WBD reports Q2 revenue of $9.7B, and a net loss of $9.986B, taking an impairment charge of $9.1B for networks; global streaming subs rose 3.6M to reach 103M (Jill Goldsmith/Deadline)

Mediagazer: WBD reports Q2 revenue of $9.7B, and a net loss of $9.986B, taking an impairment charge of $9.1B for networks; global streaming subs rose 3.6M to reach 103M (Jill Goldsmith/Deadline)

Top News:

The Verge:

Disney CEO Bob Iger says the company's password sharing crackdown will kick off “in earnest” in September, after announcing paid sharing in February 2024— Disney Plus will soon no longer let you share your password with people outside your household.
Discussion: Business Insider, Wired, PhoneArena, TechRadar, 9to5Mac, @2xaught7.bsky.social, Deadline, Digital Trends, @billbrasky2620, BGR and TVNewsCheck, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Lauren Edmonds /
Business Insider: Disney's full crackdown on password sharing is coming

Angela Watercutter /
Wired: A Disney+ Password-Sharing Crackdown Is Coming in September

Tom Power /
TechRadar: The Disney Plus password crackdown is coming in September, and I'm fed up of streaming services taking me for a ride

Dade Hayes /
Deadline: Bob Iger On ESPN Partnership Talks, “Tremendous Value” In NBA Rights Extension Despite Price Tag

Phil Nickinson /
Digital Trends: Disney's password-sharing crackdown goes big in September

Bill Brasky /
@billbrasky2620: Disney+ finally went into profit, but boy did they have to suffer through a lot of bad PR to get there.

RELATED:

Variety:

Disney reports Q3 revenue up 4% YoY to $23.2B, operating income up 19% YoY to $4.2B, DTC revenue up 15% YoY to $6.4B, and a $47M DTC profit as Disney+ grows— Company warns weak theme park demand could extend into the ‘next few quarters’ … That said, there were some mixed emotions …

Discussion:

Alex Weprin /
The Hollywood Reporter: Disney Turns a Profit in Streaming as Entertainment Income Soars Business Wire: The Walt Disney Company Reports Third Quarter and Nine Months Earnings for Fiscal 2024

Tom Carter /
Business Insider: Disney's theme parks are struggling, and it's another warning sign for the economy

Brendan Schema /
@brendanschema: $DIS Disney's combined streaming business turned a profit this quarter - with the help of ESPN+. Interestingly in the previous quarter, ESPN+ was a drag on streaming profitability. Q2: ($19m) combined streaming loss Q3: $47m combined streaming profit

Jill Goldsmith /
Deadline: Ka-ching! Disney Turns Streaming Profit For First Time And Ahead Of Schedule

Erik Gruenwedel /
Media Play News: Disney Posts First-Ever DTC Streaming Profit Despite Mixed Q3 Subscriber Results @scottgustin: NEW: Disney's overall streaming business turned a profit for the first time - but the parks segment income slipped 3% (YOY) due to “moderation of consumer demand” that exceeded the company's expectations. Disney says weak Q3 demand could hurt results for “the next few quarters.” [image]

Alex Sherman /
@sherman4949: Disney says it is still having conversations with strategic partners for ESPN. These conversations have been going on for more a year now.

Alex Sherman /
@sherman4949: Disney CEO Bob Iger says the Disney streaming password sharing crackdown will begin in earnest in September.

Tony Maglio /
IndieWire: Disney Finally Turns a Profit at Streaming

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka: “The good news is the Olympics are over in a couple weeks” says Disney CFO. (Disneyland Paris business has been slow, which Disney blames on the games.)

CNBC:
Disney reports Disney+ Core subscribers up 1% YoY to 118.3M and its combined streaming business turned a profit, a first, but without ESPN+ reported a $19M loss

Discussion:
Awful Announcing, Screen Rant, Front Office Sports, AdExchanger, Adweek, Yahoo Finance, CNBC, UPI, The Wrap and The Verge

Discussion:

Sarah Little /
Screen Rant: Disney+'s New Price Hike Explained: Why Subscription Costs Are Going Up & What's Being Added

David Rumsey /
Front Office Sports: ESPN+ Leads Disney's Streaming to First-Time Profit Despite High Costs

Alyssa Boyle /
AdExchanger: ESPN Is Making Disney+ Profitable

Mark Stenberg /
Adweek: Disney Streaming Turns First Profit, Driven By Ad Growth and ESPN+

