Q&A with Bryan Curtis, editor at large at the Ringer, on why podcasts are dominating the 2024 US election, covering the podcast sector, and more (Erik Wemple/Washington Post)

Mediagazer: Q&A with Bryan Curtis, editor at large at the Ringer, on why podcasts are dominating the 2024 US election, covering the podcast sector, and more (Erik Wemple/Washington Post)

Top News:

Politico:

Source: Trump is planning to record an interview for Joe Rogan's podcast on October 25; Harris has also reportedly been in talks to go on Rogan's podcast— Former President Donald Trump is expected to record an interview with podcasting behemoth Joe Rogan on Friday.
Discussion: Mediaite, Variety, Fox News, Reuters, NBC News, The Wrap, The Hill, Daily Mail, The Gateway Pundit, KVUE-TV, Maine Morning Star, New York Post, New York Times, New Republic, Deadline, HotAir, RedState, The Hollywood Reporter, Townhall, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Washington Examiner, CBS News, Axios, The National Pulse, ZeroHedge News, Associated Press, New York Daily News, The Daily Caller, Barrett Media, Twitchy, freebeacon.com, NPR and Human Events

Discussion:

Isaac Schorr /
Mediaite: FLASHBACK: Joe Rogan Said He Denied Trump's Requests to Come on His Show Because He Didn't ‘Want to Help Him’

Dominick Mastrangelo /
The Hill: Trump recording podcast with Joe Rogan this week

Charlie Spiering /
Daily Mail: Trump ramps up the pressure on Kamala with Joe Rogan appearance as her support with men plummets

Jim Hᴏft /
The Gateway Pundit: A Groundbreaking Interview in the Making: Donald Trump Set to Appear on Joe Rogan's Show in Austin, Texas This Friday

Ashley Murray /
Maine Morning Star: Early voting now underway, Trump and Harris crisscross the battleground states

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling /
New Republic: Trump Cancels All His Events in Favor of One of the Worst People Ever

Dominic Patten /
Deadline: Donald Trump Heading To Joe Rogan's Podcast In Austin Same Day VP Is In Houston

Ed Morrissey /
HotAir: Oh My: Trump Beats Harris to the Rogan Podcast

Teri Christoph /
RedState: BREAKING: Trump Is About to Win the Podcast Wars

Stephen Pastis /
Forbes: Trump Will Appear On Joe Rogan's Podcast After Days Of Speculation—As Harris Talk Not Confirmed

Jenny Goldsberry /
Washington Examiner: Donald Trump to appear on Joe Rogan's podcast: Report

Kathryn Watson /
CBS News: Trump to appear on Joe Rogan's podcast

Erin Doherty /
Axios: Joe Rogan to interview Trump on his podcast

Jack Montgomery /
The National Pulse: When Will Joe Rogan Interview Trump? Here's What We Know.

Tyler Durden /
ZeroHedge News: Trump-Rogan Interview Set For Friday: Politico

Joseph Wilkinson /
New York Daily News: Donald Trump to appear on Joe Rogan's podcast

Jason Cohen /
The Daily Caller: Trump Slated For Joe Rogan Podcast Appearance

Blake Mauro /
freebeacon.com: Trump Set To Appear on Joe Rogan's Podcast

Kenny Cody /
Human Events: Trump's media presence is a winning strategy

Game File:

Netflix shut down AAA game studio “Team Blue”, which hired industry veterans and seemed set to pursue a big-budget multi-device strategy, amid a gaming shake-up— The SoCal studio boasted senior veterans from Halo, God of War and Overwatch — One of Netflix's most intriguing video game studios is no more.

Discussion:
Fast Company, Times of India, The Information, @shpeshal_nick, @mr_rebs_, @johndraisey, Sherwood News, @strider_117, @stephentotilo, Tubefilter, Variety, Deadline, Benzinga, @henereyg, Video Games Chronicle, Comic Book, PCMag, @mr_rebs_, XboxEra, Kotaku, Digital Trends, Engadget, TechRaptor, Cord Cutters News, Game Developer, Gameranx, iPhone in Canada Blog, @carnage4life@threads.net, NewsBytes, @sophianarwitz, VentureBeat, @nextgenplayer, @stephentotilo, PocketGamer.biz, The Verge and Mobilegamer.biz, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Chris Morris /
Fast Company: What the heck happened at Netflix gaming?

