Top News:
Andrew Marchand / The Athletic:
Memo: ESPN's Jimmy Pitaro announces layoffs, mostly due to the NFL Network acquisition; sources: on-air personalities Karl Ravech and Ryan Clark are affected — Karl Ravech, one of ESPN's most prominent on-air voices for more than three decades, and NFL insider Tom Pelissero were laid off …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Fox News, USA Today, Business Insider, Barrett Media, @andrewmarchand, NBCSports.com, Inside Radio, Front Office Sports, Townhall, TVLine, Associated Press, @brettsiegelnba, @draftdeeper, Cord Cutters News, The American Bazaar, New York Post, Awful Announcing, @fos, TMZ.com, Washington Times, @mysportsupdate, @andrewmarchand, The Daily Wire, Los Angeles Times, @richarddeitsch, @andrewmarchand, Mediaite, RedState, @benaxelrod, @mediaite, Us Weekly, @arashmarkazi, Sports Media Watch, @jackvitashow, Deadline, @stoolpresidente, @schadjoe, Quartz, Sportico, The US Sun, @sportsrapport, @manlikeginola, Hollywood Life, Sandra Rose, Sports Business Journal, @andrewmarchand.bsky.social, Variety, TheGrio, FOX8 WGHP, The Athletic and Reuters
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Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Cuts at ESPN are part of larger Disney layoffs; sources: some corporate functions, film studios, and Disney Entertainment Television are expected to be impacted — Pixar and Nat Geo are said to be hit particularly hard in the latest round of cuts, with some high-profile talent also being let go at ESPN.
Discussion:
Variety, The Wrap, SFist, @knoebel.bsky.social, Townhall, @beschizza.com, @martynpedler.com, Chris Heatherly on LinkedIn, Eric Calderon on LinkedIn, Breitbart, Baller Alert, The Hill, @jbflint, World of Reel, Nicole Renna on LinkedIn, Allyson Goldsby on LinkedIn, Polygon.com, Awful Announcing, @councilofgeeks.bsky.social, @fizzvstheworld.bsky.social, IGN, @benfritz, @inkican@mastodon.social, 80 Level, Us Weekly, @jmrivera.bsky.social, Afonso Salcedo on LinkedIn, San Francisco Chronicle, Kotaku, New York Post, @donryu.bsky.social, @matbrunetvo.com, Aftermath, TheDesk.net, Los Angeles Times, Animation Magazine, Barrett Media, Deadline and r/MediaMergers
Dan Shanoff / The Athletic:
Nielsen: the World Cup final drew 38.9M viewers on Fox, and 22M+ on Telemundo; taken together, the US audience size rivaled that of NFL playoff games — After a summer of World Cup TV records in the U.S. being reset over and over, the biggest game delivered one final new standard for soccer viewership:
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Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Antenna: the 2026 World Cup drove 2.8M subscriptions to Fox One in June, including 400K on June 11, eclipsing the 1.1M sign-ups during January's NFL playoffs — The World Cup, which smashed records for viewing during its just-concluded five-week run, provided a significant boost to fledgling streaming outlet Fox One.
Discussion:
TheDesk.net, Forbes and @doctorsyntax.bsky.social
MJ Franklin / New York Times:
How publishers are cashing in on surging public interest in The Odyssey through splashy reissues; Circana BookScan says sales of The Odyssey rose by 76% YoY — It's the climax of the “Odyssey.” Odysseus, back in Ithaca at long last, finds his home swarming with suitors vying for the hand of his wife, Penelope, and for his throne.
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Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Reddit, Politico, and others mull cutting Google's access to their content for AI as traffic drops; Reddit signed a $60M/year deal with Google in 2024 — Reddit, Politico and others are weighing how—or even if—they can work with the tech company as AI tools supplant traditional searches
Discussion:
Kotaku, eMarketer, faisal.com and BrightEdge
Max Tani / Semafor:
News Corp sues privacy-focused search engine Brave, alleging it uses masked web crawlers to bypass publishers' restrictions and deliver “verbatim” AI summaries — The Scoop — News Corp, the Murdoch family-owned parent company of The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Reuters, Cord Cutters News and Bloomberg Law
Jennifer Orsi / Poynter:
PolitiFact launches Well Informed to provide credible health information on social media and to news partners, with plans to launch a paid B2B newsletter — “Well Informed” offers social videos and stories backed by research to help people sort out personal health claims
Quad Cities Business Journal:
Filing: Mary Junck, ex-chairman of Lee Enterprises' board of directors, is retiring on July 31, a few months after David Hoffmann invested $50M in Lee — Newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises will soon lose one of its longtime top leaders. — Mary Junck, 78, the former chairman of the Lee Board …
Discussion:
Lee Enterprises, Editor and Publisher and The Corvallis Advocate
Joe Reedy / Associated Press:
NHL Productions plans to produce and distribute game telecasts for four teams when the season begins, since Main Street Sports shut down; more clubs might join — The Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes are one of four teams that will have their game telecasts produced and distributed by the NHL for the upcoming season.
Brian Stelter / CNN:
The DOD hasn't held a press briefing in more than two months, as part of a larger effort to control information and avoid difficult questions about the Iran war — The Middle East Federal agencies US military Donald Trump … The public deserves transparency about the US war in Iran.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, PBS NewsHour, UPI, Politico, Daily Mail, New York Magazine, New York Times, TMZ.com, Al Jazeera, The Hill, New Republic, @brianstelter, The Guardian, @brianstelter, PoliticusUSA, Raw Story, Associated Press, The Status Kuo, Bangor Daily News, The Independent, Straight Arrow, Rolling Stone, MS NOW, @brianstelter, CBS News, The Indian Express, @brianstelter.bsky.social, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo and Staff Stories
Sara Fischer / Axios:
OpenAI renews its investment in the American Journalism Project by committing an additional $5M in funding and $3M in tech credits over the next two years — OpenAI is renewing its investment in the American Journalism Project by committing an additional $5 million in funding and $3 million …
Discussion:
@deepbassdiplomat.bsky.social and Evan Hirsch on LinkedIn
Ella Lee / Financial Times:
Trump nominates FCC general counsel Adam Candeub to lead the DOJ's antitrust unit; Candeub, a longtime Big Tech critic, has long sought to challenge Section 230 — Adam Candeub authored a Project 2025 chapter calling for a sweeping shake-up of US competition enforcement
Discussion:
Bloomberg, The White House, @brendancarrfcc and fcc.gov, more at Techmeme »
