Top News:
Reuters:
Prince Harry settles the remainder of his phone-hacking lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers after it agreed to pay “substantial” damages and his legal costs — Prince Harry has settled the remainder of his lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers over phone-hacking …
Discussion:
BBC, Press Gazette, TMZ.com, @archlilihazmeg, The Guardian, @archewellbaby, Associated Press, The Hollywood Reporter, @archewellbaby, The Daily Beast, @skynews, @emmetlyonscbs, Rolling Stone, Telegraph, News18, Devdiscourse News Desk, The Times, ITVX, London Evening Standard, Agence France-Presse, The Independent, Sky News on YouTube, The i Paper, Byline Times, SheKnows, CNN, Variety, The Guardian, Deadline and Hacked Off
Drew Taylor / The Wrap:
Sources: WBD seems unlikely to sell or release Coyote vs. Acme, despite backlash; Netflix, Amazon, and Paramount made generous offers, but WBD wanted $70M-$80M — Warner was seeking $75 - $80 million but rejected offers from Netflix, Amazon and Paramount, insiders tell TheWrap
Discussion:
The Verge, Deadline, Gizmodo, @mesmua_, SlashFilm, ComingSoon.net, @mgsiegler, @andrewg@mastodon.ie, Screen Rant, @royprice, @a_la_mone, Decider, @mattzollerseitz, @lulamaybelle, @noahpasternak, @mikeisaac, @drewtailored, UPROXX, @marioemmet, @danielpemberton, @wyattduncan, @helenlohara, @fridayinhalifax, CBR and Consequence
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Rolling Stone EIC Noah Shachtman is stepping down on March 1 after over two years due to, a source says, editorial differences with CEO Gus Wenner — Noah Shachtman, the magazine's editor in chief since 2021, is resigning because of editorial differences with the chief executive Gus Wenner.
Discussion:
@goldengateblond@threads.net, @knguyen@threads.net, @kenli729, @zammer.bsky.social, @marlownyc, CNN, @noahshachtman@threads.net, @jason_koebler, @oneunderscore__@threads.net, @drewharwell@threads.net, @nichcarlson@threads.net, @noahshachtman@threads.net, @djrothkopf, @ejdickson, @defensebaron, The Daily Caller, @chuckrossdc, @unclegrambo, @taylorlorenz@threads.net and The Wrap
Dawn Chmielewski / Reuters:
Disney is testing a contextual ad tool dubbed “magic words” for Disney+ and Hulu that uses AI to analyze scenes and identify contents, brands, images, and mood — Walt Disney (DIS.N) is harnessing artificial intelligence to power a new advertising tool that will help brands tailor …
Discussion:
Neowin, Paul Gubbins on LinkedIn, Dana McGraw on LinkedIn, The Wrap and MediaPost, more at Techmeme »
Megan Lebowitz / NBC News:
The White House Correspondents' Association announces that Saturday Night Live's Colin Jost will be the featured entertainer at its annual dinner on April 27 — The “Saturday Night Live” comedian has co-anchored “Weekend Update” since 2014. — WASHINGTON — “Saturday Night Live” …
Pranav Dixit / Engadget:
Arc Search's Browse for Me feature, which makes a custom web page with search result summaries, faces a backlash over concerns about web traffic and ad revenue — A new feature from the Arc browser puts search result summaries on a single web page that it creates on its own, cheating websites out of valuable traffic.
Discussion:
@joshm, @gergelyorosz, @ezra@threads.net, @crumbler@threads.net, @gergelyorosz, @fabiobracht@threads.net, @bengoodger, @calminvestor, @gergelyorosz, @paul_rietschka@threads.net, @drewharwell@threads.net, @bilalbudhani, @bengoodger, @mcwm@threads.net, @joshm, @jstaal@threads.net, @gergelyorosz, @bengoodger and @gergelyorosz
CoinDesk:
CoinDesk CEO Kevin Worth leaves in a major restructuring by new owner Bullish; Sara Stratoberdha, who ran business development for Bullish, will be the new CEO — Sara Stratoberdha replaces Kevin Worth, who has led CoinDesk since 2017. — Register Now — CoinDesk's longtime CEO Kevin Worth …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Outlets are abandoning hard subscriptions, as many of them don't have the cushion for upfront spending on premium content and see paywalls throttling ad revenue — News companies are reversing course on hard subscriptions — once seen as a safer alternative to the volatile ad market …
New York Times:
CBS Sports, which will broadcast the Super Bowl on Sunday, faces a wave of change with new leadership, the possible Paramount sale, and the streaming challenge — The storied network is facing a wave of change, including new leadership, the possible sale of its parent company and the continued challenge of streaming.
