Mediagazer: Kantar: UK households canceled 167K paid streaming service subscriptions in Q1 2023, taking the total down to 29.4M; Netflix was estimated to be the hardest hit (Mark Sweney/The Guardian)

4:25 PM ET, April 19, 2023

Top News:

The Fox-Dominion deal is the largest publicly disclosed settlement in a US defamation case; sources: Fox does not have to issue an on-air correction or apology — The agreement brings an abrupt end to one of the most significant media cases in recent decades, one that hinged on false claims about a presidential election

Discussion: @tripgabriel, @justinbaragona, Law & Crime, The Intercept, @aaronblake, NPR, Media Matters for America, @maassp, The Hill, New York Times, Associated Press, @alexpadilla4ca, CBS News, The Verge, New York Times, Reuters, @jakeadelstein, @donmoyn, @bgrueskin, @mattiweil, @steven_strauss, @nickconfessore, @timobrien, @ryanvanvelzer, @bgrueskin, @tomfitton, @farhip, @walshfreedom, @haldavis3, Poynter, Broadband TV News, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @jamilsmith, @wilkowmajority, @farhip, @mollyjongfast, @brianstelter, @tedlieu, @ron_fournier, Morning Shots, @davidfolkenflik, @claremalone, @lindyli, @bgrueskin, @macfarlanenews, @davidaxelrod, @waltisfrozen, @renato_mariotti, @blowryontv, @brianklaas, @alfranken, @kbandersen, @tripgabriel, @lindyli, @pickardje, @maassp, @aaronblake, @froomkin, CNN, The Guardian, CBC News, @heidilifeldman@mastodon …, @juddlegum@journa.host, Newser, @JoshuaHolland@mastodon.social, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, @Theoreticalb@mastodon.social, @heidilifeldman@mastodon …, Insider, Deadline, Rolling Stone, Slate, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times and PBS NewsHour

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

Fox News said its court settlement reflects a “commitment to the highest journalistic standards”, showing that not even a ton of evidence of deceit can shame it — When news of a possible settlement between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News surfaced on Sunday night …

CNBC:

Fox Corp and its cable networks agree to pay $787.5M to Dominion Voting Systems to settle the defamation lawsuit over Fox's lies about Dominion's machines — WILMINGTON, Del. - Fox Corp. and its cable networks agreed Tuesday to pay $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems to settle …

Discussion: @semaforben, @sarafischer, CNN, New York Times, Bill O'Reilly, Fox News, NBC News, @semaforben, The Nation, @sarafischer, @therecount, Mediaite, Politico, @kbandersen, New Yorker, @dicktofel, National Review, Axios, Reuters, The Week, ABC News, @gma, Financial Times, Insider, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, New Republic, NPR, The Hill, @sullycnbc, @davewiner, @justinbaragona, Mediaite, @profgalloway, Bangor Daily News, @d_arkin, @oliverdarcy, @brianstelter, @davidmwessel, Axios, @repriggleman, @oliverdarcy, @michaelshermer, @profgalloway, @dave_enna, @oliverdarcy, @justinbaragona, @joemillerjr, @yashar, @andykroll, @ericswalwell, @oliverdarcy, @juddlegum, @mattgertz, @jamesfallows, @jamesfallows, Deadline, @tomtomorrow, @reedgalen, @davidamoyal, @jcheiffetz, Associated Press, @pourmecoffee, @brianstelter, @ndrew_lawrence, @adriennelaw, @dave_enna, @dave_enna, @dave_enna, @colmorrisdavis, @normeisen, @maxwelltani, @ronfilipkowski, @kenvogel, @leahmcelrath, @nazirafzal, @felixsalmon, @gabrielsterling, @adriennelaw, @ralstonreports, @robertpicardo, @davidafrench, @ijbailey, @johnjharwood, @grynbaum, @piyushmittal, @bendepear, @rachel_dz, @nycsouthpaw, @rispolimike, @bestforbritain, @tedkempcnbc, @yashar, @aidnmclaughlin, @b52malmet, Adweek, Fortune, The Daily Beast, Politico, CBS News, MediaPost, The Wrap, Crikey, The Onion, Wall Street Journal, @joshsternberg@mstdn.social, Yahoo News and NBC News

Jack Shafer / Politico:

For Fox News, which has $4.1B in cash and warrants on hand, $787.5M is a bargain price to avoid further embarrassment and continue its sleazy ways — For the media mogul, the massive Dominion settlement fee is just the cost of doing business. — If it seems fairly daft to congratulate Rupert Murdoch …

CNN:

Sources and the mediator detail how Fox and Dominion settlement came together, as Dominion planned Rupert Murdoch and Tucker Carlson among its first witnesses — Veteran mediator Jerry Roscoe was on a relaxing river cruise from Budapest to Bucharest celebrating his 70th birthday on Sunday when he received an urgent phone call.

