Top News:
Gene Maddaus / Variety:
The US Senate votes narrowly early Thursday morning to strip $1.1B in funding from the CPB, in a severe blow to 1,500 local TV and radio stations, PBS, and NPR — The Senate voted narrowly early Thursday morning to strip $1.1 billion in funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting …
Discussion:
New York Times, TV Tech, The Wrap, The Wrap, TheDesk.net, CNN, Reason, The Hill, Ars Technica, MPR News, Digital Music News, @brianstelter, @jewishdems.bsky.social, SFist, Salt Lake Tribune, New Republic, LAist, The Post Millennial, Breitbart, @hansilowang.bsky.social, Lila Hassan on LinkedIn, Free Press Action Fund Feed, Cord Cutters News, @sanwil.bsky.social, Consequence, @lmcgaughy.bsky.social, @cbcstephenquinn.bsky.social, @stacykess.bsky.social, The Movie Blog, Jim Friedlich on LinkedIn, Newser, @rickstengel.bsky.social, Deseret News, Financial Times, @indivcentraloh.bsky.social, al.com, Werd I/O, Newsbusters, Doc Searls Weblog, PJ Media, CBS News, The Federalist, Fox News, Deadline, Realscreen, Poynter, TVNewsCheck, Bloomberg and Whiskey Riff
New York Times:
Substack raised a $100M Series C from Chernin Group, a16z, and others, sources say at a $1.1B valuation, as it builds its social network and warms up to ads — Substack, originally a newsletter service, says its app now has millions of users interacting with its creators.
Discussion:
The Rebooting, TechCrunch, The Substack Post, Bloomberg, Variety, @lucas_shaw@threads.com, Feed Me, @emily_sundberg, @sethbannon, The Economic Times, @cjgbest, @micsolana, The Hollywood Reporter, @hamishmckenzie, @benmullin.bsky.social, @hamishmckenzie, @chronotope and @maxwelltani, more at Techmeme »
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
CNBC names David Cho, most recently the EIC of Barron's, as its EIC, replacing both Dan Colarusso and Jay Yarow, ahead of CNBC's planned spin-off into Versant — CNBC heads toward market close with a new executive about to come on board to manage its editorial ups and downs.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, Talking Biz News, Talking Biz News, CNBC, @dawn_kopecki, @benmullin and The Hollywood Reporter
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Barstool Sports signs a “wide ranging” deal with Fox Sports, with Dave Portnoy and other Barstool personalities joining Fox's college football coverage — Portnoy will join the team of Fox's college football show, with other Barstool personalities.
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says NBC, Apple, and ESPN are the bidders for the league's Sunday Night Baseball package; ESPN initially opted out of it — CNBC's Most Valuable Sports Empires 2025: Here's how the top 20 empires in the world stack up — WNBA's Portland Fire unveils name and logo ahead of 2026 tipoff
Kendra Barnett / Adweek:
PubMatic launches Live Sports Marketplace, which uses AI to help advertisers target specific game moments across streaming platforms in real time — Sell-side platform PubMatic is rolling out an AI-powered platform that brings together media buyers and connected TV publishers like DirecTV …
Discussion:
PubMatic
Anna Ringstrom / Reuters:
Swedish streaming service Viaplay buys the remaining 50% stake in broadband and satellite TV provider Allente Group from Telenor for ~$113M — Swedish streaming group Viaplay Group (VPLAYb.ST) said on Thursday it had agreed to buy the remaining 50% stake in Allente Group from Norway's Telenor …
Discussion:
WORLD SCREEN, Broadband TV News, Decode TV, Deadline and Advanced Television
Reuters:
Publicis raises its full-year growth forecast to ~5% after stronger-than-expected Q2 results, and CEO Arthur Sadoun dismisses concerns over Meta's AI ad systems — French advertising firm Publicis (PUBP.PA) on Thursday raised its full-year organic growth forecast following stronger …
Discussion:
MediaPost, PRWeek, Adweek, Cryptopolitan, Ad Age, Financial Times, Adweek, Bloomberg, The Drum, Publicis Groupe, Wall Street Journal, Tech in Asia, BMI and PR Week UK
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
A US judge rules that three authors suing Anthropic can bring a class action on behalf of all US writers whose books Anthropic allegedly pirated to train its AI — A California federal judge ruled on Thursday that three authors suing artificial intelligence startup Anthropic for copyright infringement …
Discussion:
WinBuzzer, @morqon, @adameisgrau, @adameisgrau, Bloomberg Law, The Verge, Breitbart, TechTarget, Fox Business, IPWatchdog.com, JD Supra and The Week, more at Techmeme »
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Sources: EU regulators plan a full-scale investigation into UMG's $775M acquisition of Downtown Music; UMG didn't provide remedies to address regulatory worries — Universal Music Group (UMG.AS) unit Virgin Music Group's $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music faces a full-scale EU antitrust investigation …
Discussion:
Music Ally, Digital Music News, CMU, Billboard and Music Business Worldwide
Emma Roth / The Verge:
The News/Media Alliance says the webhost of 12ft.io, which helped users bypass paywalls, took down the site on July 14 following the trade association's efforts — The News/Media Alliance says it will take action against similar tools in the future.
Discussion:
News/Media Alliance, @newsalliance and @quinnypig.com
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify expands audiobook access to family plan members with two new plans, including Audiobooks+ that offers more listening hours, in the UK and 10+ countries — Spotify on Thursday announced an expansion of its premium audiobooks service, with two new plans that offer additional listening hours …
Discussion:
Engadget, Android Police, How-To Geek, Thurrott and Spotify, more at Techmeme »
