Mediagazer: Australia's ABC shuts down all but four of its X accounts, citing “toxic interactions” and the cost, after shifting resources to TikTok and Instagram (Amanda Meade/The Guardian)

7:25 PM ET, August 9, 2023

Top News:

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Disney reports Q3 revenue up 4% YoY to $22.3B, a $460M net loss, down from a $1.41B net income YoY, and India's Disney+ Hotstar service losing 12.5M subscribers — Disney+ loses 300K customers in U.S. and Canada while streaming-only Hulu gains 300K — The Walt Disney Co. saw …

Discussion: The Wrap, IndieWire, Axios, Media Play News, CNBC and The Walt Disney Company

Kayla Cobb / The Wrap:

Bob Iger says cord-cutting trends are “unmistakable” and Disney is considering “a variety of strategic options” for its linear TV assets such as ABC — Bob Iger says the company is “considering a variety of strategic options” for assets like ABC

Discussion: Awful Announcing, New York Times, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter and CNN

Adam Chitwood / The Wrap:

Bob Iger says Disney is “actively exploring ways” to crack down on password sharing and “will roll out tactics to drive monetization sometime in 2024” — Disney+ will begin cracking down on password-sharing in 2024 in an effort to drive monetization …

Discussion: CNET, The Verge, Insider, IndieWire, Breitbart, KFOR.com Oklahoma City and @carnage4life@mas.to, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Disney plans to raise US prices of Disney+ Premium, Hulu without ads, and ESPN+, and to expand Disney+ ad-supported plans to Canada and nine European countries — Ad-supported Disney+ tier to expand to Canada, U.K. and eight other European countries this fall

Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:

Filing: Dave Portnoy acquired Barstool Sports for $1 from Penn Entertainment, which says it expects to record a loss of between $800M and $850M on the deal — Penn Entertainment estimates that it will take a loss of as much as $850 million on Barstool. — Just how much did Dave Portnoy pay …

Discussion: Awful Announcing, Sportico, Bloomberg, Variety, Fortune, New York Post, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and Barrett Media

Matt Levine / Bloomberg:

The Penn-Barstool deal made sense for Penn and Dave Portnoy when he sold Barstool in 2020, and the Penn-Disney deal makes sense now as Portnoy regains Barstool — Also WeWork's decline, Yellow's equity value, Target as a securities-fraud target and a Reata M&A typo. — Barstool

Discussion: The Atlantic, Vox, Variety, Awful Announcing, The Athletic, Barrett Media and Axios

Katherine Sayre / Wall Street Journal:
ESPN's deal letting Penn Entertainment use its brand for ESPN Bet is worth $2B over 10 years: $1.5B in cash plus warrants worth ~$500M to purchase Penn shares

Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:

Q&A with Mark Rasch, a lawyer for Tim Burke, whose PCs and equipment were seized in a probe of Fox News video leaks, on the case's implications for journalists — In May, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed up at Tim Burke's home in Tampa, Florida, and seized several computers …

Discussion: Mediaite, @mathewi, @matthewkeyslive, @aaschapiro, @aaschapiro, @urbanachievr, @sally_yachts, @matthewkeyslive, @aaschapiro and @bubbaprog.ilovecitr.us

Thomas Germain / Gizmodo:

CNET is deleting older posts, calling such cuts a best practice for sites “primarily driven by SEO traffic”; Google says purging to improve SEO is “not a thing” — Google says deleting old pages to bamboozle Search is “not a thing!” as CNET erases its history.

Discussion: The Verge, @dannyjpalmer@infosec.exchange, @searchliaison, @searchliaison and Search Engine Roundtable

Steven Waldman / The Atlantic:

Funding US local news, which could mean ~$1.5B per year to sustain 25K local reporter positions, would more than pay for itself and “save American democracy” — The decline of local journalism isn't just a threat to democracy. It's also costing us money. — Zak podmore did not bring down a corrupt mayor.

Discussion: Media Nation, @jrussellmi, @stevenwaldman, American Press Institute, @mckaycoppins, @dlberes and @bykenarmstrong

Blake Brittain / Reuters:

Gizmodo EIC Dan Ackerman sues Apple, the Tetris Company, and others, accusing them of adapting his book about Tetris into a feature film without his permission — Dan Ackerman, editor in chief of the tech-news website Gizmodo, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on Monday accusing Apple …

Discussion: New York Post, PC Gamer, @xpangler, IndieWire, Plagiarism Today, @reedalbergotti, @11thjeff, Metro, The Verge, Engadget, Talking Biz News, The Wrap, Variety, 9to5Mac and AppleInsider, more at Techmeme »

Yuvraj Malik / Reuters:

The world's largest news media organizations sign an open letter calling for a framework to “collectively negotiate” use of their IP with AI model operators — A group of the world's biggest news media organizations called for revised regulations on the use of copyrighted material …

Joe Otterson / Variety:

Wonya Lucas, who became Hallmark Media's president and CEO in July 2020, plans to depart the company at the end of 2023 but will continue on the company's board — Hallmark Media president and CEO Wonya Lucas will depart the company at the end of the year.

