Mediagazer: Sonos launches Sonos Pro, a service that lets businesses play music across numerous locations without breaking licensing rules, for $35 per month per location (Chris Welch/The Verge)

1:05 PM ET, April 18, 2023

Top News:

Dominion-Fox defamation trial kicks off in Delaware Superior Court, more than two years after Dominion accused Fox of knowingly airing lies about the company — Ex-Fox News producer Abby Grossberg said she recently found more evidence relevant to Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit …

Jane C. Timm / NBC News:

Ex-Fox News producer Abby Grossberg says she recently found more evidence relevant to Dominion's lawsuit against Fox and plans to turn it over to the court — Abby Grossberg said in a new sworn statement that she recently found two more recordings on an old cellphone, which she alleges Fox News lawyers failed to search.

Discussion: @thereidout, @repriggleman, @kylegriffin1 and @katiephang

Ann M. Simmons / Wall Street Journal:

A Moscow court rejects an appeal by WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich and upholds his pretrial detention at the prison where he has been held since his March arrest — Journalist to remain in pretrial detention at Moscow's Lefortovo prison — A Moscow court upheld the detention …

Steve Scherer / Reuters:

Elon Musk says Twitter changed the label on Canada's CBC to “69% Government-funded Media” after the outlet said it's “less than 70% government-funded” — Public broadcaster Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) Twitter account was on Monday labeled as …

Reuters:
Sweden's Sveriges Radio will deactivate or delete its Twitter accounts, the first big European public broadcaster to do so; PBS and CBC quit Twitter last week

Discussion: The Guardian, CNN, American Press Institute, Semafor, @jayrosen_nyu, Washington Post, @digiphile and Crikey

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:

In 2022, 39% of new hires at Condé Nast US and 44% at NYT were POC, down 2% and 10% YoY, respectively, while 54% were white at Vice and 59% at Hearst — Publishers are slowly publicly releasing the latest reports on the diversity of their workforces.

Discussion: @karenkho

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

Samsung rebrands its Samsung Free app as Samsung News, offering custom news feeds, morning and evening news briefings, and podcasts, starting with the US — Samsung announced today that it's introducing a “Samsung News” app that gives users access to everyday news from a variety of publications.

Discussion: Media Play News

Sinéad Crowley / RTÉ:

Irish broadcaster RTÉ appoints Ofcom's group director of broadcasting and online content Kevin Bakhurst as its next DG, taking over from Dee Forbes in July — Media executive Kevin Bakhurst has been appointed as the next Director General of RTÉ.

Discussion: BBC, @williamsjon, @thejeremyvine and @ohanloneilis

Bailey Schulz / USA Today:

Gannett news division president and USA Today EIC Nicole Carroll is stepping down on May 1; Managing Editor Michael McCarter takes over as Interim EIC — USA TODAY Editor-in-Chief Nicole Carroll will step down on May 1 after leading the news organization for more than five years.

Discussion: @mgsquires, @bethany_bruner, @meganmfinnerty, @npenzenstadler, @oliverdarcy, @sarafischer and @maxwelltani

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Deloitte: US consumers pay $48 per month on average for subscription video services; millennials spend $54 per month on average, more than any other generation — Deloitte's 17th annual Digital Media Trends report highlights challenges for subscription streamers

Discussion: Media Play News and VentureBeat

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Sonos launches Sonos Pro, a service that lets businesses play music across numerous locations without breaking licensing rules, for $35 per month per location — Maybe the long-rumored Sonos headphones aren't coming this year after all. A few months ago, CEO Patrick Spence announced …

Discussion: Sonos and @chriswelch, more at Techmeme »

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:

Mansa, a free, ad-supported streaming service and content aggregator that offers Black cultural content, launches out of stealth with $8M in seed funding — Mansa, a free ad-supported streaming service and content aggregator that offers a curated selection of Black cultural content, launched out of stealth today.

