Mediagazer: Marginal MediaWorks agrees to acquire Fresno Unlimited, which wants to use AI trained on public consumer interest data to help studios green light projects (Hope King/Axios)

The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act would support Breitbart, Newsmax, and hedge funds; other bills may help local journalism without paying for hate — Bill would require Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft to pay and link to right-wing news — Congressional Democrats are in array.

Discussion: Poynter, Adweek, Deadline, @pilhofer, @rickedmonds, @wexler, @wexler, @newsalliance, @newsalliance, @kombiz, @newsalliance, @newsalliance, @wexler, @adamkovac, @mmasnick, @blakereid, @m_ccuri and Bloomberg Government

Hope King / Axios:

Marginal MediaWorks agrees to acquire Fresno Unlimited, which wants to use AI trained on public consumer interest data to help studios green light projects — A new tie-up between a startup content studio and a data science startup aims to flip the way Hollywood green lights movies and shows.

Discussion: @hopeking and @bigsharm

Joe Coscarelli / New York Times:

Capitol Music Group severs ties with FN Meka, a virtual “robot rapper” powered partly by AI with 10M+ TikTok followers, after backlash over racial stereotypes — The record company apologized to “the Black community” for insensitivity in promoting an AI-backed artist that critics said was …

Dan Misener / Bumper:

Study of Spotify's podcast recommendations finds white noise episodes are among top recs and 14% of recommended episodes are Spotify originals and exclusives — I've long been interested in Spotify's podcast recommendation system, mostly because it uses a different strategy than its competitors.

Discussion: @evoterra, @michellemanafy, Reclaim The Net and Remote Notes

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:

Rotten Tomatoes: among 100+ critics it added over the past year, 74% are from underrepresented groups, 48% are women, 38% PoC, and 34% from new media platforms — Rotten Tomatoes will expand its efforts to increase diversity among film and TV critics, with the review website announcing …

Manori Ravindran / Variety:

Sources: Soumya Sriraman, who led Amazon's US Prime Video Channels business, steps down after two years; Sriraman was formerly the CEO of BritBox — Soumya Sriraman, the former BritBox CEO who joined Amazon to lead its Prime Video Channels business in the U.S., is stepping down after two years at the SVOD.

Discussion: TechCrunch and The Streamable

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

India's richest man, Gautam Adani, acquires a ~29.18% stake in NDTV using decade-old options and plans to acquire another 26%; NDTV says it did not give consent — Adani Group said Tuesday it will buy a majority stake in NDTV, a high-profile Indian news organization, in an apparent hostile takeover …

Discussion: Scroll.in, Al Jazeera, Forbes, @ensaluja, @blitzkreigm, Variety, @mkvenu1, The Hindu, Livemint, The New Indian Express, The Signal, Financial Times and Bloomberg

Todd Spangler / Variety:

NBCU says current seasons of NBC shows will stream on Peacock Premium the day after airing starting September 19, after it reclaimed rights from Hulu — Fans of NBC current-season shows will no longer find them on Hulu as of next month — they'll be flying over to NBCUniversal's Peacock.

Discussion: CNET, The Streamable, MediaPost, The Wrap, Next TV, UPI, @tvgrimreaper, Decider, TVLine and Media Play News

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:

Google plans to use video ads on tropes about migrants in Poland, Slovakia, and Czechia, as part of a years-long study on inoculation against misinformation — Three months after Russia launched its brutal assault on Ukraine, sending millions of refugees over the border into neighboring countries …

Discussion: Forbes, The Verge, NBC News, @raehodge, @issielapowsky, @issielapowsky, @issielapowsky, @issielapowsky and @protocol, more at Techmeme »

J. Clara Chan / The Hollywood Reporter:

iHeartMedia launches iHeartLand, its first virtual world, on Fortnite, with plans to host concerts, album release parties, and more — The in-game effort, which includes a main stage and mini-games, will kick off with a Charlie Puth concert on Sept. 9.

Discussion: Inside Radio, @lanceulanoff, RadioInsight and Music Business Worldwide

K.J. Yossman / Variety:

UK broadcaster ITV plans to launch its ITVX streaming service in November, replacing the ITV Hub — ITVX, the upcoming streaming platform from U.K. broadcaster ITV, will launch in November. — ITV managing director for media and entertainment Kevin Lygo confirmed the launch date during …

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter and ITV Press Centre

Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:

Privacy group noyb files a complaint in France claiming Google breached the EU's ePrivacy rules on direct marketing by failing to gain consent for Gmail ads — Google is facing a fresh privacy complaint in Europe over ads it inserts into its Gmail email service in the guise of emails.

Discussion: noyb.eu and Reuters