Mediagazer: Twitch says it is switching to localized subscription prices in some non-US markets, which will often be lower, starting with Turkey and Mexico on May 20 (Jay Peters/The Verge)

1:25 PM ET, May 17, 2021

Top News:

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) …

Discussion: Financial Times, AT&T, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Washington Post, The Wrap, New York Times, Variety, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, Hollywood Reporter, CNBC, Variety, The Wrap, Fast Company, Variety, Bloomberg, Mediaite, Axios, @sherman4949, Observer, MediaPost, Awful Announcing, @frankpallotta, @claireatki, The Streamable, Axios, /Film, Insider, Light Reading, @panzer, @annaknicolaou, Gizmodo, @mattdraperyt, @thetruebrendanf, @magsvisaggs, @jeremymbarr, @dylanbyers, @dylanbyers, @jasonlynch, @sherman4949, @loudmouthjulia, @mims, @cnbc, @digitalshields, @erikdavis, @rakeshlobster, @karaswisher, @ditzkoff, @keithboykin, @cgasparino, @edmundlee, @pkafka, ZDNet, Protocol, @sherman4949, The Week, @sherman4949, @richlightshed, @kerrymflynn, @loudmouthjulia, @sherman4949, @brianstelter, @pkafka, @mbgelman, @frankpallotta, @backlon, @sherman4949, @jackmirkinson, @brazilbrian, @oliverdarcy, @zakiscorner, @cgasparino, @loudmouthjulia, @carnage4life, @alexweprin, @sivavaid, @gracerandolph, @jbflint, @awallenstein, @sarafischer, @richlightshed, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @w7voa, IndieWire, @thatjakepc, @scottporch, @sherman4949, NPR, Adweek and AppleInsider, more at Techmeme »

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

Sources: Jason Kilar is negotiating his departure as CEO of WarnerMedia, after being kept in the dark about the deal with Discovery until recent days — Jason Kilar has hired a legal team to negotiate his departure as chief executive of WarnerMedia, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Discussion: Vox, CNN, Mediaite, @jbenton, @sherman4949, @davidpoland, @sherman4949, @richardlnewby, @mchenryjd, @grynbaum, @panzer, @brooksbarnesnyt, @brianstelter, @richlightshed, The Desk, Bloomberg, C21Media and @parryravi

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.

Discussion: @loudmouthjulia, CNBC, @thejannissary, The Playlist, @felixsalmon, @stevekovach, @jbflint, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, Collider, @alexweprin, @loudmouthjulia, @loudmouthjulia, Newser and The A.V. Club

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

Discussion: Ad Age, @mattzeitlin, @dylanbyers, Mediaite, @edhammondny, @nichcarlson, Gizmodo, @jyarow, @optionshawk, @lucas_shaw, nexttv.com, The Wrap, The Week and @drewfitzgerald

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 …

Discussion: Jerusalem Post, Associated Press, New York Times, Mediaite, Associated Press, Committee to Protect …, @linahalsaafin, The Guardian, @idf, @tomgara, @eylonalevy, @ap, Insider, @ajenglish, The Definitive Source, New York Times, @presssec, @kenroth, The Racket News, The Week, @w7voa, @jpacedc, @wesleylowery, Forbes, New York Post, Poynter, And another thing, The Daily Beast, @kenklippenstein, @brhodes, Wall Street Journal, @willdizard, Columbia Journalism Review, @mattifriedman, News of the Jews, Foreign Exchanges, Slate, @lotteleicht1, @tvietor08, The Times of Israel, @annaknelson_rsf, Fox News, Voice of America, @isobelroe, @imtiaztyab, @rafaelshimunov, Washington Post, The Indian Express, @ap, @abihabib, @snowden, @ap, @mirza9, @mirza9, @brianstelter, @jpacedc, @tomgara, @kredo0, @ztsamudzi, @eylonalevy, @karenattiah, @imtiaztyab, @jimlaporta, @mattmcbradley, @jimlaporta, @ggreenwald, Associated Press, @cbsnews, Variety, @brandondarby, @seldeeb, @lsarsour, @adamjohnsonnyc, @mitchellreports, @johnmdonnelly, @snowden, @gchikermane, @alastairmca30, @redsteeze, @margbrennan, @dloesch, @jongambrellap, @jerrydunleavy, @ranaayyub, @mrglenn, @sdkstl, @misstessowen, @alexcrawfordsky, @phillipsian, @dillonreedrose, @jasonrantz, @golan_yarden, @piersmorgan, @raniakhalek, @ostrov_a and @nytimes

