Disney's board names James Gorman, executive chairman of Morgan Stanley, as chair of a succession planning committee to identify Bob Iger's replacement as CEO (Todd Spangler/Variety)

Mediagazer: Disney's board names James Gorman, executive chairman of Morgan Stanley, as chair of a succession planning committee to identify Bob Iger's replacement as CEO (Todd Spangler/Variety)

Top News:

Deadline:

Sources: Chick-Fil-A plans to launch a slate of original media productions for its own streaming platform and has worked with studios on family-friendly shows— Deadline understands that the fast-food firm has been working with a number of major production companies, including some of the studios …
Discussion: The Desk, The Media Leader, SlashFilm, Quartz, Streaming Better, @chrisvalentino0, @cafastfoodunion, @deadline, @c_a_huggins, @mfg_iwpj and Cord Cutters News

Discussion:

Matthew Keys /
The Desk: Chick-Fil-A readies launch of streaming TV platform

Sabrina Quagliozzi /
The Media Leader: Chick-fil-A cooks up new streaming service

BJ Colangelo /
SlashFilm: Chick-Fil-A Is Launching A Streaming Platform And No, This Is Not A Joke, Sorry

Chris Valentino /
@chrisvalentino0: @DEADLINE There's a lot at steak here. They should focus on what they create in-house and not try to ruffle any feathers. They don't want any beef with these stream services. [image] @cafastfoodunion: @DEADLINE Chick-Fil-A was prepared to spend over $11 million to get out of paying us $20/hour. Now they're funding a trade association who is lobbying local electeds to stop us from knowing our rights while running a PR campaign to ensure we don't get another raise. @deadline: It is also in talks to license and acquire content. We hear that this includes a family-friendly gameshow from Glassman Media and Michael Sugar's Sugar23. Deadline understands this show has been handed a ten-episode order https://deadline.com/...

@deadline:
Budgets on the unscripted side are believed to be in the range of $400,000 per half-hour. Sources told us the idea is to launch later this year and there's also talk of scripted projects and animation. MORE: https://deadline.com/...

@deadline:
Deadline understands that the fast-food firm has been working with a number of major production companies, including some of the studios, to create family-friendly shows, particularly in the unscripted space https://deadline.com/...

Bloomberg:

How the end of a federal ban on sports gambling transformed the way sports media is funded and changed what kind of stories get covered and published— The $10 billion industry transformed how sports media is funded—and written. — Few journalists embody the gambling industry's capture …

Discussion:
@ghaleonq, @patrickhayes_13, @tcraggs22, CommonWealth Beacon, @albertburneko, @kevinmdraper and @travis_waldron

Discussion:

Quinton Klabon /
@ghaleonq: Something as corrupt as the Olympics still produces ecstasy about human excellence. Shouting at Tyrese Haliburton because his assists total affects your car payment does not, because it ceases to put athletics at the forefront. (I adore Haliburton for sneering at such behavior.) [image]

Patrick Hayes /
@patrickhayes_13: This is an excellent albeit depressing piece by Tommy Craggs. This portion was extra gross though. https://www.bloomberg.com/... [image]

Tommy Craggs /
@tcraggs22: I tried to explain why sports media in the gambling era just kinda sucks https://www.bloomberg.com/...

Albert Burneko /
@albertburneko: great blog https://www.bloomberg.com/... [image]

Kevin Draper /
@kevinmdraper: “Sports betting still existed in that crowded liminal space in American life, at once an illicit underground activity and a pastime enjoyed by many with total impunity, like cocaine or wage theft.” https://www.bloomberg.com/...

Travis Waldron /
@travis_waldron: “How sports gambling came to be such a hulking, clanging presence in our life is the ultimate sports media story—which is funny, in a ghoulish sort of way, given there's not a lot of sports media left to tell it.” Always read @tcraggs22: https://www.bloomberg.com/...

The Hollywood Reporter:

Rotten Tomatoes debuts a Verified Hot badge for films that have a Verified Audience Score of 90% or higher, among other requirements— Movies that are ‘Verified Hot’ by filmgoers will join those that are ‘Certified Fresh’ from critics, in a move meant to give more weight to consumer opinions …

Discussion:
Rotten Tomatoes, Screen Rant, Engadget, SlashFilm, Variety, The Wrap, The Playlist, CBR, IndieWire, Digital Trends, @jacobtalks4ever, @gigawattconduit, Media Play News, @ellysmelancholy and @screenslate

Discussion:

Brennan Klein /
Screen Rant: Rotten Tomatoes' New Audience Score Explained: Popcornmeter & Verified “Hot” Ratings

Jeremy Mathai /
SlashFilm: Rotten Tomatoes Just Introduced A New ‘Verified Hot’ Label - Here's What It Means

