Mediagazer: A look at Sony India's merger with Zee Entertainment: creating a 74-channel media powerhouse and giving Sony a 24.8% market share, compared to Disney Star's 24% (Financial Times)

6:45 PM ET, September 4, 2023

Top News:

Max Tani / Semafor:

A look at Jay Penske's Hollywood media empire, as he adds a Hollywood Reporter co-EIC and dual strikes hurt revenue; source: THR missed Q1 revenue goals by 20%+ — The Scoop — It's a hard detail to leave out of a profile of Hollywood's dominant publishing figure: In 2012 …

Discussion: @sharonwaxman, @richlightshed and @nbj914

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

Email: Spotify raises the listener threshold for creators in Ambassador Ads from 100 to 1,000 over 60 days, and plans to cut ad support for white noise podcasts — - Ambient sound shows will no longer be eligible for certain ads — Company raises listener threshold for ambassador ads program

Discussion: Insider, Engadget, Podnews, The Verge, Music Ally, @bartona104, @ashleyrcarman and Variety, more at Techmeme »

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Charter's demands on Disney that led to the blackout could soon pressure rivals like Fox, NBCU, and Paramount and increase the risk of future carriage disputes — Disney on Thursday yanked its popular TV networks, which include ESPN, ABC and Disney Channel, from Charter's Spectrum cable service …

Discussion: Awful Announcing, The Desk, Forbes, Associated Press, The Verge, Reuters, TVLine, Breitbart and Radio & Television …

Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
Charter says its Disney dispute “is not a typical carriage dispute”, and the cable company is prepared to “move on” from its video business if no deal is made

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

Warner Bros. Discovery rebrands its preschool network Boomerang to Cartoonito across Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa — “Cartoonito is Warner Bros. Discovery's biggest commitment to programming for children aged 2 to 6.”

Discussion: Broadband TV News

James Clayton / BBC:

EU study: social media companies have failed to stop pro-Russian disinformation and the “reach and influence of Kremlin-backed accounts” grew further in 2023 — Social media companies have failed to stop “large-scale” Russian disinformation campaigns since the invasion of Ukraine, the EU has said.

Discussion: Washington Post, 9to5Mac, @zerohedge, @washingtonpost, @washingtonpost, @washingtonpost, @tech_oversight, @erikdelareguera, Publications Office of the European Union, Felix Kartte on LinkedIn, @TodayInTwitter@mastodon …, @redfrog@mamot.fr and Insider

Max Goldbart / Deadline:

The UK's Channel 4 plans to enter the US market by launching two FAST channels, called 4 Adventure and 4 Emergency, on Tubi, Plex, and Xumo later in September — - ‘Bardot’ Series Sells After Netflix Launch; National Cinema Day Record; SkyShowtime's ‘Codename: Annika’ Trailer; BAFTA Wales Award — Global Briefs

Discussion: Broadband TV News

Financial Times:

A look at Sony India's merger with Zee Entertainment: creating a 74-channel media powerhouse and giving Sony a 24.8% market share, compared to Disney Star's 24% — Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others …

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

Q&A with an Argentinian reporter who uses Instagram's Broadcast Channels to help subscribers make sense of the country's economy as a form of service journalism — “For me, social media is the purest way of doing service journalism.” — In June, Instagram fully rolled …

Discussion: @cratebeats, @brizzyc, @niemanlab@mastodon.social and Talking Biz News

Miles Ellingham / Rolling Stone UK:

A profile of Jake Hanrahan, a former Vice reporter who in 2018 founded Popular Front, which covers global conflict via YouTube, Instagram, a podcast, and more — As the founder and face of news outlet Popular Front, Jake Hanrahan is bringing unfiltered world events to the masses through …

Discussion: @milesellingham, @milesellingham, @jake_hanrahan, @narcomania, @pat_mcaleenan and @popularfront_

Los Angeles Times:

The Marion County Record raid showed how vague US federal and state computer crime laws can threaten press freedom; lawmakers should add more media protections — This month, police officers in Marion, Kan., crashed into the newsroom of the Marion County Record, a weekly newspaper …

Discussion: U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Voice of America, PBS NewsHour, Kansas City Star and Freedom of the Press …

Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:

Senior YouTube staff express concerns that Shorts is drawing audiences away from longer-form videos, which produce more revenue but are “dying out” as a format — Concerns raised that TikTok rival is drawing audiences away from the platform's longer-form videos

Discussion: The Verge, Android Police, 9to5Google, Music Ally, @carnage4life@mas.to and Insider Intelligence, more at Techmeme »

