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Sources: in a WBD town hall, CEO David Zaslav denied rumors of a merger or a sale: “We are not for sale, absolutely, not for sale”; rumors point to Comcast — The top brass at Warner Bros Discovery held a company-wide town hall Wednesday over Zoom in which they laid out the current state …
Discussion:
Variety, @deadline, The Streamable, The Wrap, @great_katzby, @thenugeekz, @tvgrimreaper and The Hollywood Reporter


Lionsgate rebrands its international streaming service StarzPlay as Lionsgate+; SEC filing: the company is exploring spinning off its studio business, not Starz — Lionsgate is now looking at spinning off its studio business — rather than kicking out the Starz premium network and streaming business.


Bill Plante, who covered the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and four presidencies as a CBS News correspondent for more than half a century, dies at 84 — He became a fixture of American television sets, covering the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and four presidencies
Discussion:
CBS News, The Wrap, @zevshalev, @dpotternews, New York Times, @edokeefe, @ruralj, @sarah_boxer, @edokeefe, @phil_mattingly, @ejdionne, @tonyfratto, @kevinmaddendc, @edokeefe, CBS News, @jimrutenberg, @djjudd, Deadline, @edokeefe, @jimsciutto, @cbctom and @edokeefe


How The Telegraph and Reach use personalized newsletters to improve open rates and page visits; the Toronto Star says most users want “what everyone else got” — As companies like The New York Times and The Washington Post experiment with personalizing their homepages to get readers …


Epix plans to rebrand as MGM+ on January 15, 2023; Epix 2 will become MGM+ Hits, Epix Hits will become MGM+ Marquee, and Epix Drive-In will become MGM+ Drive-In — The linear network as well as its streaming offering will be rebranded starting in January. — Epix is joining ABC Family …
Discussion:
Variety, Deadline, EPIX Press Site, Next TV, @drewkerr, The Desk, The A.V. Club, @xpangler, @sherman4949, @billsimmons, @loudmouthjulia, TVLine, Media Play News, Adweek, The Streamable, IndieWire, The Wrap, TechCrunch and Ad Age


Dyson, Mazda, and others suspended Twitter marketing campaigns because their promoted tweets appeared alongside tweets publicly soliciting or selling child porn — Some major advertisers including Dyson, Mazda and chemicals company Ecolab have suspended their marketing campaigns or removed …
Discussion:
Insider, @andst7, @andst7, @andst7, @donie, Gizmodo, @andst7, @elizableu, Engadget, @kyleanzalone_, @joey_galvin and @karissabe, more at Techmeme »


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 …
Discussion:
@fastcompany, @applenews, Digiday, Washington Post, The Desk, TechCrunch, @oliverdarcy, BleepingComputer, Wall Street Journal, MediaPost, RestorePrivacy, CNN, New York Post, Newser, @racheltobac, @rjcc, @matthewkeyslive, @matthewkeyslive, @joncappetta, @fastcompany, Metro.co.uk, The Desk, Engadget, Bloomberg, The Daily Beast, The Hill, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac, The Wrap, Insider and New York Daily News


Sources: Saudi-backed LIV Golf is nearing a deal to purchase Fox Sports 1 airtime for its tournaments; source: Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch told 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.
Discussion:
@kyleportercbs, @kirk_bado, The Guardian, @maggienyt, @sarahmulkerrins, Front Office Sports, @mikelupica, @jbwolfsthal, @ryp__, @keitholbermann, @masasoncap, @jamiecweir, @goangelo, New York Post, @thedomino, @bfquinn, Defector, @geoffshac, Mediaite, The Streamable, Awful Announcing and Barrett Media


Sources: CNN laid off the last remaining CNN+ employees, around 20 people, on September 28, a few days after laying off eight staff from CNN's audio division — Five months after the network axed its much-hyped but short-lived streamer, it gave pink slips to the remaining staffers on the failed endeavor.
Discussion:
New York Daily News, @patrickokeefe, @justinbaragona, @patrickokeefe, Insider and New York Post


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.
Discussion:
The Indian Express, SPY, The Verge, Gizmodo, Engadget, The Shortcut, Cord Cutters News, Insider, CNET, @reckless, The Streamable and ZDNet, more at Techmeme »


Sources: by the end of 2022, Vietnam plans to announce rules to limit which social media accounts can post news content, expanding on July 2022 media guidelines — Vietnam is preparing new rules to limit which social media accounts can post news-related content, three people familiar with the matter said …
Discussion:
@miketatarski, TechCrunch, @f_potkin and @kenli729


Google unveils search results with machine-translated news, coming in early 2023, and a “Discussions and forums” section, rolling out now on mobile in the US — At Search On 2022, Google announced that “Discussions and forums” will be getting their own sections in results …
Discussion:
The Keyword, TechCrunch, Search Engine Journal, CNET, @cmcloutier and @searchliaison, more at Techmeme »