Top News:
Deadline:
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
Todd Spangler / Variety:
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.
Emily Langer / Washington Post:
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
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
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 …
Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
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
Reuters:
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 »
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 …
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
Eamon Lynch / Golfweek:
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
The Daily Beast:
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
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.
Discussion:
The Indian Express, SPY, The Verge, Gizmodo, Engadget, The Shortcut, Cord Cutters News, Insider, CNET, @reckless, The Streamable and ZDNet, more at Techmeme »
Reuters:
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
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
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 »