Top News:
Gearoid Reidy / Bloomberg:
A look at Nintendo's movie push, as the company partners with Sony to work on a Zelda live-action movie, after the huge success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie — It's dangerous to go alone, and in teaming up with Sony and the man who made Marvel successful, Nintendo shows it has learned from past mistakes.
Discussion:
Nintendo Co., Ltd., @nintendo, Financial Times, Bjoern Eichstaedt on LinkedIn, Boing Boing, Forbes, @nintendo, @Infrapink@mastodon.ie, The Playlist, GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT, Screen Rant, Fox News, The Verge, Ars Technica, Hollywood Reporter, TechCrunch, The Wrap, SlashFilm, VentureBeat, KTLA and Collider, more at Techmeme »
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
The New York Times reports Q3 revenue up 9.3% YoY to $598.3M, an $89.8M adjusted operating profit, 10M+ subs, and subscription revenue up 15.7% YoY to $282.2M — The company reported an adjusted operating profit of $89.8 million in its latest quarter, up from $69 million a year earlier.
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
WBD reports Q3 revenue up 1% YoY to $9.9B, a $417M net loss, down from a $2.31B loss YoY, global DTC subscribers fell 0.7M to 95.1M, and ad revenue fell 12% YoY — The owner of CNN, the Warner Bros. studio and the Max streaming service said its net loss narrowed to $417 million …
Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:
Experts criticize NBC News for partnering with Salem Media, a promoter of 2020 election denialism and producer of 2000 Mules, for the third GOP primary debate — How Salem Media Group — a powerful network of pro-Trump talk-radio programming and producer of the discredited ‘2000 Mules’ documentary …
Reuters:
OCCRP co-founder Drew Sullivan says analysis shows government-tied hackers tried to plant NSO spyware on Indian journalist Anand Mangnale's iPhone on August 23 — Government-backed hackers tried to plant spyware made by NSO Group on the iPhone of an Indian journalist working for the Organized Crime …
The Guardian:
UK publisher Reach plans to cut 450 jobs as part of proposals to trim operating costs by 5% to 6% in 2024; in January, Reach laid off 200 staff to save £30M — Reach says job losses part of plans to reduce costs by 5% to 6% in 2024 and accelerate digital-first strategy
Caitlin Huston / Hollywood Reporter:
Spotify now offers US paid subscribers 15 hours of free access to 200K+ audiobooks per month, after launching the service in the UK and Australia on October 3 — The podcast and music platform will offer U.S. paid subscribers 15 hours of free listening to audiobooks as it continues its rollout of the new offering.
Discussion:
Publishers Weekly, Spotify, Billboard, The Bookseller, 9to5Mac, @yogscastlewis, @richontech, Variety, @engineering_bae, The Verge, @spotifynews and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
Kenneth Chang / New York Times:
Nature retracts a high-profile paper on the discovery of a superconductor, the second paper by Ranga P. Dias retracted by the journal in just over a year — It was the second paper led by Ranga P. Dias, a researcher at the University of Rochester, that the journal Nature has retracted.
Discussion:
Nature, Ars Technica, @dangaristo, @ionerrea, Las Vegas Review-Journal and TechCrunch
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Nexstar reports Q2 net revenue down 10.8% YoY to $1.1B, adjusted EBITDA down 51.9% YoY to $236M, a $60M loss for the CW, and core ad revenue down 2.3% to $391M — Nexstar reported its third-quarter 2023 earnings Wednesday, revealing TV ad revenue was down overall 23% for the July-September quarter.
Discussion:
@tvgrimreaper, Nexstar Media Group, Inc., TVNewsCheck and The Hollywood Reporter
Margi Murphy / Bloomberg:
Ahead of the 2024 US election, Microsoft plans to offer a new free tool to help US politicians fight deepfakes by authenticating their videos and photos — - Tool offering comes as concerns grow over fake photos, videos — Microsoft says Russia is ‘huge’ cyber, disinformation threat
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Register, The Verge and @rumtin, more at Techmeme »
Brent Lang / Variety:
An interview with Chairman of Netflix Film Scott Stuber on scaling back annual film releases to focus on quality, being more selective in bidding wars, and more — In 2018, “Saturday Night Live” captured the public perception of Netflix as a ceaseless river of content.
Discussion:
The Streamable, @nreviewed, @nreviewed, @nreviewed, @nemtastic1, @variety, The Hollywood Reporter, @brentalang and @lanceulanoff
RELATED:
Salvador Rodriguez / Wall Street Journal:
Meta plans to force advertisers to disclose when they run political ads featuring media altered by AI or other tools, starting in 2024, ahead of the US election — Facebook parent said new policy to go into effect beginning next year, ahead of U.S. presidential primaries
Todd Spangler / Variety:
SiriusXM rolls out a new logo and plans a new app with a cheaper $9.99 per month Streaming All Access Plan, coming to North America on December 14 — SiriusXM rolled out a new logo, a brand-new app — with a cheaper monthly streaming plan — and a slate of new channels and shows …
Discussion:
Billboard, Bloomberg, The Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, @matthewkeyslive, Sirius XM Holdings Inc. and RADIO ONLINE