Alexandra Canal /
Yahoo Finance: Disney earnings: Streaming unit turns first profit while parks business lags

Alex Sherman /
CNBC: In a reversal, Disney's media assets are starting to generate more excitement than its parks

Jessica Inman /
UPI: Disney streaming services become profitable for first time

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Disney Swings to First-Ever Combined Streaming Profit of $47 Million in Q3

Variety:
Disney says the “outcome of the Hulu deal arbitration is uncertain” and it might have to pay up to $5B more to complete the buyout of NBCUniversal's 33% stake

Discussion:
Reuters, @tvgrimreaper, Chris Heatherly on LinkedIn, Deadline, The Wrap, The Information and Next TV

Discussion:
@tvgrimreaper: We're approaching the one year anniversary of the start of this process (October). Imagine the investment banker's fees! [image]

Chris Heatherly /
Chris Heatherly on LinkedIn: Big bet. Disney is banking on the bundle reducing churn considerably and making them into the next Netflix. …

Jill Goldsmith /
Deadline: No Surprise, Disney & NBCUniversal Disagree On Hulu Valuation With $5 Billion In The Balance

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Disney Could Pay Up to $5 Billion More for Comcast's Hulu Stake

New York Times:

The NYT reports adding 300K digital subscribers in Q2, for 10.8M in total, and digital ad revenue up 7.8% YoY to $79.6M; The Athletic losses fell to $2.4M— The publisher added about 300,000 digital subscribers in the latest quarter, and now has more than 10.8 million subscribers.

Discussion:

Simon Owens /
@simondowens@threads.net: The New York Times keeps adding more subscribers in a single quarter than 99% of publications do through the entire lifetime of their digital subscription products. — https://www.nytimes.com/...

Katie Robertson /
@katie_robertson: New: The New York Times added another 300,000 subscribers in the last quarter, now has almost 11 million total https://www.nytimes.com/...

Peter Kafka /
@pkafka: The New York Times has spent $3 million in legal fees suing Microsoft and OpenAI this year. For context: last year the paper earned $232 million in profits.

Natalie Korach /
The Wrap: The New York Times Adds 300,000 Digital Subs in Q2 as Total Revenues Rise 6% to $625 Million

Noah Kulwin /
@nkulw: Monopolist paper that killed the competition and is rearranging its innards to be more stupid and facile all the time

Claudio E. Cabrera /
Claudio E. Cabrera on LinkedIn: A few highlights but starting off with my beloved The Athletic: — Revenue at The Athletic grew to $40.5m which is up 33% from last year. …

Shannon Busta Riches /
Shannon Busta Riches on LinkedIn: Delighted to see The New York Times finding continued success in such a turbulent media landscape. Nearly half of our 10.8 million subscribers …

RELATED:
The New York Times Company: The NYT reports Q2 revenue up 5.8% YoY to $625.1M, subscription revenue up 7.3% YoY to $439.3M, and operating profit up 13.6% YoY to $104.7M

Discussion:
Nieman Lab and @tvgrimreaper

Deadline:

WBD reports Q2 revenue of $9.7B, and a net loss of $9.986B, taking an impairment charge of $9.1B for networks; global streaming subs rose 3.6M to reach 103M— The value of the linear assets when Discovery and Warner Media merged two and half year ago was significantly higher …

Discussion:

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Warner Bros. Discovery Q2 Net Loss Widens to $9.9 Billion as Company Records $11.2 Billion in Impairment, Restructuring Charges

Brian Welk /
IndieWire: Warner Bros. Discovery Says Its TV Channels Are Worth $9 Billion Less Than It Thought

Matt Tamanini /
The Streamable: Warner Bros. Discovery Climbs Over 103.3 Million Streaming Customers Amidst Disastrous Financial Quarter

Lillian Rizzo /
CNBC: Warner Bros. Discovery stock falls as it writes down $9.1 billion, misses estimates

Jennifer Maas /
Variety: Warner Bros. Discovery Takes $11.2B Hit to Balance Sheet, Including $9.1B Charge for Massive Drop in TV Network Values

Justin Carter /
Game Developer: Game franchises like DC and Mortal Kombat may once again be up for sale as Warner Bros. Discovery tries to make some money.

