Top News:
Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Fast Company took its website offline after a hacker used its Apple News account to send two obscene push notifications; Apple disabled the outlet's channel — It's been a little while since we had a high-profile media feed hijacking, but tonight someone sent an Apple News notification …
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
SEC filing: Lionsgate plans to explore spinning off its studio business, not Starz; its international streamer StarzPlay will be rebranded as Lionsgate+ — Lionsgate is now looking at spinning off its studio business — rather than kicking out the Starz premium network and streaming business.
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
A look at tappable podcast ads in mobile games, which trigger episode downloads; source: iHeartMedia got ~6M unique listeners/month through such ads since 2018 — Want more stories like this from Ashley Carman? Podcasters are always hunting for new, flashy places to promote their shows …
Discussion:
@ashleyrcarman, ScreenRant, The Rephonic Blog, @acfou, @jamesrenner, @rodimusprime, @stacyherbert, @taylorlorenz, @immortaltech, @technology, @rdbinns, @mrasquith, @paultassi, @technology, Podnews, AdExchanger, @ashleyrcarman, @nickbenevenia, @ryanbarwick, @dannypage, @simonowens, @loudmouthjulia, Gizmodo and PRWeek, more at Techmeme »
Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
Epix will be rebranded as MGM+ on January 15, 2023; Epix 2 will become MGM+ Hits, Epix Hits becomes MGM+ Marquee, and Epix Drive-In becomes MGM+ Drive-In — The linear network as well as its streaming offering will be rebranded starting in January. — Epix is joining ABC Family, IMDb TV and Spike TV in the network name scrap heap.
Discussion:
Variety, Next TV, Adweek, The Streamable, The Wrap, Deadline, TVLine, Media Play News, @sherman4949, @drewkerr, @loudmouthjulia, IndieWire, @xpangler and Bloomberg
Annette Nwabeke / KERA News:
North Texas public radio station KERA plans to buy the Denton Record-Chronicle, which will become a nonprofit, with help from the National Trust for Local News — KERA announced plans Tuesday to acquire the Denton Record-Chronicle, the historical and primary newspaper of Denton County.
Eamon Lynch / Golfweek:
Sources: Saudi-backed LIV Golf nears a deal to purchase air time for its tournaments on Fox Sports 1; a source says Lachlan Murdoch directed Fox to get involved — LIV Golf is nearing a deal to purchase air time for its tournaments on U.S. cable television, multiple sources have told Golfweek.
Josh Dickey / The Wrap:
A pension fund and Warner Bros. Discovery shareholder sues the company, saying Warner Bros. inflated HBO Max subscribers by up to 10M amid the Discovery merger — Warner Bros. cooked its HBO Max subscriber numbers by as many as 10 million and misled shareholders in other ways that violate …
Discussion:
Observer, The Hill, @whenbatmenfly, @slack2thefuture, @tvgrimreaper, @culturecrave, @matthewkeyslive, @theculturednerd, The Desk, Vulture and CBS News
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon updates its Fire TV lineup with a new $140 Fire TV Cube media player, Fire TV Omni QLED Series starting at $800, and a new $35 Alexa Voice Remote Pro — Amazon today introduced two new Fire TV devices designed to cater to customers seeking a more premium experience.
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
Meta details influence operations from Russia, impersonating news outlets to spread anti-Ukraine content in Europe, and from China, targeting the US and Czechia — Russia set up a sprawling and sophisticated network of websites impersonating mainstream media outlets, which it used …
Discussion:
Meta, CNN, New York Times, @issielapowsky, @astroterry, @davetroy, @jorge_guajardo, @mrkovalenko, @hkdc_us, @mathieuoneil, @thedragonfeeder, @gwbstr, @stewartmcdonald, @gossithedog, @gossithedog, @mathiasssemanda, Transistori, Meta, @davidagranovich, @serghei, @donie, @benimmo, @jendudley, @dfrlab, @ivanthek, @katienotopoulos, @donie, @wongmjane, @benimmo, @benimmo, @fabiochiusi, New York Post, Al Jazeera, Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, The Guardian, The Verge, The Wrap, TechCrunch, BleepingComputer, The Hill and Media Bias/Fact Check, more at Techmeme »
Michael Cavna / Washington Post:
A look at the fate of US comics pages, as Lee Enterprises says its newspapers will cut back to “a half-page of comics” and shift to a “uniform set of offerings” — Is this the beginning of the end for the daily printed comics page in many American towns and cities?
Discussion:
@shortformernie, @harrymccracken, @raju, @natcartoonsoc, @jeffjarvis and American Press Institute
Medill:
The McCormick Foundation awards $5.1M in total to Block Club Chicago, Capitol News Illinois, and Injustice Watch, plus $2.4M for a Medill local news accelerator — CHICAGO — The Robert R. McCormick Foundation today announced investments in Block Club Chicago, Capitol News Illinois …
Rest of World:
Netflix's password sharing crackdown sparked protests on social media in Argentina, but a source says the anger didn't translate into a mass subscriber exodus — New prices sparked outrage in Latin America, with some threatening to boycott the platform. — • BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
Discussion:
Next TV, The Streamable, @decka227, @khushbuoshea, @karlbode and @alexgonzor, more at Techmeme »