Top News:
Deadline:
Disney's president of motion pictures, Sean Bailey, steps down; Searchlight's David Greenbaum takes over as president of Live Action and 20th Century Studios — EXCLUSIVE: Effective immediately, Walt Disney's President of Motion Picture Studios Sean Bailey, who turned the company's animation vault …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Variety, New York Times, IndieWire, The Hollywood Reporter, The Playlist, @mattbelloni and The Wrap
Alexandra Topping / The Guardian:
The BBC says it will bolster its procedures for dealing with non-editorial complaints, after finding shortcomings in dealing with a complaint about Huw Edwards — Corporation launched review into complaints procedure after scandal about presenter last year
Discussion:
The Independent, Variety, Mediaite, BBC, Sky News, The i Paper, Daily Star, Yahoo News, Telegraph, Daily Express, HuffPost, The Sun, Daily Mail, ITV News, The Mirror, @jake_kanter, @talktv, @mrharrycole, @craigoliver100, @pressgazette, GB News, The Times, Independent.ie, Birmingham Live, Broadband TV News, Deadline and Hollywood Reporter
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 Hollywood Reporter, @xpangler, @thestreamable, The Streamable, The Desk, @pauline98476699, Deadline, The Wrap and NewscastStudio
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, @seoconspiracy and Anthony Eastin on LinkedIn
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
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, @fasulo_chris, @maffei_fake, @stopthecap, @lucas_shaw and Next TV
Dan Rys / Billboard:
UMG buys a majority stake in Nigeria-based record label Mavin Global in a deal expected to close by Q3; Mavin was reportedly valued at north of $125M in October — The company, home to artists like Rema and Ayra Starr, is at the forefront of Africa's Afrobeats movement, which has been exploding across the globe.
Discussion:
Forbes, The Guardian Nigeria, @mikeikenwa, @oluayoola7d, @umg, @demola, @mavinrecords, @tegamavin, @joeyakan, @ndekekwe, Africanews, Punch Newspapers, UMG, Variety, Music Business Worldwide, Music Ally, Semafor and Digital Music News
Wes Davis / The Verge:
Netflix confirms that it has started removing Apple iTunes billing for longtime subscribers, and now requires them to pay directly on its website — Netflix confirms to The Verge that it has begun booting longtime subscribers off their Apple iTunes billing plans, and will require …
Discussion:
BGR, CNN, The Streamable, 9to5Mac and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
Emily Smith / The Wrap:
Sources: Don Lemon agrees to separate with CNN in a ~$24.5M deal, the full pay from his final contract, which extended 3.5 years from his ousting in April 2023 — Don Lemon, the former prime time host of CNN has finally agreed a deal to separate with the network.
Discussion:
New York Post, Page Six, @yashar, @justinbaragona and r/Journalism
Inside Radio:
Kagan: in 2023, radio industry revenue totaled $15.15B, down 1.5% from $15.39B in 2022, and there were $212.5M worth of radio deals, down 35.6% YoY from $329.9M — Faced with a pullback in advertiser spending last year, radio's hustle paid off. Thanks to a mix of revenue streams …
Discussion:
RADIO ONLINE, S&P Global and Radio & Television …
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini about the streamer's focus on anime, working with creators in Japan, competing with Netflix, future plans, and more — The head of the fast-growing streaming service discusses the Funimation merger and shutdown and where he sees growth in anime.
Discussion:
Ars Technica and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »
Jon Passantino / CNN:
The New York Times says Donald Trump has paid $392,000 to the paper to cover the legal costs from his failed lawsuit over disclosure of his tax documents — Donald Trump has paid $392,000 to The New York Times to cover the legal costs from his failed lawsuit against the newspaper …
Discussion:
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