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For the first time in eight years, pay TV is rising. According to the latest Cord-Cutting Monitor report from analyst firm MoffettNathanson, the number of subscriptions to linear video packages actually rose during the third quarter of 2025. The estimates, which include subscriptions to virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) like YouTube TV, show that the pay-TV industry had 303,000 subscriber additions in the third quarter, marking the first quarterly gain since 2017. However, the research notes that the increase was “reasonably small and seasonal given that it happened during the quarter when the NFL season began, meaning it could potentially see subscribers drop out again at the beginning of Q1 next year. While much of the sequential growth came from the vMPVD segment, traditional video subscriptions via cable TV were down. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); Gains led by YouTube TV and Charter The research overall found that the vMVPD category has been led by YouTube TV, which added an estimated 750,000 subscribers in the third quarter. MoffettNatanson emphasizes that its estimate is a conservative one and could even be an undercount. According to the firm, the bigger takeaway is that Charter Communications has seen significant improvements in pay TV subscriptions, especially after it secured a partnership with the Walt Disney Company two years ago. The deal gave the House of Mouse streaming rights to Charters video subscribers at no extra cost. It came after similar agreements with Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and NBCUniversal. These deals also allowed for Charter to market its video offerings again, promoting it as free live TV, with a discount on bundled streaming services like the Disney+ and Hulu bundle, ESPN Unlimited, HBO Max Basic with Ads and more, to reach young viewers. The research also suggests that since Charter renewed its commitment to video, the company has been able to cut its quarterly subscriber losses by two-thirds. Charter is also likely to bring its new video packaging strategy as well as its agreements to Cox Communications when the two finally close their merger next year. Though Charters improvements stood out the most, MoffettNatansons monitor also found that Comcast has seen some improvements for the last eight quarters where decline has been the slowest, meaning that cord-cutting is happening at a slower rate. Meanwhile, satellite TV providers like DirecTV and EchoStar have also seen some minor improvements, the report found. MoffettNatanson points out that while traditional distributors are still declining, vMVPDs are continuing to grow at an annual rate of 4.6%. Over the past 15 years, the shift in cord-cutting has been dramatic. As cited in a report by S&P Global last month, households that subscribe to traditional cable TV peaked in 2012 at 101 million, but the figure is now less than half that. The rise of live-TV streaming bundles with services like Slingwhich launched in 2015have traditionally not been enough to offset that decline.
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E-Commerce
When youre trying to snazz up your emails with a signature at the bottom, its all too easy to overthink it. Gmails signature tool offers extensive formatting options. (Want to sign off in Comic Sans? Go for it.) And typical signature-builder sites can get even more complex, with seemingly endless fonts, buttons, and shiny doodads to choose from. The truth is, you dont need all that to sign your emails in a presentable way. Just an image and a handful of descriptive lines should do the trick, and this free tool will give you just that without tempting you to go overboard. This tip originally appeared in the free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. Get the next issue in your inbox and get ready to discover all sorts of awesome tech treasures! A simpler email signature To create a slick email signature in seconds, check out Simple Signature. Simple Signature is a free email signature builder with minimal formatting options. Itll take about five minutes to get your signature looking just-so. The sites signatures are intended to work with a wide range of email providers. When youre finished, just copy and paste it into your email sites signature editor. Simple Signature starts you off with a John Doe template that includes a placeholder image at the top. You can add your own image by clicking the Upload Logo or Image button, or click the little eye icon to hide it. You can also use the other icons in this section to resize or reposition the image. Simple Signature’s editor is easy to use without being overkill. From there, its just a matter of adding, removing, or modifying the other fields in the template. The site lets you choose from just a few different field types: Text fields are for things like your name, title, address, and phone number. Link fields are for things the recipient can click on, like a website, social media account, or email address. Space fields are for adding a visual buffer between parts of your signature. For links, youll see two fields to fill out side-by-side. The first is for the text that appears in your signature, and the second is for the page that loads when someone clicks the link. Make sure to use the format mailto:youraddress@email.com for email addresses. Simple Signatures font options are intentionally limited. You can either choose Helvetica, Arial, Mono, or nothing (which will just use the email providers default font). Once youre finished, just click the Copy Signature button in the top-right corner. This will add the signature to your clipboard, so you can paste it into your email apps signature form. The site even offers instructions for adding the signature to Gmail as well as Outlook or Apple Mail. If all that seems a little too basic, well, thats the point. Other signature editors might let you do more, but this is the only one Im aware of with a manifesto on why you shouldnt. Simple Signature works in any web browser, though you should probably use it on a computer instead of a phone, as you may have difficulty pasting the signature into your email providers mobile app. The site is free to use with no ads for creating a single signature. Theres an optional $99 per year Pro version for business users who want to create lots of signatures and share them with team members. No sign-up is required unless you want to start editing a signature on one device and finish up on another. The sites privacy policy is easy to understand and makes clear that your data isnt used for any purpose but to provide the signature builder. Treat yourself to all sorts of brain-boosting goodies like this with the free Cool Tools newsletterstarting with an instant introduction to an incredible audio app thatll tune up your days in truly delightful ways.
