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7:10 AM ET, January 8, 2024

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
UK broadcaster Channel 4 plans to cut as many as 200 roles, its biggest round of layoffs in over 15 years, amid a TV ad slump; Channel 4 employs 1,200+ staff  —  Exclusive: As many as 200 roles could go as firm seeks to accelerate digital streaming strategy and limit cuts to content budget
Discussion: CityAM and Hollywood Reporter
RELATED:
Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
Internal memo: Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon says the broadcaster needs to “accelerate” its digital shift and confirms “an impact on jobs”, citing an ad slump  —  Exclusive: Broadcaster looks to hasten shake-up amid TV advertising slump with most job losses likely to affect London-based workers
Discussion: Variety and Deadline
Max Tani / Semafor:
Axel Springer launches a review of the editorial processes at BI, after a BI story claimed many instances of plagiarism by MIT's Neri Oxman, Bill Ackman's wife  —  The Scoop  —  Business Insider's parent company is divided over the publication's recent article about plagiarism allegations …
Christine Burke / Bloomberg:
Radio network Audacy reaches a deal with a supermajority of its debt holders that allows Audacy to reduce its total debt load by 80% to ~$350M  —  - Deal announced Sunday will reduce total debt load by 80%  — Radio, podcast company also files for Chapter 11 protection
Bloomberg:
Sources: Sony India plans to call off its $10B merger with Zee Entertainment due to a standoff over whether Zee CEO Punit Goenka would lead the merged entity  —  - Last-lap leadership tussle was the biggest hurdle for the deal … The Japanese conglomerate is looking to cancel the deal due …
Kateryna Kadabashy / Bloomberg:
MBC Group, the Middle East's biggest broadcaster, rises 20% on its first day of trading on the Saudi exchange, after raising $222M by selling a 10% stake  —  - MBC has raised $222 million selling a 10% stake in IPO  — Company was founded by Waleed Al Ibrahim in London in 1991
Discussion: Reuters
Brakkton Booker / Politico:
A profile of Charlamagne tha God, co-host of iHeartRadio's The Breakfast Club and a growing fixture in the US' conservative media for his criticism of Joe Biden  —  The influential radio host of “The Breakfast Club” is a thorn in the side of Democrats — but he's also representative of one of their biggest problems.
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Music industry insiders reflect on the waning influence of popular, human-curated Spotify playlists, as the company shifts towards AI-driven personalization  —  The streaming giant's shift to automation is impacting the supremacy of curated music selections  —  Welcome back to Soundbite, and happy New Year!
RELATED:
Sharon Knolle / The Wrap:
Pat McAfee, who signed a lucrative deal in 2023 for his YouTube show to air on ESPN, accuses top ESPN executive Norby Williamson of “sabotaging” his program
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
What's On Netflix data: Netflix released about 130, or 16%, fewer original programs in 2023 than 2022, after a decade of increasing output  —  After years of spending more on new shows, the company is finally shrinking how much new it has to offer.  —  Over the last 18 months …
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Taylor Swift's associates say they are dismayed by an NYT opinion piece that speculated on Swift's sexuality, calling it “invasive, untrue, and inappropriate”  —  A controversial New York Times opinion piece that openly speculated this week whether Taylor Swift is a closeted queer person …
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Mehdi Hasan says he is leaving MSNBC “to look for a new challenge”, after MSNBC cancelled his show in November 2023  —  Hasan said Sunday that he decided to leave the cable channel to pursue other ventures. … The cable news host said at the end of his show Sunday …
 
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 More News: 
Dan Kennedy / Media Nation:
Cost-cutting by Alden Global Capital and Gannett at legacy newspapers inadvertently created “a call to arms” that helped boost startup local news projects
IEEE Spectrum:
How Midjourney v6 and DALL-E 3 produce “plagiaristic outputs”, even when not directly asked to do so, which could expose users to copyright infringement claims
Financial Times:
Source: the British Library plans to spend £6M to £7M, or ~40% of its reserves, to recover from an October 2023 cyberattack that took down most of its services
Wall Street Journal:
A look at the ambitious bid to turn around the Golden Globes, as a source say CBS is paying a significantly lower licensing fee than the ~$60M NBC used to pay
 Earlier Picks: 
Washington Post:
Legal experts offer mixed opinions about how earlier copyright and fair use cases may affect The New York Times' generative AI case against OpenAI and Microsoft
Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
Joseph Lelyveld, The New York Times executive editor from 1994 to 2001 and Pulitzer Prize winner, dies at 86 from complications of Parkinson's disease
Anthony Crupi / Sportico:
Nielsen: NFL made up 93 of 2023's 100 most-watched TV broadcasts, up from 82 in 2022; SOTU and Macy's Parade were the only non-football broadcasts in the top 50
 

 
From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

Hannah Lang / Reuters:
Sources: a16z, Ripple, Kraken, and Circle are jostling for a seat on Trump's promised crypto advisory council, which is expected to set up a bitcoin reserve

 
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