Mediagazer: The Eugene Weekly plans to return to print on February 8, rehiring essential staff after $150K in donations, following an alleged embezzlement in December 2023 (Nathan Wilk/OPB)

Sirius XM acquires rights to SmartLess, a podcast by Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes, sources say for $100M+; Amazon previously paid $60M-$80M — - The popular interview program has spent three years at Amazon — Actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes host the show

Discussion: Sirius XM Holdings Inc., @lucas_shaw, @frankyarriola, @johnjedwards3, CNN, Deadline, Radio Ink, @lucas_shaw, Inside Radio, The Verge, @shaun_obanion, @pkafka@threads.net, @variety, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Digital Trends and Cord Cutters News

Nathan Wilk / OPB:

The Eugene Weekly plans to return to print on February 8, rehiring essential staff after $150K in donations, following an alleged embezzlement in December 2023 — The Eugene Weekly is planning to return to print Feb. 8, as it continues its recovery following an alleged embezzlement.

Discussion: @seangraf, @katunews, @clairearush, @bodrell, @binthenl, MediaPost, New York Times and Associated Press

Haroon Siddique / The Guardian:

The Daily Mirror faces a claim for ~£2M in legal costs after Prince Harry won substantial damages last month in his phone-hacking case against the publisher — Judge ruled that Mirror Group Newspapers' titles all used ‘extensive’ unlawful information gathering

Discussion: Telegraph, The i Paper, Sky News, Associated Press, Press Gazette and Reuters

Theo Francis / Wall Street Journal:

Reed Hastings donates $1.1B worth of his Netflix shares, or ~40% of his stake, to Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a popular charity among tech founders — Reed Hastings donates to foundation with $10 billion in assets after gifts from Mark Zuckerberg and other tech founders

Discussion: Variety, CNBC, Bloomberg, Deadline, Variety and The Information

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Bloomberg starts providing AI-generated summaries of companies' earnings calls on its terminal; the company has more than 310,000 subscribers to its terminal — Bloomberg is now providing artificial intelligence summaries of company's earnings calls on its terminal.

Discussion: Institutional Investor, @fxfinancefeeds, @sserve, Bloomberg L.P. and @vanrijmenam

Christopher Kuo / New York Times:

Ukraine's foreign ministry criticizes HBO for casting Milos Bikovic in The White Lotus' season three, saying without evidence the Serbian actor supports Russia — On social media, Ukraine's foreign ministry posted clips of the Serbian actor Milos Bikovic receiving a medal for cultural achievement from Vladimir Putin in 2018.

Discussion: @mfa_ukraine, Deadline, The Messenger, New York Post, Variety, Deadline, Agence France-Presse, UPROXX, Vanity Fair, Balkan Insight, The Daily Beast and Politico

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Plex raised new funding, larger than the $50M funding it raised in 2021, and expects to be profitable by the end of 2024 — Media streamer Plex has raised new capital. The company, which began as a media organization startup, has morphed over the years to become a one-stop shop for all your media …

Discussion: @limebar@mastodon.social

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

An interview with Mail Online executives on rolling out its new £4.99 per month Mail+ tier to all UK users, the £12.99 per month Mail+ Editions app, and more — Mail Online is building on a “great position of strength” from its “huge, loyal, engaged, direct audience” …

Alex Barinka / Bloomberg:

TikTok is testing a feature that could make all posts shoppable, by identifying objects in videos and prompting users to “find similar items on TikTok Shop” — - Feature links products to any posts, not just influencers — TikTok is testing a feature that could make all posts shoppable …

Discussion: @carnage4life, The Information, The Messenger and Ad Age, more at Techmeme »

Max Goldbart / Deadline:

Memo: Channel 4 plans to merge commissioning departments, including TV drama and film, leave a London premises, and more, part of a five-year Fast Forward plan — Channel 4 is merging several commissioning departments including TV drama and film and leaving its Horseferry Road premises …

Discussion: @scottygb, @bectu, @halalltakeaway, @jake_kanter, Mediaite, The Guardian, BBC, Broadband TV News and The Guardian

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Channel 4 plans to lay off 18% of its staff, impacting ~200 jobs and closing ~40 unfilled roles, to become a “digital-first public service streamer by 2030”

Discussion: @scottygb, @joshoewaa, WORLD SCREEN, CampaignUK, Broadband TV News, Variety and Financial Times

Ben Strauss / Washington Post:

Sports Illustrated's union files an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB, alleging retaliation and union-busting after the mass layoffs this month — The union representing the staff of Sports Illustrated filed an unfair labor practice charge against the magazine's publisher …

Discussion: NewsGuild of New York, Sportico, Awful Announcing and The Wrap

Reuters:

UK sanctions Iranian officials who were found by an ITV report to be involved in plots to assassinate two TV presenters from Iran International in the UK — Britain on Monday imposed sanctions on Iranian officials it said were involved in threats to kill journalists on British soil …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Deadline and Press Association

Patrick Frater / Variety:

CNN Philippines plans to close on January 31, impacting up to 300 jobs; the outlet launched in 2015 under a brand licensing deal and, a source says, lost $89M+ — CNN Philippines is to close down on Wednesday, the company announced on Monday local time. The move means up to 300 jobs will be lost.

Discussion: Adweek, CNN Philippines, @cnnphilippines and Deadline