Discussion: New York Post, The Mirror, The Guardian, CNN, @jamesrbuk, PinkNews, UPI, @jake_kanter, Sky News, Press Gazette, CBS News, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline

Reuters:
Russia's state-run news agency TASS says the Olympic organizing committee revoked the accreditations of four of its journalists in Paris

Discussion: The Moscow Times and The Desk

Earlier Picks:

Rick Edmonds / Poynter:
A few newspaper companies, including Lee and Alden's MediaNews Group, are offering ad-free premium subscription tiers as privacy concerns grow

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Max Tani / Semafor:
A look at Kamala Harris' efforts since early 2022 to improve her relationship with the national media, increasing the cadence of her interactions with reporters

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Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Thelma, Longlegs, and Civil War are some of at least a half a dozen independent films to break out at the box office in 2024, a much needed boost for the sector

Discussion: Dexerto and @lucas_shaw

Cameron Coats / Radio & Television Business Report:
BIA Advisory Services: 2024 US local media ad spending is expected to rise 9.5% YoY to $173.7B, with the gap between traditional and digital media spend closing

Discussion: The Desk, Barrett Media and Aspire

Caroline Davies / The Guardian:
In a documentary, Prince Harry said his choice to take legal action against UK tabloid newspapers was a “central piece” contributing to the rift with his family

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
WGA West: TV and film writer earnings fell ~32% to $1.29B in 2023, the lowest level since the 2007-08 strike, and employment fell 19.5% to 5,501 working writers

Discussion: Writers Guild America West, WGA Contract 2023, The Wrap and Deadline

From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered making a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

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