Discussion: The Guardian, Semafor, @kira_lerner, @keitholbermann, @marshallcohen, @brianstelter, @sarah_boxer, @srl and @oliverdarcy

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Fox spared its executives and hosts further embarrassment on the witness stand, but the settlement sets a benchmark for lawsuits from Smartmatic and others

Jay Peters / The Verge:

Netflix upgrades its ad-supported plan, increasing the video quality from 720p to 1080p and the number of streams from one to two, starting in Canada and Spain — Netflix is making its $6.99 per month ad-supported plan a much better value. … Subscribers in Canada and Spain …

Discussion: Comic Book, MacRumors, TechCrunch and CNET, more at Techmeme »

Nicholas Gordon / Fortune:
Netflix added 1.46M subscribers from Asia-Pacific in Q1, out of a total of 1.8M; it added 100K subscribers in the US and Canada, and lost 450K in Latin America

Discussion: CNET, The Hollywood Reporter, Insider Intelligence, Financial Times, The Information, MediaPost and Forbes, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Krouse / Wall Street Journal:
Netflix plans to ship its last red DVD envelopes in September 2023, after 25 years of mailing shows and movies to subscribers and paving the way for streaming

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix plans a “broad rollout” of its paid sharing plan in Q2 2023, including to the US, after its Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain launch in February

Discussion: Music Business Worldwide, The Verge, The Streamable, The A.V. Club, CNBC, @tvgrimreaper, IndieWire, Screen Rant, Collider, Adweek, Cablefax and The Desk

Reuters:
Netflix Q1: revenue up 4% YoY to $8.16B, 1.8M paid net additions, vs. 2.06M est. and -0.2M in Q1 2022, and global streaming paid memberships up 5% YoY to 232.5M

Discussion: Insider, @lucas_shaw, @itzjoshuajake and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

Pew Research Center:

Survey: 49% of US adults say they have listened to a podcast in the past year; 87% of those who get news on podcasts expect it to be mostly accurate — About half of Americans have listened to a podcast in the past year, and most of those listeners come across news content

Discussion: The Verge, New York Post, @pewresearch, @pewresearch, @douglesmerises, @kenvogel, @katmatsa, Hot Pod News, American Press Institute, @pewresearch, Axios and Podnews

Washington Post:

An analysis of Google's C4 dataset, a snapshot of 15M websites used to train LLMs, shows that half of the Top 10 sites were news outlets such as The NYT — AI chatbots have exploded in popularity over the past four months, stunning the public with their awesome abilities …

Discussion: @nitashatiku, @kdombsadof, @postgraphics, @shiraovide, Gizmodo, @abebab, @willoremus, @katecrawford, @blackamazon, @mmitchell_ai, @lordravenscraft, @maxkennerly, @xriskology and @justinhendrix, more at Techmeme »

Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:

How 34-year-old Bellingcat researcher Aric Toler helped the New York Times find Jack Teixeira, charged with leaking classified Pentagon documents — The Times publicly identified the man believed to have leaked intelligence documents before law enforcement did.

Discussion: @arictoler, @vanityfair, @arictoler, @vanityfair, @trbrtc, @runasand, @matthewkeyslive, @arictoler and @arictoler

Max Goldbart / Deadline:

Fremantle UK names Amelia Brown as its new CEO, replacing Simon Andreae who stepped down recently following misconduct complaints — Fremantle UK has named departing Thames boss Amelia Brown as its new CEO just days after Simon Andreae stepped down following misconduct complaints.

Discussion: The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety

Liam Scott / Voice of America:

Oklahoma's governor calls on four officials to resign after a newspaper released audio of the group talking about killing journalists and lynching Black people — Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt is calling for the resignation of four state officials after a local newspaper released …

Rebecca Pettingill / Columbia Basin Herald:

Washington's legislature passes a bill that gives a tax break to newspaper pubs and sites that grew from newspapers; it becomes law if the governor signs it — OLYMPIA - Senate Bill 5199, a measure that gives a tax break for newspaper publishers, passed the Washington House of Representatives 89-7 Monday.

Discussion: @andersem and @dankennedy_nu@journa.host