Mediagazer: Spotify confirms raising US Premium to $10.99/month, up from $9.99, the first increase since its US launch in 2011; Duo rises by $2, Family and Student by $1 (Jon Porter/The Verge)

5:30 PM ET, July 24, 2023

Top News:

Lisa Richwine / Reuters:

The much-hyped “Barbenheimer” opening weekend netted $155M for Barbie and $80.5M for Oppenheimer, for $300M in total in the US and Canada for just the 4th time — The much-hyped “Barbenheimer” box office battle over the weekend proved to be a win for movie theaters that needed to add some sizzle to their summer.

Rebecca Rubin / Variety:
Q&A with Josh Goldstine, Warner Bros. president of global marketing, on Barbie's marketing campaign, which rival studio execs estimate to have cost ~$150M

Discussion: Insider and UPROXX

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:

Twitter rolls out its updated “interim” X logo, replacing the iconic bird, following Elon Musk's weekend announcement; X.com now redirects to twitter.com — Twitter has removed the iconic bird logo and adopted ‘X’ as its official logo. This move comes after Elon Musk announced the change over the weekend.

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Jon Porter / The Verge:

Spotify confirms raising US Premium to $10.99/month, up from $9.99, the first increase since its US launch in 2011; Duo rises by $2, Family and Student by $1 — After 12 years, the price of Spotify Premium is increasing in the US. The subscription will now cost $10.99 a month, the company announced today.

Jean Yamamura / The Santa Barbara Independent:

The Santa Barbara News-Press, which has published a paper since 1868 and received a Pulitzer, ceases publication and files for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy — Publisher Ampersand Claims Few Assets and Many Creditors — More than 150 years of history ended on Friday when the Santa Barbara News …

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

TikTok rolls out support for text posts, available via the app's Camera page and letting users add sounds, locations, stickers, and more — As Twitter shoots itself in the foot with a rebrand this morning, TikTok has announced that it's rolling out support for text posts.

Discussion: Fast Company, MediaPost, TikTok, The Verge, The A.V. Club, Gizmodo, The Hill, Variety, Engadget, @chris@threads.net, @parkerortolani@threads.net, @blackamazon, @digiphile@mastodon.social, Tubefilter and KNSD-TV, more at Techmeme »

David Folkenflik / NPR:

NPR names Edith Chapin as its SVP for news and editor-in-chief; she's been serving in the position on an acting basis since fall 2022, after joining NPR in 2012 — NPR has moved to shore up its leadership at a time of significant transition, naming veteran news leader Edith Chapin …

Discussion: The Wrap, Current, @elbordeaux, @isalara, @vivian, @greenfield64 and @davidfolkenflik

Brian Merchant / Los Angeles Times:

Studio executives embraced Silicon Valley's magical thinking of hypergrowth and disruption for the past 10 years, only to slash worker pay as the boom times end — In one respect, the actors and writers of Hollywood uniting on the picket lines in a historic, industry-shaking strike is a tale as old as time …

Discussion: @andrewbucholtz, @adamconover, @olaasm, @bcmerchant, @ben@werd.social, @rodhilton@mastodon.social, @incitatus@mastodonapp.uk, @carnage4life@mas.to, @peter@thepit.social and @sonyasteele@mastodon.social

New York Times:

Sources: Altice USA is exploring a sale and other strategic options for Cheddar News; Altice USA acquired the streaming news network for $200M in 2019 — Rebranding the social network as X marks the billionaire's latest gamble to reinvent the company, after buying it last year for $44 billion.

Discussion: @tomgara, Semafor, The Wrap, Insider, @bmorrissey, @dannygroner, @ryanvailbrown, @benmullin, @seangriffey, @scottnover and @sherman4949

Washington Post:

Mandiant: a Chinese PR firm used newswire services to place pro-Beijing content on the subdomains of 32+ US news outlets, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — Welcome to The Cybersecurity 202! Tim here. If you're remotely interested in boxing, or maybe even if you aren't, you'll definitely want to be watching Saturday night.

