Top News:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
New York Post plans to launch a new, daily Los Angeles-based newspaper called The California Post in early 2026, with News Corp. veteran Nick Papps as EIC — - Los Angeles is home to the second-largest concentration of Post readers, per News Corp. — The vast majority (90%) …
Discussion:
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Bloomberg:
Amazon says it is closing its Wondery podcast studio and will break up its operations as part of a broad reorganization; a source says ~110 will lose their jobs — As podcasting becomes video-oriented, Amazon is shuffling Wondery into Audible and a new “creator services” team while cutting approximately 110 staff members
Discussion:
Adweek, Business Insider, The Wrap, Reuters, CNBC, Variety, TechCrunch, iPhone in Canada, Jody Avirgan on LinkedIn, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, 9to5Mac, Deadline, Thurrott, The Information, The Verge, @james@bne.social, Lex Friedman on LinkedIn, @jerrodjaeger.bsky.social, @dannygroner.bsky.social, @lucas_shaw and GeekWire, more at Techmeme »
Joe Otterson / Variety:
Internal memo: Paramount Streaming President and CEO Tom Ryan is stepping down; Ryan became CEO in October 2020 after co-founding Pluto TV — Tom Ryan, president and CEO of Paramount Streaming, is stepping down. — Ryan notified Paramount staffers of his departure in an internal note …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, TheDesk.net, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, The Information, Cord Cutters News, Deadline and Media Play News
Jessica Roy / The Information:
A look at newsletter platform Beehiiv, which has hit $30M in ARR and fees starting at $43/month for 1,000 subscribers, unlike Substack, which takes a 10% cut — Last August, when CNN's Oliver Darcy decided he wanted to leave the network and launch Status, an email newsletter focused on the media industry …
Olivia Solon / Bloomberg:
Spotify says it is updating prices across South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific; an example email had a €1/month rise — Spotify Technology SA shares gained in premarket trading after the company announced it's raising premium subscription prices across many markets outside the US.
Wall Street Journal:
Disney is grappling with using AI in its filmmaking process while protecting its characters against it, plus legal uncertainty, fan backlash, and union concerns — The stakes are especially high for the studio, caught between how to use artificial intelligence in the filmmaking process …
Discussion:
Dexerto, @rakeshsfnyc and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »
Nicole Sperling / New York Times:
A profile of Netflix VP Brandon Riegg, who oversees unscripted series, sports, documentary series, and gaming, as the company pushes into live shows and sports — Netflix's head of nonfiction series and sports, Brandon Riegg. Early in his Netflix career he had a memorable flop.
Discussion:
Sports Media Watch, Sports Business Journal and TVNewsCheck
Amelia Gentleman / The Guardian:
Children's Commissioner for England Rachel de Souza criticizes a Channel 4 documentary on porn star Bonnie Blue for “glamorising and normalising” extreme porn — Programme about performer Bonnie Blue condemned for ‘glamorising and normalising’ extreme pornography
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Elon Musk says Vine's video archive is being brought back, and xAI's newly launched Grok Imagine, available to X Premium+ subscribers, is “AI Vine” — Elon Musk says he's bringing back Vine — sort of. The X owner announced over the weekend that the company discovered …
Discussion:
New York Post, Engadget, @joshwest247, @farzyness, @elonmusk, @amxfreeze, @techdevnotes, @elonmusk, @thecaptaineli, WinBuzzer, @elonmusk, @chaitualuru, crypto.news, The Rundown AI, @elonmusk, Benzinga, Moneycontrol, primetimer.com, iPhone in Canada, Business Insider, Dexerto and The Economic Times
Daniel Frankel / StreamTV Insider:
EchoStar reports losing 383K subscribers in Q2 for ~7.1M in total and pay TV revenue down 8% YoY to $2.5B; Sling TV lost 109K subscribers for a total of 1.78M — EchoStar Dish Network Sling TV quarterly earnings — In the words of one prominent analyst, it's no longer a question …
Discussion:
The Streamable, TheDesk.net and Cord Cutters News
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Regal Cinemas will distribute a new Dude Perfect documentary on 800+ screens, including rivals AMC and Cinemark, as it looks beyond Hollywood for content — The second-largest US theater chain is releasing a documentary about the YouTube group Dude Perfect on hundreds of screens
New York Times:
How the Bloomberg podcast Odd Lots, hosted by Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway, has attracted a wide audience by offering in-depth analysis of economic trends — “Odd Lots” goes deep on lentils in Saskatchewan, the global tractor supply and trucking markets. Is it the skeleton key to understanding this strange economic moment?
