Top News:
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Disney plans to launch ESPN's D2C service in August or the fall of 2025, and include integration with ESPN's fantasy platforms and ESPN Bet — - ESPN will launch its flagship direct-to-consumer streaming service in the fall of 2025, Disney CEO Bob Iger said Wednesday.
Discussion:
TechHive, @bristei, @bristei, @jtoonkel, NBC 7 San Diego, @thebauminator, @bristei, @bristei, @maccable, @richlightshed, @alex_kirshner, @sherman4949, Front Office Sports, AllEars.Net, Sports Media Watch, Engadget, Cord Cutters News, Media Play News, Awful Announcing, Sportico, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, The Wrap, Gizmodo, New York Daily News, Barrett Media and UPROXX
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Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Disney plans to invest $1.5B for a stake in Epic Games and collaborate on a new “universe” connected to Fortnite with content from Disney, Pixar, and more — - Disney is investing $1.5 billion for an equity stake in Epic Games in its biggest jump yet into the gaming world.
Discussion:
The Verge, Neowin, Emil Protalinski on LinkedIn, @mgsiegler@threads.net, @genepark, @loudmouthjulia, Ars Technica, @fortnitegame, @great_katzby, @bristei, @loudmouthjulia, @ballmatthew, @tomwarren, @disney, Yonatan Raz-Fridman on LinkedIn, Fast Company, Neil Duffy on LinkedIn, Polygon, The Information, TechCrunch, The Walt Disney Company, The Wrap, Bill Young on LinkedIn, Bloomberg, WORLD SCREEN, Engadget, Variety, Business Insider, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and KEYT-TV, more at Techmeme »
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Disney Q4: 111.3M Disney+ subscribers, down from 112.6M in Q3, Disney+ Hotstar adds 700K subscribers to 38.3M, and expects streaming profitability by Q4 2024
Discussion:
MediaPost, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei, AllEars.Net, Media Play News, The Streamable, IndieWire and ComingSoon.net
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: NFL, NBA, and other sports leagues were kept in the dark about the sports streaming platform being launched by Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox — NFL, NBA digest details of new platform looming over their businesses — Sports leagues including the National Football League …
Discussion:
Business Insider, The Hill, CNBC, @nikosray.bsky.social, The Atlantic, Ars Technica, Financial Times, Ad Age, USA Today, AllEars.Net, Axios, Associated Press, Engadget, Deadline, Reuters and New York Times
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Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Fubo says it is concerned about the “impact on fair market competition” after Disney, Fox, and WBD announced a sports streaming platform; FUBO closed down 20%+
Discussion:
@matthewkeyslive, @tvgrimreaper, The Desk, @davezatz, @matthewkeyslive, The Desk, Next TV, The Streamable, The Wrap, Media Play News, Cord Cutters News, Sports Media Watch, New York Post, The Walt Disney Company, The Guardian, The Information, MediaPost, Los Angeles Times, Business Insider and Bloomberg
Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
A sports streaming platform jointly owned by Disney, WBD, and Fox could reshape the TV industry but could also anger pay TV distributors and sports leagues
Discussion:
@sherman4949, @pkafka, @pkafka, CNBC, The Wrap, Poynter, Charlie Boss on LinkedIn, Wall Street Journal and USA Today
Jem Aswad / Variety:
Memo: Warner Music plans to lay off 10% of its staff, or 600 people, wind down its podcast network Interval Presents, and sell the websites Uproxx and HipHopDX — The tough news continues for the music industry as Warner Music announced that it will lay off 10% of its staff, or 600 people, in the coming weeks.
David Gilbert / Wired:
How a Russian disinformation campaign is using bots, lifestyle influencers, and state-run media to boost calls for a US “civil war” over the Texas border crisis — An all-encompassing Russian disinformation campaign is using everything from bots to lifestyle influencers …
Discussion:
@weilawei@mastodon.online and @w7voa@journa.host
Connor Jones / The Register:
Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center says Iran's cyber operations in Israel show how Iran could target the 2024 US elections, including AI-generated fake news — Tactics are more sophisticated and supported in greater numbers — Iran's anti-Israel cyber operations are providing a window …
Discussion:
Microsoft On the Issues, more at Techmeme »
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
UK-based ITN warns about AI deepfake online videos featuring some of its leading journalists, and says Meta can be slow to act once alerted to such content — Social media platforms such as Instagram are slow to remove harmful deepfake video content. — ITN has warned of the threat posed …
Reed Albergotti / Semafor:
Q&A with Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine on Medium expecting to turn a profit in 2024, distribution, training LLMs, AI-generated content, media layoffs, and more — The Scene — Amid turmoil in the media industry, online publishing platform Medium expects to post its first profit around the middle of this year.
