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Streaming TV appears to have entered its franchise era; Netflix plans spinoffs of the Addams Family, Peaky Blinders, and action movie Extraction, among others — Sequels and prequels have already taken over the movie business. Now they're coming for TV. — Good afternoon from Los Angeles …
Discussion:
TVLine, Forbes, ScreenRant, Gizmodo, ComingSoon.net, @lucas_shaw and @lucas_shaw, more at Techmeme »
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Disney, WBD, and other studios are licensing more content to Netflix in return for much-needed cash, but are holding back their most popular movies and shows — When building their own streaming companies, many entertainment studios ended lucrative licensing deals with Netflix.


The EU Commission opens an official DSA investigation into X, focusing on illegal content, disinformation, ad transparency, “deceptive design”, and data access — X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, may have broken the European Union's tough new Digital Service Act rules …
Discussion:
Variety, TechCrunch, Associated Press, The Guardian, Gizmodo, Engadget, @safety, European Commission, UPI, The Information, Washington Post, New York Post, New York Times, Wired, BBC, Politico, Reuters, CNBC, Bloomberg, The Daily Beast, 9to5Mac, @jamestitcomb, @carnage4life@mas.to, @thierrybreton, @vorobyov and @artemr, more at Techmeme »


The trial of Hong Kong media mogul and activist Jimmy Lai begins; Lai faces possible life imprisonment if convicted on charges of collusion with foreign forces — Media mogul faces up to life in prison if convicted under national security law — HONG KONG—The most high-profile case …


Flipboard says it will fully integrate with ActivityPub and is testing the move with select accounts, including Semafor, Medium, Polygon, Digiday, and The Verge — Instagram Threads isn't the only app joining the decentralized social web, which includes Twitter/X rival Mastodon and other apps …


Sources: The Messenger editors clashed with publisher Jimmy Finkelstein in November after a directive to remove Trump indictment stories from the homepage — The Scoop — During former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial in New York last month, an editorial order came down from the top …


Newsquest's head of editorial AI Jody Doherty-Cove says the UK regional publisher now has seven “AI-assisted reporters” publishing “thousands” of articles — The company's head of editorial AI said it had published “thousands” of AI-assisted articles.


Alex Jones proposes paying Sandy Hook families $55M+ over 10 years, far below the $1.5B awarded; the families seek to liquidate his assets and media company — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' latest bankruptcy plan would pay Sandy Hook families a minimum total of $55 million over 10 years …
Discussion:
CNN, @MylesRyden@social.vivaldi.net, Newser, New York Times, NPR, Vanity Fair, Bloomberg and WKYC-TV

How new local ownership, in one year, revived The Deming Headlight, after Gannett turned the small-town New Mexico newspaper into “a ghost paper” without staff — The Deming Headlight's office shares a downtown block with a barber, a hearing aid supplier and quinceañera dress shop …


Ofcom: 44% of TV staff and 54% of radio staff are based outside of London; women and people from minority ethnic groups remain underrepresented at senior levels — Around half of TV and radio broadcasters' employees are now based outside of London, but more needs to be done to increase diversity …
Discussion:
Broadband TV News, Ofcom, Ofcom, Ofcom, Deadline and Broadband TV News


Disney seems to have more than its share of boomerang executives, which include Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer, both once seen as potential successors to Bob Iger — A number have returned or are angling to come back — from retired Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger, who resumed his duties a year ago …


A look at the lessons learned at News Catalyst, an initiative that provided tools to build digitally sustainable local news outlets, ahead of its 2024 shutdown — As The Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund, a joint venture between the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation …
Discussion:
Tyler Fisher on LinkedIn, Shannan Bowen on LinkedIn, LinkedIn and Becca Aaronson on LinkedIn