Discussion: Axios, @ricardoharvin@mstdn.social and Cord Cutters News

Patience Haggin / Wall Street Journal:

Q&A with Microsoft's CVP of ads on keeping Bing Chat results from becoming too promotional, AI-powered search threatening publishers' ad revenue, and more — Kya Sainsbury-Carter, who recently was named to head the company's ad business, offers an inside look at Microsoft's game plan

Discussion: Wired, @patiencehaggin, CNET and Ars Technica

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More News:

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Joseph Staten, Microsoft's former head of creative for Halo Infinite, is joining Netflix as Creative Director for a new AAA multiplatform game and original IP

Discussion: Eurogamer.net, @brandonstirrup, @twthereddragon, @tomwarren, @joestaten, VentureBeat and Engadget

David Robb / Deadline:
WGA members vote to authorize the WGA West Board and the WGA East Council to call a strike if a “fair” deal for a film and TV contract isn't reached by May 1

Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
A eulogy for the era of computer magazines in the US, as Maximum PC and MacLife, both of which started in 1996, abandon print after their April 2023 issues

Discussion: @alexlindsay, @harrymccracken, Media Voices, @notthanekrios, @heybonanos, @nerdcmo, @andydentperth, @davidlidsky, What's New in Publishing, @harrymccracken, @ronanprice, @stevenplin, @lemonodor and Boing Boing, Thanks:@vtuss

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Muck Rack survey of 2,226 journalists globally: 78% say Twitter is the most valuable social media platform to them but ~50% considered leaving in the past year

Discussion: Muck Rack for journalists …, @bowlerderek, @pressgazette, @pressgazette, @mattnavarra, @markborkowski and @pressgazette

Ariel Shapiro / The Verge:
Source: Nir Zicherman, who leads Spotify's audiobook unit, plans to leave in 2023; Zicherman joined in 2019 when Spotify acquired Anchor, which he co-founded

Discussion: @arshapiro90 and The Information

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Amazon relocates the second season of its show Citadel from the UK to California after the state awarded the company $35.3M in tax incentives for TV production

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Wrap and Deadline

Earlier Picks:

Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:
The Media Rating Council votes to restore Nielsen's national TV ratings accreditation, suspended in 2021, after Nielsen fixed issues, like undercounting viewers

Discussion: AdExchanger, MarTech, Variety, Ad Age, Cablefax, @sportstvratings, @megancgraham, Inside Radio, Next TV, Axios, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, MediaPost and TVNewsCheck

Sylvia Varnham O'Regan / The Information:
Sources: after its first-ever drop in ad sales, Meta ditched its brash tone with advertisers and is offering sweeteners, like up to a 25% discount for Reels ads

Discussion: Insider, @sylviavarnham, @digitalshields and @blackamazon

Max Tani / Semafor:
Spotify plans to drop its paywall and change its exclusivity rules for some of Gimlet's podcasts in the coming months; Spotify acquired Gimlet for $230M in 2019

Discussion: @michellemanafy, @ajmacadam, @maxwelltani, Gizmodo, The Information, @semaforben and Engadget

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
AMC Networks plans to roll out a less expensive, ad-supported tier of AMC+ by October 2023; AMC+ currently costs $8.99 per month

Discussion: AMC Networks Inc., Comic Book, Broadband TV News, @parkerdelrey, WORLD SCREEN, Cablefax, @freddytrannager@newsie.social, CNET, Ad Age, TechCrunch, The Wrap, The Streamable, MediaPost, Variety, Adweek and Collider

Mark Savage / BBC:
Heart On My Sleeve, a song allegedly created using AI trained on the voices of Drake and The Weeknd without the artists' permission, goes viral on social media

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Netflix's second ever livestream hit technical issues, leading to a 75+ minute delay and the company taping the Love is Blind reunion episode for later viewing

From Techmeme:

Lee-Anne Mulholland / The Keyword:
Google files its proposed remedies in the DOJ's search antitrust lawsuit, including letting browser companies have multiple default agreements across platforms

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

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

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