Mediagazer: An investment group led by LionTree takes a majority stake in Transmit.Live, whose tech inserts ads into live sports streaming, valuing the company at $350M (Jessica Toonkel/Wall Street Journal)

7:00 PM ET, January 5, 2023

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Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

Pop-Up Magazine, which hosted live storytelling shows since its 2009 launch, shuts down, citing the pandemic and economic downturn and affecting 18+ staffers — The live events publisher explored a sale or investment prior to closing — The live performance publisher Pop-Up Magazine …

Discussion: Pop-Up Magazine, @jodyavirgan, @rachellevinsf, @bessbell, The San Francisco Standard, @clarajeffery, @joshbearman, @markstenberg3, @fluentmundo, @kottke, @kerrymflynn, @amlwhere, @megreenwell, @jeffjarvis and @pkafka

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Facebook dropped plans to heavily demote content on politics and sensitive topics, after views for “high quality news publishers” fell, and more — Hitting mute button on political content recommendations brought unintended consequences

Discussion: @keachhagey, @jason_kint, @emilyglazer, @mattzeitlin, @wexler, @justinhendrix, @reaganbrad, @mattnavarra and @jeffhorwitz, more at Techmeme »

Dave Biscobing / ABC15:

The Wall Street Journal asks the Phoenix PD to conduct an internal review after an officer handcuffed and detained WSJ reporter Dion Rabouin in November 2022 — PHOENIX — The Wall Street Journal is demanding the Phoenix Police Department conduct an internal review and take action …

Leyland Cecco / The Guardian:

Apple quietly launches a catalog of books narrated by AI on its Books app, in a move that publishers, authors, and agents warn may upend the audiobook market — Exclusive: tech firm quietly launches new audiobook catalogue narrated by AI - but move expected to spark backlash

Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Vince McMahon plans to return to WWE to pursue a sale of the business, after retiring as CEO and chairman in July 2022 amid a sexual harassment scandal — Vince McMahon, the majority owner and former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., WWE 2.26%increase …

Discussion: CNN, Variety, @laurenthomas, CNBC, Bloomberg, Sportico, Deadline, New York Post, Front Office Sports, The Hollywood Reporter, The Comeback, @therajgiri, @otd_in_wwe, @glennrubenstein, @laurenthomas, @laurenthomas, @_denisesalcedo and @brandolightshed

Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:

NYT is yet to fill its media columnist role one year after Ben Smith left the paper; Sources: Sarah Ellison, Brian Stelter, and Dylan Byers held talks with NYT — One of the highest perches in the industry has been vacant for a year, leaving journalists inside and outside the paper puzzled about management's lack of urgency.

Discussion: @charlottetklein, @spj_tweets, The Present Age, @nbj914, @joshgerstein and @vanityfair

Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:

Google says Android TV OS, the underlying platform for Google TV and Android TV, now has 150M monthly active devices, up 36%+ YoY — At CES 2023 this week Google is sharing an update on how many devices are now using Google TV and Android TV, with 150 million devices in the hands of users.

Financial Times:

The UK government confirms it will not proceed with Channel 4's privatization, instead opting for reforms to preserve the broadcaster's financial sustainability — Whitehall rejects privatisation in favour of reforms to preserve broadcaster's financial sustainability

J. Clara Chan / The Hollywood Reporter:

TikTok plans to license IMDb data to let US and UK users tag movies and TV shows and access an in-app page with information about the titles — Users will be able to tag a specific work and have access to a dedicated in-app page with relevant information about the title, such as cast, crew release date, run time and more.

Discussion: Ad Age, Amazon, Engadget, IndieWire, Adweek, TechCrunch, Tubefilter, @tiktokcomms, @discussingfilm, @manofbeskar and BGR

Wayne Friedman / MediaPost:

iSpot.tv: in 2022, US TV ad impressions fell 3.5% YoY to 8T and TV ad spend grew 6.1% YoY to $45.36B; CBS had the greatest share of ad impressions with 14.55% — Total TV advertising impressions in 2022 from linear, streaming and local programming were down 3.5% versus the year before to 8.0 trillion, according to iSpot.tv.

