Mediagazer: Whoopi Goldberg-backed BLKFAM, a FAST service focused on Black families, launches in the US with 1,000+ hours of kid-friendly animation titles and more (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)

8:05 PM ET, February 26, 2024

Top News:

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:

Whoopi Goldberg-backed BLKFAM, a FAST service focused on Black families, launches in the US with 1,000+ hours of kid-friendly animation titles and more — BLKFAM is a free, ad-supported, Black-focused family streaming service launching today to give Black Americans access to more than 1,000 hours …

Discussion: Variety, The Desk, The Hollywood Reporter, @thestreamable, @pauline98476699, NewscastStudio, @xpangler, The Streamable, The Wrap and Deadline

Kate Knibbs / Wired:

Two ex-Meta employees find an AI clickbait network linked to a Polish IT company, which is “domain squatting” on URLs, including Iowa's Clayton County Register — When two former Meta employees dug into why the website of Iowa's Clayton County Register was spewing dubious posts about stocks …

Discussion: Sandeep A. on LinkedIn, Anthony Eastin on LinkedIn and @seoconspiracy

Jess Jones / City A.M.:

Sesamy, launched by Acast co-founders to let users in Sweden and Denmark purchase single articles or podcasts as a one-time transaction, plans to expand to UK — Could one-off articles and podcast purchases be the future of publishing? That's the vision of the co-founders of Acast …

Discussion: Benjamin Webb on LinkedIn, @johnspurlock and @rasmus_kleis

Deadline:

Disney's President of Motion Picture Studios, Sean Bailey, steps down; Searchlight's co-President David Greenbaum takes over — EXCLUSIVE: Effective immediately, Walt Disney's President of Motion Picture Studios Sean Bailey, who turned the company's animation vault into a multibillion-dollar …

Discussion: Reuters, Variety, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, IndieWire, New York Times, The Playlist, @mattbelloni and The Hollywood Reporter

Bloomberg:

Sources: Charter Communications is exploring a takeover of smaller rival Altice USA, which serves ~5M customers across 21 US states; Altice stock is up 50%+ — - Charter working with advisers on pursuing smaller rival — Both firms have suffered with surge in wireless competition

Discussion: CNBC, The Desk, Next TV, @fasulo_chris, @maffei_fake, @stopthecap and @lucas_shaw

The Guardian:

Former TV news executives and others criticize Ofcom for allowing GB News to violate broadcasting impartiality rules by dragging its feet with investigations — Ofcom is accused of not treating all broadcasters the same and of dragging its feet with investigations into the rightwing channel

Discussion: @justicetrousers, @adrian_warner, @michaellcrick, @paulmarsha11, @docrussjackson, @catrollo and Mediaite

Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:

Ampere Analysis: streaming revenue will overtake pay TV subscription revenue in the US for the first time in Q3 2024, helped by streamers' addition of ad tiers — Total streaming revenue will hit $17.3 billion, topping $16.7 billion from pay TV, in the third-quarter of 2024, predicts research firm Ampere Analysis.

Discussion: IndieWire, Next TV, The Desk, The Streamable, @mtfiii, Media Play News, Broadband TV News, WORLD SCREEN and The Wrap

Sam Buckingham-Jones / Australian Financial Review:

Australian businessman Kerry Stokes launches The Nightly, a daily online newspaper with backing from billionaires Katie Page, Chris Ellison, and Gina Rinehart — Billionaires Katie Page, Chris Ellison and Gina Rinehart are the key backers of Kerry Stokes' new daily online newspaper …

Discussion: @john_macgowan, @ianpmcleod, @markdistef, @pollyanna_04, @chris_dengate, Crikey, @rachelrwithers, @matt_levinson, Mumbrella and Sydney Morning Herald

Helen Bushby / BBC:

British film censors change the age rating for the classic 1964 film Mary Poppins from U to PG citing “discriminatory language” — Mary Poppins, the classic film starring Julie Andrews, has had its age rating raised by British film censors because it features “discriminatory language”.

