Mediagazer: Redbox's owner, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, files for bankruptcy protection; Chicken Soup took on $325M in debt when it acquired Redbox in 2022 (Janko Roettgers/The Verge)

Janko Roettgers / The Verge:

Redbox's owner, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, files for bankruptcy protection; Chicken Soup took on $325M in debt when it acquired Redbox in 2022 — Redbox's owner, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, filed for bankruptcy protection overnight.

Discussion: The Wrap, Business Insider, Deadline, @televisionaryzw, @eriqgardner, @ranjanxroy, Fortune, @goparsons, @carnage4life@mas.to, Media Play News, Cord Cutters News, @jank0@sfba.social, Engadget and Next TV, more at Techmeme »

Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:

The two California bills to help fund local journalism would penalize Google and Meta for news' decline and benefit hedge funds that are destroying newspapers — There is still hope that California's perilous, protectionist legislation for news could be reformed, but not without effort.

Discussion: @jeffjarvis

Discussion: The NewsGuild, @stevenwaldman, @senblakespear, @mattdpearce, @mattdpearce, @progresschamber, Inside Radio, California State Legislature, Matt Pearce and Free Press

Tim Marchman / Wired:

Quora-owned AI chatbot platform Poe is providing users with downloadable HTML files of paywalled articles from outlets including NYT, Forbes, and The Atlantic — WIRED was able to download stories from publishers like The New York Times and The Atlantic using Poe's Assistant bot.

Discussion: @thekenyeung, @steve_e, @timmarchman, @l0uryn and @carnage4life

Michael Schneider / Variety:

Nielsen: the Biden-Trump debate drew an average audience of 51.3M viewers across 17 networks in the US, down from 2020's first debate, with nearly 73.1M — Networks include CNN, which originated the debate, as well as ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Scripps News, Telemundo, Univision, BET …

James Risen / The Intercept:

A reporter who fought a seven-year legal battle to protect sources says Julian Assange's case sets a dangerous precedent that may severely hurt US press freedom — When Julian Assange abruptly found himself back in Australia and freedom this week after reaching a plea deal with the U.S. government …

Discussion: The Guardian, @denniscearl, @denniscearl, New York Times, @theintercept, South China Morning Post and Voice of America

Elsa Keslassy / Variety:

Arnaud Lagardère returns as French publishing group Lagardère SA chair and CEO, after appealing an April 29 management ban by a court over embezzlement charges — Arnaud Lagardere, who had stepped down from his executive roles of chairman and CEO of the listed French media …

Discussion: Le Monde.fr, The Bookseller and Deadline

Reuters:

In a parliamentary hearing, Meta says it is considering blocking news content from Facebook in Australia if the government makes it pay licensing fees — Facebook owner Meta (META.O) is considering blocking news content from the platform in Australia if the government makes it pay licensing fees …

Discussion: Bloomberg

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

Spain's El País launched a digital edition to cover the US in Spanish in May with 11 bilingual correspondents; as of April, the outlet had ~366K subscribers — “The best reader is the one who reads you a lot.” — For years and with various levels of success, U.S. news outlets …

Discussion: @hanaatameez, American Press Institute and LatAm Journalism Review

Max Tani / Semafor:

The Wall Street Journal EIC Emma Tucker says she felt vindicated by the debate, after previously facing criticism for coverage of Biden's age and mental acuity — The News — Prominent liberal columnists are calling for President Joe Biden to step aside following a widely-panned debate performance …

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Financial Times, TIME, Politico, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, @maxwelltani, @semaforben, @semaforben, New York Post, Fox News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Mediaite and Forbes

Lachlan Cartwright / The Hollywood Reporter:

Several current and former Daily Mail employees describe a leadership vacuum in its US newsroom, following the mysterious departure of online EIC Gerard Greaves — Its online editor is MIA (he was last seen frantically deleting emails), his self-appointed replacement is said to be equally erratic …

Discussion: @mediaguy19, @brenbrenchie and @mediaevan

The Guardian:

Three journalists were turned away from an Azerbaijan energy conference earlier in June, prompting concern over media access ahead of UN climate talks there — Incident reignites concerns over crackdown on media before crucial UN climate talks in Baku later this year

Discussion: @glynmoody@mastodon.social

Advanced Television:

JustWatch: Netflix led the UK streaming market in Q2 with a 28% share; Prime Video had 27%, Disney+ had 20%, Apple TV+ had 8%, ITVX had 6%, and Now TV had 6% — Netflix continues to hold the reins of the UK streaming market in Q2 2024 with Prime Video closely following behind a 1 per cent gap …