Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon is shutting down Freevee, its free, ad-supported streaming service launched in 2019 under the IMDb brand, and plans to move the content to Prime Video — Amazon is officially shutting down Freevee, its free, ad-supported video streaming service originally launched under the IMDb brand nearly five years ago.
Discussion:
Deadline, Bloomberg, The Desk, TVLine, The Wrap, Bill Condon on LinkedIn, The Desk, The Verge, Cord Cutters News, @gibbs00.bsky.social, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, NewscastStudio, @willmckinley@mstdn.social, @deadline, GoldDerby, @jaketx78, @deadline, @tvgrimreaper, @jesse_t_white, @aagave, The Hollywood Reporter, Engadget and Just Jared, more at Techmeme »
Jack Forrest / CNN:
President-elect Donald Trump announces he has chosen Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth to serve as his secretary of defense — President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday he has chosen Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his secretary of defense.
Discussion:
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Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Disney board members are exploring fresh candidates in their search for a successor to Bob Iger, including EA CEO Andrew Wilson — Disney board members are considering outsiders including the CEO of videogame company Electronic Arts — Disney is exploring fresh candidates …
Discussion:
Rafael Brown on LinkedIn, Deadline, @dylanbyers, @alexweprin, Benzinga, The Wrap, @mediaevan, Variety, New York Post, Cord Cutters News and TVNewsCheck
Jaspreet Singh / Reuters:
Spotify reports Q3 revenue up 19% YoY to €3.99B, vs. €4.02B est., MAUs up 11% to 640M, and forecasts Q4 profit and MAUs above est.; SPOT jumps 8%+ after hours — Audio-streaming giant Spotify (SPOT.N) forecast fourth-quarter profit above Wall Street estimates on Tuesday …
Discussion:
Variety, The Information, CNBC, @richlightshed, Investing.com, Spotify, Bloomberg, @richlightshed, Billboard, Music Ally, @richlightshed, @eldsjal and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
David Satin / The Streamable:
EchoStar reports a Q3 net loss of $142M on revenue of $3.89B, with Sling TV adding 145K customers but satellite service Dish losing 188K; SATS falls 12.9% — DISH continued to lose linear satellite subscribers, but the losses were fewer than the year-ago quarter.
Discussion:
EchoStar Corporation, Tv Technology, The Wrap, Streaming Better, The Desk, Benzinga, The Hollywood Reporter and Cord Cutters News
Adweek:
Google cracks down on affiliate SEO businesses run by third parties, leading to much lower search visibility for those businesses at Time, WSJ, CNN, and others — The steep drops in search visibility could mean the end to outsourcing affiliate operations — The search visibility of the Forbes …
Discussion:
Mark Stenberg on LinkedIn and @simondowens@threads.net
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Netflix says its ad tier has 70M MAUs globally, up from 40M in May 2024, and it sold all out available in-game inventory for its Christmas Day NFL broadcasts — Netflix, a company that once dismissed the concept of allowing commercials around its popular streaming content, now can't seem to get enough of them.
Discussion:
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Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Particle, an AI newsreader, launches on iOS and iPadOS, offering features including Explain Like I'm 5 and a chatbot that lets you ask questions about stories — The media industry today may not have a very favorable view of AI — a technology that's already been used to replace reporters …
Discussion:
MediaPost, @particle_news, @particle_news, @particle_news, Particle, @particle_news and The Verge
Max Tani / Semafor:
Email: some of Al Jazeera's Gaza reporters say they will no longer broadcast until the network pays what they say are months of missing expense reimbursements — The Scoop — Some of Al Jazeera's correspondents covering the war in Gaza are protesting what they believe is months of mistreatment …
Discussion:
@maxwelltani
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
Mario Gabelli, largest holder of nonvoting Paramount shares, asks the FCC to delay transferring broadcast licenses to Skydance until he decides whether to sue — The FCC filing follows legal maneuvering from Mario Gabelli, the largest holder of nonvoting shares, seeking access to Paramount's books.
Discussion:
Variety, New York Post, Deadline, The Wrap, @tiltowl.bsky.social and TVNewsCheck
Bloomberg:
DirecTV plans to terminate its planned acquisition of Dish by midnight on November 22, 2024, if bondholders don't agree to a debt exchange — “A successful exchange was a condition for acquiring the Dish video business,” a DirecTV spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Discussion:
The Desk, Reuters, CNBC, StreamTV Insider, Deadline, Wall Street Journal, The Streamable, Cord Cutters News, Yahoo Finance, TVNewsCheck and Benzinga
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with the Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. about moving the Grammys to Disney from 2027, revamping its pool of voters, disruption due to AI, and more — Rebooting the member list, taking the show streaming — is it enough in the age of AI?
Discussion:
Variety