Top News:
John Koblin / New York Times:
Sources: Netflix plans to begin streaming HBO's Sex and the City in early April 2024, but the series' spinoff And Just Like That will remain exclusive to Max — Media companies that had been reluctant to are increasingly offering shows to Netflix, which is pulling further ahead in the streaming wars.
Discussion:
@dylanbyers, Screen Rant, Variety, TVLine, @tim_bays, @tvmojoe, @tvgrimreaper, @jbflint, The Hollywood Reporter, @pkafka, Deadline, Media Play News, The Wrap and Rolling Stone
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Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q4 revenue up 12.5% YoY to $8.83B, vs. $8.71B est., paid users up 12.8% to 260.3M, vs. 256M est., $938M net income, up from $55M; NFLX jumps 8%+
Discussion:
SlashFilm, The Hollywood Reporter, Niels Langereis on LinkedIn, NBC 7 San Diego, NME, @pkafka, @jasonkilar, @tvgrimreaper, @tvmojoe, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, Associated Press, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, Netflix, Business Insider, Axios, Financial Times, Thurrott, NBC Bay Area, The Streamable, The Messenger, IndieWire, Sarah Whitten on LinkedIn, Media Play News, Bloomberg and NBC Bay Area, more at Techmeme »
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Netflix plans to to retire its ad-free Basic plan in some countries where ad-supported plans are available, starting with Canada and the UK in Q2 2024
Discussion:
The Streamable, Business Insider, Broadband TV News, iPhone in Canada Blog, BGR, Benzinga, Mashable, @tvgrimreaper, @alex, @sherman4949, The A.V. Club, @tim_bays, @tvmojoe, Engadget, The Messenger, AppleInsider, @dtgeek@mastodon.social, Variety, @ianbetteridge@writing …, Hollywood Reporter, 9to5Mac, CNBC and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
Originality AI: 88%+ of the top US news outlets now block AI companies' web crawlers; leading right-wing outlets, like Breitbart and Newsmax, mostly permit them — Nearly 90 percent of top news outlets like The New York Times now block AI data collection bots from OpenAI and others.
Angela Fu / Poynter:
Texas Tribune staff vote to unionize, five months after the outlet's first layoffs; CEO Sonal Shah says the company will respect their right to representation — The Tribune's union campaign comes a week after workers at the San Antonio Report announced their own union.
Discussion:
The Texas Tribune, Nieman Lab, Austin Chronicle, @hanaatameez, @sdkstl and The NewsGuild
Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
The Los Angeles Times' layoffs have hit the outlet's Latino-focused vertical De Los, which was launched in 2023, and the Washington, DC bureau — “We are not in turmoil. We have a real plan,” the paper's owner, billionaire businessman Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, said.
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Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
The Los Angeles Times plans to lay off at least 115 people, or more than 20% of the newsroom, citing annual losses of between $30M and $40M
Discussion:
@mattdpearce, Washington Post, @nickbaumann, @latguild, @davidfolkenflik, Deadline, @cmsub, @borisk, The Guardian, @byjackharris, @morgan_sung, @melissagomez004, @aritbenie, Newser, @morgan_sung, The Overspill, @loisbeckett, @joaquincastrotx, @sagaftra, @farhip, @bcmerchant, @erinblogan, @bernstein, @jeffbercovici, @aaschapiro, @alexbruell, @jeongpark52, @justinbaragona, @lucas_shaw, @jbflint, @emma_dumain, @buffywicks, @josephfcox, @laura_nelson, @noahshachtman, @ivanthek, @ferniecommaalex, @erinoverbey, @elex_michaelson, @passionweiss, @jason_koebler, @rogerwcheng, @mikeisaac, @josephfcox, @fbajak, @lydiadepillis, Daniel Melling on LinkedIn, @jbflint, @blowryontv, @tim_bays, @bryancurtis, @sammy_roth, CNN, Associated Press, @kbode@threads.net, HuffPost, @jeridansky@sfba.social, Politico, @kalihays1@threads.net, @lpolgreen@threads.net, @emilybellnyc@threads.net, New York Times, LAist, The Wrap, New York Post, @cwarzel@threads.net, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, @sorayamcdonald@threads.net, @mcwm@threads.net, The Hill, The Messenger, @taylorlorenz@threads.net, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, 6abc, Variety, Talking Biz News, The Wrap, NPR, Fox News and Poynter
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
HuffPost UK increased its freelancer invoicing period from 30 to 60 days in September 2023, telling some freelancers that the outlet had “cash flow problems” — Freelances paid outstanding money after Press Gazette enquiries made. — Buzzfeed-owned Huffpost has belatedly paid …
Discussion:
@jim_edwards
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Sources: G/O Media is shopping around its portfolio of editorial assets on an individual basis, with an emphasis on offloading The Onion, which isn't profitable — The company, after working to sell its whole portfolio, is now shopping individual properties
Discussion:
@markstenberg3
Noam Cohen / Bloomberg:
As Wikimedia Russia shuts down, a look at the Kremlin-compliant Wikipedia alternative Ruwiki, which recently went live, led by an ex-Wikimedia Russia director — A campaign to replace the country's Wikipedia with a more pliant alternative seems near completion.
Ariel Shapiro / The Verge:
An interview with NPR podcasting chief Collin Campbell on its “broadcast-to-podcast” strategy, navigating the new podcasting landscape, and more — Today, I have a preview of an interview with NPR's new podcasting chief, Collin Campbell. Campbell, who is an alum of WNYC …
Discussion:
The Verge and Blubrry Podcasting
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
How podcast networks, like Acast and iHeartMedia, are testing AI tools to increase their ad sales, translate shows into different languages, and more — It seems it's not just big digital publishers like BuzzFeed and BDG looking to generative artificial intelligence tools as ways to streamline their sales process.
Discussion:
American Press Institute and Inside Radio
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Zee Entertainment urges Sony to revive their $10B merger, sues the Japanese company over the deal's termination, and says Sony seeks a $90M breakup fee from Zee — - Indian entertainment conglomerate Zee Enrtertainment on Wednesday said it urged Sony to revive their blockbuster entertainment merger …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Forbes, India Today, Dow Jones Newswires, Business Standard, Moneycontrol, The Economic Times and Reuters
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
Some independent outlets in Baltimore are seeing a spike in online traffic, subscribers, donations, and social media followers, after The Baltimore Sun's sale — “We're taking the opportunity to remind people that we are an independent, trustworthy news source in the Baltimore region — and they are responding.”
Discussion:
@halleteri, @sarahscire, @sarahscire and MediaPost
James Tapper / The Guardian:
A filing in a class action suit by 10 US artists against Midjourney and others lists 16,000 artist names whose work Midjourney had allegedly used for training — US lawyers approached about class action against Midjourney and other AI firms accused of ‘copyright laundering’
Discussion:
Isabelle Doran on LinkedIn and Cointelegraph, more at Techmeme »
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