Mediagazer: Discovery announces plans to launch a broad, new DTC streaming service that encompasses all its brands and characters, with more details coming soon (Jill Goldsmith/Deadline)

10:55 AM ET, August 5, 2020

Top News:

NYT says it has added 669K new digital subscribers in Q2 and its digital revenue, at $185.5M, exceeded print revenue, at $175.4M, for the first time — The pandemic squeezed advertising for the web as well as print, but subscription growth was the best ever for a quarter.

Discussion: Axios, @sarafischer, @jodikantor, @marcatracy, @mattzeitlin, @jimwaterson, @ericcrawford and @juliehdavis

Business Wire:

NYT reports Q2 net income of $23.7M, down 6% YoY, revenue of $403.8M, down 7.5% YoY, with ad revenues down 43.9%, and has a total of 6.5M subscribers — NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)—The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) announced today second-quarter 2020 diluted earnings per share …

Discussion: CNN, @gerryfsmith, @justin_b_smith, @them_l_g, @andybcampbell, @sarthakgh, @aexm, @dicktofel, @yousefmunayyer, @bgrueskin, @mattyglesias, @kerrymflynn, @kerrymflynn, @thestalwart, @boydhilton and @gerryfsmith

Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:

Pete Hamill, the celebrated reporter who worked as a columnist and the top editor of The New York Post and The Daily News, and authored many books, dies at 85 — He was, among other things, a celebrated reporter, columnist and the top editor of The New York Post and The Daily News and the author of numerous books.

Discussion: New York Daily News, @danbarrynyt, The Wrap, New York Post, Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone, @devlinbarrett, @cliffordlevy, @nytimesbooks, @sarahhepola, @nytmedia, @craigtimes, @dgisserious, abc7NY and @howardkurtz

Julia Alexander / The Verge:

Disney says it plans to launch a general entertainment streaming platform internationally in 2021 under its Star brand, would include content from ABC, FX, more — The big question now is what it means for Hulu — Disney plans to launch a new general entertainment streaming platform overseas …

Discussion: IGN, @theericgoldman and @loudmouthjulia

CNBC:
Disney reports $11.78B in Q3 revenue vs. $12.37B est., down 42% YoY, says it has 100M+ paid subs for streaming services including Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+

Julia Alexander / The Verge:
Disney's Mulan, originally to be released in March but delayed due to COVID-19, will be released on Disney+ on Sept. 4 as a premium on-demand offering for $30

Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
Disney says Disney+ grew to 57.5M subs as of June 27, up from 54.5M three months ago

Discussion: Variety, TechCrunch, @vijayshekhar, Engadget, Awful Announcing and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

TikTok tightens policies against manipulated content, expands fact-checking partnerships, and is working with DHS's Countering Foreign Influence Task Force — TikTok announced new rules for its users on Wednesday to curb misinformation and manipulation ahead of the 2020 election.

Discussion: @mosseri, Electronic Frontier Foundation, @mattnavarra and @sarafischer, more at Techmeme »

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Discovery reports Q2 earnings of $271M, down 71% YoY, on revenue of $2.54B, down 12% YoY; US ad revenues were down 14% and distribution revenues were down 2% — Discovery said it planned to unveil a new direct-to-consumer streaming service even as its said its second-quarter net income fell 71% …

Discussion: The Streamable, The Wrap, @xpangler, @bristei, @thr and Hollywood Reporter

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

Discovery announces plans to launch a broad, new DTC streaming service that encompasses all its brands and characters, with more details coming soon — Discovery Inc. CEO said the company is close to announcing a broad, new direct-to-consumer service that encompass all its brands and characters …

CBS News:

Biden campaign announces what it says is the largest TV ad buy ever by a presidential candidate, with $220M for TV ads in 15 states and $60M for digital ads — Pretty soon it'll be hard to escape Joe Biden on your television. Or your radio. Or your phone.

Discussion: @michaeljgwin, @davidlarter and @jeffjarvis

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Facebook launches Instagram Reels, its TikTok competitor that lets users create and publish 15-second videos, in 50+ countries, including the US, UK, and Japan — Instagram Reels, the company's significant effort in challenging TikTok on short-form creative content, is launching globally, starting today.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Engadget, 9to5Mac and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Los Angeles Times:

Changes at the USAGM undermine the credibility of US worldwide broadcasting by threatening the firewall that has insulated broadcasters from political pressure — Today a global battle of ideas is raging between representative democracy and authoritarianism.

