Mediagazer: A look at the shrinking pay-TV market, after write-downs by Paramount and WBD of their networks' value, as they try to compete with larger streaming companies (Sara Fischer/Axios)

4:45 PM ET, August 10, 2024

Top News:

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Susan Wojcicki, former YouTube CEO and a key figure in Google's creation, dies at age 56, after two years of living with cancer — On Friday evening, Alphabet and Google Sundar Pichai shared that Susan Wojcicki has died. She was 56. … Her husband, Dennis Troper, made the announcement earlier this evening:

Discussion: @sundarpichai, The Guardian, CNN, Variety, Awful Announcing, The Keyword, Fortune, IGN, Business Insider, Breitbart, E! Online, @tim_cook, @nealmohan, @johngreen, @therealdvf@threads.net, @karaswisher@threads.net, @mkbhd, UPI, Entertainment Tonight, @mattross@threads.net, Forbes, NPR, The Desk, @dannysullivan, @personality_of_colt …, MediaPost, @techstarsrk@threads.net, TechCrunch, HuffPost, @mikelearmonth@threads.net, Daring Fireball, @matthewsantoro@threads.net, @leedugger@threads.net, Reuters, New York Post, @nbtjacklyn, @ben.werdmuller@threads.net, @reneritchie, @thisistechtoday@threads.net, @technologizer@threads.net, @wendoverpro, @lizyybear, Engadget, @mikeisaac, The Information, @czsworld@threads.net, @film_girl, @hitsman, @jeffjarvis@threads.net, @anthonyquintano@threads.net, @crumbler@threads.net, @jason, @ludwigahgren, @christine_tsai, @mattkoval, @akhmxt@threads.net, @mws, The Wrap, @ijustine, @couragejd, @traciglee@threads.net, @imgmatt@threads.net, @fwiz, @kreekcraft, @dwiskus, CBS News, @andrewpbridges@threads.net, Hindustan Times, Los Angeles Times, Moneycontrol, @whartonrigby@threads.net, @karlamon.9@threads.net, @gregorymcfadden, @jeremy_goldberg, @joshelman, @tdd, @digitallybones@threads.net, @cadale, RTÉ, Deadline, TVNewsCheck, Fox Business, The Hollywood Reporter and Hacker News, more at Techmeme »

Washington Post:

An obituary of Susan Wojcicki, who was one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley, helped launch and grow AdSense, and pushed for Google to buy YouTube — Ms. Wojcicki, who helped start Google, was one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley before stepping down from YouTube.

Sara Fischer / Axios:

A look at the shrinking pay-TV market, after write-downs by Paramount and WBD of their networks' value, as they try to compete with larger streaming companies — - Paramount Global's stock tanked 12% in after-hours trading Thursday, despite posting a streaming profit for the first time.

Discussion: The Information, Reuters, Cord Cutters News, IndieWire and CNBC

Juliana Kim / NPR:

Microsoft research details Iranian government efforts to interfere with the US election, including four fake outlets likely using AI to plagiarize news content — Groups connected to the Iranian government are using a spectrum of online tactics to interfere with the U.S. presidential election …

Discussion: Politico, @savokanikan, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Fast Company, The Register, UPI, Microsoft On the Issues, Washington Post and CBS News, more at Techmeme »

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: BBC, Financial Times, CNN, Julie Temple on LinkedIn, Press Gazette, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian and Deadline

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

Netflix strikes a deal to have CBS Sports produce the two NFL games to be streamed live on Christmas; on-air talent to call the games will be decided later — The on-air talent that will call the games will be named later — Netflix said it has struck a deal to have CBS Sports produce …

Discussion: Reuters, Fox Business, Awful Announcing, Sportico, Sports Media Watch and TVNewsCheck

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Crooked Media and the union representing its workers say they reached a contract deal, and the union has withdrawn a union-busting claim against the company — Crooked Media and the union representing workers at the progressive media company, which is behind popular show “Pod Save America …

Discussion: @jonfavs, @yashar, @crooked_union, Deadline, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter

Eva Dou / Washington Post:

Truth Social parent TMTG, which has a $5B market cap, reports Q2 revenue down 30% YoY to $837K and a net loss of $16.4M; Trump owns 59.9% of TMTG's common stock — Donald Trump's company, which operates Truth Social, said it earned $837,000 in quarterly revenue.

