Mediagazer: TelevisaUnivision plans to launch an ad-supported tier of its Spanish-language streamer, ViX, later in 2024 “at a lower price point with a moderate ad load” (Brian Steinberg/Variety)

9:00 PM ET, January 16, 2024

Top News:

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

Disney does not endorse the nominations of Nelson Peltz and James Rasulo put forth by Peltz's Trian Fund, nor does it endorse the nominations made by Blackwells — Disney CEO Bob Iger's compensation totaled about $31.6 million for the company fiscal year ended Sept. 30. It includes most of the year.

Discussion: Reuters, The Information, @laurenshirsch, The Walt Disney Company, @alexweprin and The Hollywood Reporter

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Filing: Disney CEO Bob Iger's compensation was $31.6M in 2023, down from $45.9M in 2021, his last prior full year of employment at the company — Disney CEO Bob Iger saw his compensation hit $31.6 million in 2023 — down from $45.9 million in 2021, his last prior full year of employment at the company.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, US Securities and Exchange Commission and @joerussotweets

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

News outlets calling Trump as the winner of the Iowa caucuses early infuriates his Republican rivals and prompts new hand-wringing about the media and elections — No votes had been cast at some locations when The Associated Press and TV networks projected Donald Trump as the winner, half an hour after the caucuses began.

Colin Salao / TheStreet:

Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers Badan says she is stepping down after joining in 2016 and overseeing massive growth at the outlet — Ayers Badan was sentimental in a video posted to social media. — Barstool Sports is losing its CEO. — Erika Ayers Badan, the CEO of Barstool Sports posted on X …

Discussion: New York Post, @stoolpresidente, @barstoolnate, Daily Mail, @erika_, The Messenger, Variety, @barstoolbigcat, @joepompliano, New York Post, Barrett Media, The Wrap, Bloomberg and Awful Announcing

Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:

Nielsen: the Emmy Awards drew their smallest audience ever with 4.3M viewers, down 27% YoY, hitting a low in viewers for the fifth time in the past six years — Airing opposite an NFL playoff game and Iowa caucus coverage, the delayed ceremony tumbles again.

Discussion: Variety, Adweek, Los Angeles Times, IndieWire, New York Times, The Wrap, The A.V. Club, @jbflint, Deadline, @theinsneider, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @tvmojoe, @tzmorsy, @tvmojoe and @dylanbyers

The Wrap:

Sources: the LAT suffers from its owner meddling in editorial decisions and from a lack of vision without a CEO; a former editor estimates it's losing $50M/year — Respected editor Kevin Merida abruptly resigned last week after getting fed up with owner interference in the newsroom

Discussion: Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, The Objective, @paulimeth, @sharonwaxman, @sharonwaxman, @dabeard, @ckrewson, @dicktofel, @jayrosen_nyu and @zpleat

Kenneth Li / Reuters:

Thomson Reuters acquires World Business Media, a subscription-based, 25-person outlet providing news and analysis on the insurance market — said on Tuesday it acquired World Business Media Limited, a subscription-based provider of news and analysis on the insurance and reinsurance market.

Discussion: Thomson Reuters and Talking Biz News

David Folkenflik / @davidfolkenflik:

[Thread] In a meeting with staffers, The Baltimore Sun's new owner claims he paid nine figures, had read the paper just four times, and the Sun was profitable — The Baltimore Sun's new owner, David D. Smith, met with staffers today for more than two hours. Many left on edge. He claimed he had read the paper just four times. He grew up here; his family's local TV empire - Sinclair - is based in Baltimore Co. Other highlights:

Discussion: Nieman Lab, The Baltimore Banner, @pdavis_llc, @bgrueskin, @kyoshino, @davidfolkenflik, @tysonbrody, @davidfolkenflik, @clarajeffery, @bencjacobs, @jamesebriggs, Axios, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, @jayrosen_nyu and Next TV

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Sources: Red Ventures has approached buyers about selling CNET for at least $250M, after acquiring the outlet and other sites for $500M in 2020 — Red Ventures, the digital media and marketing juggernaut based in Fort Mill, South Carolina, has approached strategic buyers about offloading tech news …

Discussion: @tim_stevens, @bmorrissey, @saschasegan, @thezedwards, @ernie.tedium.co, @ernie@writing.exchange, @mediaevan, @afillari, @samantharmeller, @thekenyeung@threads.net, Sara Fischer on LinkedIn, @ashleyesqueda, @alex, @andrewkrok and Talking Biz News

Rebecca Sun / The Hollywood Reporter:

Adobe and the Adobe Foundation commit $6M to launch The Adobe Film & TV Fund to support the work of existing nonprofits that help underrepresented creators — The company and its foundation is collaborating with the NAACP, Easterseals, Gold House, Latinx House, Sundance Institute and Yuvaa in its first year.