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

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:

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 that will cover politics …

Discussion: Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, @sonnybunch, @jimmaiella, @benyt, @mattbelloni and Variety

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 — The price change undercuts competing high-fidelity offerings and possibly upcoming plans by Spotify and Apple Music.

Discussion: @ampressman, @amazonmusic, @kintan, @richontech, 9to5Mac, @c_davies, musically.com, The Verge, @richontech, MacRumors, @richontech and @micahsingleton, more at Techmeme »

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, @mattbinder, @papapishu, @charalanahzard, Axios, @iyagovos and A. Khaled's Blog

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

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 …

Lindsey Ellefson / The Wrap:

Vice News names its news director Michael Learmonth as new EIC, filling a role that has been vacant since 2019 — Michael Learmonth was named Vice News' new editor in chief Monday, filling a role that has been vacant since 2019. He was promoted from news director, a job he held since 2016.

Discussion: MediaPost

Jay Peters / The Verge:

Twitch says it is switching to localized subscription prices in some non-US markets, which will often be lower, starting with Turkey and Mexico on May 20 — Localized pricing is meant to increase streamers' earnings, but they'll need more subscribers — Twitch is announcing a big change …

Discussion: Kotaku, @aureylian, Engadget and @paperstainedink, more at Techmeme »

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More News:

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
British GQ editor Dylan Jones departs after 22 years in the role; GQ to be led globally by American GQ editor Will Welch, as Conde Nast merges editorial teams

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

Discussion: MacRumors and AppleInsider, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:
DVD rental and streaming company Redbox is going public via SPAC in a deal that values the combined company at $693M; Redbox had earnings of $114M in 2020

Discussion: The Wrap and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

The Daily Beast:
Unlike many in the media, MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan and Ayman Mohyeldin are granting airtime to Palestinians instead of heavily relying on Israeli government accounts

Discussion: Financial Times and @joyannreid

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

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Matt Pearce / Los Angeles Times:
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Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Amazon launches miniTV, an ad-supported free video streaming service that is available within the Amazon shopping app in India

Discussion: TNW, The Verge, @yourstoryco, @amazonin, @sub8u and @8ap

The Intercept:
The Intercept stands by its reporting on Gab and “Riot Squad”, after it was accused of doxxing conservative journalists, says its reporters have been harassed

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Jack Crosbie / Discourse Blog:
In internal meeting, CEO Meredith Levien defended NYT's refusal to voluntarily recognize The NYT Tech Guild, saying its members are tech people, not journalists

Discussion: @jscros, @backspace, @awinston, @mcallguild, @k_gillespie, @baekdal, @zagatam, nyguild.org, @pilhofer and @kathyvsinternet

Paul Volpe / Politico:
Why WaPo likely looked outside its own ranks to hire a female EIC, including a shrinking newsroom before Bezos' takeover, plus structural and cultural issues

Discussion: Washington Post, American Press Institute, The Guardian, @jonnelle and @isabelberwick

From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Paresh Dave / Wired:
Google says it wouldn't force its device makers, browser, and wireless carrier licensees to distribute Gemini to US users for three years, in a proposed remedy

Reuters:
Albania bans TikTok for a year from January 2025, part of a broader plan to make schools safer following the killing of a 14-year-old near a school in November

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