Mediagazer: Source: MLB rejected a ~$150M investment by Amazon to bail out bankrupt Diamond Sports because Amazon wanted a streaming deal for more than one year (Josh Kosman/New York Post)

3:30 PM ET, January 9, 2024

Top News:

In a memo to staff, Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida announces he is stepping down on January 12, two-and-a-half years after joining the newsroom — Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida announced Tuesday that he was stepping down 2½ years after joining …

Discussion: @benmullin, Talking Biz News, Mediaite, The Wrap, Variety, New York Times, Deadline, @jonnypeltz, @simonesnews, @benmullin, @raineytime, The Hollywood Reporter, @maxwelltani and @megjameslat

Thomas Germain / Gizmodo:

X suspended several podcasters and journalists, including The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Texas Observer's Steven Monacelli, with little to no explanation — Elon Musk's “free speech” social media platform banned a number of accounts recently critical of Israel.

Kashish Tandon / Reuters:

India's Zee Entertainment remains committed to its $10B Sony India merger, calling media reports of the deal falling through “baseless and factually incorrect” — India's Zee Entertainment (ZEE.NS) on Tuesday said it was committed to its merger with Sony's (6758.T) local arm …

Discussion: Financial Times, Advanced Television, Anto Antony on LinkedIn and Bloomberg

Bloomberg:
Sources: Zee misses a deadline to pay $200M to Disney's India unit for cricket TV rights, citing a cash crunch; Zee agreed to pay $1.4B+ in August 2022

Discussion: Anto Antony on LinkedIn

Julie Jargon / Wall Street Journal:

Meta plans to start automatically restricting teen Instagram and Facebook accounts from harmful content, including posts about self-harm, in the coming weeks — Efforts to curb harmful material and reduce unwanted interactions with teen social-media accounts come as states sue parent company Meta

Discussion: Meta, CNN, Reuters, TechCrunch, @andymstone, The Verge, The Hill, Ricardo Dalmaso Marques on LinkedIn, 9to5Mac and NPR, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

On Wednesday, CNBC plans to launch a $99 paid course on job interviewing, its first, part of a new educational venture developed by its “Make It” franchise — CNBC on Wednesday will debut its first paid course as part of a new educational venture developed by the editorial team behind CNBC's …

Discussion: Talking Biz News

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

SAG-AFTRA signs a deal with AI voiceover company Replica Studios, requiring consent to create voice replicas for use in video games and safe storage of assets — The union announced the deal with Replica Studios on Tuesday at CES in Las Vegas. Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union's executive director …

Discussion: SAG-AFTRA, Bloomberg, @GreenFire@mstdn.social and The Hollywood Reporter

Josh Kosman / New York Post:

Source: MLB rejected a ~$150M investment by Amazon to bail out bankrupt Diamond Sports because Amazon wanted a streaming deal for more than one year — Major League Baseball rejected a proposed roughly $150 million lifeline extended by Amazon to the nation's largest regional sports network …

Discussion: Awful Announcing, The Streamable, Sports Business Journal, @jl_baseball, @mitch_from_mi, Next TV, @loudmouthjulia and Cord Cutters News

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Fox Corp. debuts Verify, a blockchain protocol developed with Polygon Labs for media companies to register content and grant usage rights to AI companies — Fox Corp., one of the largest media companies in the U.S., has publicly debuted a new blockchain platform called Verify …

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety, The Information, @ryansingel@writing.exchange, TechCrunch, CoinDesk, TVNewsCheck and @bgrueskin

New York Times:

Elections and disinfo are colliding like never before in 2024, as social networks reduce protections and state influence campaigns and AI-fueled disinfo ramp up — A wave of elections coincides with state influence operations, a surge of extremism, A.I. advances and a pullback in social media protections.

Discussion: @brennancenter, more at Techmeme »

Nic Newman / Reuters Institute:

Survey of 314 news leaders from 56 countries: just 47% say they are confident about journalism's 2024 prospects; 63% worry about declining social media traffic — The disruptive power of artificial intelligence (AI) will sweep through the information space this year at a time of intense political …

Discussion: BuzzMachine, @risj_oxford, Press Gazette, Mitali Mukherjee on LinkedIn, @nicnewman, @charliebeckett, HoldtheFrontPage and Fast Company

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

X announces exclusive original programming and content deals, including shows hosted by Don Lemon, former Fox Sports host Jim Rome, and Tulsi Gabbard — The tech company also announced a 10-show deal with Range Media Partners, and a deal with Tulsi Gabbard.

