Mediagazer: UK government vetoes the reappointment of two women to Channel 4's board, against advice of the state-owned but privately-funded broadcaster's board and Ofcom (The Guardian)

Top News:

Univision and Mexico's Televisa unveil a $4.8B deal to merge, partly financed by a $1B Series C led by SoftBank's Latin American Fund — The two companies announce a plan to combine media, production and content assets. — Two of the biggest Spanish-language media companies in the world are planning to merge.

Discussion: Financial Times, The Wrap, Axios, The Desk, @w7voa, @fidmart85, Forbes, Bloomberg, Deadline, Reuters, Variety, Radio & Television … and KABE-LP

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Plex raises $50M+ Series C from existing investor Intercap, bringing its total raised to $60M, and says it has more than 25M registered users globally — Streaming media service Plex, looking to grow its free, ad-supported video business, announced that it raised more than $50 million …

Discussion: TechCrunch and FierceVideo

Reuters:

Fox says Lachlan Murdoch will return to LA from Australia in early September to reopen Fox HQ “and will go back to working and living in the US” — SYDNEY (Reuters) - Fox Corp chief executive Lachlan Murdoch will return to the United States from a months-long Australian sojourn …

Discussion: The Hill, @benyt, @benyt and @brianstelter

Andrew Hutchinson / Social Media Today:

Report: in pitch decks submitted to US advertisers about new ad formats, TikTok says it has 732M MAUs globally, 100M+ in the US, 59% of its users are under 24 — TikTok is planning to launch a range of new eCommerce focused ad offerings as it seeks to maximize its revenue potential …

Discussion: Insider, @tanyadua, @mattnavarra, @prodbywalkz, musically.com, @dwhate, @tanyadua, @joshsternberg and @tanyadua, more at Techmeme »

Freddy Mayhew / Press Gazette:

Facebook rolls out a local news section for UK users of Facebook News, after launching a similar section in the US last year — Facebook has rolled out a local news section for UK users of Facebook News. — The social network said in a blog post that the new feature will help …

Discussion: The Drum, One Man & His Blog and Facebook Journalism Project

The Guardian:

UK government vetoes the reappointment of two women to Channel 4's board, against advice of the state-owned but privately-funded broadcaster's board and Ofcom — Decision not to renew Uzma Hasan and Fru Hazlitt was made against advice of Channel 4 and Ofcom

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Air Mail, former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's media venture, expects to employ 40 people by year's end, up from 30 now, and has added an e-commerce shop — Former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's new media venture, Air Mail, expects to employ 40 people by year's end …

Discussion: @rickgamesnow, @airmailweekly, @tomgara, @rafat, @niemanlab, @simonowens, @sarafischer and The Flack on Stack

Paul Resnikoff / Digital Music News:

Spotify has now removed 42 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, offering no explanations for the removals — Spotify is continuing to remove episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience as part of their $100 million exclusive relationship, with more nixed shows discovered this week.

Discussion: Insider, The Wrap, The Desk, @seyitaylor, “Questioni d'o …, @naithanjones, @roberthaisfield, @rightwingwatch and @thekenyeung, more at Techmeme »

Patrick Brzeski / Hollywood Reporter:

In a public disclosure due to a new law, Netflix says its South Korea unit revenue grew 123.5% YoY to $356M in 2020 and operating profit grew 295% YoY to $7.5M — Revenue for the streamer's local unit, required to issue a profit and loss statement in the country for the first time due to a new law, more than doubled.

New York Times:

Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, who joined with Stewart Bainum in the top Tribune bid, has ties to a group pushing progressive political policies and Democrats — The Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss helped build a sophisticated behind-the-scenes operation that attacked Republicans and promoted Democratic causes.

Discussion: Robert Feder, @nickmerrill, @nickmerrill, @nickmerrill, @nickmerrill, @nickmerrill, @kenvogel, @hopnotes, @coreyciorciari, @teddyschleifer, @curtishouck, @harrysiegel, @kenvogel, @hughhewitt, @mattdizwhitlock and Daily Herald

self.inc:

Analysis: Apple TV+ has the highest average IMDb score for its titles (7.24), but has fewer than 70 titles to choose from — It seems every few months there is a new TV streaming service asking us for a monthly subscription or confirming a price increase for the existing service.

Discussion: The Streamable, AppleInsider and 9to5Mac

Helen Davidson / The Guardian:

Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai writes to his Apple Daily staff ahead of his sentencing for participating in a protest: “Freedom of speech is a dangerous job” — Media mogul writes from prison that ‘freedom of speech is a dangerous job’ but journalists must uphold justice

Discussion: @kenroth, @penamerica, @freedomofpress, @rasmus_kleis, @forfreemedia and Hong Kong Free Press HKFP