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 …
Discussion:
Associated Press, @mattdpearce, @mattdpearce, @bcmerchant, @bcmerchant, @cherthedev, @froomkin, @adamkovac, @kortizart, @mattdpearce, Columbia Journalism Review, Tim Griggs on LinkedIn, The Verge, New York Post, Blood in the Machine, Raw Story, Ars Technica, The Desk, Whither news? and Media Nation
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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
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
Discussion:
@emmettoconnell@mas.to, TechCrunch, @ryfons, The Hill, MEDIANAMA, @bcmerchant, @bcmerchant, @mattdpearce, @jeffjarvis, @jeffjarvis, @spj_tweets, @tvgrimreaper, @mattdpearce, @ddayen, Media Guild of the West, @jeffjarvis, The Wrap, The Drum, Observer, Fast Company, Inside Radio, LION Publishers, New York Post, @passantino@threads.net, Editor and Publisher, UPI, CalMatters, KQED, New York Times, The Information and MediaPost
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:
Too Much TV Newsletter, @tvgrimreaper, Deadline, TVLine, CBR, Deadline, Screen Rant, Dean Devlin on LinkedIn, The Wrap and Variety
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 …
Pranav Dixit / Engadget:
A profile of TollBit, which has raised $7M and aims to create a marketplace where AI companies can pay publishers for their content on an ongoing basis — So far though, its business model of becoming a marketplace where AI companies can pay publishers directly for their data is a complete hypothetical
Discussion:
@pranavdixit, @pranavdixit, @pranavdixit and Observer
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:
@oliverdarcy@threads.net and Talking Biz News
Sportico:
Diamond Sports reaches deals to continue broadcasting games for 13 NBA teams and nine NHL teams through the leagues' 2024-2025 seasons in their local markets — Nearly a month to the day after a Houston court agreed to postpone a crucial confirmation hearing in the Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy case …
Discussion:
@powergate92, @evandrellich, @nationmffl, @theathletic, @mikevorkunov, @crupicrupicrupi, @mikevorkunov, @british_buzz, Front Office Sports, @evandrellich, @jeremydstanley.com, Tampa Bay Times, Mavs Moneyball, Dallas Morning News, The Detroit News, ESPN, WOI, Sports Illustrated, The Commercial Appeal, New York Times, The Desk, Barrett Media, Awful Announcing and Cord Cutters News
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Filing: the NBA seeks to dismiss WBD's lawsuit over the league's media rights, detailing how WBD had failed to match the terms of Amazon's offer — This game may never start. … Spokespersons for the NBA and Warner's TNT Sports were not able to respond immediately to queries seeking comment.
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, PlanetF1, Motorsport Week, Sports Illustrated and Motorsport.com
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
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 …
Discussion:
What's On Disney Plus, The Desk and UK Press
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, MacRumors, 9to5Mac and Slate, more at Techmeme »
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.