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Bernie Sanders vs. media M&A

Moving the Market: Bernie Sanders says his presidential administration would place aggressive checks on media mergers and acquisitions and increase antitrust enforcement of Silicon Valley in order to "reform the media industry and better protect independent journalism."

• The proposal, published in the Columbia Journalism Review, offers the most comprehensive picture to date on how far Sanders would go to rein in Big Media and Big Tech.

The big picture: The Sanders plan would effectively neuter the tech, media and telecom industry from pursuing further consolidation and put a freeze on all substantive future M&A activity.

• "We are not going to rubber stamp proposals like the new plan to merge CBS and Viacom into a $30 billion colossus," he writes.

The Sanders plan would:

• Appoint federal officials "who more stringently enforce antitrust laws" to prevent Facebook and Google from doing financial harm to news organizations.

• Put "an immediate moratorium" on major media mergers "until we can better understand the true effect these transactions have on our democracy."

• Require media corporations "to disclose whether or not their corporate transactions and merger proposals will involve significant journalism layoffs."

• Require media corporations to give employees "the opportunity to purchase media outlets through employee stock-ownership plans" before putting the company up for sale.

• "Limit the number of stations that large broadcasting corporations can own in each market and nationwide."

• Plus: Sanders says he would boost unionization efforts, protect people of color and women from being adversely affected by mergers and direct federal agencies to determine the need for further regulations.

• And: Sanders proposes placing a tax on targeted advertising "to fund nonprofit civic-minded media," part of a larger plan to "increase funding for programs that support public media."

Key context: Sanders has been highly critical of the mainstream media this cycle and even suggested that Jeff Bezos had influenced The Washington Post to take a negative bias against his campaign — a view Post editor-in-chief Marty Baron called a "conspiracy theory."

• In Monday's proposal, Sanders says the Post cannot be trusted to "consistently and aggressively cover" union battles at Bezos-owned companies. He levels the same charge at Disney and ABC News.

Bonus: A loyal reader notes that Sanders' anti-Silicon Valley sentiment has turned he and Rupert Murdoch into unwitting bedfellows. Enemy of my enemy, etc.

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Macron, Trump reach tax deal

Big in Biarritz, big in the Bay: French President Emmanuel Macron says France and the U.S. have reached a deal to end a standoff over a French tax on big internet companies, per Reuters.

• President Trump "had threatened to hit back with tariff action after France passed a law earlier this year that would impose a 3% tax on revenues earned on digital services in France."

The solution: "Macron told reporters that companies that pay the tax would be able to deduct the amount once a new international deal on how to tax internet companies is found next year."

🇺🇸 Talk of the Trail 🇺🇸

Buttigieg in the Bay: Pete Buttigieg is in the Bay Area this week for at least four fundraisers with Democratic donors and tech investors. CNN's Dan Merica has the full bill.

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Adam Mosseri's new 'Threads'

What's eating Snap: "Facebook is developing a new messaging app called Threads that is meant to promote constant, intimate sharing between users and their closest friends," The Verge's Casey Newton scoops.

• "Threads, which is designed as a companion app to Instagram, invites users to automatically share their location, speed, and battery life with friends, along with more typical text, photo, and video messages."

The big picture: This is "what Snapchat already is today for a healthy portion of its users."

• "For Facebook and Instagram, which have long coveted Snapchat’s strong engagement among younger users, Threads could represent another effort to chip away at their rival’s appeal."

Not to put too fine a point on it, Newton refers to it as "Instagram’s latest assault on Snapchat."

Market Links

• Mark Zuckerberg faces a German data probe (Bloomberg)

• Tim Cook puts Apple's 'walkie talkie' on hold (Information)

• Joe Ianniello says ViacomCBS can be competitive (LAT)

• Billy Bush gets ready for his return to television (NYT)

• Ron Meyer sells his beach house to Jan Koum (Variety)

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AT&T's John Donovan to retire

Talk of the Telcos: "Senior AT&T executive John Donovan will retire Oct. 1, leaving a sudden opening atop the company’s core business as its leaders confront upheavals in the U.S. media and telecom markets," WSJ's Drew FitzGerald reports.

• The big picture: Donovan is "one of CEO Randall Stephenson’s key lieutenants" and was considered, along with WarnerMedia chief John Stankey, to be "among the top contenders" to take over the company.

Who's next: Donovan's retirement clears the way for a new head of AT&T’s telecom division. Bloomberg's Scott Moritz says "the most likely candidates" are AT&T Latin America chief Lori Lee and global connections EVP Susan Johnson.

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Why streamers play for kids

What would Disney do: Though rarely mentioned in the coverage of "Hollywood's streaming wars," kid's programming has become an essential investment for media companies looking to grow and maintain viewership on their direct-to-consumer services, Adweek's Kelsey Sutton writes.

• WarnerMedia's HBO Max will have "Sesame Street," and both "Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have in recent years built out considerable lineups of original and library content for children."

The added value: "If kids get hooked on a particular show or character on the service, canceling a subscription to that service becomes a harder bargain for parents."

• "Children are relatively churn-proof," one analyst tells her. "You wouldn’t fire your favorite babysitter, so... the last thing you are going to do is cancel that service."

The big picture: "Households with children are more likely to subscribe to over-the-top video services, and are also more likely to have more services, on average, than households without children."

💈 What's next: Shop talk. LeBron James and Maverick Carter's "The Shop" returns to HBO one week from today with Kevin Hart, Rob Gronkowski, Kevin Love, CJ McCollum, Charlamagne tha God, Lil Nas X and Paul Rivera. Watch the trailer.

See you tomorrow.