Mediagazer: Broadcast ratings sank in fall 2023 due to the Hollywood strikes; ABC and NBC fared best thanks to NFL games, CBS and Fox fell 32% YoY and 26% YoY, respectively (Rick Porter/The Hollywood Reporter)

10:25 PM ET, December 27, 2023

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The NYT sues OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, alleging they used millions of its articles to train AI, the first major US media outlet to sue — Millions of articles from The New York Times were used to train chatbots that now compete with it, the lawsuit said.

Discussion: United States District Court Southern District of New York, Wall Street Journal, CNN, MediaPost, The Information, @ceciliazin, @ceciliazin, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, Axios, Associated Press, Fast Company, Gizmodo, Mashable, Newser, Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, @MattHodges@mastodon.social, @loudmouthjulia, The Wrap, CNBC, The Verge, @nexusben, Washington Post, TechCrunch, @asharma, @jeffjarvis@threads.net, @alexbruell, Boing Boing, @bdsams, Deadline, Agence France-Presse, @eriqgardner, Semafor, @jeffjarvis, @martinsfp@threads.net, @rogoswami, Bloomberg, Irish Examiner, WHYY, Alex Smith on LinkedIn, Neowin, GeekWire, @jeffjarvis@threads.net, @happicamp@threads.net, Financial Times, BGR, Ars Technica, Shelly Palmer, @semafor, @jeffjarvis@threads.net, New York Post, @blackamazon.bsky.social, The Hill, @ivanthek, @kalihays1@threads.net, @ErikJonker@mastodon.social, Jason Calacanis on Startups, @davidclinchnews, @jeffjarvis@threads.net, The Guardian, New York Daily News, Publishers Weekly, Reuters, Mother Jones, Variety, The New York Times Company, The Messenger, News/Media Alliance and Publishers Lunch, more at Techmeme »

Al Tompkins / Poynter:

The FCC rejects radio and TV broadcasters' call for deregulation, reaffirming rules on the number of TV or radio stations that owners can control in a market — The owners had argued for looser ownership restrictions given the growth of social media, podcasts and other online services.

Discussion: Federal Communications …, The Desk, @mglowe@mstdn.social, @panamared27401@mstdn.social, RadioInsight, Inside Radio and Next TV

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

Lionsgate closes its acquisition of Hasbro's eOne for $375M plus assuming some production financing loans; Lionsgate's library grows by 6,500 film and TV titles — Lionsgate said today its acquisition of global entertainment platform eOne from Hasbro is done.

Discussion: Variety, IndieWire, The Wrap, ComingSoon.net, The Hollywood Reporter and Media Play News

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Amazon plans to start showing ads in movies and shows on Prime Video from January 29, with an option for customers to pay an extra $2.99 per month to avoid them — Earlier this year, Amazon announced plans to start incorporating ads into movies and TV shows streamed from its Prime Video service …

Washington Post:

Sources: India pressed Apple to come up with alternative explanations for warning Indian journalists and opposition politicians of state-sponsored iPhone hacks — NEW DELHI — A day after Apple warned independent Indian journalists and opposition party politicians in October that government hackers …

Discussion: @gerryshih, @carnage4life@mas.to, @evacide and Joseph Menn on LinkedIn, more at Techmeme »

Brooks Barnes / New York Times:

Box office trends in 2023: audiences sought comfort, flocking to see Barbie, Taylor Swift, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and mostly skipped superhero movies — Movie audiences flocked to Taylor Swift, “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” but were cooler toward returning superheroes like the Flash, Captain Marvel and Aquaman.

Discussion: New York Times and ThePrint

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:

Filing: Paramount Global parent company National Amusements experienced a data breach in December 2022, in which hackers stole information on 82,128 people — National Amusements, the cinema chain and corporate parent giant of media giants Paramount and CBS, has confirmed it experienced …

Discussion: Gizmodo, The Record, Bloomberg, The Wrap, @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social and Cord Cutters News

Olivia Prentzel / The Colorado Sun:

The Colorado Springs Independent, a weekly alternative outlet that has served Colorado Springs for over 30 years, indefinitely ceases publication on December 27 — For three decades, the progressive weekly provided residents in Colorado's second-largest city with an alternate source of news …

Discussion: Inside the News in Colorado, @ryanmlowery, @corey_hutchins@threads.net and Talking Biz News

Andrew Jack / Financial Times:

France's Sorbonne University switches to OpenAlex, a nonprofit academic data provider, boosting a growing movement to make research available for free — Paris university's ‘radical decision’ to join OpenAlex challenges for-profit providers — A leading French university has cancelled …

Discussion: @drmarcduffy, Alexandre Zagoskin on LinkedIn, @openalex_org and @petersuber@fediscience.org

Bartosz Brzeziński / Politico:

