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8:00 AM ET, January 30, 2024

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 Top News: 
Andrew Goudsward / Reuters:
The US sentences IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn to five years in prison for leaking the tax returns of Donald Trump and other Americans to media outlets  —  A former U.S. Internal Revenue Service contractor was sentenced on Monday to five years in prison for leaking the tax records …
Michael Hardy / Texas Monthly:
A look at the decline of Austin American-Statesman, as Gannett steadily slashes staffing and budgets despite the paper winning a Pulitzer for Uvalde reporting  —  Since taking over the American-Statesman in 2019, Gannett has steadily slashed staffing and budgets.
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.
Bloomberg:
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
Theo Francis / Wall Street Journal:
Reed Hastings donates $1.1B worth of his Netflix shares, or ~40% of his stake, to the 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
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.
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.
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 …
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” …
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”  —  “Channel 4 was designed to be ahead of the curve and has never stood still,” says CEO Alex Mahon.
RELATED:
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
 
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 More News: 
Katie Campione / Deadline:
Nielsen: Ted Lasso was the most-watched streaming original in 2023, at 16.9B minutes, despite Apple TV+'s small footprint, followed by Netflix's The Night Agent
Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon expects Prime Video's average hourly ad load to be 2 to 3.5 minutes, below traditional TV and most streaming services, and to reach 159M monthly viewers
Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:
In response to the George Carlin estate's lawsuit, Dudesy says its YouTube video and podcast with an “AI” George Carlin were “created by two human beings”
 Earlier Picks: 
Wall Street Journal:
How Penguin Random House started actively challenging the removal of books from US school libraries, including through an “Intellectual Freedom” task force
Reuters:
German state broadcaster ARD says Israel was blocking two of its long-term Palestinian workers from leaving Gaza, citing security concerns that don't make sense
Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
A look at the US Copyright Office, which is in the spotlight as it plans to release three key reports in 2024 revealing its position on copyright law and AI
 

 
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

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

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
 
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