Discussion: Mediaite, Bloomberg, TVLine, X, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, The Wrap, @donlemon, The Daily Beast, @mxvh.bsky.social, @ken-w.us, The Verge, @justinbaragona, @shaunmmaguire, @lulumeservey, @kevincollier, @tuckercarlson, Reclaim The Net, @elonmusk, @fbihop.bsky.social, @keithedwards@threads.net, @popecrocodylus.bsky.social, The Daily Caller, @bubbaprog.ilovecitr.us, Politico, @misterjayem.bsky.social, @streetsajed.bsky.social, @jillian.bsky.social, @jzembik.bsky.social, @kevinmkruse.bsky.social, @theoneleila.bsky.social, @outerbororoyal.bsky.social, Deadline, @dell.bsky.social, @aaronvandorn.bsky.social, @golikehellmachine.bsky.social, @xbusiness, @apocalypticanow.bsky.social, @insidejoke.bsky.social, @earnestpettie.com, @jimrome, @xbusiness, @bartenderhemry.bsky.social, @russbengtson.bsky.social, @daveanthony.bsky.social, @tressiemcphd.bsky.social and @tulsigabbard

Radio & Television Business Report:

iHeartMedia partners with supply-side platform Magnite to offer advertisers a single entry point for audio ads on its radio, streaming, and podcast platforms — It's something championed and pioneered on the TV side of the linear media business by NBCUniversal.

Discussion: Inside Radio, @magnite, RADIO ONLINE and Magnite

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More News:

Etan Vlessing / Hollywood Reporter:
Imax says its 2023 box office was $1.06B, near 2019's $1.1B record and up 24.4% YoY, with $393.2M in North America, its highest grossing year ever in the region

Discussion: Variety, ScreenRant, IMAX Corporation and The Hollywood Reporter

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Amazon announces Matter Casting, an Apple AirPlay-like feature to send video from different platforms to Amazon devices, initially supporting Echo Show devices

Discussion: TechCrunch, The Streamable, 9to5Google, The Desk, The Verge, Advanced Television, Thurrott and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »

The Guardian:
Memo: Channel 4 Chair Ian Cheshire says the government-approved appointments of four white directors to the broadcaster's board lag behind its diversity targets

Discussion: Deadline, @roziebreen, Telegraph, The Express & Star, Mediaite, Daily Mail and @jake_kanter

Jody Godoy / Reuters:
Netflix defeats a shareholder lawsuit claiming the company hid the impact of account sharing; NFLX fell ~50% from January to April 2022 after growth warnings

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

Mia Sato / The Verge:
How the internet reshaped itself around Google's search algorithms, including via SEO tricks, and the company's role in many websites now using similar designs

Discussion: Michelle Manafy on LinkedIn, @miarsato, @ct_bergstrom@fediscience.org, @scott@typetura.social, @katienotopoulos@threads.net and @reckless1280@threads.net, more at Techmeme »

Press Gazette:
An analysis of 23 leading paywalled publishers: the price of a digital news subscription rose by 20% on average in the UK in 2023; Bloomberg's grew by 50%

Discussion: @baekdal, Media Voices and Press Gazette

Earlier Picks:

Steve Pond / The Wrap:
Out of 321 Oscar-qualifying films of 2023, just 265 are eligible for Best Picture, as the Academy starts enforcing its Representation and Inclusion Standards

Discussion: New York Post, @davidpoland, @expert_oscar, Gizmodo, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire

The Guardian:
Some Israeli journalists say Israeli media's uniformly patriotic vision of reality that omits the plight of Palestinians leaves viewers dangerously disconnected

Discussion: Al Jazeera, National Union of Journalists …, Stephan Bianchi on LinkedIn, @glynmoody@mastodon.social and Politico

Casey Newton / Platformer:
Substack plans to remove some Nazi publications, but its new policy interpretation won't include proactively removing neo-Nazi and far-right extremism content

Discussion: CNN, The Verge, @jbenton, @brianstelter, Engadget, @jasonkoebler@threads.net, @brian.fishman.5@threads.net, @fraying@xoxo.zone, @LyleDAL@universeodon.com, @neurovagrant@masto.deoan.org, @crumbler@threads.net, @ernie@writing.exchange, @thisismissem@hachyderm.io and Rolling Stone, more at Techmeme »

Jon Lafayette / Next TV:
Roxi, a voice-activated video music service backed by Simon Cowell and others, plans to expand from UK to the US in Q1 on most streaming devices and smart TVs

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, Music Ally, Billboard and Advanced Television

Mia Sato / The Verge:
YouTube updates its cyberbullying policy to ban AI-generated content that “realistically simulates” deceased children or victims of crimes or deadly events

Discussion: Gizmodo, 404 Media, McAfee, @easygenie, @ivanofhk, MediaNama, @iedamarcondes.com and TechCrunch

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

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

Paresh Dave / Wired:
Google says it wouldn't force its device makers, browser, and wireless carrier licensees to distribute Gemini to US users for three years, in a proposed remedy

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