Poland's new government taking sweeping steps to free its state media sets off a political war, including the appointment of two dueling chiefs of public TV — WARSAW — Poland's new pro-EU government has taken sweeping steps to free state media from the political stranglehold imposed …

Discussion: Semafor, Notes From Poland, Reuters and Reuters

Wall Street Journal:

A look at ReelShort, a Chinese-backed app featuring dramas with episodes that last a minute; its CEO says it has generated $22M in revenue since its 2022 launch — ReelShort aims to succeed where Quibi failed—with cheesy plots and supernatural elements packed into one-minute episodes

Associated Press:

Study: social media companies collectively made nearly $11B in US ad revenue from minors in 2022; YouTube derived the most from users 12 and under, at $959.1M — Social media companies collectively made over $11 billion in U.S. advertising revenue from minors last year …

Discussion: MediaPost, PLOS and Harvard T.H. Chan School …, more at Techmeme »

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Chartbeat Blog:
A list of 2023's most engaging stories: CNN had the most entries on the list, and most prominent themes were “catastrophe”, “memorial”, and “human connection”

Discussion: @noahshachtman, @gaydos_ and @kevinroose

Paige Skinner / HuffPost:
Literally Media, which owns Know Your Meme, Cracked, and other brands, acquires MEL magazine from Recurrent Ventures and plans to restart publishing in 2024

Discussion: @markstenberg3@threads.net, Business Wire and MediaPost

Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Broadcast ratings sank in fall 2023 due to the Hollywood strikes; ABC and NBC fared best thanks to NFL games, CBS and Fox fell 32% YoY and 26% YoY, respectively

Discussion: TVLine and @tvgrimreaper

Larry Neumeister / Associated Press:
A US judge rejects Project Veritas' First Amendment claim in the case of the alleged theft of a diary of Biden's daughter; prosecutors may get to see 900+ docs

Discussion: Boing Boing, Vanity Fair, The Messenger and Associated Press

Alexandra Canal / Yahoo Finance:
Analysts expect another wave of consolidation in 2024 for the media sector, after a year in which PwC says media and telecom deal volume and values fell further

Discussion: Forbes and Yahoo Finance

Angela Watercutter / Wired:
Hollywood unions resisting AI being used to recreate actors' performances sets a precedent for future labor movements on how to push back against automation

Discussion: @afterlifelord, @carnage4life@mas.to and @waterslicer, more at Techmeme »

Erin Nolan / New York Times:
Major outlets sign a letter complaining about NYC's plan to move police reporters out of NYPD's HQ; NYC says the move would let more outlets cover the police

Discussion: @catherine_lucey, @jbflint, @steveashleyplus, @mediaevan, @mikesisak and @mikesisak

Earlier Picks:

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Nielsen: YouTube's share of US viewership by 2- to 11-year-olds jumped from 29.4% in September 2021 to 33% in September 2023, while Netflix fell from 25% to 21%

Discussion: Tubefilter, @tvgrimreaper, @waywardboobs.bsky.social, @lincc.bsky.social, The Streamable, Cord Cutters News and Business Insider

The Information:
Sources: Reddit expects 2023 ad revenue to grow 20%+ YoY to slightly over $800M; a source says Reddit was not profitable through the first nine months of 2023

Discussion: @jimmylittle@threads.net, @jimmylittle@threads.net, @carnage4life@threads.net, @documentingmeta@threads.net, @camwilsonreporter@threads.net, @ianbetteridge@threads.net, @elijahlrc@threads.net, @edzitron@threads.net, @trace_cohen, MediaPost, Benzinga, @nickit_s@threads.net, The Verge and @carnage4life@mas.to

Maris Kreizman / New York Times:
Goodreads' combative culture is antithetical to the spirit in which the service was started, and fixing that requires more human moderation to monitor its users

Discussion: @grvsmth@lingo.lol, @derekkrissoff, @jenreadsromance, @joshgondelman, @mariskreizman, @harikunzru, @contemptonly, @mattzollerseitz, @mariskreizman, @mariskreizman, @rhappe@threads.net and @raisingself@threads.net

Helen Davidson / The Guardian:
An interview with Sebastien Lai about his father and media tycoon Jimmy Lai's “sham trial”, how Hong Kong weaponized the law to shut down Apple Daily, and more

Discussion: @heguisen

Jennifer Jenkins / Duke University School of Law:
Music, movies, and books from 1928, such as D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, and sound recordings from 1923 will enter the US public domain on January 1

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From Techmeme:

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
OpenAI's new GPT-4o-powered image generator is now available to all users; Sam Altman last week mentioned a limit of three images per day for free-tier users

CNBC:
Circle files for a US IPO, with plans to list on the NYSE under CRCL; Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin, is reportedly seeking a $4B to $5B valuation

John Hudson / Washington Post:
Sources: WH national security adviser Michael Waltz and other National Security Council members have conducted government affairs over personal Gmail accounts

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