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:

Google says Google Play Music shutdown starts this month, global streaming will shut down in October, and music collections will be deleted in December — August begins the four-month Google Music shutdown. — Google Play Music has been given the death sentence by Google …

Discussion: NME and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Julia Alexander / The Verge:

Quibi seems to be testing a free ad-supported tier in Australia and New Zealand — Sounds like a testing phase — Quibi is beginning to offer a completely free tier to subscribers in Australia and New Zealand as the struggling streaming company tries to build its subscriber base.

Discussion: @loudmouthjulia

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More News:

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Standard Media Index: Q2'2020 US TV ad spend fell 19% YoY and in June it fell 9% YoY to $3.2B, with CNN's ad revenue growing 86% YoY and Fox News' 55% YoY

Discussion: Radio & Television …, @bristei, @bristei, Multichannel News and The Verge

Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Trump has withdrawn the renomination of FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly after a senator's objection and O'Rielly's skepticism about Trump's Section 230 order

Discussion: @reckless, @katyonthehill, Business Insider, Light Reading, CNET, Reuters and Engadget

Kevin G. Hall / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
A bankruptcy judge has approved the $312M sale of McClatchy to Chatham Asset Management; Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation will assume McClatchy pension plan

Discussion: New York Post, New York Times, @kdoctor, @bok_bok_ba_gok, @kdoctor and @kerrymflynn

Bhat Burhan / VICE:
Journalists in Kashmir say this year has been most disheartening for them as India's new media policy for Kashmir seeks to prosecute reporters for “fake news”

Discussion: @standwkashmir, @viceindia and @michaelkugelman

i24:
Patreon fails to stop arbitration suits in California by fans of a comedian removed for hate speech, making suits from fans of other banned accounts possible

Discussion: @tracybeanz

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
YouGov: ~14% of all in the UK subscribe to a print and/or online news source; of those, 50% are over 55, 12% are under 25, and 21% are between 25 and 39

Discussion: @spignal, @janebsinger and @andrewnoakes

Earlier Picks:

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:
Neil Young sues Trump's campaign for copyright infringement for playing two of Young's songs at rallies, testing rules set by performance rights organizations

Discussion: @bergmayer, @eriqgardner, @eriqgardner, @eriqgardner, news.avclub.com, NPR, Breitbart and The Week

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: NBCU begins layoffs across its portfolio, expected to be less than 10% of staff, and WarnerMedia will start layoffs as early as next week

Discussion: New York Post, MediaPost, NBC News, CNN, @jbflint, @alexsalvinews, Multichannel News, Forbes and The Wrap

Kelsey Sutton / Adweek:
EyeQ, ViacomCBS' video advertising service, will unify digital video buying across CBS Interactive, Pluto TV, and Viacom video

Discussion: @viacomcbs, Ad Age and MediaPost

Knight Foundation:
49% of Americans see “a great deal” of political bias in news; 82% worry that inaccuracies are intentional; 19% of people under 30 view the media favorably

Discussion: CNN, Poynter, Reason, 1A, @thesamgill, @phil_sanchez, @hotlinejosh, @jonzgreenberg, @jeffjarvis, Trust, Media and Democracy, @rishikadugyala, @w7voa, @sykescharlie, @johnfund, Tangle, The Hill and Axios

Max Tani / @maxwelltani:
Business Insider told staff on Friday that the company will not require employees to return to the offices until July 2021

Discussion: @alexjamesfitz, @kathryncasteel, @rainesford, @melissadahl, @jnaftulin, @benjamingoggin, @lainnafader, @grace_panetta, @rainesford, @mcpli, @katzish, @kevloria, @pdavis_llc, @aaronmehta, @scottnover and @maxwelltani

From Techmeme:

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Meta details Llama 3: 8B- and 70B-parameter models, a focus on reducing false refusals, and an upcoming model trained on 15T+ tokens that has 400B+ parameters

David Pierce / The Verge:
Google announces a new Platforms and Devices team overseeing Pixel, Android, Chrome, Photos, and more, to integrate AI across its products, led by Rick Osterloh

Ryan Morrison / Tom's Guide:
Microsoft researchers introduce VASA-1, an AI model that creates a realistic talking face video from a portrait photo and an audio file, in research preview

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