Discussion: Next TV and TVNewsCheck

Erin Woo / The Information:

Source: Twitter laid off ~40 ad optimization data scientists and engineers, as the company targets areas that leadership considers to be failing or unimportant — Twitter laid off about 40 data scientists and engineers working on advertising late Wednesday night in what amounted to at least …

Discussion: Adweek, Fortune, Gizmodo, @jason_kint, @willoremus, @erinkwoo, The Wrap and Insider, more at Techmeme »

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

A profile of New Lines, an online-only magazine with a remote staff of 25 focused on local reporting from around the world, now printing quarterly editions — “Often when an editor declines or dilutes a good story, it's to say it's too in the weeds. I always joke, 'What's wrong with weeds?'"

Discussion: @kshaheen, @hanaatameez, @bysurbhigupta, @hxhassan and @rashaalaqeedi

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Aisha Majid / Press Gazette:
Analysis: UK's top four regional publishers control 88% of daily print market; Reach and Newsquest account for 32% and 29% of average circulation respectively

Discussion: @pressgazette

Jennifer Maas / Variety:
WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels says the company has ended its 12-month restructuring phase after merging with WarnerMedia and 2023 is for “relaunching and building”

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Daniel Tilles / Notes From Poland:
Private media outlets in Poland republish a report by Warner Bros. Discovery-owned TVN critical of the government, after Poland launched proceedings against TVN

Discussion: @notesfrompoland

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
An investment group led by LionTree takes a majority stake in Transmit.Live, whose tech inserts ads into live sports streaming, valuing the company at $350M

Discussion: Radio & Television …, Transmit.Live, Front Office Sports and @ericfranchi

Melanie Burney / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signs a law requiring public schools to teach media literacy to K-12 students, making NJ the first US state to do so

Discussion: Fast Company, State of New Jersey, @tauhidchappell, Politico, @phillyinquirer and @cyn_mccrackan@mastodon.world

Earlier Picks:

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Agence France-Presse:
Iran warns France of an “effective and decisive response” after Charlie Hebdo published cartoons depicting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Tehran deemed insulting

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Dana Gerber / The Boston Globe:
A look at three independent Marblehead, Massachusetts news outlets launched in 2022 to fill the void left by Gannett making the Marblehead Reporter go regional

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Vincent Manancourt / Politico:
The Irish DPC fines Meta €390M over GDPR breaches related to its ad and data handling practices, giving the company three months to comply; Meta plans to appeal

Discussion: noyb.eu, Data Protection Commission, New York Times, @eric_seufert, @vmanancourt, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, NewsLab, @anewman_forward, The Privacy Whisperer, AppleInsider, Reclaim The Net, Insider, @jezcorden, @jason_kint, @brentnyt, @tamaleaver, @alexgibneyfilm, @nytimesbusiness, @moreperfectus, MediaNama, @jason_kint, @douglascarswell, @themusicpimp, Music Ally, @maxschrems, @danrussell12000, @nicholasvinocur, @modestproposal1, @senmarkey, @s8mb, @missig_geek, @profcarroll, MediaPost, @gabrielazanfir, @justinhendrix, @robertjbateman, @noybeu, @carlszabo, @johnnyryan, @glynmoody, @jesselehrich, @brianhonan, @jonathanmendez, @floorter, @thetranscript_, @montezumachavez, @robertjbateman, @dpcireland, @adrianweckler, @adrianweckler, @andymstone, @adrianweckler, Digital Music News, @martinsfp, @maxschrems, @johnnyryan, @jason_kint, @ekmokaya, @maxschrems, @maxschrems, Meta, scargo, Quartz, AdExchanger, Variety, MarTech, The Record, Gizmodo, IAPP Daily Dashboard, Ad Age, New York Post, The Guardian, BleepingComputer, Engadget, Associated Press, Observer, The Information, The Verge, Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch

Chris Welch / The Verge:
Roku plans to launch its own TVs in spring 2023 across two brands, Roku Select and a higher-end Roku Plus, ranging from 24 inches for $119 to 75 inches for $999

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Adweek, @davezatz, @mcwm, US - The Official Roku Blog, Roku, The Information, TechCrunch, IGN, ScreenRant, The Streamable, Light Reading, Insider, Media Play News, Gizmodo and Engadget

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Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Exploring the scaling challenges of transformer-based LLMs in efficiently processing large amounts of text, as well as potential solutions, such as RAG systems

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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