Mediagazer: As streaming offerings get more expensive and convoluted, people are setting up their own platforms via Plex servers to share media, including pirated content (Bijan Stephen/The Verge)

FTC announces a $5B fine against Facebook for repeated privacy violations as part of a settlement that requires federal oversight of its business practices — The settlement between the Federal Trade Commission and Facebook ends a 16-month probe that began after revelations of the tech giant's entanglement with Cambridge Analytica

Todd Spangler / Variety:

AT&T Q2: 778K net loss in DirecTV, U-verse customers; 168K net DirecTV Now subscriber loss; WarnerMedia revenue up 5.5% YoY to $8.35B, operating income up 10.3% — WarnerMedia was AT&T's fastest-growing division in the second quarter of 2019. But the telco showed ongoing signs of trouble …

Discussion: The Wrap, MediaPost, Fast Company, Multichannel News, @whatthebit, Deadline, Broadcasting & Cable, The Streamable, @xpangler, CNET and Reuters

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

HBO Max streaming service set to launch next spring will eventually include live sports and news programming, says AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson — AT&T chief Randall Stephenson told investors Wednesday that the HBO Max streaming service set to launch next spring will eventually include live sports and news programming.

Discussion: The Streamable, The Wrap and The Verge

Eli Blumenthal / CNET:
AT&T plans yet another new video streaming service, AT&T TV, which it will pilot in select markets this summer

Discussion: Engadget, Broadcasting & Cable, @dkatzmaier and FierceVideo

Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed News:

Interviews, including with the dev who led the team behind the retweet button, discuss the power of retweets to drive extreme content and spread misinformation — Developer Chris Wetherell built Twitter's retweet button. And he regrets what he did to this day.

Discussion: @kantrowitz, @katiebakes, @eli_schiff, 9to5Mac, @ericajoy, @noupside, Gizmodo and The Hill, more at Techmeme »

Clare Duffy / CNN:

Snap adds 13M DAUs in Q2, attributes growth to exclusive Discover content with 35% YoY increase in daily Discover users and total daily time spent on it up 60% — New York (CNN Business)Snapchat has the makings of a comeback story. — Snapchat (SNAP) added 13 million daily users …

Discussion: Business Wire, Observer, The Verge, The Wrap and Axios, more at Techmeme »

Om Malik:

Media companies keep playing a blame game, pointing to tech companies for their failures, but sales execs focused on short-term thinking should take the blame — Earlier this week, the New York Post reported that the cover of the July 29th issue of Time magazine, which celebrates …

Discussion: @om, TechCrunch, @corybe, @mcoatney, @joshelman, @sapnasf, @mariarodale, @corybe, @millie, @nickhagar, @dqandrade, @glecharles, @lauraelizdavis, @chaddickerson, @arctictony and @mathewi

Washington Post:

The Washington Post establishes a computational political journalism R&D lab to augment its campaign 2020 coverage — The Washington Post's newly launched elections engineering team will establish a computational political journalism R&D lab in the newsroom this fall.

Discussion: @megdunk, @tylrfishr, @jeremybowers and @jeremybowers

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Netflix launches a $2.80 per month mobile-only subscription plan in India, restricted to one mobile device at 480p standard definition — Netflix has a new plan to win users in India: make its service incredibly cheap. The streaming giant today introduced a lower-priced mobile tier in the country that costs Rs 199 ($2.8) per month.

Discussion: Variety, Netflix Media Center, Gizmodo, Fast Company and XDA Developers, more at Techmeme »

Barry Levine / Marketing Dive:

Staples launches a quarterly print and digital magazine, Staples Worklife, as part of a brand refresh and lifestyle marketing push — - Staples launched a quarterly magazine for sparking conversation and provide resources for professionals who see their work “as more than just a job,” according to a press release.

Discussion: Talking Biz News, @nwquah, Dealerscope, @staples, Chain Store Age and MediaPost

Kyle Bessey / Journalism.co.uk:

Journalists' unique use of social media exacerbates all its negative psychological effects, which can lead to mental health problems — Social presence is no longer a hobby, it is a journalism skill. So if cancelling all your accounts is not an option, what else can you do to stay safe and sane online?

Kali Hays / WWD:

Ad spend in print magazines in US fell 18% YoY in 2018, but spend in magazines' digital verticals rose 3.3%; magazine advertisers spent $13.64B total, down 12% — A few editors had success last year online and on YouTube, but digital ad dollars are very, very slow to appear.

Discussion: @ricmac and @elizabethangell

Nancy Cook / Politico:

Unlike her predecessors, Trump's new Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham has remained mostly silent to the public, playing a behind-the-scenes role — In one of the most fiery months of the Trump presidency, the new press secretary has had very little to say.

Discussion: @ericboehlert, @politico, @brianstelter, @dandrezner and @politico

Sasha Koren / Times Open:

NYT R&D debuts The News Provenance Project to explore product design and user-facing tools to make content origins clearer to audiences and fight misinformation — The Times's Research & Development team is exploring ways to make the origins of journalistic content clearer to news audiences.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, @sashak, The Next Web, @dangillmor, CoinDesk and Talking Biz News