Mediagazer: Web3 streaming protocol Sona launches Sona Stream, a free music streaming service with a marketplace for music and SONAs, or “digital twins” of songs, in beta (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)

Jeremy Fuster / The Wrap:

SAG-AFTRA members ratify the union's new three-year contract with studios after 78% voted in favor; some members remain unhappy about the deal's AI protections — Approval of new studio agreement with a turnout of 38% concludes a historic year for Hollywood labor

Wall Street Journal:

The US State Department says Russia rejected a “significant” proposal to release The WSJ's Evan Gershkovich; sources say the offer involved trading prisoners — U.S. seeking to win freedom for Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, State Department spokesman says

Discussion: BBC, Reuters, Columbia Journalism Review, Newser, The Desk, The Hill, Fox News, CNN, Associated Press, CBS News, Mediaite, Agence France-Presse, The Messenger and Talking Biz News

Mia Sato / The Verge:

TikTok releases its 2023 list of top videos and trends, again showing how disparate users' individual experiences on the app are and how siloed the content is — It's the most wonderful time of the year: when TikTok publishes its annual roundup of the biggest hits, and I get to see what everyone else …

Discussion: Daily Mail, BBC and expressandstar.com

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:

Web3 streaming protocol Sona launches Sona Stream, a free music streaming service with a marketplace for music and SONAs, or “digital twins” of songs, in beta — Sona is a new web3 streaming protocol that uses DeFi primitives (decentralized finance basic building blocks) …

Catherine Perloff / Adweek:

Study: only 36 cents of every dollar that enters a DSP actually pay for an ad a consumer sees, 29 cents go to intermediaries, and 35 cents to low-quality media — The supply chain is still filled with waste, and impression price doesn't correlate with quality

Discussion: Association …, MarTech and MediaPost

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:

UK carrier EE launches broadband TV platform EE TV, to replace the BT TV service, partnering with Apple to offer an Apple TV 4K with a customized remote control — EE TV, a new broadband TV platform from EE, today launched as a BT TV replacement service in the UK, offering subscribers …

Discussion: Broadband TV News and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »

Jordan Fragen / VentureBeat:

Twitch plans to shut down in South Korea on February 27, 2024, saying the country was “prohibitively expensive” to operate in despite working to reduce costs — Games livestreaming platform Twitch is shutting down its business operations in South Korea February 27, 2024.

Discussion: Twitch, Boing Boing, TechCrunch, Neowin and Watcher Guru, more at Techmeme »

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

How the WSJ, MIT Technology Review, the FT, El País, The Globe and Mail, BBC News, Middle East Eye, WaPo, and five other news outlets use LinkedIn newsletters — “While you're less at the whim of the algorithm, it's still social media.” — “LinkedIn is cool now” …

Discussion: Media Voices, Leigh Kamping-Carder on LinkedIn, Meredith Turits on LinkedIn, Simon Owens's Media Newsletter and American Press Institute

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

A poll of 2K+ Britons on Israel-Hamas coverage: 36% consider the BBC neutral, the most among five outlets; 15% see the BBC as pro-Palestinian, 17% as pro-Israel — But even more of those polled felt the BBC's coverage has been “mostly neutral”. — A poll conducted by think tank More in Common …

Discussion: More in Common UK and Media Voices

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

Sources: UK ministers are set to pick veteran TV executive Samir Shah as BBC chair to replace Richard Sharp, who resigned earlier in 2023, as soon as today — New head of corporation's board replaces Richard Sharp, who resigned this year — UK ministers are set to pick veteran TV executive Samir Shah …

Discussion: The Guardian, Bloomberg, Broadband TV News, The i Paper, @janemartinson, @jake_kanter, The Sun and @jamesrbuk

New York Times:

A new Trump administration would “come after” the media as well as political foes, promises Kash Patel, a Trump confidant likely to serve in the administration — Donald Trump, who has already promised to use the Justice Department to “go after” his political adversaries …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Nation, The Messenger, @oliverdarcy@threads.net, New York Times, @jayrosen_nyu, @thedailybeast@threads.net, The Hill, @jalankatz.bsky.social, @protecttruth.bsky.social, @robertmaguire.bsky.social and The Messenger

Jordan Moreau / Variety:

Three Pixar movies released solely on Disney+ during the pandemic will come to theaters in 2024: Soul on January 12; Turning Red, February 9; and Luca, March 22 — The three movies will come to theaters nationwide in 2024, with tickets going on sale Jan. 2.

Discussion: The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, The Mary Sue, @chrisharihar, SlashFilm, @tashasounart@worldkey.io, Bloomberg, The Verge, Pixar on YouTube, IndieWire, SlashFilm, Engadget, The Playlist, ScreenRant and The Walt Disney Company

Tom Symonds / BBC:

Lawyers for News UK and former UK Cabinet minister Chris Huhne reach a settlement in a phone hacking case that Huhne says includes a “six figure sum” in damages — The publisher of the Sun and the News of the World has agreed a “six figure” settlement to a phone-hacking claim from a former government minister.

Discussion: @uvuume, @peterjukes, @peterjukes, @brianstelter, @bgrueskin, @davidfolkenflik, The Guardian, Byline Times, Hacked Off and NPR

Discussion: Reuters and Mediaite