Ronald Blum / Associated Press:

A US judge throws out the convictions of former Fox executive Hernan Lopez, who was found guilty in March of bribing soccer officials for broadcasting rights — A federal judge threw out the convictions of a former Fox executive and a South American sports media and marketing company …

Discussion: New York Times, Variety, Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The Wrap and Bloomberg

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Output Producer, CA — AP

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Senior Assignment Editor, DC — WaPo

Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — WSJ

Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — Globe & Mail

Local Government Reporter, IA — The Gazette

Research Director, CA — OCBJ

Immigration Enforcement Reporter — Documented

Presque Island Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Contributing Parks Ed. - SW, CA — SFGATE

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Energy Reporter, TX — Houston Chronicle

Senior Reporter, SC — Island Packet

Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — FT

Reporter, WI — Racine County Eye

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More News:

N Ram / Prospect Magazine:
The Hindu's former EIC says the Modi government hounding left-leaning Indian media website NewsClick is a state-engineered McCarthyite disinformation campaign

Discussion: @arusbridger, @sauravk1890, @vijayprashad, @prospect_uk, @anuradhabhasin_, @samar11, @iamcouncil and @prospect_uk

Clare Malone / New Yorker:
A profile of Mark Thompson, CNN's new CEO and a veteran of the BBC and The New York Times, as Dean Baquet says his hiring indicates a strategy beyond job cuts

Discussion: @nick_field90, The Guardian, @newyorker, @michaelluo and Deadline

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Q&A with Sky News anchors Sophy Ridge and Trevor Phillips on their new shows, the state of UK political journalism, Sky's “big investment in politics”, and more

Discussion: @pressgazette, @pressgazette, @pressgazette and The Desk

Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
A look at what's prolonging the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes as the economic damage grows: anger over pay disparities, union cohesion, and future of work worries

Discussion: SlashFilm, Variety, Variety, Consequence, Deadline, Rolling Stone, Screen Rant, Mother Jones and IndieWire

Emilia David / The Verge:
A Gizmodo en Español writer says Gizmodo owner G/O Media shut down and laid off editors of the Spanish-language site, and is now using AI to translate articles

Discussion: @aleyda, Boing Boing, @stefthepef, @glenngabe@mas.to, @sauthoff.bsky.social, @hoonofthe.day and @jaredwhite@indieweb.social

Earlier Picks:

Associated Press:
Russian authorities declare Nobel Peace Prize winner and Novaya Gazeta EIC Dmitry Muratov to be a foreign agent, a label used to suppress critics of the Kremlin

Discussion: Reuters, @robert4787, @moscowtimes, @polidemitolog, @anna_journal, @4freerussia_org, @novayagazeta_en, Insider, RFI, Novaya Gazeta Europe, Meduza.io, BBC, Reuters and Associated Press

David Robb / Deadline:
SAG-AFTRA's National Board votes unanimously to send a strike authorization vote to its members in preparation of upcoming negotiations with video game firms

Discussion: Mother Jones, Variety, Breitbart, CNN, @toadsanime, @okami13_, @ethangach, @benjisales, The Hill, IGN, @mogul@mastodon.cloud, The A.V. Club, Screen, Vulture, Los Angeles Times, LAist, Insider Gaming, Hollywood Reporter, SAG-AFTRA, The Wrap and Is this thing on?

Dan Milmo / The Guardian:
The Guardian joins other publishers, including Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Reuters, and CNN, in blocking OpenAI's GPTBot web crawler

Discussion: Press Gazette, @riptari, @blackamazon, @john_w_hayes, @MartinEscardo@mathstodon.xyz and The Hill

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
The US BLS August 2023 employment report shows the film, TV, and music industries shed 17,000 jobs, “reflecting strike activity”; other sectors saw job growth

Discussion: Breitbart, NBC 6 South Florida, New York Times, Crain's New York Business, Ad Age, The Wrap and Cord Cutters News

Reuters:
Canada tries to address Big Tech's Bill C-18 concerns, saying Google and Meta would pay publishers ~$126.6M and ~$44M per year; Meta plans to keep blocking news

Discussion: MediaPost, Wired, @mgeist, @aartipole, @jeffjarvis, @awudrick, @mgeist, @pascalestonge_, @mgeist, The Hill, CBC News, @carnage4life@threads.net, @caseynewton.bsky.social, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg and Michael Geist

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

Esha Dey / Bloomberg:
Tesla's shares are up 73% since Election Day, as several analysts see the Trump administration easing rules for self-driving tech, benefiting Tesla's ambitions

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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