Discussion: TheBlaze, The Desk, Advanced Television, Cord Cutters News, The Wrap, WORLD SCREEN, Next TV, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek and Deadline

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Senior Health Reporter/Editor, CA — El Tímpano

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China Autos Correspondent, Beijing — Reuters

Outdoors Editor, ME — Bangor Daily News

Moving Writer, Remote US — Yahoo

Reporter, MI — Detroit News

Managing Editor, Remote US — Velo

Public Policy Editor, London — FT

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More News:

Pamela McClintock / Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix reopens NYC's iconic Paris Theater after major upgrades with plans to screen its original movies and host special events, retrospectives, and filmmakers

Discussion: The Wrap

Lara O'Reilly / Insider:
Canadian private equity firm Novacap acquires US TV adtech company Cadent from Lee Equity Partners, a source says for close to $600M

Discussion: Next TV, Axios, AdExchanger and Advanced Television

Scott Roxborough / The Hollywood Reporter:
RTL Deutschland launches a €12.99/month “all-in-one” streaming service bundle, offering video, live sports, music, podcasts, audiobooks, and digital magazines

Discussion: CNET and The Desk

Reuters:
The WGA strike hits 100 days: negotiations with major studios have stalled as picketing writers protest what they describe as a disregard for their demands

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
The RNC picks Fox Business to host the second GOP presidential primary debate on September 27, after Fox News hosts the first debate on August 23 in Milwaukee

Discussion: The Hill, UPI, @brianstelter, @politicoalex, @joelmathis.bsky.social, Deadline, @wlabovitz, @jeremymbarr, The Wrap, New York Daily News and Semafor

Variety:
Source: Comcast-owned Sky, the UK's largest pay TV broadcaster, gives up the rights to broadcast the Oscars, acquired from the BBC in 2004, as ratings decline

Discussion: @goldbart1, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and Advanced Television

Elizabeth de Luna / Mashable:
X begins making ad revenue payouts to smaller creators, after issuing payments to select accounts in July 2023; how X calculates the payouts remains unclear

Discussion: TechCrunch, MarTech, Insider Intelligence, @support, Engadget, Techlusive, The Information, Forbes, Adweek and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »

Martin K.N Siele / Rest of World:
In Kenya, TikTok's most active African country, creators make money hosting protest livestreams, which protesters say help them stay safe from police violence

Discussion: Fox News and Reuters Institute, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Sophie Culpepper / Nieman Lab:
A look at Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang's “transparency portal”; the newsroom was galvanized to improve audience trust after criticism over a botched story

Gavin J Blair / The Hollywood Reporter:
Sony Pictures reports Q1 profit down 68% YoY to ~$115M, revenue down 6% YoY to ~$2.3B, and keeps its FY 2023 profit forecast; Music profit rose 20% YoY to ~$86M

Discussion: The Wrap, Sony, Sony, Deadline and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Committee to Protect Journalists:
A look at the increasingly hostile environment for journalism in the Netherlands, and the ripple effects of the 2021 killing of crime reporter Peter R. de Vries

Discussion: @pressfreedom, @pressfreedom, @cpj_eurasia, @pressfreedom, @naomizeveloff and Voice of America

Joe Pompeo / Vanity Fair:
An analysis of Paramount's $1.62B deal to sell Simon & Schuster to private equity firm KKR, in which Simon & Schuster employees get an ownership company stake

Discussion: @mariskreizman, @vanityfair, Yahoo News, Los Angeles Times, Publishers Weekly, Fast Company and ScheerPost.com

Amanda Meade / The Guardian:
Australia's ABC shuts down all but four of its X accounts, citing “toxic interactions” and the cost, after shifting resources to TikTok and Instagram

Discussion: Mediaite, @qanda, @archcontext, @markdistef, @zachvat@newsie.social, @sirsteven, Reclaim The Net, @markdistef, The Desk, @Greguti@pouet.chapril.org and TechCrunch

Kate Harloe / Popula:
The Albany Public Libraries partnered with the city's local newspaper, the Times Union, to write a series of articles and examine what kind of news locals need

Discussion: @brad262run@mastodon.online, @sleslie@mastodon.social, @maria@thelife.boats, @philmeyer@newsie.social and @shannonmattern.bsky.social

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Endeavor CFO Jason Lublin expects the Hollywood strikes to cost the company ~$25M per month in revenue, but Endeavor stands with its writer and actor clients

Discussion: Deadline and The Wrap

From Techmeme:

Simon Willison / Simon Willison's Weblog:
Watching OpenAI's o3 guess a photo's location, including the model running Python code to examine license plates, is surreal, dystopian, and entertaining

Financial Times:
Sources: ~300 London-based DeepMind staff sought to unionize with the CWU in recent weeks, to challenge AI sales to defense groups and Google's ties to Israel

Isabelle Bousquette / Wall Street Journal:
Prompt engineering roles, one of the buzziest jobs in 2023, become obsolete as AI models better intuit user intent and companies train staff in writing prompts

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