Mediagazer: HBO cuts Miloš Biković from The White Lotus cast, after Ukraine accused him of supporting Russia since its war; Biković calls the move a “disturbing precedent” (Selome Hailu/Variety)

9:15 PM ET, February 2, 2024

Top News:

Spotify and Joe Rogan sign a new multiyear deal, estimated to be worth $250M; Rogan's show will be available across podcast platforms and as videos on YouTube — Hit show to be distributed broadly, including on YouTube, rather than exclusively on audio-streaming service

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

How the EFF, Techdirt, MuckRock, and DDoSecrets are pushing back against legal threats aimed at censoring their reports on Appin's alleged hacker-for-hire past — A loose coalition of anti-censorship voices is working to highlight reports of one Indian company's hacker-for-hire past …

Discussion: Techdirt, @DaveMWilburn@infosec.exchange, @evacide@hachyderm.io, @a_greenberg, @a_greenberg, @jkdbchr, @a_greenberg and @jsrailton, more at Techmeme »

Financial Times:

China-based advertisers now account for 10% of Meta's annual revenue and contributed 5 percentage points to its total worldwide revenue growth — The US group has benefited from huge but unsustainable outlays from Chinese advertisers — Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp may be banned in China.

Discussion: The Information and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

Salvador Rodriguez / Wall Street Journal:
Meta reports Q4 revenue up 25% YoY to $40.1B, with ad revenue of $38.7B, ad impressions delivered across its Family of Apps up 21%, and average ad price up 2%

Discussion: MediaPost, Meta Investor Relations, The Information, The Wrap, @alexeheath, @alexeheath, @alexeheath, @kantrowitz, @alecmacgillis, CityAM, TVNewsCheck, Search Engine Land, MacStories, Variety and Music Ally, more at Techmeme »

Will Sommer / Washington Post:

The WSJ lays off ~30 staffers as it restructures its DC bureau and shutters the US-China news team; laid-off staffers will be allowed to apply for some new jobs — The Wall Street Journal took a hatchet to its Washington bureau on Thursday, laying off roughly 20 staffers in a restructuring …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Filing: Amazon spending on content rose 14% YoY to $18.9B in 2023 despite Hollywood strikes — While other media companies have been paring back content spending, Amazon shelled out more than $2 billion more in 2023 for TV shows, movies and music than it did a year earlier.

Discussion: Broadband TV News, @tvgrimreaper, @lucas_shaw, Deadline, @xpangler, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, The Streamable and Media Play News

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon Q4: ad revenue up 27% YoY to $14.7B, vs. $14.2B est., subscription revenue up 14% YoY to $10.5B, and North America segment sales up 13% YoY to $105.5B

Discussion: MediaPost, NBC Bay Area, Annie Palmer on LinkedIn, Spyglass, @ericjhonsa, @lucas_shaw, GeekWire, Search Engine Land, NBC 7 San Diego, CNN and The Hollywood Reporter

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: federal authorities have been investigating sexual assault and sex trafficking allegations against WWE co-founder Vince McMahon since 2022 — Authorities have been interviewing women who accuse longtime WWE boss of sexual misconduct — Federal authorities have been investigating sexual assault …

Discussion: Awful Announcing, POST Wrestling, The Morning Call, Deadline, The Wrap, Wrestlezone, The Sun, DNyuz, WFLA, BroBible, Fox News, USA Today, Metro, NBC Bay Area and VICE

Tom Jones / Poynter:

While reporting on a woman who sought assisted suicide, a Boston Globe columnist signed a form helping her to proceed, raising questions about journalism ethics — While reporting on a woman who sought assisted suicide, Kevin Cullen got personally involved, putting the Globe in an ethical dilemma.

Discussion: @kirkmin, @bostonglobe, The Boston Globe, The Boston Globe, @farhip and @poynter

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

Charter lost 248K video customers in Q4 2023, partly due to the Disney carriage dispute in September, after losing 145K video customers in Q4 2022 — UPDATED with closing price. Shares in Charter Communications dropped 16.5% Friday after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter earnings …

Discussion: MediaPost, @tvgrimreaper, Charter Communications, Hollywood Reporter, Media Play News and Reuters

Selome Hailu / Variety:

HBO cuts Miloš Biković from The White Lotus cast, after Ukraine accused him of supporting Russia since its war; Biković calls the move a “disturbing precedent” — HBO has cut Miloš Biković from the cast of “The White Lotus” Season 3 following a callout …