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, New York Post and Barrett Media
Ed Christman / Billboard:
Sources: Sony Music Group has acquired half of Michael Jackson's publishing and recorded masters catalog for at least $600M — The deal, which is likely worth at least $600 million, includes half of the late star's publishing and recorded masters catalog. — In what could be the largest …
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, New York Times, Variety, Consequence, Bloomberg, The Japan Times and Digital Music News
Mike Tanier / Defector:
A journalist who covered the NFL for Football Outsiders, The Messenger, and The NYT talks about his experience working for them and the state of sports media — I covered the NFL for three media outlets in the last calendar year: Football Outsiders, The Messenger, and The New York Times.
Discussion:
Poynter, @lemieuxlgm, @nfl_dougfarrar, @miketanier, @seamoosi and Awful Announcing
Shirin Ghaffary / Bloomberg:
A profile of OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap, tasked by Sam Altman with striking a deal with Axel Springer, which may offer a road map for additional media deals — Brad Lightcap helped seal the startup's deal with publisher Axel Springer. Now he's experimenting with the company's business model.
Discussion:
MIT Technology Review and @shiringhaffary
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Thomas Barrabi / New York Post:
News Corp CEO says it is in advanced talks with major AI companies to license its content and that Sam Altman understands “the social importance of journalism”
News Corp CEO says it is in advanced talks with major AI companies to license its content and that Sam Altman understands “the social importance of journalism”
Discussion:
WNYC Studios, @johnbuckley_, @katie_robertson, @edmundlee@threads.net, @edmundlee@threads.net and The Guardian
Josh Dickey / The Wrap:
Tucker Carlson releases his two-hour interview with the Russian president Vladimir Putin for free on his website and on X — The former Fox News host sat with the Russian president in Moscow — Tucker Carlson released his two-hour interview with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president whose military …
Discussion:
@tuckercarlson, Gizmodo, New Yorker, Wired, Next TV, The Guardian, Mediaite, Metro.co.uk, @sarafischer, Barrett News Media, THE DC PATRIOT, National Review, The Daily Cartoonist, Byline Times, HuffPost, @corbinbolies, @robertkennedyjr, Politico, @hitsdiffcap, @elonmusk, Daily Kos, Know Your Meme, Washington Post, NPR, Variety, CBS News, New York Times, Forbes, The Hill, The Daily Caller, The Guardian and The Daily Beast
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Corbin Bolies / The Daily Beast:
In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Putin says he would “not rule out” releasing Evan Gershkovich, but maintains claims the WSJ reporter committed espionage
In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Putin says he would “not rule out” releasing Evan Gershkovich, but maintains claims the WSJ reporter committed espionage
Discussion:
Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, PolitiFact, Washington Post, The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Barrett News Media, Politico, Voice of America, @brianstelter, @yashar, Talking Biz News, CBS News, CNN, Associated Press, KEYT-TV, Politico, Deadline, New York Times, Reuters, BBC, Mediaite, The Kyiv Independent, New York Post, The Wrap and Radio Free Europe/Radio …
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
AMC Networks reports Q4 revenue down 30% YoY to $679M, vs. $676M est., streaming subscribers up 1% to 11.4M, and US ad sales down 23% YoY to $158M — AMC Networks saw its streaming subscribers increase by 1% and its U.S. ad sales drop by 23% in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Discussion:
AMC Networks Inc., Media Play News, MarketWatch, Next TV, Deadline, The Wrap, MediaPost and The Hollywood Reporter