Top News:
Dan Shanoff / The Athletic:
Nielsen: the 2026 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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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, @andrewmarchand, NBCSports.com, Barrett Media, Townhall, @brettsiegelnba, @draftdeeper, The American Bazaar, @fos, @mysportsupdate, @andrewmarchand, @richarddeitsch, @andrewmarchand, @benaxelrod, @mediaite, Inside Radio, @arashmarkazi, Awful Announcing, @jackvitashow, @stoolpresidente, @schadjoe, Front Office Sports, @sportsrapport, Cord Cutters News, Front Office Sports, TVLine, New York Post, Quartz, The Daily Wire, Us Weekly, The US Sun, Associated Press, Sportico, @manlikeginola, Los Angeles Times, TMZ.com, RedState, Sports Business Journal, TheGrio, Washington Times, Sports Media Watch, Mediaite, Deadline, Hollywood Life, Sandra Rose, Variety, FOX8 WGHP, @andrewmarchand.bsky.social, The Athletic and Reuters
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Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
ESPN's cuts are part of larger Disney layoffs; sources say some corporate functions, film studios, and Disney Entertainment TV 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, Barrett Media, SFist, @beschizza.com, @knoebel.bsky.social, Townhall, @jbflint, @councilofgeeks.bsky.social, @benfritz, @inkican@mastodon.social, 80 Level, Kotaku, @matbrunetvo.com, @donryu.bsky.social, World of Reel, Aftermath, TheDesk.net, Chris Heatherly on LinkedIn, Eric Calderon on LinkedIn, Afonso Salcedo on LinkedIn, @fizzvstheworld.bsky.social, @jmrivera.bsky.social, @martynpedler.com, Polygon.com, Nicole Renna on LinkedIn, Breitbart, The Hill, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Allyson Goldsby on LinkedIn, IGN, The A.V. Club, New York Post, Animation Magazine, Baller Alert, Deadline and r/MediaMergers
Chris Best / The Substack Post:
Substack partners with AI-detection tool Pangram, allowing users to scan text longer than 100 words for an estimate of how much was written with AI assistance — It's getting harder to tell what's real on the internet. — This is less true on Substack, and we aim to keep it that way.
Discussion:
Digital Trends, Mashable, @thuddwhirr, @jmrphy, @tracewoodgrains, @perrymetzger, @joshpuckett, @jasminewsun, @orphcorp, @pewilliams_, @justalexoki, @emollick, @petergyang, @sanasaeed, @pangram, @chrisbest, @max_spero_, @chaotictransfem, @thezvi, @krishnanrohit, Business Insider, @tomhfh, @digitalliturgy, Gazetteer SF, @fejau_inc, @captgouda24, @jappleby, @substack, @zebriez, @orphcorp, @hamishmckenzie, Soumen S. on LinkedIn, The Verge, Engadget, Freddie deBoer and Social Media Today, more at Techmeme »
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.
Anushka Chourasia / Reuters:
UK publisher Bloomsbury says it is among the beneficiaries of the $1.5B Anthropic settlement; 14,087 of its titles are covered, with ~$3K in compensation each — Britain's Bloomsbury Publishing (BLPU.L) confirmed on Wednesday it was among the beneficiaries of a landmark $1.5 billion settlement …
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Standard, Gamereactor UK, Coinpedia Fintech News, iClarified, The Verge, Quartz, Computerworld, Tech Times, Engadget and Reuters
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg:
A look at the relationship between the Mormon Church and influencers; the church owns several advertising companies with influencer-marketing arms — Through its for-profit subsidiary, the church owns several advertising companies with influencer-marketing arms
Discussion:
@cecianasta, @cecianasta and @cecianasta
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
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:
Sydney Morning Herald, Reuters, Bloomberg Law, The Wrap and Cord Cutters News
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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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
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:
Gizmodo, Eurogamer.net, Techstrong.ai, Unite.AI, Kotaku, Video Game Town, eMarketer, faisal.com and BrightEdge
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:
@brendancarrfcc, fcc.gov, Bloomberg and The White House, more at Techmeme »