Discussion: TVLine, IndieWire, The Wrap, Business Insider, EW.com, New York Post, The Independent, CBR, @twmcltd, @variety, The Daily Beast, New York Times, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and DNyuz

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:

The Messenger's flop was the result of Jimmy Finkelstein's blindness to bad ideas, like its traffic-chasing strategy, not a consequence of economic headwinds — The flaws in the site's strategy were highly predictable (and repeatedly predicted). But Jimmy Finkelstein's muddled nostalgia …

Discussion: Ashley Woods Branch on LinkedIn, Techdirt, @snigdhasur, @theakglassman, @ryangrim, @jayrosen_nyu, @jragazzo, @scottnover, @nohodge, @jordannovet, @froomkin, Defector, Newser and Axios

Jonathan Randles / Bloomberg:

Diamond Sports strikes a deal to continue broadcasting Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, and Texas Rangers games through the upcoming MLB season — - Broadcaster's deals with three MLB clubs runs through 2024 — Diamond said agreements averts potential fan disruption

Discussion: Cord Cutters News, Awful Announcing, @evandrellich, Sportico, Front Office Sports, @tvgrimreaper, @matthewtaylormn, @evandrellich, Reuters and Barrett Media

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Local newsletter company 6AM City raised a $10M Series A led by Tegna; news and weather from Tegna stations will be included in 6AM newsletters in some markets — Local newsletter company 6AM City has raised more than $10 million in series A funding round led by local broadcaster Tegna, Axios has learned.

Discussion: UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL, Ryan Johnston on LinkedIn, Adam Ostrow on LinkedIn, Emily Parkhurst on LinkedIn, 6AM City and Radio & Television …

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More News:

Marc Schneider / Billboard:
Merck Mercuriadis is stepping down as CEO of Hipgnosis Song Management and will be replaced by Ben Katovsky, the company's current president and COO

Discussion: Music Business Worldwide, Digital Music News, Reuters and CMU

Dexter Thomas / Wired:
Q&A with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on the company's music festival in Mesa, AZ, his background, TikTok and music, music labels, US scrutiny, moderation, and more

Discussion: Rolling Stone, Fox News, @wired, MediaNama, Insider Intelligence, NPR, Gizmodo, Music Ally and Bloomberg

Anna Nicolaou / Financial Times:
Sources: some independent record labels are pushing back on Apple's plans to pay more for spatial audio tracks, saying it benefits larger record companies

Discussion: The Verge, MIT Technology Review, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac and MacRumors, more at Techmeme »

Chris Willman / Variety:
Chuck Philips, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times journalist known for his investigative reporting on the music industry, died in January at age 71

Discussion: Deadline, @hearinladotcom, @khal, The Daily Beast, The Wrap and Media Moves

Kevin T. Dugan / New York Magazine:
Interviews with shareholders and current and ex-employees suggest that SI's publisher Arena missed the licensing payment by choice, not because it lacked money

Discussion: @jayshams, @leomschwartz, Awful Announcing and Washington Post

Earlier Picks:

The Daily Beast:
Ex-employees of The Messenger file a class-action lawsuit against the shuttered outlet, alleging that it failed to give them proper notice ahead of their firing

Discussion: Politico, Variety, Newser, @ellefs0n, @juliareinstein, @juliareinstein, @willsommer, @benmullin, Axios, Deadline, The Hill, Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and New York Magazine

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Apple Q1: revenue from Services, which includes Apple TV+ and Apple Music, rose 11% YoY to a record $23.1B, and the installed base passed 2.2B active devices

Discussion: MacRumors, Music Ally, @neilcybart, AppleInsider, Apple, Media Play News and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Jim Edwards / Press Gazette:
Google plans to limit news publishers to tracking users across five of their own websites under its Privacy Sandbox, which is set to replace third-party cookies

Discussion: WAN-IFRA, AdExchanger, The Drum, Jim Edwards on LinkedIn, @pressgazette, Paweł Nowacki on LinkedIn, Poynter and The Register

Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
Highlights from Netflix's press event: a push for live programming, no planned theatrical releases, licensing content from others won't impact originals, more

Discussion: Wrestlezone, @tsoh_investing, @reecekelleyg, @thr, @ryansatin, @meltzersaidwhat, Deadline, Deadline, Variety, The Playlist and POST Wrestling

From Techmeme:

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Anthropic raised another $4B from Amazon, will make AWS its primary training partner, and is working with Annapurna Labs to develop new Trainium accelerators

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered developing a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
A UK CMA report finds that Apple's policies hold back innovation in mobile browsers and recommends investigating Apple and Google's mobile ecosystem activities

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