Top News:

Allen & Co.'s annual Sun Valley conference begins on July 5 featuring Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Netflix, and more, as financial woes dampen dealmaking — As fleece-clad billionaires—and newcomers like Bari Weiss—flock to Idaho this week, Sun Valley fixtures are buzzing about Netflix's future …

IBT Media sues Newsweek and its CEO, seeking to cancel the 2018 deal to spin out Newsweek, which IBT claims was a PR stunt to shield the magazine from bad press — IBT Media is asking a New York court to cancel a 2018 deal in which Newsweek was spun off as an independent company …
Discussion:
MediaPost, @mathewi, @naveedajamali, @petersgoodman, @natsecjeff, @sivavaid, @jeffjarvis, @bmorrissey, @mattgertz and @petersterne

Sources: TikTok abandons plans to expand its TikTok Shop live e-commerce program to Europe and the US, after internal problems and a lack of traction in the UK — Chinese-owned social media platform's foray into livestream shopping in the UK has struggled to gain traction

To cut costs, HBO will cease producing HBO Max originals in the Nordics, Central Europe, the Netherlands, and Turkey and will also remove some HBO Max content — As the media conglomerate looks to recalibrate its streaming priorities, it will no longer produce originals in the Nordics …

David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash's music returns to Spotify, after they removed it in February in solidarity with Neil Young's Joe Rogan protest — Of the news, David Crosby said: “I don't own it now and the people who do are in business to make money”

Canada's CBC News plans to launch a free, ad-supported streaming news channel for local, national, and current affairs, on digital and TV platforms this fall — CBC News announced on Thursday it will be launching a new ad-supported streaming channel across its digital platforms this fall.
Discussion:
@greenfield64 and @jackshafer

EU lawmakers pass the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, seeking to regulate US tech giants, but limited resources could hamstring enforcement — EU lawmakers gave the thumbs up on Tuesday to landmark rules to rein in the power of tech giants such as Alphabet (GOOGL.O) …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, LinkedIn, @bertuzluca, Engadget, Euractiv, @tariqkrim, @thierrybreton, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, European Parliament, @carnage4life and MacRumors, more at Techmeme »

In a Reuters interview from jail, the man accused of detonating the car bomb that killed Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia confesses to the crime — The man accused of detonating a car bomb that killed a prominent Maltese journalist has confessed to the crime in an interview …
Discussion:
@globalfreemedia, The Guardian, @sarah_m_clarke, @rebecca_vincent, @wonderymedia, @stephengrey, The Daily Beast, @w7voa and Politico

NPR ends its 33-year tradition of reading the US Declaration of Independence on July 4, instead discussing the meaning of the phrase “all men are created equal” — Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep typically celebrates July 4th with an annual reading of the Declaration of Independence to his loyal listeners on NPR.
Discussion:
@code_star, @leilafadel, @grahambrewer, @nprinskeep, @sarahmccammon, @nprinskeep, @nprinskeep, New York Post, @danielberman2, @allisonlcarter, @smotus, The Wrap, Fox News and NPR

French music streamer Deezer goes public via a SPAC merger on the Euronext stock exchange, opening at €8.50 per share before dropping 29.41% to €6 — Shares of French music-streaming platform Deezer plunged as much as 35% on its first trading day, in a blow to telecoms maverick Xavier Niel …
Discussion:
Music Business Worldwide and Light Reading, more at Techmeme »

The Associated Press reopens its Gaza Strip bureau in a new location over a year after an Israeli airstrike destroyed the building housing its former office — Over a year after the building housing the news agency's Gaza bureau was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike, The Associated Press announced today …
Discussion:
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, @rosiescammell, @hallamohieddeen and @juliepace

Bulgarian secret services say they have data showing that Russia pays about €2,000/month to journalists and others to shape public opinion — The Bulgarian secret services have data showing that Russia pays about €2000 (BGN 4,000) per month to public figures, journalists …