TollBit, which recently launched a content monetization marketplace for publishers and AI companies, raised a $24M Series A led by Lightspeed Ventures (Sara Fischer/Axios)

Mediagazer: TollBit, which recently launched a content monetization marketplace for publishers and AI companies, raised a $24M Series A led by Lightspeed Ventures (Sara Fischer/Axios)

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, Breitbart, Business Insider, NBC News, USA Today, Shore News Network, Fox News, Reuters, Daily Mail, KVUE-TV, The Wrap, New York Post, New York Times, RedState, Townhall, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, HotAir, CBS News, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Washington Examiner, Axios, Maine Morning Star, ZeroHedge News, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, The National Pulse, New Republic, The Daily Caller, Associated Press, Barrett Media, Twitchy, New York Daily News, Daily Kos, 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’

Nick Gilbertson /
Breitbart: Report: Joe Rogan, Donald Trump Lock In Enormous Interview for Friday

Kelsey Vlamis /
Business Insider: Trump scores a Joe Rogan interview for the first time, with an eye on male voters

Fernando Cervantes Jr /
USA Today: Former President Donald Trump set to appear on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ later this week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Morgan Stephens /
Daily Kos: Trump will reportedly appear on Joe Rogan's podcast—is Harris next?

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, MacRumors, @rhykker, @v_ben, @psn_electricdc, @culturecrave, @toadsanime, @gilespink, @edludlow, @sabtherobot, @hiddenxperia, @dbloodworth2, @dmc_ryan, @shpeshal_nick, @mr_rebs_, @johndraisey, Sherwood News, @strider_117, @stephentotilo, The Information, Variety, Tubefilter, Deadline, @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, Benzinga, @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?

Ben M-J /
@v_ben: Just like Google, a company decided to get into video games without realising they take a long time to make and are expensive. Sigh. @psn_electricdc: Netflix shutting down their game studio is disappointing but completely un-shocking Gaming needs investors who love gaming, not more bean counters chasing trends [image] @culturecrave: Netflix has shut down its AAA gaming studio in California 🎮 • Was open for only two years • Plans for it reportedly included making PC shooter games (via Game File) [image]

Ryan T. Brown /
@toadsanime: Netflix has shut down its AAA video game studio Team Blue - which opened two years ago and was working on unannounced games. The studio consisted of veteran high-profile devs from Overwatch, Halo, God of War, and more: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/ ... [image]

Harrison G. Pink /
@gilespink: Absolutely wild that they thought they were going to get AAA returns in under 2 years.

Ed Ludlow /
@edludlow: Am not a big mobile gamer but am following Netflix progress in video games with interest. WSJ is reporting the Netflix is cancelling plans to develop a “blockbuster” video game but based on what's available on mobile right now — not TV app — it is kinda hard to see how that

Sebastian /
@sabtherobot: I feel like theres a reoccuring theme of companies thinking they can just buy into games when there is so much evidance of that not working because everytime a studio realizes how much money they need to invest before a game becomes ANYTHING is so high they freak out @hiddenxperia: Netflix just shut down Joe Staten's new studio before their game was even revealed... This sucks so bad man, really feel for Joe and everyone else on the team Would love to see Joe come back to Halo (wouldn't we all) but I hate seeing stuff like this happen to creatives :/

Daniel Bloodworth /
@dbloodworth2: I feel like this is how it goes down. Netflix bosses: Let's get into AAA games, find the best of the best. The Best of the Best: Here's a project outline and budget for the game. New Netflix bosses: LOL, bye.

Ryan McCaffrey /
@dmc_ryan: Well, Netflix's foray into AAA gaming didn't last long. ☹️ I know the Joseph Staten's and Raf Grassetti's of the world will probably be OK as they're bigger names in the industry, but I still feel bad for everyone at that studio. https://www.ign.com/...

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

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

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

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

Dade Hayes /
Deadline: Netflix Shutters AAA Video Game 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?

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

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

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, UPI, Al Jazeera, New York Post, Associated Press, KDFX-TV, The Hill, US Department of Justice, Axios, Reuters and Semafor

Discussion:

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

Chris Benson /
UPI: U.S. charges Iranian general, others in plot to kill unnamed American journalist

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

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

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

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

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

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,” …

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

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

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

Victor Nieves /
The Gateway Pundit: Victor Reacts: Terrible News for Kamala Harris (VIDEO)

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 Blaze Media: Los Angeles Times editorial board will not endorse Kamala Harris after decades of endorsing Democrats for president

Stephen Council /
SFGATE: LA Times, Calif.'s largest newspaper, won't endorse presidential candidate this year

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

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

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/... @mediaite: LA Times' Billionaire Owner Forbids Paper's Editorial Board from Making 2024 Endorsement, Report Claims https://www.mediaite.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:

OpenAI and Microsoft announce a $10M AI local news project operated by the Lenfest Institute, starting with five US metro news organizations— - “The scale, we think, is significant,” he added. … - The new program is being driven in partnership with The Lenfest Institute's Local …

Discussion:

Andrew Deck /
Nieman Lab: The Lenfest Institute launches $10 million AI news program for big-city dailies with backing from OpenAI and Microsoft

Hans Yang /
Source: Microsoft and NVIDIA Empower AI Startups for Health and Life Sciences Breakthroughs

Steve Grove /
@grove: To figure out the future, you have to partner with those inventing it. We're excited to work w/ @OpenAI & @Microsoft to deepen our AI work at the Minnesota @StarTribune in a responsible way that delivers for our growing audience in MN.