Meg James /
Los Angeles Times: Warner Bros. Discovery takes $9-billion write-down from TV networks amid struggles

Etan Vlessing /
The Hollywood Reporter: Warner Bros. Discovery Takes Major Impairment Charge Over Linear TV While Streaming Makes Minor Gains

Jill Goldsmith /
TVNewsCheck: Warner Bros. Discovery Takes Massive $11.2B In Write-Downs & Charges In Q2 After Losing NBA

Wired:

NBC's fragmented-yet-seamless coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics, offering live events on Peacock plus primetime recaps, leads to strong viewership numbers— With a big assist from Peacock, the 2024 Summer Olympics broadcast is fragmented in all the right ways.

Discussion:

Richard Deitsch /
New York Times: Will Snoop Dogg return to NBC for future Olympics? 'I think we'd be really thrilled'

Abby Marks /
Abby Marks on LinkedIn: Beyond amazed with what the entire NBCUniversal Peacock and Comcast organization has put together across every Olympics touchpoint, that includes TODAY …

Jason Weitzel /
Jason Weitzel on LinkedIn: What an incredible three weeks for Peacock. The Olympics are a defining moment for the platform and suddenly there's focus on all Peacock has to offer. …

Derin Basden /
Derin Basden on LinkedIn: Yet another stellar review of the Olympics on Peacock, this time from Wired. Never thought the work I directly worked on would be called …

Peter Sblendorio /
Mercury News: NBC would be ‘really thrilled’ to have Snoop Dogg back for future Olympics

New York Times:

Netflix is filming three documentary projects at the Paris Olympics, focusing on running, gymnastics, and basketball, as the streamer grows into sports content— New seasons of documentaries about running, gymnastics and basketball are being filmed this summer as part of a partnership with the International Olympic Committee.

TechCrunch:

Ofcom publishes an open letter to social media platforms raising concerns about the use of their tools to incite violence, following days of rioting in the UK— The U.K.'s internet regulator, Ofcom, has published an open letter to social media platforms raising concerns about the use of their tools to incite violence.

Discussion:
Financial Times, ofcom.org.uk, New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, Wired and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Gill Whitehead /
ofcom.org.uk: Open letter to UK online service providers

Martin Coulter /
Reuters: Musk stirs UK divisions, sparks calls for faster rollout of online safety laws

Press Gazette:

GB News says it now has 10,000 paying members, after soft launching its membership scheme with £5, £10, or £20 per month tiers in November 2023— More than 10,000 people have signed up as paying members of GB News, according to the broadcaster.

The Verge:

Instagram is making views the primary metric across all of its formats, letting creators track the same metric across Reels, Stories, photos, and more— Instagram is making “views” the primary metric across all of its formats, meaning that creators will be able to track the same metric across Reels, Stories, photos, and more.

Discussion:
Tubefilter, more at Techmeme »

The Hollywood Reporter:

Roku plans to launch a free, ad-supported 24/7 sports channel on August 12, with live Sunday MLB games, Originals, and more on its devices, apps, and website— The free, ad-supported 24/7 service will stream Major League Baseball games, the ‘The Rich Eisen Show’ talker …

Discussion:

Adam Jacobson /
Radio & Television Business Report: Roku Sports Channel Promises FAST ‘Premium’ Content

Matthew Keys /
The Desk: Roku debuts linear streaming channel for sports

David Satin /
The Streamable: Roku Consolidating Live MLB Games, Other Popular Sports Programming onto Single Free Channel

James Guttman /
Cord Cutters News: Roku Launches New 24/7 Premium Sports Channel

Jacob Siegal /
BGR: Roku will launch a free 24/7 sports channel next week

Kayla Cobb /
The Wrap: Roku Sports Channel to Launch With MLB Sunday Leadoff, ‘Good Morning Football’ Reboot

Wes Davis /
The Verge: Roku will launch a free 24/7 sports channel

Andrew Bucholtz /
Awful Announcing: Roku Sports Channel set for launch Monday

Phil Nickinson /
Digital Trends: Roku now has a dedicated free sports channel

Etan Vlessing /
TVNewsCheck: Roku To Launch FAST Premium Sports Channel

Anna Washenko /
Engadget: Roku is launching the Roku Sports Channel on August 12

Erik Gruenwedel /
Media Play News: Roku Launching Live Sports Streaming Channel Aug. 12

R. Thomas Umstead /
Next TV: Roku to Launch Dedicated FAST Sports Channel

TechCrunch:

Meta says Facebook creators who violate Community Standards for the first time will be given the option to take a training course to remove their warning— Facebook creators are being given a new option that will help them avoid jail — “Facebook jail,” that is — upon their first violation, and at various times after.

