Top News:
Lisa Richwine / Reuters:
Netflix Q2: revenue up 2.7% YoY to $8.2B, vs. $8.3B est., net income up 3.3% YoY to $1.5B, 5.9M net new subscribers, vs. 1.9M est., and a Q3 forecast below est. — Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) handily beat Wall Street earnings forecasts on Wednesday as a password-sharing crackdown …
Discussion:
Netflix, The Wrap, Fast Company, Bloomberg, IndieWire, Variety, The Desk, Engadget, The Verge, Deadline, Yahoo Finance, The Information, @carnage4life@mas.to, @thedeskdotnet and The Intersect, more at Techmeme »
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Or Goren / Cord Busters:
Netflix removes its most affordable $10/month ad-free Basic tier in the US and UK, charging new and rejoining members £10.99/month or $15.49/month for no ads — Breaking: In a major shakeup of its pricing model, Netflix, the global streaming giant, has abandoned its low-cost ‘Basic’ tier …
Discussion:
Variety, The Verge, Axios, Variety, The Desk, Bloomberg, New York Post, The Hollywood Reporter, CNET, Ars Technica, New York Daily News, SlashFilm, UPI, Tv Technology, Insider, XDA Developers, Fortune, Forbes, CNBC, Tech Advisor, 9to5Mac, The Streamable, Engadget, IndieWire, Gizmodo, @kylebarr5, @dcseifert@mastodon.social, @alexweprin, The Wrap, IGN, TechCrunch, Consequence, Screen Rant, KRQE-TV and UPROXX, more at Techmeme »
Peter White / Deadline:
Netflix says it expects at least $5B in free cash flow in 2023, up from its earlier estimate of $3.5B, as it spends less due to strikes and production timing — Netflix has found itself with cash to spend thanks to the writers and actors strike. — The company said that it would spend less …
Discussion:
Media Play News and The Hollywood Reporter
Glenn Guilbeau / OutKick:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution fires Alan Judd following “errors that fell short of our standards” in a story on sex abuse claims against UGA's football team — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution did not fully retract a recent, critical story about the University …
Financial Times:
Sources: Threads uses a largely replicated Instagram algorithm, prioritizing creators' and friends' posts over hard news, and relies on Instagram moderators — Facebook's parent company downgrades current affairs on Threads app and refuses to engage with Canadian law designed to fund media groups
Discussion:
@brandonmillman.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
Bloomberg:
Researchers say hate speech and misinformation on Twitter are up; CEO Linda Yaccarino says that's “incorrect” and touts improvements, like ad placement controls — Since Musk's takeover, a number of researchers see a rise in hate speech, violent content
Discussion:
The Wrap, Deadline, @titterdaily, @ttp_updates, @ttp_updates, @parmy, @sarahfrier, @aishacounts, @csmap_nyu, @bradstone, @lindayacc and @csmap_nyu, more at Techmeme »
Associated Press:
Belarus arrests Ihar Karnei, a prominent journalist who has previously written for RFE/RL; a total of 36 journalists are behind bars in Belarus — Ihar Karnei was detained and his apartment raided with police seizing phones and computers, according to his daughter
Discussion:
@tsihanouskaya, Voice of America and The San Diego Union-Tribune
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
The Hollywood strike pits talent against old-line studios while the internet threatens both groups by making distribution effectively free and no longer scarce — From the New York Times: … Oh, I'm sorry — that's an article from 63 years ago. — Here's the one in the New York Times from last week:
Discussion:
Variety, Collider, Deadline, Forbes, The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian and AdExchanger
Sahil Patel / The Information:
Sources: Netflix told advertisers in the past two weeks that its ad-supported tier has ~1.5M US subscribers; Hulu's 15-year-old ad tier has ~30M US subscribers — Around 1.5 million people in the U.S. have signed up to pay for Netflix's tier of service that carries ads …
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Streamable, @jessicalessin, Deadline, Orange County Register, Collider, IGN and CNN, more at Techmeme »
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Dan Wootton says he made “errors of judgment in the past” and suggests the claims he offered men money for sexual material were a campaign to undermine GB News — GB News presenter facing allegations he inappropriately offered colleagues large sums in return for sexual material
Tony Maglio / IndieWire:
NBC and CBS retool fall TV schedules, delaying new seasons for Law & Order, Young Sheldon, and more; a source blames the writers' strike more than SAG-AFTRA's — Bad news, dads of America: the five Dick Wolf shows previously set for NBC's fall schedule are all being removed due to the ongoing Hollywood strikes.
Discussion:
Variety, TVLine, The Wrap, The Desk, Adweek, Screen Rant, E! Online, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter
Gene Park / Washington Post:
A look at “non-playable character” TikTok creators, like Pinkydoll, who livestream themselves saying and doing robotic actions repetitively for monetary tips — On TikTok, a woman named Pinkydoll with a thousand-yard stare faces you, undulating just enough to let you know she's alive.
Discussion:
@detectclips, @hassankhan, @hassankhan, @fakeyourbirth, Forbes, @rvdneyxtra, @ronin19217435, @jason, @jakeriley, @jayjay_frfr, @jason, @sinfuldon_, Rolling Stone and New York Times, more at Techmeme »