Discussion: CNN, Mandiant, @nakashimae, @nakashimae, @nakashimae, @nakashimae, @ericgarland and @heminator

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

Court docs reveal Vice's financial struggles and fundraising history; Vice held $834M in debt in May 2023, raising $1.3B+ in debt and equity funding since 2017 — New documents reveal a yearslong slide into increasing financial desperation — The digital media company Vice filed …

Discussion: United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and @markstenberg3

Natalie Pressman / CBC News:

Canada's smaller news outlets, like Cabin Radio, the Northwest Territories' only entirely-online news organization, worry about the Online News Act's impact — ‘Obviously we will take as many steps as we can to protect our interests,’ said Cabin editor Ollie Williams

Discussion: @gregorytaylor1

Patrick Sykes / Bloomberg:

Turkish shows, initially made for domestic audiences, are at the forefront of state broadcaster TRT's global expansion, as Turkey tries to extend its soft power — - New state streaming site brings drone wars to global viewers — Government backs TV export drive worth up to $1.5 billion

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Sources: MLS Season Pass is nearing 1M subs including season-ticket holders; team execs say they are frustrated due to lack of transparency in viewership stats

Discussion: The Streamable, Front Office Sports, @usmnt_thoughts, @GreenFire@mstdn.social, @turnersavesthat, @worldsoccertalk, @tvanswerman, @alexmsilverman, 9to5Mac, @griffin_author, @tvgrimreaper, @zone_nhl, @jheaps4 and Awful Announcing

Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:
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Jesse Whittock / Deadline:
Internal memo: WBD President of International TV Distribution Robert Blair plans to leave the company after 25 years due to a “necessary structural change”

Discussion: Broadcast, @jelmes_tv, The Hollywood Reporter, @variety, Variety and Cord Cutters News

BBC:
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Discussion: BBC, @markaustintv, The Guardian, @bbcpress, @chrisckmedia, @nickbryantny, @scottygb, @sarfrazmanzoor, Press Gazette, Variety, @mariannaspring, @sangitamyska, @clairehopkin.bsky.social, @johnsimpsonnews, Sky News, @pressgazette, @rhonddabryant and @mrneilmorrow

Ben Smith / Semafor:
Sources: IAC, News Corp, the NYT, and other publishers are forming a coalition to push for AI laws and lead a lawsuit against AI firms who trained on their data

Discussion: Vanity Fair, @ernie@writing.exchange, @moorehn, @adamkovac, @natfriedman, @michaelgreshko, @_zeets, @hingumtringum, @sirdigalot, @mediaevan, @natfriedman and @jl_zamith, more at Techmeme »

Washington Post:
South Korean and Indian filmmakers are hoping the Hollywood strikes will give them more bargaining power with US streaming services and a precedent to follow

Discussion: @jintakhan, @washingtonpost and @drogon_dracarys

Earlier Picks:

Brian Veseling / WAN-IFRA:
A look at Argentina's Clarín, which has 30M monthly readers and 700K subscribers, as the outlet looks to diversify their offerings and expand into other markets

Variety:
A look at the actors' and writers' strikes that are plunging Hollywood into chaos, causing pricey movie delays, pay battles, AI anxiety, and more

Uyiosa Elegon / The Objective:
Three years after the George Floyd protests drew a wave of financial support, Black journalism entrepreneurs say they are struggling to sustain their newsrooms

Discussion: Poynter, @gabemschneider and @objectivejrn

Check My Ads Institute:
A look at the Publir ad network, whose founders have ties to The Federalist Society and RealClearPolitics, and how Publir funnels ad revenue to The Donald forum

Discussion: @checkmyadshq, @checkmyadshq and @nandoodles

New York Times:
Sources: Jeff Bezos is taking a more active role in The Washington Post's operations as staff morale craters and the newspaper is on pace to lose ~$100M in 2023

From Techmeme:

Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Sources: Microsoft plans more cuts after closing several game studios, as the massive Activision acquisition has ramped up scrutiny on the Xbox division

Wall Street Journal:
Binance sources and documents: internal investigators, dismissed in late 2023, found evidence of market manipulation by DWF Labs and secret trading accounts

Dallin Grimm / Tom's Hardware:
Some Stack Overflow users say their account was suspended after they attempted to alter their posts in protest of its OpenAI partnership to supply data for AI

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