Discussion:
Facebook for Creators, Engadget and @michaelbishop.me, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Karissa Bell /
Engadget: Facebook will let creators remove account warnings if they complete ‘educational training’

Michael Bishop /
@michaelbishop.me: driving school for Facebook [embedded post]

The Hollywood Reporter:

CNN launches CNN Originals, a FAST channel dedicated to its original programming, initially on Amazon Freevee, Prime Video, Fire TV services, and Plex— Shows like Anthony Bourdain's ‘Parts Unknown’ and ‘Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta’ will be among the shows featured on the free streaming channel.

Discussion:
TVLine, CNN, Mike Neeves on LinkedIn, The Wrap, John N. Marchesini on LinkedIn and Advanced Television

Discussion:

Mike Neeves /
Mike Neeves on LinkedIn: Life in the FAST lane! — CNN has launched a new free, ad-supported streaming channel (the industry abbreviation is a “FAST channel) …

Natalie Korach /
The Wrap: CNN Launches Free FAST Streaming Channel for Original Series

John N. Marchesini /
John N. Marchesini on LinkedIn: CNN launched a new FAST channel today that is specifically dedicated to CNN Original programming. — The channel will bring new audiences …

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: the NBA's deal with Amazon has several provisions that WBD can't match, including promotion of the NBA during Amazon's NFL streaming telecasts— League's media deal with tech giant included provisions Warner couldn't match, setting stage for legal fight

Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, Sports Media Watch and USA Today

Discussion:

Blake Schuster /
USA Today: Charles Barkley won't retire from TV after all, because of course he never was going to

RELATED:

Variety:
Charles Barkley, a mainstay of TNT's Inside the NBA, reverses plans to retire and says he will keep working with WBD, which is fighting to keep NBA media rights

Discussion:
The Desk, Next TV, Pressroom, Fox News, New York Times, Brian Steinberg on LinkedIn, Los Angeles Times, Awful Announcing, USA Today, New York Times, Sportico, CNN, Deadline, Associated Press, Awful Announcing, TVLine, Front Office Sports, New York Post, The Wrap, CNBC, Barrett Media, New York Daily News and The Hollywood Reporter

Discussion:

Matthew Keys /
The Desk: TNT keeping Charles Barkely, getting Savannah Bananas games

Jack Reid /
Next TV: Turner Acquires Rights to the Savanna Bananas, Secures Charles Barkley, as It Searches For a Post-NBA Sports Future Fox News: Charles Barkley reverses retirement decision, vows to stay with TNT long-term: ‘This is the only place for me’

Andrew Marchand /
New York Times: The eye-popping $77 billion haul that shook up the NBA landscape — and the future of media

Brian Steinberg /
Brian Steinberg on LinkedIn: NEW: Charles Barkley backs off retirement plans, says he will stay with Warner Bros. Discovery and looks beyond looming loss of NBA rights.... …

Chuck Schilken /
Los Angeles Times: Charles Barkley isn't retiring or joining another network. TNT ‘is the only place’ for him

Mike D. Sykes /
USA Today: 5 things (NHL!) Charles Barkley can still do with TNT when Inside the NBA leaves the network

Andrew Marchand /
New York Times: Charles Barkley not retiring, staying with TNT Sports long term: ‘This is the only place for me’

Jason Clinkscales /
Sportico: Charles Barkley ‘Reaffirms’ Long-Term Commitment to WBD

Liam Reilly /
CNN: Charles Barkley cancels his retirement plans, says he'll stay with TNT Sports for long term

Nellie Andreeva /
Deadline: Charles Barkley Will Stay With TNT Sports “For Years To Come” In Retirement Plans Reversal

Ben Axelrod /
Awful Announcing: Charles Barkley cancels retirement to remain with TNT Sports long-term

Dave Nemetz /
TVLine: Charles Barkley Walks Back Retirement Decision as Warner Bros. Discovery Fights to Retain NBA Games

Michael McCarthy /
Front Office Sports: Charles Barkley Un-Retires From TV, Says He's Staying With TNT

Ryan Glasspiegel /
New York Post: Charles Barkley does about-face on TV retirement with TNT commitment

Lucas Manfredi /
The Wrap: Charles Barkley Cancels Retirement, Commits to TNT Sports for ‘Years to Come’

Alex Sherman /
CNBC: Charles Barkley commits to staying at Warner Bros. Discovery's TNT Sports no matter what happens to NBA

Peter Sblendorio /