Diego Ramos Bechara /
Variety: Rotten Tomatoes Launches New ‘Verified Hot’ Badge for Audience Reviews

Drew Taylor /
The Wrap: Rotten Tomatoes Adds New ‘Verified Hot’ Audience Badge for Fan-Approved Movies

Charles Barfield /
The Playlist: Rotten Tomatoes Using New ‘Verified Hot’ Badge For User Ratings

Monica Coman /
CBR: Rotten Tomatoes Introduces New Badge for High Audience Scores

Brian Welk /
IndieWire: Rotten Tomatoes Introduces a New Audience Rating for People Who Actually Bought a Ticket

Dan Girolamo /
Digital Trends: Rotten Tomatoes reveals new Verified Hot audience badge for movie rankings

Jacob Ethington /
@jacobtalks4ever: Well, there's no way this doesn't incentivize review-bombing in the opposite direction just to land a “Verified Hot” badge thereby making online fandom behavior even more insane than it already is. Certainly that won't happen.

Justin Carter /
@gigawattconduit: There's so much effort being done to devalue critical opinions instead of teaching people to just accept that not everything's gonna be widely liked and you'll be Fine regardless https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/ ...

Stephanie Prange /
Media Play News: Rotten Tomatoes Unveils ‘Verified Hot’ Audience Badge

Adweek:

Sources and docs: sales reps say Google's targeting of teen minors goes beyond Meta; Google lets advertisers target an “unknown” group that skews toward teens— This activity is broader than the agreement between Google and Meta that the FT reported this month

Discussion:
@researchbuzz@researchbuzz.masto.host: #Google #advertising #children #DontBeEvil — 'Sales representatives from Google have suggested that advertisers target teenagers on YouTube, seemingly in violation of the platform's own policies, according to three ad buyers and written documentation seen by ADWEEK. …

Catherine Perloff /
Catherine Perloff on LinkedIn: Scoop: Google has been encouraging buyers to target teens, against their own policy. The Financial Times reported earlier in the month …

Mary Branscombe /
@marypcbuk.bsky.social: Google makes every child in school with a chromebook sign up for an account whose behaviour they can track but promise not to use for ad targeting until they are old enough [embedded post]

Variety:

Disney's board names James Gorman, executive chairman of Morgan Stanley, as chair of a succession planning committee to identify Bob Iger's replacement as CEO— Gorman, who joined the Disney board earlier this year, oversaw the recent succession process at Morgan Stanley, where he had previously served as the firm's CEO.

Discussion:
The Wrap, Radio & Television …, Bloomberg and Deadline

Discussion:

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Disney Taps James Gorman as Succession Planning Committee Chair

Thomas Buckley /
Bloomberg: Disney Names Gorman to Lead CEO Succession Planning Effort

Editor and Publisher:

A draft plan circulating among California lawmakers and media leaders would create a Local News Fund with Google and state money, run by a board at UC Berkeley— Following years of legislative work, a draft deal between Google, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks …

Discussion:

Ashley Zavala /
KQCA-TV: Deal set to be announced on journalism and tech in California

Brian Merchant /
@bcmerchant: This will be framed as a win—but it's only a win for Google. In exchange for gutting the CA journalism law, which would have put a durable mechanism into place to share ad revenue from stories on its platform, it's a paltry payout—and *AI initiatives* rammed down our throats. [image]

Garry Tan /
@garrytan: We have to pay attention to how this money is allocated. If it goes to journos who systematically fail to honestly cover news like Mission Local, Oaklandside, 48 Hills, or even the Chronicle We will get far worse than Chesa Boudin We don't want activism disguised as journalism @econliberties: “This backroom deal is bad for journalists, publishers, and all Californians, which is why state lawmakers including @GavinNewsom should reject it.” Statement from @LeeHepner on Google's absurd deal to terminate the California Journalism Preservation Act. https://www.economicliberties.us/ ... [image]

Steven Waldman /
@stevenwaldman: Google, California lawmakers in last-minute negotiations for local news fund | Editor and Publisher https://www.editorandpublisher.com/ ...

Tyler Katzenberger /
Politico: AI initiatives would get $40M annually in draft California journalism bill agreement

Jacob Bryant /
The Wrap: California Lawmakers Set to Scrap Legislation Requiring Big Tech to Pay for News in $172.5 Million Google Settlement | Report

Matt Pearce /
@mattdpearce: California's journalists did not ask for this. @future_of_music: This could have been a bill that helped support local music communities by funding local music journalism. Instead, it's looking like more AI-fueled extraction.

Brian Merchant /
@bcmerchant: Utterly devastating for CA journalists. This bill was supposed to make big tech pay its fair share after usurping advertising from news publishers and profiting from their work—instead it's *rewarding* their market dominance by turning journos into content trainers for AI systems

Matt Pearce /
@mattdpearce: Also I guess I should say out loud what everybody believes behind the scenes, which is that the biggest obstacle here to actual monopoly regulation isn't actually Google but Governor Gavin Newsom.