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Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. The authors of the most powerful memoirs, self-help books, and leadership bibles combine deep research and self-reflectionin the same way todays executives need to blend data insights with emotional intelligence. As we look ahead to 2026, I asked eight authors of recent business and business-adjacent books to share their recommendations for books (not their own) that will help you lead in the year to come. Here are their picks, in their own words: Maha Aboulenein, CEO, Digital and Savy, and author, 7 Rules of Self-Reliance The Correspondent by Virginia Evans Hands down the book I am gifting to everyone this year is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. The protagonist, Sybil Van Antwerp, is witty, sharp, and just like usshe has lived a life of triumphs, love, tragedies, and regrets. The book is a series of letters that she writes to family, friends, politicians, and strangers. She reminds us that, in the art of letter writing, there is no gray, just black and white, and that is where themost beautiful and honest stories unfold. I devoured the book and hope everyone reads it. They will be utterly delighted they did. This book will help business leaders think clearly about the power of storytelling. When we look at consumer behavior and how [people] are choosing more long-form content, this book gave me perspective. [How will] letter writing in the age of AI matter? How can we go back to thinking about what connects us as audiences? Its about the power of building a relationship directly: the one-to-one (versus the spray-and-pray approach). Building trust with your audience is not about influence. Its about connecting over a story that moves us. Paul Achleitner, former chair, Deutsche Bank, and author, Accelerate Your Experience Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis by Graham Allison In this 1971 classic, the author uses the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis to demonstrate a key theme:The traditional approach of interpreting political outcomes as the consequence of rational action by individuals falls short of reality.Instead,internal organizational processes workinghand in hand with bureaucratic power politics may have just as much to do with the results. I have always felt that applying different perspectives generates better explanationsas well as outcomesin business as well. As Austrian philosopher Friedrich Hayek stated,many events are theconsequence of human action but not human design. Kevin Boehm, cofounder and co-CEO, Boka Restaurant Group, and author, The Bottomless Cup The Dream of Solomeo: My Life and the Idea of Humanistic Capitalism by Brunello Cucinelli There are so many lessons in that book that echo my own life and my evolving ethos: that success in business is noble only if it lifts the human spirit. The way Cucinelli resurrected Solomeo while building his empire gave his purpose a kind of dignity that is aspirational. Blind ambition was lauded as admirable for generations but is often detrimental to an entrepreneurs development as a human. In todays more enlightened world, making sure there is nobility behind the purpose allows us to sidestep the potholes that leaders like Steve Jobs were never able to evade. You can be a capitalist and a kind human. Jon Gluck, senior editor, Fast Company, and author, An Exercise in Uncertainty Endurance: Shackletons Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing Endurance tells the story of the ill-fated 19141917 expedition led by the British Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. The expeditions ship, the Endurance, was trapped in the Antarctic ice and crushed. After surviving for months on ice floes, the crew undertook a grueling 1,000-mile journey in an open boat, then traversed glaciers and scaled mountains before finding help. Never mind that Endurance is a gripping and inspiring read. The story offers a master class in navigating every manner of crisis and every type of uncertainty, which leaders will encounter in abundance in 2026. If nothing else, it makes business challenges seem manageable by comparison. Mita Mallick, workplace strategist, and author, The Devil Emails at Midnight Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara As our lives get even more digital, more seamless, with just a few clicks or a touch of a button, we will crave human interaction. This is why Unreasonable Hospitality, about extraordinary