Travis Bubenik /
@travisbubenik: Meanwhile, me - begging, pleading: “If you give just 8 dollars a month we'll throw in our new bumper sticker AND a t-shirt!!” @openainewsroom: We're partnering with @LenfestInst and @Microsoft to explore how AI can drive innovation and business sustainability in local journalism through the Lenfest AI Collaborative and Fellowship. https://openai.com/... @startribune: The Minnesota Star Tribune has partnered with the Lenfest Institute, OpenAI and Microsoft as part of a $10 million AI collaborative and fellowship program for U.S. news organizations. @msftissues: We're collaborating with @LenfestInst and @OpenAI to launch the new Lenfest AI Fellowship that provides grants to 5 metro newsrooms to implement innovative #AI tools & solutions that support independent journalism ⬇️ https://www.axios.com/...

Stclarke /
Microsoft: Lenfest Institute, OpenAI and Microsoft announce $10 million AI Collaborative and Fellowship program for US metro news organizations

Anna Washenko /
Engadget: OpenAI and Microsoft are funding $10 million in grants for AI-powered journalism @lenfestinst: Direct funding and software and enterprise credits totaling up to $10 million will be awarded to @WBEZ/@Suntimes, @Newsday, @StarTribune, @PhillyInquirer, and @seattletimes. Learn more about their projects: https://www.lenfestinstitute.org/ ...

Michael Nuñez /
VentureBeat: Microsoft's new AI agents set to shake up enterprise software, sparking new battle with Salesforce

Chris Iles /
Chris Iles on LinkedIn: Thrilled to announce The Minnesota Star Tribune's partnership with OpenAI, Microsoft and Lenfest Institute for Journalism as we continue to drive #innovation in #localmedia. …

Sara Fischer /
@sarafischer: NEW: @OpenAI & @Microsoft are jointly funding a $10M AI local news project managed by @lenfestinst —$5M funding for fellowships, $5M credits for OpenAI and Azure products —No data licensing deal, just funding experimentation/fellowships More on @axios: https://www.axios.com/...

Jacob Aron /
@jjaron: Local news is (well, should be) all about being out and about on your local beat, how is $5m of AI credits going to help you generate local news stories when the AI has no way of gathering local information?

@lenfestinst:
Today we're announcing a new partnership with @OpenAI and @Microsoft to launch The Lenfest Institute AI Collaborative & Fellowship to help local news orgs use artificial intelligence to drive business sustainability and innovation https://www.lenfestinstitute.org/ ...

Charles W. Bailey, Jr /
Digital Scholarship: “Microsoft and OpenAI's Close Partnership Shows Signs of Fraying”

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.

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

Axios:

TollBit, which recently launched a content monetization marketplace for publishers and AI companies, raised a $24M Series A led by Lightspeed Ventures— - “As AI agents become more accessible and proliferate at an exponential rate, publishers and digital content owners need a way to monetize content …

Discussion:

Sara Fischer /
@sarafischer: Exclusive: AI startup @TollbitOfficial raises $24M series A — TollBit publishing partners include @PenskeMedia @TIME, @Adweek — Fittingly, the 1st piece of content licensed out using TollBit was @TIME 's 100 Most Powerful People in AI list More on @axios https://www.axios.com/... TollBit: Announcing Our Series A — TOLLBIT, A TWO-SIDED MARKETPLACE FOR AI COMPANIES AND PUBLISHERS …

Faraz Fatemi /
@f_fatemi21: And today, TollBit is unveiling the very first piece of content licensed & transacted via the platform is none other than @TIME's 100 Most Powerful People in AI list https://www.axios.com/...

Evan DeSimone /
@mediaevan: If I learned anything from the peak ad tech era, it's that there's a lot of money (for a while) in being a middleman. https://www.axios.com/... @tollbitofficial: TollBit is proud to announce our $24M in Series A funding to revolutionize how AI companies and publishers work together. We do this by making it easy to manage the entire lifecycle of AI data licensing and support innovative business models to protect the health of the entire [image]

Campbell Brown /
Campbell Brown on LinkedIn: Go team!!! — “As AI agents become more accessible and proliferate at an exponential rate, publishers and digital content owners need …

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

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 /