Discussion:
@bigmeaninternet and @semaforben
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Battle for the Bird book excerpt: how Jack Dorsey's plan to get Elon Musk to save Twitter failed, as Musk dismantled the company after taking over, and more — An excerpt from Battle for the Bird shows how Twitter's two most prominent leaders contributed to its current dilemma.
Discussion:
@business and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »
Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
News Corp Q2: revenue up 3% YoY to $2.59B, vs. $2.58B est., net income up 95% to $183M, Dow Jones with its highest quarterly revenue since its 2007 acquisition — The second quarter of 2024 marked the highest quarterly Dow Jones revenues since its acquisition in 2007
Discussion:
@johnbuckley_, @katie_robertson, @katie_robertson, Billboard, News Corporation, Reuters and Variety
Isaiah Colbert / IGN:
Funimation plans to shut down on April 2, and provides an option to merge users' account with Crunchyroll; copies bought on Funimation won't work on Crunchyroll — Funimation subscribers can access their anime history and queue on Crunchyroll by merging their accounts.
Discussion:
Funimation, @eposvox, @minoru79, @eposvox, @jezcorden, Comic Book, @_cckirby, @ordinarygamers, @mcmovieman and CBR
Dave Lawler / Axios:
Former Fox host Tucker Carlson says he has traveled to Moscow to interview Vladimir Putin and will air the interview “unedited” on his website and on X — Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said in a video posted to X on Tuesday that he is in Moscow to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Discussion:
@tuckercarlson, Bloomberg, The Hill, The Kyiv Independent, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Forbes, @maxseddon, @ozkaterji, New York Times, THE DC PATRIOT, The Daily Caller, @ianbremmer, Reuters, The Guardian, BBC, @rferl, @jason, @jonathanlanday, @justinbaragona, Barrett News Media, @maxseddon, The Wrap, @karaswisher@threads.net, @karaswisher@threads.net, BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Politico, @mediaite@threads.net, Deadline, @warrenterra.bsky.social, @everythingism.bsky.social, New York Times and The Kyiv Independent
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Meduza.io:
Russia says Tucker Carlson is “not correct” to say no Western reporter tried to interview Putin, and Carlson is different from “traditional Anglo-Saxon media”
Discussion:
Telegraph, Washington Post, @michaeldweiss, The Daily Caller, @meduza_en, @maxseddon, Voice of America, @ronfilipkowski, @dylanburns1776, Forbes, Vanity Fair, Mediaite, The Hill, Associated Press, The Daily Beast, Barrett News Media, VICE, TechCrunch, @apocalypticanow.bsky.social, Rolling Stone, Reuters, Poynter, Reason, The Daily Beast, CNN, CNBC, HuffPost, Wall Street Journal, New Republic, Media Matters for America, The Guardian, Variety and CBS News
Claudia Chiappa / Politico:
Tucker Carlson faces backlash from American and Russian journalists after claiming that Western media is not making an effort to hear Putin's side of the story
Discussion:
@amanpour, @albats, @bbcstever, @yarotrof, @lexfridman, @ianbremmer, @kasparov63, @billbrowder, @darthputinkgb, @iaponomarenko, @anders_aslund, @maxseddon, National Review, @anneapplebaum, @jaketapper, @ggreenwald, @elonmusk, @anthony, @jimmysecuk, @shayan86, @ianbremmer, @abbydphillip, The Wrap, @adamscochran, @john_mcguirk, @walshfreedom, @repdonbeyer, @dszeligowski, @decodingfoxnews, @edwardgluce, @jakluge, @shteyngart, @phillipspobrien, @dkaleniuk, @gretagrace20, @radiofreetom, @p_kallioniemi, @eliothiggins, @oalexanderdk, @florida_sophia, @fermerzpolissia, @saintjavelin, @maxseddon, @2russophobic4u, @growing_daniel, @sarahrainsford, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Newser, Mediaite, THE DC PATRIOT, Newsweek, El País, The Hollywood Reporter, Mediaite, Washington Post, inews.co.uk, New York Post, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Reuters and Bloomberg
Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
Filing: Kevin Spacey and House of Cards producer MRC settle a $31M judgment against him; he will pay $1M and testify for MRC in a lawsuit against its insurer — Under the deal, the actor will help producer MRC in pursuing a nine-figure claim against its insurer.
Discussion:
The A.V. Club, Rolling Stone, Deadline and Variety
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
The NYT finished 2023 with 10.36M subscribers, 9.7M of them digital-only, helping push annual revenue for digital subscriptions above $1B for the first time — At the end of the year, The Times had 10.36 million subscribers, 9.7 million of them digital-only.
Discussion:
Media Voices, @palewire, @benjstrauss, @thestalwart, @thestalwart, @katie_robertson, Nieman Lab and The Information
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