Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Memo: Paramount starts layoffs to reduce costs; sources say ~800 employees, or an estimated 3% of its headcount, are getting cut across all divisions — Paramount Global, amid a swirl of M&A discussions, is laying off about 800 employees worldwide — an estimated 3% of its headcount — as it looks to trim costs.
Discussion:
CNBC, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, The Information, New York Times, NBC 7 San Diego, Fox Business, Gabrielle Dalvet on LinkedIn, Media Play News, Deadline, Awful Announcing, @carnage4life@mas.to, Barrett News Media, Ad Age, Bloomberg, Reuters, @thesimonetti, Joey Esposito on LinkedIn, Front Office Sports, Mark Emerson on LinkedIn, Erin Riska on LinkedIn, Bill Dempsey on LinkedIn, @sherman4949, @caplangaby, CNN, Defector, Zak Brocchini on LinkedIn, Observer, The Desk, Quartz, Engadget, IndieWire, Adweek, @sherman4949, Jaime Primak Sullivan on LinkedIn, Alex Sherman on LinkedIn, The Wrap, Next TV, Forbes, New York Daily News, Fortune, Advanced Television, Sportico and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
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Alexandra Steigrad / New York Post:
Sources: CBS News was hit with job cuts affecting 20 people, including Catherine Herridge, who is in a legal battle to protect sources of a 2017 Fox News story — Several CBS News reporters were caught up in layoffs at Paramount Global that claimed 800 jobs, including one who is embroiled …
Discussion:
Variety, The Wrap, Deadline, The Desk, Reuters, The Daily Beast and @alexsteigrad
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Pete Distad, who was in charge of Apple's video and sports businesses, is among the top CEO candidates for the Disney/Fox/WBD streaming venture — Planned venture from Disney, Warner and Fox would combine their live-sports channels into a streaming package
Discussion:
The Desk and @dylanbyers
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Forbes' Cyrus Farivar and Poker.org's Haley Hintze face libel lawsuits from Bitcoin Latinum over their coverage of securities fraud lawsuits against the firm — Bitcoin Latinum angry about quotes from fraud lawsuit and Star Trek reference. — The cryptocurrency firm Bitcoin Latinum …
Discussion:
Techdirt, @Lazarou@mastodon.social, @arstechnica@mastodon.social and Talking Biz News
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Axel Springer announces its first US leadership team, a 10-person group that includes Politico Europe co-founder Gabriel Brotman, a sign of its US ambitions — The 10-person cohort includes five new hires and points toward centralization — German media company Axel Springer announced …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Flipboard has launched more than 1,000 of its social magazines in the fediverse, allowing users to find the magazines via federated social apps like Mastodon — The fediverse just got a little bigger today as Flipboard has now launched over 1,000 of its social magazines across the decentralized social web …
Discussion:
Flipboard
Bloomberg:
A look at Adobe's cautious gambit in developing Firefly after the soaring popularity of DALL-E and Midjourney, emphasizing brand safety and liability protection — Dall-E and Midjourney pushed the Photoshop behemoth to develop Firefly, a suite of AI tools. Will creatives get on board?
Kristin Robinson / Billboard:
The Mechanical Licensing Collective sues Pandora for allegedly failing to adequately pay and report monthly royalties, including for its ad-supported tier — This is the first time the mechanical licensing organization has filed a lawsuit against a streaming service.
Discussion:
Inside Radio, Radio & Television …, RouteNote Blog, CMU, The Desk, Music Business Worldwide and Digital Music News
Selome Hailu / Variety:
Nielsen and Adobe Analytics: Super Bowl 2024 averaged 123.4M viewers across CBS and streaming services, making the game the most-watched US telecast ever — The Feb. 11 Super Bowl game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers brought in an average of 123.4 million viewers …
Discussion:
Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post, CNN, Deadline, @cbssportsgang, IndieWire, Vanity Fair, VIBE.com, The Wrap, Fast Company, Andrew Steinberg on LinkedIn, CNN, Bleacher Report, Shelly Palmer, FOX 26 Houston, Extra, Dr Rochelle Parks-Yancy on LinkedIn, Poynter, @claytravis, @deggans, Financial Times, New York Times, Associated Press, Paramount Press Express, Adweek, Mediaite, Awful Announcing, Sports Media Watch, Los Angeles Times, CNBC, The Wrap, TVLine, Reuters, Fox Business, GoldDerby, Decider and Wall Street Journal
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Q&A with Marc Jury, the CEO of African streamer Showmax, on doubling down on originals, working with Comcast, the appeal of the English Premier League, and more — Marc Jury discusses the appeal of the English Premier League, the challenges of serving 44 markets across sub-Saharan Africa …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Memo: SiriusXM plans to cut ~160 jobs, or ~3% of its workforce, after laying off 475 employees, or ~8% of its workforce, in March 2023 — SiriusXM is eliminating about 160 jobs, a move to cut expenses that represents a layoff affecting just under 3% of the satellite radio and audio streamer's workforce.
Matthew Keys / The Desk:
TVNewsCheck, which covers the TV broadcasting business, says it is suspending updates to its website and newsletters but will continue its events and webinars — TV NewsCheck, a popular online publication that covers the television broadcast industry, says it will temporarily stop publishing new articles …
Discussion:
Ethan Holland on LinkedIn, TVNewsCheck and MediaPost
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