Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Disney explores a membership program akin to Amazon Prime, bundling streaming, theme parks, and merchandise, and adding a commerce feature to Disney+ — Entertainment giant looks to package streaming, parks and merchandise offerings together; aims to add commerce feature to Disney+
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Alex Heath / The Verge:
Memo: on top of cutting ~20% of its staff, Snap cancels its original shows, in-app games, and Zenly and Voisey apps; the layoffs could save $500M annually — Snapchat's original shows, in-app games, and camera drone are no more — Snap is laying off around 20 percent of its more than 6,400 employees …
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David Bauder / Associated Press:
Media Insight Project's May-June 2022 survey: ~71% of younger Americans get news daily from social media and 32% enjoy following the news, down from 53% in 2015 — Young people are following the news but aren't too happy with what they're seeing. Broadly speaking, that's the conclusion …
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Netflix seeks to charge brands a ~$65 CPM on its ad-supported tier, more than most other streaming services, and cap every brand's annual spend at $20M — Streaming giant aims for Nov. 1 launch of ad-supported tier, ad buyers say — Netflix Inc. NFLX 1.32%▲ …
Angela Fu / Poynter:
Sources: in a staff Q&A, CEO Mike Reed said Gannett laid off 3% of its US workforce in August 2022, or ~400 people; he and the CFO defended Reed's compensation — The round of layoffs, which started Aug. 12, followed a dismal second quarter. — Gannett CEO Mike Reed told staff …
Jem Aswad / Variety:
US music publishers settle on 15.35% for mechanical streaming rates in 2023-2027, avoiding costly legal fights with Amazon, Apple, Google, Pandora, and Spotify — The announcement comes as a surprise, as the NMPA has been saying for months that it would push for a 20% rate for the forthcoming period.
Casey Newton / Nieman Lab:
An interview with Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine: writers with subscribers should be paid more and thinking “Medium was going to shine” in journalism was a mistake — Sometimes as a reporter you write a piece that is critical of a company and the company decides not to talk to you again for a long while, or ever again.
Discussion:
@caseynewton, @waxy, @bcmerchant, @oneunderscore__, @mariaramirezny, @martinsfp, The Official Medium Blog and Platformer
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Paramount+ plans to combine with Showtime into a single app for $11.99/month with ads and $14.99/month without; stand-alone Showtime will cost $10.99/month — Paramount+ and Showtime have combined into a single streaming app. — The full bundling follows an initial move last year to unify …
Discussion:
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Jonathan Spicer / Reuters:
An investigation details extensive efforts by Erdoğan's regime in Turkey to shape the nation's news, dictated by the 1,500-strong Directorate of Communications — From an office tower in Ankara, Turkish officials shape the nation's news, media insiders say - always to President Tayyip Erdogan's advantage.
Discussion:
@reuters, @reuters and @specialreports
Reuters:
India's antitrust watchdog says Sony and Zee's merger requires further investigation; sources say the findings will delay regulatory approval of the deal — A merger between the Indian unit of Japan's Sony (6758.T) and Zee Entertainment (ZEE.NS) to create a $10 billion TV enterprise …
Discussion:
Digital TV Europe, @reutersbiz, @adityakalra, @adityakalra and @adityakalra
Manyun Zou / The Pudding:
A comparison of The Big Bang Theory episodes to censored ones in China suggests the government aims to silence sex and LGBTQ+ topics plus disrespect of China — With , Russell Goldenberg and Rob Smith — This story contains scroll-driven visuals. View them in static format on off
Discussion:
@gertig, @shortformernie, @sonnybunch and @manyun_zou
ProPublica:
An investigation details an Instagram verification scheme using fake profiles on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and more; Meta removes badges from 300+ accounts — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.
Discussion:
@craigsilverman, @moorehn, Numlock News, @craigsilverman, @phil_lewis_ and @rafranzdavis
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