Martin Peers /
The Information: Netflix Pulls Back on Gaming Expansion

John Draisey /
@johndraisey: @stephentotilo Amazon did the same thing, Google did the same thing, Facebook too I assume? They hire big and then ship nothing. Huge hiring spree followed by huge firing spree. It's sad.

Max Knoblauch /
Sherwood News: Netflix says nevermind about its big-time gaming studio

Walter Xavier /
@strider_117: @Mr_Rebs_ Joe doesn't deserve that, man. Both @joestaten and @game_fabricator are free agents. So please, @Halo hire these two. Even if as advisors for the new Halo era or for new Spin-off games!

Stephen Totilo /
@stephentotilo: Story has more context. Definitely a sign of new leaders pulling back from one big bet, but Netflix still has a bunch more studios and execs seem hyped on growth targets and show tie-in games

James Hale /
Tubefilter: Netflix just closed its AAA game studio

Jennifer Maas /
Variety: Netflix Shuts Down AAA Video Game Studio in Southern California

Dade Hayes /
Deadline: Netflix Shutters AAA Video Game Studio

Franca Quarneti /
Benzinga: Netflix Ends AAA Game Development At California Studio

Henry Gilbert /
@henereyg: Every huge media company wants to make a “Triple A game” for a couple years until they see how much it actually costs, then they just go “whoopsie” in the form of layoffs

Chris Scullion /
Video Games Chronicle: Netflix has shut down its triple-A ‘Team Blue’ studio

Marc Deschamps /
Comic Book: Netflix Shuts Down AAA Gaming Team

Kate Irwin /
PCMag: Netflix Shutters Internal Team ‘Blue’ Games Studio @mr_rebs_: Netflix shut down their AAA video game studio “Team Blue”. Their development team included Joseph Staten, who was the creative lead for Halo. Source: https://www.gamefile.news/... [image]

Carli Velocci /
Digital Trends: Netflix closes its star-studded AAA studio before it announces a game

Steve Dent /
Engadget: Netflix has closed its AAA gaming studio

Tom Regan /
Game Developer: Netflix closes its only AAA game studio

Steve Vegvari /
iPhone in Canada Blog: Netflix Shutters its AAA Southern California Game Studio Known as Team Blue

Dare Obasanjo /
@carnage4life@threads.net: This news story is a combination of two negative trends; Netflix's habit of canceling things before you hear about them and the winter in AAA gaming. Netflix hired execs from Halo, Overwatch & God of War to build a AAA game only to shut down the studio before they published any games.

Dwaipayan Roy /
NewsBytes: Netflix shuts down AAA gaming studio. Shift of strategy?

Hunter /
@nextgenplayer: Netflix has closed its AAA studio that employed: - Halo creative lead Joseph Staten - Santa Monica Studio art director Rafael Grassetti - Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny See more: https://www.gamefile.news/... [image]

Stephen Totilo /
@stephentotilo: SCOOP: Netflix has closed its “AAA” game studio in California, less than 2 years after opening it and making big hires Last spring, Halo vet Joseph Staten made headlines for joining Team's now gone A shake-up as new gaming bosses at Netflix settle in https://www.gamefile.news/...

Aaron Astle /
PocketGamer.biz: Netflix closes ‘triple-A’ studio Team Blue and cuts ties with senior hires

The Guardian:

Penguin Random House, UMG, and SAG-AFTRA join 11.5K+ signatories of an open letter saying the “unlicensed use of creative works” to train AI must not be allowed— Statement comes as tech firms try to use creative professionals' work to train AI models

Discussion:

Matthew Rimmer /
@drrimmer@aus.social: 'Abba's Björn Ulvaeus, the actor Julianne Moore and the Radiohead singer Thom Yorke are among 10,500 signatories of a statement from the creative industries warning artificial intelligence companies that unlicensed use of their work is a “major, unjust threat” to artists' livelihoods. …

Mary Kate Carr /
AV Club: Julianne Moore, Thom Yorke and 1000 other artists condemn unlicensed A.I. training in open letter

Raquel ‘Rocky’ Harris /
The Wrap: Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon, Rosario Dawson Among 11,500 Creatives Who Warn of AI's ‘Major, Unjust Threat’

Julian Oliver /
@JulianOliver@mastodon.social: From the organiser of the letter Newton-Rex, who resigned from Stability AI over its ‘fair use’ policy: — “There are three key resources that generative AI companies need to build AI models: people, compute, and data. They spend vast sums on the first two - sometimes a million dollars per engineer, and up to a billion dollars per model. …

