Mediagazer: Antenna: Americans buy ~30% of all new streaming subscriptions via third-party apps like Prime Video or Roku, rising 40% from 2023, a new kind of cable bundle (John Koblin/New York Times)

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Wired and Business Insider remove articles by journalist Margaux Blanchard that appear to be AI-generated and feature people who do not seem to exist — Index on Censorship believes article it published by ‘Margaux Blanchard’ was generated by AI. — Wired and Business Insider …

Discussion: Talking Biz News, @seywarddarby.bsky.social, @mjanssen.bsky.social, @stokel.bsky.social, Jem Collins on LinkedIn, @ogmcduck.bsky.social, @pressgazette.co.uk, @paris.nyc, @jamesrball.com, @oisinmcgann.bsky.social, @garethtbij.bsky.social, @harryrose.bsky.social and @katebevan.com

John Koblin / New York Times:

Antenna: Americans buy ~30% of all new streaming subscriptions via third-party apps like Prime Video or Roku, rising 40% from 2023, a new kind of cable bundle — A battle is heating up in the streaming world as millions of Americans sign up for multiple services through a single provider instead of separate apps.

Discussion: The Athletic, Yahoo Finance, Tammy Golihew on LinkedIn, Jonathan Carson on LinkedIn, Nicola Korzenko on LinkedIn, 9to5Mac and Los Angeles Times

Abid Rahman / The Hollywood Reporter:

Nielsen and Adobe: the Premier League's opening weekend averaged 850K viewers across six matches on NBC/Peacock and USA Network, a record and up 4% on 2024-25 — The Manchester United-Arsenal game scored 2.3 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, Telemundo and NBC Sports' digital platforms.

Discussion: TVNewsCheck

Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:

Two House Democrats sent Paramount a letter on August 20 demanding documents, communications, and answers regarding the Skydance merger approval process — A pair of top House Democrats are launching an investigation into Paramount's $7 billion merger with fellow media conglomerate Skydance …

Discussion: NBC News, Mumbrella and Fox News

Gabriela Pomeroy / BBC:

Denmark plans to abolish a 25% sales tax on books, one of the highest globally, in an effort to combat a “reading crisis”; the measure will cost $50M per year — The Danish government has announced it will abolish a 25% sales tax on books, in an effort to combat a “reading crisis”.

Discussion: The Guardian, Publishing Perspectives, @louisemclaughlin.bsky.social, RTÉ and Le Monde

Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:

Fox launches Fox One, its $20/month streamer to reach younger viewers; Fox News' median viewer age is 69, and Emplifi says it had 332M YouTube views in July — App is aimed at growing the network beyond its ageing audience, with ‘modest’ expectations from executives

Discussion: The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Streaming Better, Comic Book, Deadline, StreamTV Insider, Australian Financial Review, Mashable, Media Play News and Cord Cutters News

Committee to Protect Journalists:

India opens criminal investigations into The Wire editor Siddharth Varadarajan, the outlet's staff, and parent FIJ over articles on April attacks and Pakistan — Two police branches in northeastern Indian state of Assam opened separate criminal investigations into Siddharth Varadarajan …

Discussion: The Indian Express

Zoë Schiffer / Wired:

A profile of Stability AI, which under CEO Prem Akkaraju and Chair Sean Parker has shifted from building frontier AI models to a Hollywood-focused SaaS company — An early winner in the generative AI wars was near collapse—then bet everything on a star-studded comeback. Can Stability AI beat the competition?

Discussion: @knibbs.bsky.social, @harmancipants.bsky.social and @davidgilbert.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »

John Semley / Wired:

A look at the 2025 AI Film Festival, backed by Runway AI and screened by Imax; some cinephiles deride it while others say it's part of a natural tech evolution — From a POV butterfly larvae doc to something that resembled a perfume commercial, Runway AI's film festival selections did little to convince me of AI's artistry.

Discussion: TheGamer, @johnsemley3000.bsky.social, @manishakrishnan.bsky.social and Implicator.ai

Pew Research Center:

A survey of 9,000+ US adults: 59% say journalists are extremely or very important to the well-being of society, while 49% say journalists are losing influence — Americans largely value journalists' role in society but see their influence declining - and often differ over who fits the label

Discussion: The Hill, Mediaite, @newsguy.bsky.social, @jbeilinson.bsky.social, @pewresearch.org, NewsMax.com, TheDesk.net, @Nonya_Bidniss@infosec …, Jess Awtry on LinkedIn and Poynter

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

WWE live events on ESPN's new streaming service will start earlier than expected, with Wrestlepalooza on September 20 and then a Crown Jewel and Survivor Series — ESPN is going to the mat for a special WWE event much sooner than expected. — The Disney sports-media giant will host …

Discussion: The Streamable, ESPN Press Room U.S., @sherman4949, Streaming Better, @richarddeitsch, Sports Business Journal, Comic Book, Barrett Media, New York Post, TheDesk.net, Awful Announcing, Cord Cutters News, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, Deadline, Media Play News, The Hollywood Reporter and The Athletic

Dylan Byers / Puck:

Sources: CBS News is losing ~$50M per year, as David Ellison plans to right-size the division by reducing salaries, shrinking teams, and repackaging content — Greetings from Los Angeles and welcome back to In the Room. I spent a fair amount of time over the weekend trying to figure …

Discussion: @calebhowe, @dylanbyers and The Daily Caller