Discussion: @washingtonpost, US Securities and Exchange Commission, @brianstorms@mastodon.social, CNBC, Wccftech and NBC News, more at Techmeme »

James Pollard / Associated Press:

Memo: MrBeast plans to hire an HR officer and a CFO and implement safety and sensitivity training, amid allegations of impropriety and unsafe sets — MrBeast has ordered a full assessment of the internal culture in his YouTube empire as well as an investigation into “allegations …

Discussion: @dexerto, Tubefilter, Kotaku, Metro.co.uk and Deadline

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

A £350M bid for The Telegraph by ad mogul Maurice Saatchi and Lynn Forester de Rothschild fails to make it to a second round in the auction run by RedBird IMI — Sir Paul Marshall reported to be the frontrunner for The Spectator. — Former advertising mogul Lord Saatchi has had a £350m bid to buy The Telegraph rejected.

Discussion: Sky News and Financial Times

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: FTVLive, The Desk and TVNewsCheck

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.

Jaspreet Singh / Reuters:

News Corp reports Q4 revenue up 6% YoY to $2.58B vs. $2.49B est., net income of $71M, Dow Jones revenue up 4% to $566M, and book publishing revenue up 15% — Media conglomerate News Corp (NWSA.O) beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue on Thursday, helped by digital subscription growth …

Discussion: News Corporation, New York Post, Talking Biz News and The Wrap

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

Discussion: Mumbrella, Sydney Morning Herald, Broadband TV News, Deadline, RTÉ, Advanced Television, The Desk, The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian, ABC and Australian Financial Review

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More News:

Rani Molla / Sherwood News:
Q&A with Wikimedia Foundation executives on how AI could make knowledge more accessible to people, the risk that AI may impact its volunteers' engagement, more

Discussion: Diff, more at Techmeme »

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

Discussion: Media Play News, Advanced Television, Next TV, Variety and Deadline

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

Discussion: The Guardian, Rappler, @kenroth, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Reporters Without Borders and Committee to Protect …

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

Discussion: @jkschmidt, @rollinbishop, @kasey__moore, @rollinbishop, New York Daily News, Breitbart, The Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, Variety and Graphic Policy

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

Discussion: Variety, Martin S. on LinkedIn, Craig Higgins on LinkedIn, John Mahtani on LinkedIn, Reuters, Deadline, Deadline and TVNewsCheck

Earlier Picks:

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

Discussion: The Information, The Hill, Financial Times, CNBC, UPI, CNN, Engadget, @kennysmith.bsky.social, Agence France-Presse, TechRadar, Al Jazeera, Xataka On, Deutsche Welle and Associated Press

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

Discussion: AV Club and TVNewsCheck

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Lionsgate reports a Q1 net loss of $59.4M vs. a $70.7M net loss a year ago and revenue down 8% YoY to $834.7M vs. $857.5M est.; Starz shed 500K subscribers

Discussion: Broadband TV News, Advanced Television, WORLD SCREEN, TVNewsCheck, Jericho Wilson on LinkedIn, Deadline, Media Play News, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter

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

Discussion: Tubefilter, Quartz, Engadget, Malte Karstan on LinkedIn, esports.gg, Affiverse and Bloomberg

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

Discussion: Substack Reads, TechCrunch and @simondowens@threads.net

From Techmeme:

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Tech stocks fall in late trading after President Trump announced new tariffs: Amazon drops as much as ~7%, Meta ~5%, Nvidia ~5%, Alphabet ~4%, and Microsoft ~3%

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Nintendo shares Switch 2 details: a 7.9", 120fps, 1080p display, 4K at 60fps when docked, a custom Nvidia processor, 256GB of storage, and a new Pro Controller

New York Times:
Sources: Amazon has put in a bid to acquire all of TikTok, but various parties involved do not appear to be taking it seriously, ahead of the April 5 deadline

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