Top News:
A.J. Perez / Front Office Sports:
The Arena Group tells Sports Illustrated staff that it will be “laying off staff that work on the SI brand” since Authentic Brands revoked the SI license — Staffers at Sports Illustrated were notified on Friday of massive layoffs—some immediately, others in short time.
Discussion:
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Filing: the Arena Group “failed to make a quarterly payment” of ~$3.75M on January 2 to Authentic Brands, the license holder of Sports Illustrated — Sports Illustrated has been hit with mass layoffs — which will potentially eliminate the entire editorial team of the nearly 70-year-old sports media brand.
Hollywood Reporter:
Authentic Brands says it will ensure that Sports Illustrated and its editorial arm “continues to thrive”; Arena Group says it is still in talks with Authentic — The cuts are arriving after Arena Group Holdings failed to make a licensing payment to Authentic Brands Group, according to a securities filing.
Discussion:
New York Post, Associated Press, @xpangler, Awful Announcing and Bloomberg
Axios:
Simplify Inventions' deal to buy a ~65% stake in Sports Illustrated owner Arena Group in August 2023 didn't close as expected by the end of 2023 — Sports Illustrated editorial staffers were warned on Friday that layoffs were coming that could affect the entire staff, according …
Discussion:
@sarafischer, Sportico, @sarafischer and Awful Announcing
Joe Lucia / Awful Announcing:
Ex-Arena Group CEO Ross Levinsohn resigns from the company's board, calling “the destruction of Sports Illustrated's storied brand and newsroom” the final straw — Ross Levinsohn during his time at Yahoo. — Former Arena Group CEO Ross Levinsohn has resigned his seat on the company's board …
Discussion:
Ross Levinsohn on LinkedIn, Barrett Media, @cujorulesdtown9, @jerrybeach73, @rohannadkarni, @blakeruane, @howardbeck and @rj_cfb
Julia Jacobs / New York Times:
A grand jury in New Mexico indicts Alec Baldwin on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting of a cinematographer on the set of “Rust” in 2021 — A grand jury in New Mexico indicted the actor in the shooting death of the cinematographer on the film “Rust,” …
Discussion:
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Ampere: the number of scripted series in the US fell 24% YoY to 481 in 2023; subscription streamers released 77 fewer seasons and broadcast TV 55 fewer seasons — Scripted TV output in the U.S. dropped sharply in 2023, thanks to a combination of twin Hollywood strikes and a pullback on content spending …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, The A.V. Club, WORLD SCREEN, The Streamable, Media Play News, @american_noona, @televisionaryzw and MediaPost
Rick Reger / Local News Initiative:
The bipartisan Illinois Local Journalism Task Force recommends tax credits, exemptions, and more to boost local media; the state lost 232 newspapers since 2005 — Illinois task force suggests tax credits, incentives, other steps to boost local journalism — The bipartisan Illinois Local …
Discussion:
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MyStateline.com, Chicago Tribune and ISDC
Christine Zhu / Politico:
The Los Angeles Times Guild staged the paper's first newsroom union work stoppage on January 19 to protest planned job cuts, with 300+ members participating — It's the first newsroom union work stoppage for the publication in its 142-year history. — Over 300 members of the Los Angeles …
Discussion:
Washington Post, SAG-AFTRA, Associated Press, LAist, @ctguild, LAmag, Courthouse News Service, @erinblogan, @apnewsguild, @kierafeldman, @angiejaime, @nafeesasyeed, The NewsGuild, The Wrap, @alexpadilla4ca, @mattdpearce, @barbaraleeforca, @eleniforca, @byalexzaragoza, @repadamschiff, @austinnewsguild, New York Post, @repjimmygomez, @joshpcain, @corbinbolies, @jason_koebler, The NewsGuild, @benmullin, @erinblogan, @gerrickkennedy, @soudijimenez, @katieporteroc, @cassiermartin, @smasunaga, @imleor.bsky.social, @latguild, The Messenger, @cmonstah, @rokhanna, Talking Biz News, Deadline, Poynter, Axios, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, The Hill and CNN
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Roundtable:
Google says it is not “boosting” AI-written articles as the 404 reporter sorted news by date rather than relevance, and there is no “free pass” to AI content — In short, Sullivan said that the way they filtered Google News was by date and not relevancy …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apollo Global is considering making an offer for National Amusements, the Redstone family company that controls Paramount Global — Apollo is one of a number investors, both wealthy individuals and professional money managers, that have reached out in recent weeks to BDT & MSD Partners …
Discussion:
Deadline, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @mattbelloni and @richlightshed
Dan Ladden-Hall / The Daily Beast:
Author Rie Kudan, this year's winner of Japan's prestigious Akutagawa Prize, reveals that ~5% of her book “quoted verbatim the sentences generated by” ChatGPT — One of the judges praised her winning book as being “flawless.” — At an award ceremony for one of Japan's …
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@ginacostag_, @novaaltxx, VICE, Boing Boing, @marc__watkins, Semafor, The Messenger and New York Post, more at Techmeme »
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