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Disney and Charter reach an agreement that will restore popular channels including ESPN and ABC to the cable operator's nearly 15M subscribers — Disney and Charter have decided to let ESPN sports take the field on traditional cable after all. — The two media giants …
Discussion:
CNBC, Wall Street Journal, CNET, Slate, The Hill, The Desk, @govkathyhochul, @espnpr, The Athletic, @compound248, @jbflint, @aericfisher, @sherman4949, @trungtphan, CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, Cord Cutters News, Ad Age, @loudmouthjulia, @jbflint, TVLine, The Wrap, CBS News, The Messenger, @alexweprin, Front Office Sports, @pkafka, @matthewkeyslive, Bloomberg, @dylanbyers, @pkafka, @benthompson, @benthompson, @tvgrimreaper, @lucas_shaw, @modestproposal1, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @patiencehaggin, @lucas_shaw, @jbflint and The Streamable
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Disney and Charter's deal bundles Spectrum's TV Select Plus plan with ESPN+ and the TV Select plan with the upcoming ESPN streaming channel and Disney+ with ads — Disney and Charter have resolved the carriage dispute that blocked millions of viewers from watching ESPN, ABC, FX, and other Disney-owned networks.


Interviews with Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro about the Spectrum deal, how it expands ESPN+'s reach, and more — Walden, the co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, and Pitaro, the chairman of ESPN, talk about what the Spectrum deal means for their Disney divisions.
Discussion:
The Hill


Some Disney-owned channels like Freeform, Disney Junior, Disney XD, and Nat Geo Wild will no longer be carried by Spectrum as part of Charter's new Disney deal
Discussion:
Crain's New York Business, MediaPost, Mediaite, The Streamable, Gizmodo, TVLine, The A.V. Club, Rolling Stone, Next TV, The Desk, @tvgrimreaper, @spongieupdates, @tvgrimreaper, @tvgrimreaper, Fox Business, Radio & Television …, Awful Announcing, The Information, Los Angeles Times, Deadline, Media Play News, Barrett Media, @dabruzzotweets, Front Office Sports, @kimbenabib, @tvgrimreaper, @xpangler, Cord Cutters News and CNET

Disney offers Hulu + Live TV to new and eligible returning customers for $49.99/month for three months
Discussion:
CNET, The Hollywood Reporter, The Streamable, Awful Announcing, The Verge, TVLine, @tvmojoe, @kathmschmidt, @tvmojoe, Deadline, Media Play News and Variety


An investigation finds that Barstool Sports apparently controls 40+ “burner” X accounts to launder viral copyright-protected videos for its legitimate accounts — A Daily Beast investigation found more than forty content-swiping Twitter accounts apparently controlled by Barstool …


NewsWhip data on 300K influential X users: X is throttling posts with New York Times links, with “weekly average shares per article” down 75%+ from a July peak — The Scoop — X, Elon Musk's social media platform formerly known as Twitter, appears to be attempting to limit its users' access to The New York Times.


The US Copyright Office denies protection for an AI-made image that won an art competition, despite Adobe Photoshop alterations and 624+ text prompt revisions — The U.S. Copyright Office has again rejected copyright protection for art created using artificial intelligence …
Discussion:
@tomcoates, @glinden.bsky.social, @BenjaminHan@sigmoid.social and Ars Technica, more at Techmeme »


The Associated Press says a defunct third-party-managed AP Stylebook site was hacked in July 2023 and the hacker is using the data for targeted phishing attacks — The Associated Press is warning of a data breach impacting AP Stylebook customers where the attackers used the stolen data to conduct targeted phishing attacks.
Discussion:
Insider, @nolongerbennett and @castrotech


A profile of Walter Isaacson, who has written biographies of Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and others, edited Time magazine in the 1990s, and was running CNN on 9/11 — It's a Saturday night in August, and Walter Isaacson is sitting in the back of Lilette, a restaurant on Magazine Street in his hometown of New Orleans, swizzling a Sazerac.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Wrap, Financial Times, Mediaite, Observer, CNBC, CBS News, Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, New York Post, CNN and The Atlantic, more at Techmeme »


The Independent Florida Alligator, a student newspaper covering the University of Florida, rejected an ad promoting abortion pill access, fearing a Florida law — An anti-abortion law made Florida's largest college paper go independent 50 years ago. And now that law is back to haunt the paper with serious free-speech restrictions.
Discussion:
@corbinbolies and The Messenger


How Tucker Carlson, deprived of the prime-time platform of Fox News, has grown less relevant and more extreme, as he pushes even more conspiracy theories on X — Carlson, once seen as a Republican powerbroker and even a presidential candidate, has grown more extreme and less relevant
Discussion:
@anncygoransson, @1br0wn, @docrussjackson, @feolski and @joelmathis.bsky.social


The UK government launches a task force to crack down on the growing number of SLAPP legal cases by Russian oligarchs and others to intimidate journalists — Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer writes for Press Gazette about a new task force to tackle the rise of SLAPPs.
Discussion:
The Independent, Reporters Without Borders, HoldtheFrontPage and The Times


A deep dive into the NFL's attempts to expand beyond cable, and its YouTube partnership, including YouTube's $14B commitment in 2022 for Sunday Ticket rights — YouTube is now home to NFL games every Sunday. Will it bring more young people into the NFL? Or will it hasten the demise of linear TV networks?
Discussion:
Tubefilter, USA Today, Variety, Front Office Sports, Dan Rayburn, Wall Street Journal and Sportico