Top News:
Isabella Simonetti / Wall Street Journal:
Antenna: Disney+ customer cancellation rates doubled from 4% in August to 8% in September after Jimmy Kimmel's suspension, and Hulu's doubled from 5% to 10% — Customer cancellations for Disney's Disney+ and Hulu streaming services jumped in September, after the company briefly suspended the ABC late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”.
Discussion:
Deadline, Business Insider, Advanced Television, New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Axios, @pkafka, Daily Kos, The Wrap, @maxwelltani, @passantino.bsky.social, Entertainment Weekly, @tvgrimreaper, The A.V. Club, TheDesk.net, MarketWatch, @joshsternberg.com, Associated Press, TV Insider, Mashable, New York Daily News, @pkafka.bsky.social, Gizmodo, @datadrivenmd.social, The Guardian, BBC, @businessinsider.com, San Francisco Chronicle, @jessehawken.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck and Just Jared
S.V. Date / HuffPost:
When a HuffPost reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt who chose Budapest for the next Trump-Putin meeting, she replied “Your mom did” — The press secretary still didn't answer the question we asked her, either. — WASHINGTON — White House press secretary …
Discussion:
New York Times, @presssec, Politico, @kevinbaum013, @ishaantharoor, @billybinion, Mediaite, Raw Story, New Republic, @alexbgault, @mepiskopos, @steveguest, @meidastouch, @radiofreetom, @kevinmlevy, Townhall, @sapitonmix, @edkrassen, RedState, The Kyiv Independent, @theintelfrog, @jmart, The Independent, @brad__22, @whstancil, @klasfeldreports, @itstheenforcer, @samstein, @jnicholsonindc, @jbendery, @yashar, twitchy.com, @michaeldweiss, @mehdirhasan, @lemonsturgis, @wutangkids, @colinbwilliams.com, @mmpadellan, New York Post, @spencerhakimian, @rpsagainsttrump, Al Jazeera, @walshfreedom, @doughnutdunk, @andrewfeinberg, Fox News, The Gateway Pundit, Newsweek, Crooks and Liars, Just Jared, Washington Examiner and The Japan Times
Ethan Shanfeld / Variety:
Channel 4 reveals that the anchor who narrates and appears throughout a special titled “Will AI Take My Job?” was AI-generated, a first for British television — A news special on Britain's Channel 4 titled “Will AI Take My Job?” investigated how automation is reshaping the workplace and pitting humans against machines.
Discussion:
The Guardian, TVNewsCheck, Advanced Television, The A.V. Club, Daily Mail, TVBEurope, Mirror, The Business Times, The Wrap, Deadline and campaignlive.co.uk
Dave Brooks / Billboard:
In a letter to two US lawmakers, Ticketmaster says it will ban users from operating multiple accounts and shut down its TradeDesk platform after an FTC lawsuit — Dan Wall, the ticketing giant's top corporate and regulatory affairs lawyer, skewers the FTC lawsuit in a feisty letter to two U.S. senators.
Jaures Yip / CNBC:
OpenAI says it will work with SAG-AFTRA, CAA, UTA, and others to crack down on Sora 2 deepfakes, following concerns from actor Bryan Cranston and SAG-AFTRA — OpenAI announced on Monday in a joint statement that it will be working with Bryan Cranston, SAG-AFTRA, and other actor unions …
Discussion:
Digit, Tom's Guide, The Guardian, @sagaftra, SAG-AFTRA, @andrewcurran_, @ns123abc, The Wrap, MacRumors, @carnage4life.bsky.social, @tomrubin, IGN, Variety, WinBuzzer, LAist, The National, CNET, Straight Arrow News, Business Insider, NBC News, Gizmodo, Deadline, @xpangler, @garymarcus, @rekkhan, SiliconANGLE, The Verge and The Daily Caller, more at Techmeme »
Ian Walker / Wall Street Journal:
The UK CMA says Getty Images and Shutterstock's $3.7B merger raises competition concerns and gives the companies until October 27 to make a plan to address them — The regulator says it will refer the deal for further investigation if the companies don't provide an acceptable undertaking to address concerns
Discussion:
GOV.UK, PetaPixel, Neowin, Reuters and Capital Brief
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
David Rohde, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize who left The New Yorker in 2023 to join NBC News, moves to MSNBC as its senior national security reporter — Rohde, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, will join MSNBC under Versant, the new company slated to be spun off from NBCUniversal …
Discussion:
Deadline, The Wrap, @bristei and TVNewsCheck
Ken Bensinger / New York Times:
Andrew Thornebrooke, an Epoch Times national security reporter, resigns over its decision to sign the Pentagon's new policy and label antifa as a terrorist org — The reporter, Andrew Thornebrooke, also cited a recent editorial directive to refer to antifa, the far-left ideological movement, as a terrorist organization.
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, The Epoch Times, HuffPost, Newser, @kenbensinger, @kenbensinger, @elisethomas.bsky.social, Poynter, @democracyactionnet …, @anne-s-kim.bsky.social, @waldo.net, Mediaite, The Wrap, @patriotprogressive …, @qagggy.bsky.social, @elifriedman.bsky.social and MediaPost
Michael Beltran / Nikkei Asia:
Analysis: agencies have hired hundreds of thousands of “chatters” to impersonate 4M+ OnlyFans creators, as many Filipino chatters struggle with mental health — MANILA — When one of the almost 400 million OnlyFans subscribers logs on to chat with their favorite content creators …
Discussion:
@johnaglionby and @johnaglionby.bsky.social
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
Ofcom strengthens its guidance on politicians presenting UK news shows to include members of the House of Lords, after losing a court battle with GB News — Ofcom has strengthened guidance concerning politicians presenting news shows after the UK media regulator lost a court battle with GB News earlier this year.
Discussion:
Press Gazette, Telegraph, Advanced Television, Broadband TV News and GB News
Michael Paulson / New York Times:
Ariel Emanuel's new company MARI acquires NYC- and London-based theater ticketing app TodayTix from PE firm Great Hill; TodayTix sells ~10M tickets per year — The ticketing company is already a significant player in the two big theater markets of New York and London.
Max Tani / Semafor:
MeidasTouch says it has grown to 5.5M+ YouTube subscribers without outside investment; sources say Soros Fund is in talks to invest in the anti-Trump outlet — The foundation started by George Soros is looking to expand its reach even further into media, despite a looming federal probe into Soros' philanthropic arm.
Discussion:
@michaelmartinez.co