Discussion: Adobe Press Releases, IndieWire, Deadline, Variety, @adobe, The Adobe Blog, @adobe and The Wrap

Dan Kennedy / Media Nation:

Worcester, MA-based The 016 says the news-oriented social network with no algorithmic feed had 17M email opens and 13M click-throughs over the past five years — Congratulations to Mark Henderson, a Worcester media entrepreneur who's celebrating the fifth anniversary of The 016 …

Discussion: The 016, @henderson_mark and @dankennedy_nu@journa.host

Shelby Talcott / Semafor:

ABC News and WMUR-TV cancel their scheduled Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire after Nikki Haley and Donald Trump refused an invitation — The News — That appears to be it for the Republican primary debates. ABC News and WMUR-TV announced on Tuesday they were canceling …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Hill, TVLine, The Desk, Washington Post, @gartenberg, Axios, Deadline, Reuters, ABC News, @benjysarlin, @shelbytalcott and @lizchar

Winston Cho / Hollywood Reporter:

FilmLA: Los Angeles film and TV production fell 36.4% YoY to 5,520 shoot days in Q4 amid the Hollywood strikes, marking the fourth consecutive quarterly drop — The actors and writers strikes, combined with runaway production, led to some of the lowest production levels in the city's recorded history.

Discussion: The Wrap, Variety, Bloomberg, Deadline, Los Angeles Times and FilmLA

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

TelevisaUnivision plans to launch an ad-supported tier of its Spanish-language streamer, ViX, later in 2024 “at a lower price point with a moderate ad load” — TelevisaUnivision plans to launch an ad-supported version of its Spanish-language streamer, ViX, later in 2024 …

Discussion: Next TV, The Hollywood Reporter and TelevisaUnivision

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More News:

Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney and 20th Century settle a lawsuit from TSG, which accused them of withholding profits and self-dealing to boost sub numbers for their streaming services

Discussion: The Wrap

Emma Roth / The Verge:
Google is cutting “a few hundred roles globally” on its advertising sales team, mainly affecting a unit that sells ads to large businesses

Discussion: MediaPost, Mumbrella, Business Insider, The Hill, Ars Technica, New York Post, Reuters and The Messenger

Samuel Agini / Financial Times:
Sources: UK-based TV producer Box to Box raised ~£30M from NY-based Bruin Capital to help fund its expansion; Bruin is taking a minority stake in Box to Box

Discussion: Barrett Media, George Pyne on LinkedIn, Adam Hodgson on LinkedIn, Jon Stubbings on LinkedIn, Deadline, Sportico and The Hollywood Reporter

Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Apple details select streaming and sports apps available on Vision Pro at launch, including Disney+, ESPN, MLB, PGA, Max, and TikTok; some will have 3D movies

Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg:
Netflix tests a joint subscription plan with French retailer Carrefour in a pilot project in Bordeaux and Rouen, to win more customers to its cheapest ad tier

Discussion: Seeking Alpha, ESM Magazine, Broadband TV News and Ad Age

Beatrice Nolan / Business Insider:
MrBeast uploads his first X video to test its ad revenue system; in December 2023, MrBeast said a billion views on X “wouldn't fund a fraction of” of his videos

Discussion: Tubefilter, @joetidy, @lindayax, @lindayax, @kingmike273, @mrbeast, @elonmusk, Blaze Media, @xbusiness, @harleyf, @mrbeast, indy100, Dexerto, Hindustan Times, The Daily Beast, NDTV, Times of India, Mashable India culture, Yahoo Tech, Bloomberg and Cord Cutters News

Earlier Picks:

Damilare Dosunmu / Rest of World:
How Spotify's on-the-ground work in Nigeria, like hiring local staff, contributed to the success of Afrobeats, which grew 550% on Spotify between 2017 and 2022

Discussion: David Adeleke on LinkedIn, Olaoluwa Alabi on LinkedIn and LinkedIn, more at Techmeme »

Chloe Mac Donnell / The Guardian:
A look at the surge of fashion content on Substack, as veteran fashion editors, stylists, and other newsletter writers give shopping recommendations

Discussion: @simondowens@threads.net

David Segal / New York Times:
A look at music streaming fraud, including bot farms and pirates relabeling musicians' work to steal revenue; Beatdapp estimates fraud costs musicians $2B/year

Discussion: The Times of Israel, Billboard, Brent Craige on LinkedIn, Andrew Batey on LinkedIn, @klonick, @soupsranjan, @surrealist888, @zernerlaw, @orinkerr, @pogue and Breakfast At Ralf's

Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
WBD's HBO and Max won 31 awards at the 75th Emmy Awards, while Netflix won 22, FX 16, Apple TV+ 10, Disney+ nine, Amazon Prime Video six, and NBC five

Calum Jaspan / Sydney Morning Herald:
Nine names Tory Maguire, the current executive editor of SMH and The Age, as its Managing Director of Publishing, after James Chessell resigned in December

Discussion: Mumbrella

Clare Malone / New Yorker:
How Clarissa Ward, the first Western reporter to enter Gaza without an IDF escort since October 7, highlights Arab suffering as she faces pro-Israel bias claims

Discussion: The Times of Israel and @lconecnn

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
Constellation Energy plans to invest $1.6B to revive the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania and sell all the output to Microsoft data centers

Bloomberg:
A profile of Xbox President Sarah Bond, who helped mollify the UK CMA concerning the Activision acquisition and is leading a transformation of the Xbox division

George Hammond / Financial Times:
Sources: Thrive Capital has already provided $1B+ to OpenAI as part of the $6.5B round; OpenAI's existing backers a16z and Sequoia Capital are not participating

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