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Lawrence Hurley / @lawrencehurley:
[Thread] Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito uses a Wall Street Journal op-ed to respond to questions from ProPublica, instead of simply issuing a statement — Justice Alito appears to be trying to get out ahead of a new ProPublica report that will address a trip he went on with billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer. Weirdly, it is published as an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/...
Discussion:
ProPublica, Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, Insider, @senwhitehouse, @leahlitman, Washington Post, Politico, Talking Points Memo, CNN, The Guardian, @markpaoletta, The Hill, @matthewschafer, @rottenindenmark, @jaywillis, @senwhitehouse, @7im, @nickkristof, @7im, @johnjharwood, @stevesilberman, @nycsouthpaw, @leahlitman, @lawrencehurley, @kaitlancollins, @brianros1, @lawrencehurley, @jillian_swaine, @lawrencehurley, @imillhiser, @senwhitehouse, @steveguest, @w7voa, @jamescdownie, @jayfarnold, @hiltzikm, @clancynewyork, @lawrencehurley, @imillhiser, @matt_levine, @jmart, @jamescdownie, @7im, @radleybalko, @elivalley, @leahlitman, @leahlitman, @senwhitehouse, Reuters, Forbes, Washington Times, The Daily Beast and CBS News
Peter White / Deadline:
Sources: in a surprise move, WBD shops some HBO titles to Netflix, including Issa Rae's 2021 comedy Insecure, to boost revenue; some HBO veterans pushed back — EXCLUSIVE: HBO's streaming walled garden is coming down, it seems. — In a hugely surprising move, Deadline understands …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, @pkafka, The Wrap, The Streamable, Screen Rant, TVLine, Vanity Fair, UPROXX, The Information, @karlbode, Consequence, @tedhope, The Playlist, @pkafka, @pkafka, @carlquintanilla, @tsoh_investing, @sarthakgh, @erichaywood, Variety, @cadlymack, @mgsiegler, @alexweprin, @pvalleyupdates, Broadband TV News, The Desk, @filmupdates and Cord Cutters News
Washington Post:
ProPublica reporters and other staff are unionizing; president Robin Sparkman and EIC Stephen Engleberg say ProPublica plans to recognize the union — The donor-supported hub for investigative reporting isn't grappling with the same economic strains as its corporate peers. Its staffers still want a union anyway.
Discussion:
@propublicaguild, @josheidelson, @craigsilverman, The NewsGuild, @a_l, @maxblau, @dataeditor, @abgutman, @laurenkgurley and @willsommer
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Smosh co-founders Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox buy back a majority stake in the YouTube brand they launched 18 years ago, from Rhett & Link's Mythical — The duo have reunited as onscreen comedy partners and offscreen business associates to acquire a majority ownership stake in Smosh …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Smosh on YouTube, @devonwerkharder, Forbes and Tubefilter
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix tweaks its weekly top 10 rankings to sort by “views”, calculated by dividing the time spent watching a film or a show in a week by its running time — The streamer's weekly rankings will now show the most popular titles by number of accounts watching as well as total time.
Discussion:
The Verge, @nreviewed, @nina_metz, BGR, Gizmodo, UPROXX, TVLine, The A.V. Club and IndieWire, more at Techmeme »
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Ryan Murphy, the creator of Glee and American Horror Story, plans to leave Netflix for Disney; Murphy joined Netflix in 2018 for a reported ~$300M — Superstar TV show creator Ryan Murphy is planning to leave Netflix Inc. for Walt Disney Co., where he would be reunited with the executives …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Screen Rant, The Wrap, @pkafka, @claireatki, @isaacfeldberg, @jbflint, New York Times, The A.V. Club, Vanity Fair, The Information, Comic Book, SlashFilm, Reuters, Variety, IndieWire, TVLine and Collider
Mia Sato / The Verge:
Patreon adds a free membership tier for the first time and plans to let creators sell one-off downloadable products such as videos and podcasts, taking a 5% cut — Patreon built a user base with creators who wanted to charge a fee for the content they create.
Discussion:
TechCrunch
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:
Twitch plans to require that streamers add new content labels for streams with sexual themes, graphic violence, drug use, gambling, or “significant” vulgarity — Twitch is rethinking the way it flags mature content, swapping its existing toggle for a more granular set of topic-specific labels.
Discussion:
Polygon, blog.twitch.tv and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Axios:
Source: GoDigital, a private holding group that owns Latino digital media giant NGLmitú, plans to submit a $300M-$350M bid to buy Vice Media out of bankruptcy — - GoDigital's plan for Vice Media includes bringing it to profitability within 12 months, a source said.
Discussion:
@sherman4949, @axios, @sherman4949 and @mediaevan
Zosha Millman / Polygon:
Ali Selim, executive producer of Marvel's Secret Invasion, says Method Studios used AI to create the opening credits — ‘It just came right out of the shape-shifting, Skrull world identity’ — The world of Secret Invasion is decidedly sketchy. With thousands of shapeshifting Skrulls on Earth …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Discord plans to let creators sell “Downloadables”, digital products available via one-time purchases, and rolls out Media Channels in beta — Discord plans to give creators a new way to make money from their communities by selling digital products via one-time purchases.
Discussion:
Music Ally and @itsurboyevan, more at Techmeme »
Manuel Baigorri / Bloomberg:
Vivendi's Canal+ agrees to acquire a 26.1% stake in Hong Kong-based streamer Viu for $200M; the investment could increase to $300M under certain conditions — Canal+, the French broadcaster owned by billionaire Vincent Bollore's Vivendi SE, has agreed to buy a significant minority stake …
Discussion:
Deadline, WORLD SCREEN, Broadband TV News, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety