Mediagazer: CBS plans to show an onscreen QR code for the VP debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz to direct users to fact checks on the CBS News website (New York Times)

9:40 PM ET, September 30, 2024

Top News:

Amy Thomson / Bloomberg:

AT&T agrees to sell its majority stake in DirecTV to private equity firm TPG for $7.6B in cash, including $1.7B in pre-tax quarterly distributions in H2 2024 — - DirecTV is holding advanced talks to merge with rival Dish — AT&T and TPG are owners of DirecTV, which was founded in 1994

Discussion: New York Times, TPG Inc., The Information, Streaming Better, New York Post, @benmullin, PR Newswire, Reuters, Cord Cutters News, Associated Press, @bsdtectr.bsky.social, @michaelmartinez, Next TV, TVNewsCheck, CBS News and Awful Announcing, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

A combined DirecTV and Dish would have ~18M customers total, down 63% from the peak levels in 2016; DirecTV has ~10M pay-TV subscribers, down from 25.5M in 2016 — TPG will acquire AT&T's 70% stake in DirecTV, giving it 100% ownership in the pay-TV provider

Discussion: DIRECTV, Business Insider, The Wrap, Fast Company, Sportico, The Streamable, Hugh Scallon on LinkedIn, AV Club, The Desk, Gizmodo, Front Office Sports, Cord Cutters News, @xpangler, CNBC, Radio & Television …, Lewiston Sun Journal and Associated Press

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
DirecTV and EchoStar reach a definitive agreement for DirecTV to acquire EchoStar's video business Dish DBS, including Dish TV and Sling TV

New York Times:

CBS plans to show an onscreen QR code for the VP debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz to direct users to fact checks on the CBS News website — CBS is experimenting with a novel way to offer real-time fact-checking of the vice-presidential debate on Tuesday. Just don't expect the moderators to frequently jump in.

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

Sony Pictures says its CEO, Tony Vinciquerra, will step down at the beginning of 2025 and be succeeded by the studio's president and COO, Ravi Ahuja — Mr. Ahuja, president and chief operating officer of Sony Pictures Entertainment, will succeed its current chief executive, Tony Vinciquerra.

Discussion: The Wrap, IndieWire, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, Variety, Reuters, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, @tvmojoe, @megjameslat and @benmullin

Nicole Sperling / New York Times:

CNN revives CNN Films, which was shut down in 2022, with plans to finance and release documentary series and films as part of an overhaul by Mark Thompson — The network is again financing and releasing documentary series and films after backing away from the genre two years ago.

Discussion: TVNewsCheck

Jay Peters / The Verge:

Reddit moderators must now submit a request to Reddit staff before changing a subreddit's public/private status, making sitewide mod-led protests much harder — Reddit is giving its staff a lot more power over the communities on its platform. Starting today, Reddit moderators will not be able …

Discussion: @carnage4life@mas.to, MediaPost, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, Ars Technica, TechCrunch, @jonsnow@mastodon.online and @kyliebytes, more at Techmeme »

Umar Shakir / The Verge:

YouTube reaches a deal with SESAC that will bring back songs by Adele, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, and others that were removed over the weekend in the US — YouTube has reached a deal with the music licensing organization SESAC that will bring back songs that were removed over the weekend.

Max Tani / Semafor:

Politico and Capitol AI partner for an AI tool to let users create topical reports from Politico and Politico Pro content, available for Pro users later in 2024 — THE SCOOP — Politico is launching a strategic partnership with a Y Combinator-backed artificial intelligence startup …

Discussion: Quartz, @maxwelltani, Gabriel Brotman on LinkedIn, Shaun Modi on LinkedIn, @garrytan, @shaunmodi, Rachel Loeffler on LinkedIn, Goli Sheikholeslami on LinkedIn, Brad Dayspring on LinkedIn, @tomgara@threads.net and Adweek

Mark Landler / New York Times:

How the opacity of The Jewish Chronicle's ownership has reinforced suspicions that it is being used to promote the agenda of right-wing Israeli politicians — When several prominent journalists resigned this month from the British newspaper over false news articles, they also raised a broader question: Who owns it now?

Discussion: @arusbridger and @marklandler

Matthew Keys / The Desk:

Fox News Media's streaming service Fox Nation plans to launch faith-based original shows under a new brand vertical called Fox Faith — Fox News Media's premium streaming service Fox Nation will debut a handful of faith-based original series under a new brand vertical called Fox Faith.