Discussion: The Wrap, Daily Mail, Fox News, IndieWire, TMZ.com, Deadline and Variety

Columbia Journalism Review:

A profile of Dale Anglin, first director of Press Forward, a philanthropic effort to invest $500M over five years in local news and aiming to raise $500M more — Dale R. Anglin has spent more than twenty years in the nonprofit sector, channeling millions of dollars to social service organizations.

Discussion: @jpalfrey, NewsLab, @peristrathearn, @theivyexile, @bgrueskin, @ssuttell, @jayrosen_nyu, MediaPost, Inside the News in Colorado and @geisler_jill@threads.net

Max Goldbart / Deadline:

UK's Ofcom delivers its roadmap for implementing the Media Bill, saying regulation of streaming services will not come into place in full for two years — Streamer regulation in the UK will not come into place in full for two years, Ofcom said today. — Delivering its roadmap for implementing …

Discussion: Broadband TV News

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

News reader Particle.news, which uses AI to summarize articles and aims to fairly compensate authors and publishers, enters private beta — A team led by former Twitter engineers is rethinking how AI can be used to help people process news and information.

Discussion: @pandemona@threads.net, @pandemona@threads.net, The Hill and @pandemona@threads.net

Patrick Frater / Variety:

France's Canal+ Group says it has increased its stake in Asian streaming platform Viu to 30%, worth ~$300M, and retains an option to increase its stake to 50% — UPPING THE ANTE — France's Canal+ Group said that it has increased its stake in multi-territory Asian streaming platform Viu to 30%.

Discussion: Deadline and Broadband TV News

Natalie Korach / The Wrap:

NBCUniversal names Gemma Garcia to lead Telemundo's news division as executive VP of news; most recently, she was the head of news at Spain's RTVE Play — The veteran news executive will report directly to chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises Luis Fernández

Discussion: Variety, Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline

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Discussion: MediaPost, The Hollywood Reporter, Leon Saunders Calvert on LinkedIn, @markstenberg3, Talking Biz News, Press Gazette and Deadline

Bloomberg:
While Netflix is profitable in South Korea, local rivals Tving and Wavve lost a combined ~$165M in 2023 and are reportedly in talks to merge

Discussion: @themarkrussell, @lucas_shaw, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn and @viveklath

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Discussion: The Overspill, @ernie@writing.exchange, @danack@threads.net, @apocalypticanow.bsky.social, Dhruti Shah on LinkedIn, @realhackhistory@chaos.social, @felixsalmon, Defector, @felixsalmon and @quillmatiq@threads.net, more at Techmeme »

Janko Roettgers / Lowpass:
A look at possible effects of Walmart's Vizio purchase: a negative impact on Roku, for whom Walmart is a big retail partner, and Vizio's data unit shutting down

Discussion: Janko Roettgers on LinkedIn

Earlier Picks:

Chris Welch / The Verge:
Three years after Spotify's original announcement that it would launch a higher-quality audio subscription, the company has yet to roll out the feature

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Cord Cutters News lays off EIC Roger Cheng, who joined in July 2023, and two staff writers, as the outlet plans to focus more heavily on its YouTube channels

Discussion: @cordcuttersnews, @shelbybrown91, @rogerwcheng and Cord Cutters News

Steven McIntosh / BBC:
UK police will take no further action against suspended GB News host Dan Wootton, who was accused of using fake identities to bribe men for explicit material

Discussion: Mediaite, Mediaite, Telegraph, Daily Express, Press Gazette, The Guardian, Deadline, The Independent and Byline Times

Amie Parnes / Vanity Fair:
A journalist tells how Jimmy Finkelstein wooed her to The Messenger, reassured staff two months before closure, and left her without a promised severance

Discussion: @carrasquillo, @jonallendc, @amieparnes, @benmullin and @mkady

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Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
How Apple may adjust to the US tariffs; sources: the iPhone 17 Pro's camera panel will span the width of the phone and will be the same color as the device

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils a demo of Quake II generated using its Muse AI model, with limited playability in a browser, as part of the company's Copilot for Gaming push

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