Matt Pearce /
@mattdpearce: If I ran a government accountability newsroom and learned a backroom deal would send taxpayer dollars to Alden Global Capital during a budget crunch, I would have spent the weekend telling my reporters, not my business partners, to contact @BuffyWicks. https://www.politico.com/... [image]

Brian Merchant /
@bcmerchant: And to be clear this is not at all what any journalist involved wanted. At all. The opposite in fact — when the News Guild voted to support the original bill it had *nothing* to do with AI and everything to do with making big tech share the gains it made on journalists' backs.

Sarah Kay Wiley /
Sarah Kay Wiley on LinkedIn: That Google is essentially able to stop the legislative process with a $172.5M check (over five years mind you) is deeply disturbing …

@researchbuzz@researchbuzz.masto.host:
#Google #California #media #advertising — ‘California leaders are expected to announce a truce has been reached between state lawmakers, tech and some journalism advocates on an effort to provide millions of dollars in funds to local newsrooms across the state.’ — https://www.kcra.com/...

The Hollywood Reporter:

Paramount and Canal+ unveil an updated deal under which Canal+ subscribers in France get Paramount+ at no additional cost— Under the updated deal, Canal+ subscribers can access Paramount+ at no additional cost, no matter which subscription plan they have.

Discussion:
Advanced Television, Marco Nobili on LinkedIn, Broadband TV News, Media Play News, WORLD SCREEN and Engadget

Discussion:

Marco Nobili /
Marco Nobili on LinkedIn: We're thrilled to share that our partnership with Canal+ is expanding significantly. This enhanced collaboration will extend Paramount …

Julian Clover /
Broadband TV News: Paramount+ added to Canal+ packages

Erik Gruenwedel /
Media Play News: Paramount+ Expands French Streaming Access With Canal+ Partnership

Kristin Brzoznowski /
WORLD SCREEN: Paramount+, CANAL+ Strengthen Partnership In France

Lawrence Bonk /
Engadget: Paramount+ annual subscriptions are half off right now

The Wrap:

Document: Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s Paramount bid is backed by a group of 19 investors including Fortress, Brock Pierce, and producer Steven Paul— Kazakh investor Nurali Aliyev joins Fortress and producer Steven Paul in the last minute $4.3 billion bid — Cryptocurrency mogul Brock Pierce …

Discussion:
TVNewsCheck and Deadline

RELATED:

Axios:
Source: Edgar Bronfman Jr. has raised $5.5B for a bid for National Amusements, and plans to submit a bid higher than his initial $4.3B offer in the coming days

Discussion:
Advanced Television, Broadband TV News, The Wrap, Commercial Observer, @sarafischer, AV Club, Front Office Sports, New York Post, Reuters, Gordon Geist on LinkedIn, Financial Times, Deadline, The Guardian, The Streamable, The Media Leader, The Hill, Quartz, Ad Age, Los Angeles Times, Music Business Worldwide, New York Times, The Desk, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter

Discussion:

Robert Briel /
Broadband TV News: Edgar Bronfman Jr increases last-minute bid for Paramount Global to $5.5 billion

Tess Patton /
The Wrap: Paramount Shareholder Mario Gabelli Doesn't See a Negative in Granting Potential Bronfman Bid Extension

Astaropoli /
Commercial Observer: Edgar Bronfman Jr. Challenges Skydance-Paramount Merger With $4.3B Bid

Sara Fischer /
@sarafischer: Scoop: Edgar Bronfman Jr. has raised more $ for his @Paramount bid. Now has up to $5.5B raised —He's hoping to submit new bid if “go-shop” window extended —Money coming from indivs & fam offices like Fortress, BC Partners Advisors, others More on @axios https://www.axios.com/...

Mary Kate Carr /
AV Club: A rogue billionaire enters the Paramount sale conversation

Eric Fisher /
Front Office Sports: New $4.3 Billion Paramount Bid Puts Future of CBS Sports in the Balance

Alexandra Steigrad /
New York Post: Bidding war erupts over Paramount as Edgar Bronfman submits $4.3B competing offer

Gordon Geist /
Gordon Geist on LinkedIn: Read this to remind yourself that in the world of M&A there is good money and there is not so good money. …

Jill Goldsmith /
Deadline: Edgar Bronfman Backers, More Details Emerge In Bid For Paramount That Seeks To Unseat Skydance

Sabrina Quagliozzi /
The Media Leader: Bronfman challenges Skydance for Paramount control

Dominick Mastrangelo /
The Hill: Edgar Bronfman Jr. makes multi-billion dollar bid for Paramount

