Mediagazer: After publishing and removing an article listing Palestinian charities, IGN says it didn't mean to make it seem “we were politically aligned with one side” (Zack Zwiezen/Kotaku)

11:25 AM ET, May 17, 2021

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Brian Stelter / CNN:

AT&T to spin off WarnerMedia and combine it with Discovery in a $43B deal; the new company will be run by Discovery CEO David Zaslav — New York (CNN Business)The streaming TV race is about to get even more competitive. — On Monday morning AT&T (T) and Discovery, Inc. (DISCA) …

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Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

Jason Kilar says he expects no long-term negative effects of releasing 2021 movies on HBO Max; sources: Warner Bros. paid $200M+ to appease talent — WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar fired the streaming service's top brass, blew up the movie business and angered Hollywood royalty. He says it's a recipe for success.

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Hollywood Reporter:

John Stankey and David Zaslav discuss their vision for the WarnerMedia deal, saying the company will have a content spend that exceeds most competitors at $20B — AT&T chief John Stankey and Zaslav, who will lead the new venture, also addressed the status of WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar and the future of CNN.

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Associated Press:

Israeli airstrike destroys a high-rise in Gaza City that housed offices of AP and Al-Jazeera, after the military warned people to evacuate the building — GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home …

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David M. Halbfinger / New York Times:

IDF spokesman is suspected of misleading the international press on a ground invasion in Gaza to dupe Hamas, which was mistakenly reported by NYT and others — A spokesman led the international media to believe that Israeli forces had entered Gaza. They hadn't. But the army wanted Hamas to think they had.

Apple:

Apple says it will bring lossless audio to all Apple Music subscribers for free and will support Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos, available from June — The next generation of sound on Apple Music is coming to subscribers June 2021 at no additional cost — CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today …

Micah Singleton / Billboard:
Amazon Music HD is now available to Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers for free, effectively cutting the Hi-Fi service's price from $14.99 to $9.99 per month

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Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:

Source: former Hollywood Reporter editor Matthew Belloni has become a founding member of a new media company that has raised $7M and aims to launch this summer — Matthew Belloni, former Editorial Director at The Hollywood Reporter, has joined as a founding partner for a new media company …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, @jimmaiella, @mattbelloni and Variety

Reuters:

Axel Springer and Facebook strike a global deal, allowing content from Bild, Welt, Insider, and others to be distributed in Facebook News at its German launch — Axel Springer and Facebook said on Monday that they had agreed on a global cooperation deal under which content from the German publisher …

Discussion: Axel Springer SE, @gbrotman, @markscott82, @pressgazette and @fabiochiusi

Zack Zwiezen / Kotaku:

After publishing and removing an article listing Palestinian charities, IGN says it didn't mean to make it seem “we were politically aligned with one side” — Following the most recent set of violent military strikes by the Israel Defense Forces that have leveled entire buildings …

Discussion: Al Jazeera, @tha_rami, @tha_rami, @scully1888, @tropicalmaku, @dannyodwyer, @andyplaytonic, @austin_walker, @iyagovos, @mattbinder, @papapishu, @charalanahzard, Axios and A. Khaled's Blog

Josef Adalian / Vulture:

How Netflix uses both personalization and objective rankings in its lists of popular shows, and how it continues to test rankings to encourage more viewing — This story is the second in a two-part series about the inner workings of Netflix's homepage. Read the first story here.

Discussion: Streamfunc, @blackamazon, @tvmojoe, @tvmojoe and @vulture

Sarah Krouse / The Information:

Sources: Google's plans to match Apple's ATT changes have been delayed by internal concerns that such moves will diminish mobile ad revenues — Pressured by Apple's recent iPhone privacy initiative, Google is accelerating work to limit how app developers can track the 2.5 billion people who use phones powered by its Android software.

Discussion: AppleInsider, more at Techmeme »

Variety:

Investors and analysts including Warren Buffett weigh in on “stupid” stock swings affecting ViacomCBS, Discovery, and AMC Entertainment, plus problematic SPACs — There's no better moment to take the pulse of the investment landscape than during the annual shareholders meeting …

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