Top News:
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Letterboxd's founders sell a majority stake to Canadian company Tiny; a source says the deal values the film-focused social network with ~10M users at $50M+ — Two designers from New Zealand built a wildly popular social network for movie buffs. Now, they're cashing in (and sticking around for the sequel).
Discussion:
Letterboxd, Variety, Netflix Tudum, Business Wire, @benmullin, Deadline, @joelevard, The Verge, @alexkehr, @chronotope, @smuiux, @labuzamovies, The Wrap, @scottemovienerd, @_sparling_, @tvaziri@mastodon.social, @awilkinson, @notbigracks, @letterboxd, The Hollywood Reporter, Gizmodo, @bkwelles, @thefilmdrunk, @simli.bsky.social, Engadget and @qburns@mas.to, more at Techmeme »
Josh Kosman / New York Post:
Source: Diamond Sports is seeking to cut the broadcast fees it pays to the NHL and NBA by up to 20%; Diamond pays NBA teams about $600M a year — Bankrupt broadcaster Diamond Sports, the nation's largest regional sports network, has made a take-it-or-leave-it offer to cut rights fees …
Discussion:
@tvgrimreaper, Radio & Television …, Next TV, Twin Cities, Barrett Media, Awful Announcing, The Streamable and Cord Cutters News
Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:
A history of Vine's failure to build relationships with its top creators, who Vine leadership resented for gaming the app's ranking algorithm and their humor — The wildly popular video app's contentious relationship with its own power users offers a cautionary tale for social platforms
Discussion:
Tubefilter, @katienotopoulos, @nitashatiku, @iamasarch and @willoremus
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
One of India's largest music labels Saregama acquires a 51.82% stake in Pocket Aces, which produces short-form video content aimed at young Indians, for ~$20M — Saregama has acquired a 51.82% stake in the digital entertainment startup Pocket Aces as the oldest Indian music label makes a deeper push into videos.
Richard Sandomir / New York Times:
Ed Fancher, one of the founders of the alternative weekly newspaper The Village Voice and its publisher for 19 years, died on September 27 at age 100 — A psychologist, he started the alternative weekly with Dan Wolf and Norman Mailer in 1955. “We were crazy enough to think it would succeed,” he said.
Discussion:
@tromano, @joeconason and @johnk77t
Andre Rhoden-Paul / BBC:
Ofcom launches an investigation into the Dan Wootton Tonight show on GB News after Laurence Fox insulted journalist Ava Evans, sparking 7,300 complaints — Media regulator Ofcom has launched an investigation into the Dan Wootton Tonight show on GB News after a sexism row sparked 7,300 complaints.
Discussion:
New York Times, @ofcom, The Drum, Deadline, Ofcom, The Sun, NME, The Guardian, Advanced Television, Financial Times, Reclaim The Net, The London Economic, Sky News, Broadband TV News and The Independent
RELATED:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
FilmRise acquires the worldwide digital media rights to 1,200+ hours of BuzzFeed Studios' library of content, including past episodes of Hot Ones and Worth It — Older episodes of Sean Evans' “Hot Ones,” the hit YouTube series in which celebs try to ingest increasingly spicy buffalo wings, has a new home.
Discussion:
Media Play News, The Wrap, @xpangler and The Hollywood Reporter
Amanda Zamora / The 19th:
Amanda Zamora says she will step down as publisher of The 19th at the end of 2023 and continue working on The 19th News Network in an advisory director capacity — After more than four and a half years with The 19th, Amanda Zamora will step down as publisher at the end of this year.
Discussion:
@amzam, @amzam, @juliachanb, @mathewi, @amzam, @soljourno, @errinhaines, @amzam, @niketa, @mitrakalita, @cande313, @ramsammy and @eramshaw
The Marshall Project:
The Marshall Project launches its second local news operation in Jackson, Mississippi, where two reporters are set to start on October 2 — Two journalists will produce enterprise and investigative journalism for audiences across Mississippi, including those affected by its criminal justice system.
Discussion:
@calebbedillion, @marlonawalker and New York Amsterdam News
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Podcast company Pushkin Industries lays off 17 of its 54 employees, or 30%+ of its staff in its second round of cuts in 2023, and changes its leadership team — ‘The Tipping Point’ author will step into editorial director role as part of executive shakeup — Bestselling author Malcolm …
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
X CEO Linda Yaccarino says that the company has paid out nearly $20M to creators; Elon Musk said in July 2023 that the first payments totaled $5M — The company formerly known as Twitter has paid out nearly $20 million to creators, according to a post from X CEO Linda Yaccarino.
Discussion:
@lindayax, @lhamadopagode, @rakeshlobster, Fortune, @jboorstin, MediaPost and The Verge on YouTube, more at Techmeme »
Bob Sillick / Editor and Publisher:
A look at Agenda Watch, built by Stanford's Big Local News and which scrapes public agencies' documents to help city hall, police, and school beat reporters — A journalist's job can be exciting: uncovering a critical lead for a new story or elbowing aside a gaggle of other media pros to question a government official.
Washington Post:
The Supreme Court agrees to hear two cases concerning whether Florida and Texas can restrict social media companies from removing political posts or accounts — The justices announced Friday which cases they will add to their calendar for the term that begins Monday
Discussion:
Engadget, New York Times, SCOTUSblog, Gizmodo, Reuters, UPI, @thefireorg, Associated Press, Politico, @mjs_dc, SCOTUSblog, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, The Messenger and The Nation, more at Techmeme »
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