Rocio Fabbro /
Quartz: Edgar Bronfman wants to buy Paramount for $4.3 billion — and take it away from Skydance

Mandy Dalugdug /
Music Business Worldwide: Former Warner Music Group boss Edgar Bronfman Jr. makes $4.3bn bid for Paramount

Matthew Keys /
The Desk: Edgar Bronfman, Jr. submits bid for Paramount Global

Todd Spangler /
Variety: Edgar Bronfman Jr. Makes $4.3 Billion Bid to Take Control of Paramount Global in Challenge to Skydance Deal

Associated Press:

Police in Pakistan charge a man with cyberterrorism, accusing him of spreading misinformation about the identity of the attacker in the Southport stabbing— Web developer in Lahore charged with cyberterrorism, after riots thought to have been fuelled by false reports online

Discussion:
New York Times, @marcowenjones, @fascinatorfun, Reclaim The Net, London Evening Standard, UPI, Reuters and The Guardian

Discussion:

Salman Masood /
New York Times: Pakistan Arrests Man Over Disinformation That Helped Spur U.K. Riots

Marc Owen Jones /
@marcowenjones: I suggest you read the whole article @TiceRichard . The same article notes the Pakistani police believe he copied the post from social media. What's the point in selectively quoting the news unless you just want to spread more false information? Absurd. #UkRiots [image] @fascinatorfun: @marcowenjones @TiceRichard Also Spofforth herself, acknowledges she was the probable source of the channel's story whilst denying responsibility for the consequence

Cindy Harper /
Reclaim The Net: Pakistan National Arrested For False News Article, Accused of Triggering UK Riots London Evening Standard: Pakistani web developer charged over fake details spread about Southport accused

Clyde Hughes /
UPI: Pakistan authorities arrest man for spreading disinformation on Southport stabbing

Mubasher Bukhari /
Reuters: Pakistan man charged with cybercrime linked to riots in Britain

Press Gazette:

The UK's Evening Standard tells staff it will move to a weekly print publishing schedule, starting on Thursday, September 26, and rebrand as The London Standard— The Evening Standard print newspaper will rebrand as The London Standard when it goes weekly next month as it returns to a focus on news and analysis from the city.

Financial Times:

Ofcom says it has 460+ people working on enforcing the Online Safety Act and plans to grow that by 20% to 550+ by March 2025, or 33% of its 1,500 total staff— Online safety rules in the spotlight after violent unrest sparked by spread of misleading news on social media

Discussion:
@paulmarsha11 and @jakdaw09

Discussion:
@paulmarsha11: Some good news and hopefully real. UK media watchdog starts hiring spree amid pressure to curb misinformation https://www.ft.com/...

Jeff Kaye /
@jakdaw09: The Online Safety Act will not be in force for 2 years and even then will be weak against online disinformation https://www.ft.com/... @Ofcom needs massive change beyond staff numbers to protect UK against @elonmusk/other online protagonists. IT works far faster than Government.

The Nevada Independent:

WBD commits $500M+ annually for productions in Nevada over 17 years as part of a UNLV film studio partnership, if the state expands its film tax credits in 2025— The entertainment studio promised $8.5 billion in investments over 17 years, contingent upon the expansion of film tax credits in the Silver State.

Discussion:

Jon Ralston /
@ralstonreports: BREAKING: Warner Bros. pledges massive Nevada expansion if lawmakers expand film tax credit, will compete with SONY for supremacy in the coming Vegas film market. Hollywood East is for real! via @tabitha_mueller https://thenevadaindependent.com/ ...

Erik Gruenwedel /
Media Play News: WBD Eyeing $8.5 Billion Las Vegas Studio Investment Pending State Tax Credits

Steve Sebelius /
@stevesebelius: You didn't think the film tax credits idea was dead, did you? Not by a long shot! Dueling sequels are coming to Carson City in 2025, reports @tabitha_mueller in @TheNVIndy: https://thenevadaindependent.com/ ...

Jeremy Renner /
@jeremyrenner: Let's make this real @warnerbros and @SonyPictures Hey @Disney where you at ?

Jarah Wright /
Channel 13 Las Vegas News KTNV: Warner Bros. Discovery partners with UNLV to lease, operate Las Vegas film studio

Isabelle Durso /
Commercial Observer: Warner Bros. Pledges $8.5B in Long-Term Lease at Nevada Studio

McKenna Ross /
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Warner Bros. says it would run Las Vegas film studio — with tax credits

Stephanie Overton /
KLAS: Warner Bros. commits to $8.5B for Nevada Studios, but there's a condition

John Gittelsohn /
Bloomberg: Warner Bros. Ties $8.5 Billion Vegas Production Plan to Tax Deal

Rachel Zalucki /