Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Paramount Skydance lays off ~1,000 staff, mostly in the US; in a memo, David Ellison says the cuts “are necessary to position Paramount for long-term success” — Paramount Skydance, aiming to get leaner and meaner, today is laying off about 1,000 employees, mostly in the U.S. David Ellison …
Discussion:
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Los Angeles Times:
Sources: Paramount layoffs will affect CBS, CBS News, and cable channels including MTV and Comedy Central — - Paramount began laying off 1,000 workers this week with another 1,000 planned later on as new owners pursue $2 billion in expense cuts across the company.
Discussion:
CNN, Deadline, TVNewsCheck, Adweek, Barrett Media, @jeremymbarr, @jeremymbarr, Axios, @samthielman.com, Newsweek and New York Sun
Emma G. Fitzsimmons / New York Times:
The Times of London takes down a story about former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio criticizing Zohran Mamdani, after de Blasio says the outlet fabricated his comments — The former New York City mayor said comments attributed to him about Zohran Mamdani, reported in The Times of London on Tuesday, were fabricated.
Discussion:
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Scott Nover / Washington Post:
Radio Free Asia CEO Bay Fang says RFA will stop publishing on October 31 and close its bureaus across Asia, amid a crisis brought on by US federal funding cuts — The government-funded nonprofit, a staple of U.S. soft power in the region since 1996, is facing nearly total closure …
Discussion:
New York Times and @scottnover
Matthew Keys / TheDesk.net:
Fubo and Hulu with Live TV complete their merger; Fubo CEO David Gandler will be the CEO of the new combined company, also called Fubo, with 6M+ customers — Moving forward, the combined streaming pay TV company, also called Fubo, will serve more than 6 million customers.
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, TechCrunch, Business Wire, Variety, Adweek, TVLine, The Streamable, Yahoo Finance, TVNewsCheck, Los Angeles Times, Sports Media Watch, The Wrap, TV Tech, Benzinga, Advanced Television, Radio & Television …, How-To Geek, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Cord Cutters News, Streaming Better and Media Play News
The Verge:
Grokipedia hands-on: many articles clone Wikipedia, but deviate significantly on topics Elon Musk cares about, with inaccuracies on some scientific topics — xAI's Wikipedia-like website offers a generous take on Musk's worldview. … On Monday, a new online “encyclopedia” sputtered to life.
Discussion:
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Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
A US judge turns down Dr. Phil's bid to proceed under Chapter 11 bankruptcy for his media startup Merit Street and converts the case to a Chapter 7 liquidation — A court determined that the TV host improperly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to protect his own interests, with the intention of paying certain creditors over others.
Discussion:
Hollywood Life, @joshgerstein, Entertainment Weekly, Variety, al.com, Deadline and The Wrap
Financial Times:
John Malone steps down as chair of F1 owner Liberty Media and Liberty Global; he remains the shareholder with the most voting rights — Tycoon is relinquishing board roles at Liberty Media and Liberty Global after buccaneering 50-year career — John Malone is stepping down as chair …
Gene Park / Washington Post:
Nintendo plans to release the soundtrack for The Legend of Zelda on vinyl globally, a year after launching its own music app, as it seeks to expand beyond games — A “Breath of the Wild” vinyl release is another sign that Nintendo wants to be a broader entertainment company.
Discussion:
Variety, Video Games Chronicle, Nintendo, The Shortcut and Polygon.com
The Hollywood Reporter:
Sources detail how Paramount's Taylor Sheridan partnership fell apart, even as NBCU's Donna Langley courted him; Paramount never made an offer to retain him — David Ellison has the deepest pockets in Hollywood. Sheridan has the best track record in streaming. Why the most obvious deal in TV didn't happen.
Discussion:
New York Post, Daily Mail, /Film, NewsMax.com, IndieWire, The Wrap, Mirror, Advanced Television and The A.V. Club
Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
RISJ survey across 24 countries: news creators and influencers gain more attention in countries with struggling traditional media and high social media usage — A new report highlights how “messy, fragmented, and loosely defined news sources have become for many people.”
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Apollo Global reaches a deal to sell AOL to Bending Spoons, sources say in a deal valued at ~$1.5B; AOL has about 30M MAUs across its email and web properties — Apollo Global Management has reached a deal to sell AOL to Italian tech holding group Bending Spoons in a deal valued at roughly $1.5 billion, Axios has learned.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Business Wire, Deadline, Cord Cutters News, @fedesimio, Tech.eu, Forbes, @phkeane, The Information and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
