Top News:
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Red Ventures sells CNET, an early pioneer of online tech coverage, to Ziff Davis, which owns Mashable, PC Mag, Lifehacker, and others, a source says for $100M+ — Ziff Davis is acquiring CNET for more than $100 million. Its chief executive thinks more acquisitions are on the horizon.
Discussion:
Deadline, MediaPost, Lauren Newman on LinkedIn, Lindsey Turrentine on LinkedIn, Connie Guglielmo on LinkedIn, @jeffjarvis, @saschasegan, @photomatt, @dctrjack, Adweek, @film_girl, @rhunwords, Roger Cheng on LinkedIn, @ldignan, @benmullin, @felixsalmon, Axios, @rafat, @seangriffey, @rafat, @tsuvik, The Wrap, @sjvn@mastodon.social, @tvgrimreaper, @rogerwcheng, @bombur, @danackerman, Variety, The Verge and TVNewsCheck, more at Techmeme »
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Charles Barkley, a mainstay of TNT's Inside the NBA, reverses plans to retire and says he will keep working with WBD, which is fighting to keep NBA media rights — Charles Barkley says he isn't getting out of Warner Bros. Discovery's sports game. — The roundball great …
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Wall Street Journal:
Sources: the NBA's deal with Amazon has several provisions that WBD can't match, including promotion of the NBA during Amazon's NFL streaming telecasts — League's media deal with tech giant included provisions Warner couldn't match, setting stage for legal fight
Discussion:
Sports Media Watch and USA Today
Next TV:
Future plans to end Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News, and NextTV in print and as newsletters, replacing them with one newsletter and revamping NextTV.com — By B+C Staff( Broadcasting & Cable ) published — Charlie Weiss will take on chairman role for B+C Hall of Fame, with Bill McGorry moving into chairman emeritus role
Discussion:
Variety, Los Angeles Times, Bob Gold on LinkedIn, The Wrap, The Desk, @michaelsocolow, @jbflint, The Hollywood Reporter and Talking Biz News
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Internal memo: Axios CEO Jim VandeHei says the company is laying off about 50 employees, or ~10% of the company, due to “changes in the media business” — Jim VandeHei, the company's chief executive, said in an email that the cuts were necessary to adapt to “changes in the media business.”
Discussion:
Fast Company, New York Post, Fox Business, The Wrap, Nieman Lab, @katie_robertson, @danprimack, @nickicamberg, @tim_bays, @ruhlmuk, @smtology, @ryanabest, @daniellealberti, @simranparwani, @simranparwani, @samueljrob, @selenesanfelice, @loopemma, Deadline, @daniellealberti, @ethangach, @ethanscorey, @billygribbin, @chrisjollyhale, @benkesslen, @aulia@threads.net, @justinbaragona, @chaykak, @redsteeze, @keitholbermann, @sophiacai99, @brandyljensen, @chriscillizza, @tblysik, @mikebrice, Erin Hulliberger on LinkedIn, @sarafischer, @katie_robertson, @jdawsey1, TVNewsCheck, @sopandeb and Barrett Media
Sara Fischer / Axios:
X sues the World Federation of Advertisers, GARM, and GARM members CVS Health, Mars, Orsted, and Unilever over what Linda Yaccarino calls an “illegal boycott” — Members include major tech companies, advertisers, agencies, ad tech firms and advertising coalitions.
Discussion:
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Joe Lucia / Awful Announcing:
Fubo's CEO blasts Venu, the Disney/Fox/WBD sports JV, saying it gives them control of 80% of the premium market and curbs competition, as he seeks an injunction — The new Fubo logo. — Fubo's earnings call was on Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, CEO David Gandler used part of his opening remarks …
Discussion:
IndieWire, The Streamable, Bloomberg Law, Next TV, Bloomberg, Deadline, Sportico and Cord Cutters News
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Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
FuboTV reports Q2 North America revenue up 26% YoY to $383M vs. $368M est., North America paid subscribers up 24% to 1.45M, rest of world revenue up 2% to $8.3M
FuboTV reports Q2 North America revenue up 26% YoY to $383M vs. $368M est., North America paid subscribers up 24% to 1.45M, rest of world revenue up 2% to $8.3M
Discussion:
Fubo, The Desk, The Streamable, Media Play News, Cord Cutters News, Advanced Television, @fubotv_pr and Next TV
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Reddit Q2: revenue rose 54% YoY to $281.2M, vs. $254M est., Daily Active Uniques increased 51% YoY to 91.2M, and net loss dropped from $41.1M to $10.1M YoY — Reddit reported second-quarter results on Tuesday that topped analysts' estimates. — Here are the key numbers:
Discussion:
TechCrunch and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »
Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:
Amazon Music debuts Maestro, an AI-powered playlist generator, and Topics, which helps users find podcast episodes by topic and is powered by both AI and humans — Amazon Music announced Tuesday the launch of its new AI-powered feature, “Topics,” which allows users to explore podcast episodes …
Discussion:
About Amazon and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Jake Offenhartz / Associated Press:
The NYPD arrests independent videographer Sam Seligson on felony hate crime charges after he documented a pro-Palestinian protest in June — A New York City journalist was arrested on felony hate crime charges Tuesday after filming a pro-Palestinian protest earlier this summer …
Lauren Feiner / The Verge:
A US federal judge rules Google has a monopoly in “general search text advertising” and Google's exclusive agreements enabled it to raise prices on that product — A federal judge ruled that Google violated US antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in the search and advertising markets.
Discussion:
US District Court for the District of Columbia, Slate, CNN, The Atlantic, MarTech, Quartz, New York Times, CNN, Politico, Bloomberg, Android Central, Engadget, @statesdj@genomic.social, Shelly Palmer, Stewart Jeffries on LinkedIn, Lou Paskalis on LinkedIn, Beyond Search, The Guardian, @kubikpixel@chaos.social, The Media Leader, TechRadar, MediaPost, BIG by Matt Stoller, Sportico, 9to5Mac, Boing Boing, One Man & His Blog, AV Club, @jason_kint, @digitalsamiam, @marie_haynes, @jason_kint, @JamesGleick@zirk.us, Financial Times, AdExchanger, Jill Caren on LinkedIn, PhoneArena, Ars Technica, The Information, UPI, @jeff@newsie.social, ScheerPost.com, W Media Research, MediaPost, Reuters, @SomeGadgetGuy@techhub.social, Deadline, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, @parismarx@mastodon.online, @theory@xoxo.zone, @webology@mastodon.social, Ad Age, @kottke@mastodon.social and @Nonya_Bidniss@mas.to, more at Techmeme »
Catherine Perloff / Adweek:
Some ad buyers say Netflix is now charging CPMs between $20 and $30, after originally seeking $65 in 2022 and a reported $39 to $45 in 2023 — The streaming platform initially came to the market with $65 CPMs in 2022 — Netflix is further lowering the prices of its ads …
Discussion:
Gabriela Domanico on LinkedIn, Catherine Perloff on LinkedIn, @catherineperlo1, TVNewsCheck and The Sun
Sara Fischer / Axios:
ProRata, which aims to attribute and share AI chatbot subscription revenue with content owners, raised a $25M Series A and inks deals with major media companies — A handful of major news and music companies have agreed to license their content to ProRata.ai, a generative AI startup that claims …