Discussion: Variety, TVNewsCheck and Media Play News

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

Audacy wins regulatory approval for the transfer of its licenses to George Soros-backed Fund for Policy Reform, letting Audacy emerge from Chapter 11 — Under the restructuring approved by the court in February, the new, closely held company will be controlled by the Fund for Policy Reform …

Discussion: Axios, Inside Radio, CNN, Radio Ink, Radio World, Radio & Television … and Reuters

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

Gaming and entertainment media publisher Gamurs Group cuts 30 staff worldwide, blaming Google changes in late 2023, including its “helpful content” update — Gaming and entertainment media publisher Gamurs Group has cut 30 staff worldwide, saying the layoffs were necessitated …

Discussion: @matthewkeyslive

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 9:40 PM ET, September 30, 2024.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Assistant Standards Editor, NY — NYT

Asia Metals Correspondent, Singapore — Reuters

Economic Policy Reporter, DC — Punchbowl News

Senior Director - Editorial, NY — AP

Senior Editor, FL — Flamingo Magazine

Senior Sydney Correspondent — MLex

Investigative Reporter, OR — Street Roots

Reporter I, Remote — APMG

Reporter, CO — Vail Daily

Digital Content Editor, CT — NBC

Sr. Political Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Editor, DC — The Argument

Data Reporter, TX — IRE

Local Editor, MD — Patch

Editor - Founder Brew, NY — Morning Brew

Senior Content Strategist, CA — LA Times

Audience Strategist, CO — Voice

Senior Editor, Remote US — ProPublica

Community Newspaper Editor, FL — Coastal Star

Managing Editor, NY — Sportico

IT Industry Reporter, MA — CIO Dive

Multimedia Reporter, TX — Victoria Advocate

Food Correspondent, OR — Lookout

Deputy Editor-in-Chief, NY — Semafor

Breaking News Editor, Toronto — Bloomberg

Breaking News Reporter, Remote — Daily Beast

Digital Editor, OH — Columbus Biz First

Senior Political Reporter, ME — BDN

Head of Multimedia, Sydney — The Guardian

Editorial & Opinion Page Editor, NV — LV Sun

Deputy Editor, HI — Honolulu Civil Beat

Principal Writer - Investigative & Trust — Bankrate

Culture & Travel Reporter, NY — Rolling Stone

Wealth & Philanthropy Reporter, TX — DMN

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Internal memo: Michael Caruso, who became the CEO and publisher of The New Republic in February 2023, stepped down from his role on September 26

Discussion: @markstenberg3

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:
Memo: Lionsgate offers its US employees voluntary severance and early retirement packages, citing a “disrupted business environment”

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline

Julie Bort / TechCrunch:
Series Entertainment, a game studio startup building a generative AI-powered service for making games, raised a $28M Series A from Netflix, Dell, a16z, others

Discussion: Drew Boortz on LinkedIn

Will Sommer / Washington Post:
The Onion revives the Onion News Network, which ended in 2013, with former MSNBC host Joshua Johnson playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond

Discussion: TVNewsCheck

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
A US judge rules that Fiona Harvey can pursue her defamation lawsuit against Netflix over Baby Reindeer, saying the show was wrongly billed as a “true story”

Discussion: New York Times, DNyuz, The Independent, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Business Insider and Rolling Stone

New York Times:
Google's lawyers wrapped up their defense of the company in the US DOJ ad tech antitrust trial last week; a judge's ruling is expected in the coming months

Discussion: Digital Content Next, AdExchanger, MEDIANAMA and Digiday, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Antenna: Netflix cancellations spiked for a few days in late July 2024 after Reed Hastings endorsed Kamala Harris and announced a $7M super PAC donation

Discussion: New York Post, Quartz, The Daily Beast and @lucas_shaw@threads.net, more at Techmeme »

Farah Nayeri / New York Times:
Experts including Martin Baron and Dean Baquet discuss ongoing challenges facing traditional media, from a decline in trust to competition from social networks

Discussion: @mariabustillos.bsky.social and TVNewsCheck

Jason Parham / Wired:
An interview with Eric Eddings, who leads podcast development for Kevin Hart's Hartbeat, on the rise of “chatcasts” and their impact in the podcasting industry

Discussion: @jb4nay, @jvquantum and @bonybean

Nicole Slaughter Graham / Poynter:
How reporting by Oregon's Malheur Enterprise on a rail project forced Malheur County to admit wrongdoing, pay a $40K settlement, and commit to more transparency

Discussion: @emmettoconnell@mas.to

Lulu Garcia-Navarro / New York Times:
Q&A with John Oliver on why he doesn't consider himself a journalist, his frustration with HBO delaying putting his show's segments on YouTube, and more

Discussion: IndieWire, Deadline, Variety, The Wrap, @nytimes, @amyhuntindallas, @attorneydad, @lourdesgnavarro, @michaelgrant_cj, New York Times Podcasts on YouTube, @cjsinner@threads.net, @nytimes@threads.net, @danpaisner@threads.net and @_eileenie_@threads.net

From Techmeme:

Mariella Moon / Engadget:
Google says it needs more time to upgrade Assistant to Gemini on most Android devices; Google previously planned to complete the transition by the end of 2025

Business Insider:
Google advises some employees on visas, including H-1B visas, not to travel outside the US due to processing delays, following new social media screening rules

Isabelle Bousquette / Wall Street Journal:
The RAISE Act requires AI companies with $500M+ in revenue to publish safety protocols and disclose safety incidents within 72 hours, with fines up to $3M

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page