Top News:
Sacramento Bee:
Buffy Wicks, who dropped her effort to make Big Tech pay California news orgs after Google agreed to give to a nonprofit supporting local news, defends the deal — The California legislator at the center of a first-in-the-nation deal between Google and the state to help fund local news organizations …
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Liam Reilly / CNN:
Unions and some state senators criticize Google's plan for a California local news fund, which stalled bills that would have forced Big Tech to fund journalists — New York CNN — — Google struck a first-in-the-nation deal with California lawmakers on Wednesday to fund newsrooms …
Discussion:
The Hill, @ryfons, MEDIANAMA, @bcmerchant, @bcmerchant, @mattdpearce, @jeffjarvis, @jeffjarvis, @spj_tweets, @tvgrimreaper, @mattdpearce, @ddayen, The Wrap, SPJ News, The Drum, @jeffjarvis, Observer, Fast Company, Inside Radio, LION Publishers, New York Post, @passantino@threads.net, CalMatters, Media Guild of the West, Editor and Publisher, UPI, KQED, New York Times, The Information, MediaPost, Politico and Free Press
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: WBD has started working on creating more original programming for TNT and rebooting series and made-for-TV movies, albeit with smaller budgets — Entertainment company is plotting ‘high-adrenaline’ dramas for a cable channel that has become closely associated with reruns
Discussion:
Deadline, TVLine, Deadline, @tvgrimreaper, CBR, Dean Devlin on LinkedIn, The Wrap, Variety and Screen Rant
Oliver Darcy / Status:
Source: Penske Media has laid off dozens of staff over the last several weeks; Penske says it's grown its total headcount in 2022, 2023, and 2024 — The layoffs at Penske's media empire comes as his company faces tough headwinds, many of them industry wide.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News
Wall Street Journal:
In a letter, Skydance lawyers accuse Paramount's special committee of breaching its terms with Skydance by extending the time it can talk with other bidders — In a letter from its lawyers, Skydance accuses Paramount's committee of directors of violating the terms of its deal
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion, and Danielle Strle, chief product officer, on how they bought the outlet, why they're making a print version, and more — The new owners of the satire site rescued it from content farm hell. Now, they're relaunching its newspaper.
Katie Campione / Deadline:
Nielsen: the Democratic National Convention's final night averaged 26.2M US viewers over 15 networks; the RNC's final night drew 25.4M viewers over 14 networks — The final night of the Democratic National Convention, buoyed by a speech from Vice President Kamala Harris accepting …
Discussion:
New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Variety, The Wrap, Politico, @xdata, Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Kos, Raw Story and MediaPost
Advanced Television:
Disney says it is expanding availability of its ad-supported Disney+ plan to Finland, the Netherlands, and Portugal on October 17 — Following the launch of its ad-supported plan in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK in 2023 …
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
A look at Apple Podcasts' fading dominance, as an April 2024 study of 603 podcast consumers found 31% use YouTube, 21% use Spotify, and 12% use Apple's app — Hello! Welcome back to Soundbite. Today we're looking at the fading dominance of Apple Podcasts.
Discussion:
The Information, Cult of Mac, Slate, 9to5Mac and MacRumors, more at Techmeme »
Colin Mann / Advanced Television:
Liberty Media announces plans to sell F1 shares worth $825M to partially fund its 86% stake in Dorna Sports, the MotoGP commercial rights holder valued at $4.2B — Liberty Media has revealed plans to sell F1 shares worth $825 million (€742m) in order to ‘partially fund’ its planned acquisition of MotoGP.
Discussion:
Inside Radio, Motorsport Week, Motorsport.com, PlanetF1 and Sports Illustrated
Aisha Counts / Bloomberg:
Reddit is winning over advertisers using interest-based targeting via subreddits, instead of personal data; analysis: Reddit's ad revenue may pass $1.1B in 2024 — Without as much personal information, Reddit lures marketers by touting interests and conversations
Hayden Field / CNBC:
In a pitch deck, AI search engine Perplexity told advertisers it plans to start running ads in Q4; a source says Perplexity's CPM prices will be $50+ — Perplexity AI, the artificial intelligence startup that's been embroiled in controversy due to accusations of plagiarizing content from media outlets …
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