Juliann Ventura /
The Hill: Thousands of actors, artists call AI ‘major, unjust threat’

Nitasha Tiku /
Washington Post: More than 10,500 actors, musicians and authors protest tech's AI data grab

Juliet E McKenna /
@JulietEMcKenna@wandering.shop: “There are three key resources that generative AI companies need to build AI models: people, compute, and data. They spend vast sums on the first two - sometimes a million dollars per engineer, and up to a billion dollars per model. But they expect to take the third - training data - for free,” …

Ashley King /
Digital Music News: Thom Yorke, Björn Ulvaeus, Max Richter, Billy Bragg Among 11,500+ Creatives Demanding ‘AI Training Guardrails’

Martin S. /
Martin S. on LinkedIn: The foundational thrust of this argument has not yet sunk in where it needs to. Whitehall is apparently divided. …

Natasha Lomas /
TechCrunch: Thousands of creatives sign petition against AI data scraping

Danny Gallagher /
Engadget: More than 10,500 artists sign open letter protesting unlicensed AI training

Chris Deville /
Stereogum: Radiohead, Robert Smith, Billy Bragg, & More Sign Statement Protesting “Unlicensed Use Of Creative Work” In AI Training

Dan Conway /
The Bookseller: Trade bodies join 10,500 creators to condemn unlicensed training of AI models

Inside Radio:

Insignia Capital Group strikes two deals targeting audio and advertising, agreeing to acquire Veritone One, for as much as $104M, and ad agency Oxford Road— Insignia Capital Group, a San Francisco Bay Area private equity firm focused on lower middle-market companies …

Discussion:
MediaPost, Veritone, Radio Ink, Barrett Media and Bloomberg

Discussion:

Ashley Carman /
Bloomberg: Insignia Buys Veritone's Podcast Agency for Up to $104 Million

Washington Post:

Q&A with Bryan Curtis, editor at large at the Ringer, on why podcasts are dominating the 2024 US election, covering the podcast sector, and more— Candidates are changing the way they try to reach new audiences. Traditional media need to keep up. … Monopolies and oligopolies don't yield courteously to competition.

Semafor:

Sources: Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong decided the Los Angeles Times will not endorse a presidential candidate; it also didn't endorse from the mid-1970s until 2008— The Scoop — The owner of the Los Angeles Times has blocked the paper from endorsing a candidate for president this year.

Discussion:

Kipp Jones /
Mediaite: LA Times' Billionaire Owner Forbids Paper's Editorial Board from Making 2024 Endorsement, Report Claims

Melissa Koenig /
Daily Mail: Historically Democrat newspaper refusing to endorse Kamala Harris Fox News: Los Angeles Times won't endorse a presidential candidate for the first time since 2008: report

Stephen Council /
SFGATE: LA Times, Calif.'s largest newspaper, won't endorse presidential candidate this year Blaze Media: Los Angeles Times editorial board will not endorse Kamala Harris after decades of endorsing Democrats for president

Wendell Husebø /
Breitbart: LA Times, Harris's Hometown Paper, Refuses to Endorse Her After Backing Biden, Hillary, Obama

Madeline Leesman /
Townhall: Kamala's Leftist Hometown Newspaper Will Not Endorse Her for President

Jennifer Van Laar /
RedState: WHOA! Kamala Harris Loses a Huge Home State Endorsement

Nicole Silverio /
The Daily Caller: Los Angeles Times Reportedly Declines To Endorse Presidential Candidate For First Time In 20 Years

Jim Hᴏft /
The Gateway Pundit: Far-Left Los Angeles Times Abandons Kamala Harris: California's Biggest Newspaper Refuses to Endorse Their Home State Candidate, Despite Backing Obama, Clinton, and Biden @mediaite: LA Times' Billionaire Owner Forbids Paper's Editorial Board from Making 2024 Endorsement, Report Claims https://www.mediaite.com/...

Joel VanderWerf /
@joelvanderwerf@mastodon.social: Once again, I am so glad I canceled my #LATimes subscription. It was once a fine paper, but now it cannot even endorse anyone but the fascist. — https://www.semafor.com/...

Ben Smith /
@semaforben: I hate to disagree with my esteemed former colleague here, but this is part of a broader accommodation to Trump by elites. (Even if it moves no votes)

Max Tani /
@maxwelltani: Scoop: The LA Times will not endorse a candidate for president this year, a decision that was made by the paper's owner Patrick Soon-Shiong. The LA Times has endorsed Democratic presidential candidates each cycle since 2008 https://www.semafor.com/...

