Top News:
Daniel Victor / New York Times:
China's state broadcaster cancels NBA preseason games after a Houston Rockets exec tweets Hong Kong support; 21M watched Game 6 in 2019 in China vs. 18.3 in US — A tweet from the Houston Rockets general manager prompted a backlash in China, making things uncomfortable for a league used …
Discussion:
Stratechery, New York Times, Forbes, CNBC, All - Kyodo News+, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Joe Tsai, @jyarow, The Wrap, Bloomberg, Inquirer.com, @sopandeb, VICE, FiveThirtyEight, @hongsave, @cwarzel, @heminator, @drewharwell, @nba, @sportsbybrooks, @powellnyt, Ars Technica, @esgsanders, @jchengwsj, @oneunderscore__, TechCrunch, Ad Age, Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal, Scroll.in, The Wrap, Gothamist, NBC News, The Register, Quartz, Insider, NetsDaily, Fast Company, Rolling Stone, VICE and Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
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Laura Wagner / Deadspin:
Internal memo: ESPN's senior news director mandated that on-air discussion of Houston Rockets exec Daryl Morey avoid political discussion of China and Hong Kong — If you watched ESPN yesterday, you saw the network repeatedly attempt to grapple with the story of Houston Rockets general …
Bloomberg:
Blizzard Entertainment, part-owned by Tencent, bans player from competing for one year and rescinds prize money he won after pro-Hong Kong comments — - Expressing sympathy for Hong Kong democracy push proves costly — Hearthstone player won't be allowed to compete for a year
Discussion:
Vox, InvenGlobal, Kotaku, Business Insider, Breitbart, playhearthstone.com, Slate, @deezus_walks, @ghostbutton, @jaldous, @jasonschreier, @xeni, @palmerluckey, @brucefenton, @loboexplosivo, @deezus_walks, @mollymckew, @nintendrew_, @stephentotilo, The Wrap and Variety, more at Techmeme »
Reuters:
South Park creators tweet mock apology to China: “We welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom”
South Park creators tweet mock apology to China: “We welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom”
Discussion:
@southpark, CNBC, NBCSports.com, @factbasefeed, @onlyyoontv, @becketadams, @acyn, Vanity Fair, CNN, The Independent, Deadline and The Guardian
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
European Commission makes a call for tenders to create the European Digital Media Observatory, the first core service of a platform to fight disinformation — The European Commission has taken the first step towards establishing a new digital platform to help coordinate the fight against disinformation.
Discussion:
Digital Single Market, @gabrielmariya, @pcunliffejones, @puzzlesthewill and @marklittlenews
Mike Allen / Axios:
Steve Hayes and Jonah Goldberg launch The Dispatch, a center-right digital media company with a site, newsletters, and podcasts, in partnership with Substack — Two of the biggest names in conservative journalism — Steve Hayes, formerly of the now-defunct Weekly Standard, and Jonah Goldberg …
Discussion:
The Dispatch, @stephenfhayes, Nieman Lab, @davidafrench, @stephenfhayes, Politico, @jayrosen_nyu, @ewerickson, @mikeallen, @kattimpf, @emeraldrobinson, @xtrixcyclex, @ksprior, @lachlan, @scottmgreer, The Hill and Mediaite
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: As investors cool, Lionsgate is considering splitting off Starz into a separate company, perhaps through a special-purpose acquisition vehicle — One scenario calls for Lions Gate to unload Starz through a special-purpose acquisition vehicle; another calls for the restructuring of the entire company
Discussion:
Variety, Deadline, The Wrap and @benmullin
Wall Street Journal:
YouTube recently started testing a tool called Instant Reserve to let political ad buyers book slots months ahead of time, similar to traditional TV ad buying — A new tool lets political ad buyers book slots through February, when voting starts in Iowa, New Hampshire and elsewhere
Discussion:
@david_marcelis, @ellgood, The Verge, @baekdal, MediaPost, Politico and @bykowicz, more at Techmeme »
Luke Bouma / Cord Cutters News:
Roku debuts interactive pop-up ads that appear during commercial breaks for companies that have partnered with Roku on the feature — Last week Roku started to roll out its OS 9.2 update to Roku TVs. As we expected, there were some unannounced changes in the update.
Discussion:
The Verge, @davezatz, @fmbutt, @dangillmor, @bergmayer, @mcbramhill, @richlightshed, @davezatz, Digital TV Europe and Gizmodo
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
60 Minutes plans to launch 60 in 6, an original 6-minute weekly program on Quibi in April — The newest edition of “60 Minutes” will have decidedly less time to make its point. — The venerable CBS newsmagazine plans to launch an original weekly program - just six minutes in length …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, @jbenton, CBS Press Express, MediaPost, CNN, TVNewser, Broadcasting & Cable and The Wrap
Jason Lynch / Adweek:
OpenAP, an alliance of Viacom, NBCUniversal, Univision, and Fox, rolls out OpenAP Market, which enables targeted video advertising across digital and linear TV — After closed beta, the platform is now available to all advertisers — OpenAP's future was looking bleak in April when WarnerMedia …
Discussion:
Ad Age, Broadcasting & Cable and AdExchanger
Kate Dwyer / New York Times:
Interview with Katie Couric on her daily email newsletter, use of Instagram, new iHeartRadio podcast called “Next Question” launching on October 10, and more — Instagram! iHeartRadio! Email! The veteran television personality is back with a desire for your little screens.
Discussion:
@karaswisher, Katie Couric, @bykatedwyer, @tvkatesnow, @danporterfield, @julieburtonwmc and Poynter
AllAccess.com:
Stitcher strikes deals with The Podcast Exchange in Canada and Whooshkaa in Australia to help local advertisers buy ad inventory across its podcasts — STITCHER has inked deals with THE PODCAST EXCHANGE (TPX) for advertising sales representation in CANADA and with WHOOSHKAA for ad rep responsibilities in AUSTRALIA.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab and PR Newswire
Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:
NBC Entertainment co-chairman George Cheeks shifts to vice chairman of NBCUniversal Content Studios in major restructure, leaving Paul Telegdy as sole chairman — NBCUniversal is making sweeping changes, restructuring its broadcast, studio and digital operations and assigning new roles …
Discussion:
Variety, Observer and Broadcasting & Cable
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Lesley Goldberg / Hollywood Reporter:
Matt Strauss to run NBCU's Peacock, replacing Bonnie Hammer, who now oversees Content Studios, a consolidation of Universal TV and Universal Content Productions
Matt Strauss to run NBCU's Peacock, replacing Bonnie Hammer, who now oversees Content Studios, a consolidation of Universal TV and Universal Content Productions
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, @ballmatthew, @awallenstein, @lucas_shaw, Adweek, The Wrap, MediaPost and The Wrap
Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Filings: Quartz lost more than $16M on $12M in revenue through the first six months of this year — Kevin Delaney co-founded the digital publication in 2012. — Kevin Delaney, the editor in chief of Quartz and one of the digital publication's co-founders is stepping down as part of a shake-up of the company's leadership.
Discussion:
@tomgara, @johngapper, @tomgara, @jbenton, @rafat and Talking Biz News
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Sara Jerde / Adweek:
Quartz to search for new editor-in-chief as Kevin Delaney steps down; co-founder Zach Seward to replace Delaney and Jay Lauf as CEO, Katie Weber named president
Quartz to search for new editor-in-chief as Kevin Delaney steps down; co-founder Zach Seward to replace Delaney and Jay Lauf as CEO, Katie Weber named president
Discussion:
@raju, @emilybell, @pkafka, @zseward, @jbenton, @jbenton, Quartz, bookforum.com, MediaPost and Talking Biz News