service delivered by and for human beings, should be on every leaders reading list. In a rapid race to embrace AI, we get personalization at scale: We can anticipate what customers need and want based on the data we collect on their ehaviors. But how about a human being noticing your needs at a particular moment, offering a spontaneous, heartfelt gesture? Noticing and connecting with one another is becoming an underrated superpower. The companies that thrive will not only treat their customers with unreasonable hospitality, but hospitality [will] become the new leadership imperative. Forget the oversize hoodies, fancy snacks, and another free meditation app. Treating your employees with care will become the biggest retention tool we have at our disposal. Leila McKenzie-Delis, CEO, Dial Global, and author, The CEO Activist From Intent to Impact: The New Blueprint for Inclusion by Asif Sadiq Asif Sadiqs From Intent to Impact is a must-read for 2026 because it gives leaders a practical, no-nonsense blueprint for turning inclusion from well-meaning intentions into real, measurable change. Rather than offering theory, it delivers actionable frameworks that help organizations build inclusive cultures, design inclusive products, and create sustainable impact. With Sadiqs deep global experience and timely relevance in a rapidly shifting social and business landscape, the book stands out as an essential guide for anyone serious about meaningful progress. Kurt Strovink, senior partner and global head of CEO practice, McKinsey, and coauthor, A CEO for All Seasons Meditations by Marcus Aurelius A book I return to often is Marcus Aureliuss Meditations. Written nearly 2,000 years ago, it remains one of the clearest guides for navigating the tensions and responsibilities of leadership. What makes the book enduring is its integration of the inner and outer dimensions of leadership. Aurelius believed in the power of stoicism to accept what was uncontrollable and work productively on what was controllable. Leaders today face pressures Aurelius himself could never have imagined, yet the fundamentals he wrestled withclarity of thought in the face of change, humility of perspective, and the discipline to separate what can be controlled from what cannotare strikingly timeless. In a world defined by rapidly evolving markets, geopolitical uncertainty, AI innovation, and a growing disparity between signal and noise, having the temperament to absorb change is essential to todays leadership. Meditations doesnt offer outright solutions; it offers ways of thinking that help leaders stay grounded while making consequential decisions, leading through others, preparing institutions for change, and renewing ones energy as a protagonist in lifes journey. Aureliuss reflections compose what we might call an ethic of leadershipthe standards leaders must hold themselves to in both the inner game and the outer game of their roles. Angela Williams, president and CEO, United Way Worldwide, and coauthor, Navigating the Age of Chaos Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Yaa Gyasis Homegoing is one of those books that stays with you long after you close it. The story follows two branches of a family across generations, and it shows how connection and resilience thread through even the hardest histories. Working with communities every day, Im reminded of how much we all inherit: grief, strength, possibility, and most importantly, the power to heal together. Leaders today can take that same lesson to heart. Seeing people fully and honoring the shared histories is how we build trust, collaboration, and stronger communities. Heading into 2026, with all the uncertainty around us, it feels urgent to remember that real community begins when we refuse to give up on one another. Homegoing is a beautiful reminder that hope is a practice that grows every time we reach across difference and walk alongside our neighbors anyway. What Are Your Top Book Picks? What books do you think leaders should read to get ready for 2026? Please send your picksnew books and classics alike are welcometo me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com, and well publish your recommendations in an upcoming newsletter. Read more: reading is fundamental 4 reasons reading for pleasure can make you a better person How reading rewires your brain, according to neuroscience Modern CEOs summer 2024 reading list
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E-Commerce
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