Dylan Byers /
@dylanbyers: Inconsequential to national politics, very consequential to the paper's internal politics.

Paul Campos /
Lawyers, Guns & Money: The death of newsprint — This story . . . . . . reminded me of something I ran into recently …

Axios:

Internal memo: Morning Brew is rebranding its corporate name to Morning Brew Inc., and says its new B2B products and events generated $4.5M in 2024 revenue— - “We decided that we had built too much affinity for the Morning Brew name and brand to start fresh.

Discussion:
Siri Cosper on LinkedIn and Talking Biz News

New York Times:

The US charges a general in Iran's Revolutionary Guards in connection with a failed plot to kill Iranian American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad in 2022— The failed plot to kill Masih Alinejad, a human-rights activist, has already led to murder-for-hire charges against members …

Discussion:
Agence France-Presse, Voice of America, New York Post, KDFX-TV, Associated Press, The Hill, US Department of Justice, Axios, Semafor and Reuters

Discussion:

Liam Scott /
Voice of America: US charges Iranian Revolutionary Guard official in plot to kill VOA host

Chris Nesi /
New York Post: Iranian terror group general charged in plot to kill dissident journalist in NYC

Hannah Rabinowitz /
KDFX-TV: Federal prosecutors charge Iranian Revolutionary Guards official in assassination plot on US soil

Larry Neumeister /
Associated Press: Revolutionary Guard official charged in alleged plot to kill Iranian American activist

Ashleigh Fields /
The Hill: Iran Revolutionary Guard officer charged in plot to kill American author in US US Department of Justice: Justice Department Announces Murder-For-Hire Charges Against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Brigadier General and Former Intelligence Officer and Members of an Iranian Intelligence Network

Diego Mendoza /
Semafor: US charges senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards official in failed plot to kill human rights activist

Financial Times:

Documents show Dish creditors pushed DirecTV to increase the amount of Dish's debt DirecTV would take on, but DirecTV has refused, leading to an impasse— New correspondence between DirecTV and Dish creditors shows the two are stuck at an impasse — TPG's bid to form a $23bn US satellite …

Discussion:
Light Reading and Bloomberg

Discussion:

Matt Levine /
Bloomberg: The Sophisticated Investor Test

Variety:

Rakuten TV unveils new B2B services to help content owners and distributors set up FAST channels and video apps on Tizen, webOS, Fire TV, Roku, and more— Rakuten TV, a leader in European streaming and FAST channels, will unveil its new business line, Rakuten TV Enterprise Services, from Mipcom today.

Discussion:
Advanced Television, The Desk, Broadband TV News, TVNewsCheck and WORLD SCREEN

Discussion:

Julian Clover /
Broadband TV News: Rakuten announces Enterprise Services

Mark K. Miller /
TVNewsCheck: Rakuten TV Announces ‘Enterprise Services’

Mansha Daswani /
WORLD SCREEN: Rakuten TV Launches New B2B Service

Variety:

TelevisaUnivision reports Q3 revenue up 2% YoY to $1.3B, operating expenses up 1% YoY to $878M, and says its DTC business is now profitable after two years— Gains in U.S. advertising revenue and the sale of a set of broadcasting towers helped Spanish-language giant notch increase profits …

Discussion:
The Desk, Inside Radio, MediaPost, TVNewsCheck, Radio Ink, TelevisaUnivision, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter

Discussion:

Steve McClellan /
MediaPost: IPG Reports Flat Q3 Organic Revenue, Takes $232M Impairment Charge

Janet Stilson /
TVNewsCheck: TelevisaUnivision Reports Strong Q3

Dade Hayes /
Deadline: TelevisaUnivision Posts Small Q3 Gains, Largely From U.S. Political Ads, As Daniel Alegre CEO Era Begins

Axios:

Sources: Spotify is piloting its own supply-side platform, starting with video ad inventory, and began testing its SSP plugin with The Trade Desk last week— - Those improvements will help the Swedish audio giant compete against bigger platforms like Meta and Google for ad dollars.

Discussion:
Bill Roche on LinkedIn, Jeff Green on LinkedIn and @sarafischer

Discussion:

Bill Roche /
Bill Roche on LinkedIn: 🚨🚨 🚨 The Trade Desk and Spotify are expanding their partnership as Spotify's first DSP partner. …

Jeff Green /