Top News:
Yasmin Rufo / BBC:
The BBC asks Huw Edwards to return the £200K+ in salary he made between his November arrest and his April resignation; BBC Chair says he “behaved in bad faith” — Huw Edwards has been asked to return his salary paid since his arrest, with the BBC chair telling staff the ex-presenter acted in “bad faith”.
Discussion:
CNN, BBC, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, Julie Temple on LinkedIn, Press Gazette, Deadline and The Guardian
Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
Paramount sells entertainment news websites ComicBook and PopCulture to Savage Ventures, which created a joint venture to relaunch Vice digital properties — This comes after Paramount Global's newly appointed co-CEOs detailed a plan including $500 million in cost cuts
Discussion:
@jkschmidt, Breitbart, @rollinbishop, @rollinbishop, @kasey__moore, The Hollywood Reporter and Graphic Policy
RELATED:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Paramount Global says it will cut 15% of its US workforce, or about 2,000 employees, in the next few weeks, after cutting about 800 positions in February
Paramount Global says it will cut 15% of its US workforce, or about 2,000 employees, in the next few weeks, after cutting about 800 positions in February
Discussion:
The Guardian, Fast Company, Media Play News, Wall Street Journal, IGN, Fox Business, @hadas_gold, AdExchanger, StreamTV Insider, Next TV, CNN, Deadline, TVNewsCheck, IndieWire, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times and Deadline
Todd Spangler / Variety:
WBD pulls the contents of cartoonnetwork.com, which featured full CN episodes and video clips, and redirects visitors to sign up for Max — Cartoon Network has been scrubbed from the web. … The shuttering of the site appears to have happened Thursday, Aug. 8.
Rani Molla / Sherwood News:
A Q&A with Wikimedia Foundation executives on how AI could make knowledge more accessible to people, the possibility that it discourages volunteers, and more — We spoke with Wikipedia executives who told us AI could jeopardize the encyclopedia's connection with the volunteers who create it.
Discussion:
Diff
Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:
Sources: Hearst Television lays off dozens of employees working for its free streaming service Very Local, which launched in 2021, serving 26 US markets — Hearst Television has let go of dozens of employees working for its streaming service Very Local, sources tell Deadline.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
President of Disney EMEA Jan Koeppen says the company plans to spend at least $5B on content production in the UK and continental Europe in the next five years — Regional chief says UK and continental Europe will play a big role in future box office and streaming hits
Discussion:
Variety, Deadline, Craig Higgins on LinkedIn, John Mahtani on LinkedIn, Reuters and TVNewsCheck
Reuters:
Rappler wins an appeal to restore its corporate license as a court rules that the Philippines' SEC overstepped in ordering the outlet's shutdown in 2018 — Philippine Nobel laureate Maria Ressa's news website Rappler won an appeal to restore its corporate licence after a court overturned …
Discussion:
The Guardian, Rappler, Reuters, Reporters Without Borders, Al Jazeera and Committee to Protect …
Rishav Chatterjee / Reuters:
News Corp puts its 65% interest in Australian pay TV company Foxtel up for sale, citing third-party interest and a strategic review — Australian pay television company Foxtel, controlled by the Murdoch family and partly by local telecom firm Telstra (TLS.AX), has been put …
RELATED:
Sheena Vasani / The Verge:
Substack now lets users publish posts and collect subscribers directly from their profile without setting up a publication, on the web or in its app — Anybody with a Substack account can now publish posts on Substack's web and mobile app, the company announced on Thursday …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Substack Reads and @simondowens@threads.net
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
AMC Networks reports Q2 net loss of $29.2M, revenue down 7.8% YoY to $625.9M, streaming subscribers up 5% YoY to 11.6M, and streaming revenue up 9% YoY to $150M — The company recorded $97 million in impairment charges related to the devaluation of its international business and BBC America
Discussion:
Advanced Television, Deadline, Media Play News, Variety and Next TV
Reuters:
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blocks X in the country for 10 days, accusing Elon Musk of using X to incite hate after Venezuela's disputed election — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday took tensions with social media platform X and its owner Elon Musk to new heights …
Discussion:
CNN, CNBC, UPI, Associated Press, Engadget, Agence France-Presse, @kennysmith.bsky.social, Al Jazeera, Xataka On, TechRadar and Deutsche Welle, more at Techmeme »
The Hollywood Reporter:
A look at the battle among streamers for stand-up comic specials, as Amazon, Hulu, and Max challenge Netflix's dominance of the genre — What industry contraction? Platforms from Hulu to Amazon are spending wildly to woo comedians like Nate Bargatze and Bill Burr and put a dent in Netflix's dominance.
Discussion:
AV Club and TVNewsCheck
Theo Wayt / The Information:
Amazon partners with TikTok and Pinterest to let users buy items from Amazon ads without leaving the social media apps, expanding on deals with Meta and Snap — Amazon's e-commerce business is huge but slow-growing, while shopping on social media has been taking off.
Discussion:
Tubefilter, Quartz, Engadget, Malte Karstan on LinkedIn, esports.gg, Affiverse and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »