Top News:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Reliance and Disney merge their media businesses in India, creating the country's largest media conglomerate; Reliance values it at $8.5B and will invest $1.4B — Reliance, its portfolio Viacom18 and Disney are merging their media businesses in India, creating the largest media entity in the South Asian market.
Discussion:
Reuters, The Wrap, CNN, Variety, Financial Times, New York Times, @proficienttroll, @kathyfgibson, @arindam___paul, @pti_news, @stufflistings, @sardesairajdeep, @yashjain88, @karthikravivarm, @karthikravivarm, @kdcloudy, @menakadoshi, Bloomberg, Media Play News, @edmundlee, @edmundlee, WORLD SCREEN, @chandrarsrikant and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
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Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Filing: Disney will take non-cash pre-tax impairment charges of $1.8B to $2.4B related to Reliance JV; Disney will be a minority shareholder with a 36.8% stake — Reliance will invest $1.4 billion into the joint venture, which is valued at $8.5 billion, while Disney will provide a content license.
Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:
Mehdi Hasan raises $4M to launch Zeteo, a digital media company on Substack, offering a weekly streaming show he hosts, contributor pieces, a podcast, and more — Hasan, whose MSNBC cancellation triggered an outpouring from fans, follows other political pundits who have struck out on their own
Discussion:
The Hill, The Wrap, Mediaite, Deadline, @mehdirhasan, The Hollywood Reporter, @mehdirhasan, @pressgazette and @jeremymbarr
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
A group of top journalists, including from CNN, BBC, and CBS, sign an open letter asking Israel and Egypt to provide foreign media “unfettered access” to Gaza — A group of top international journalists have joined forces to demand that Israel and Egypt provide foreign media with “unfettered access” to Gaza.
Discussion:
Sky News, Lucy Carrigan on LinkedIn, The Hill, @alexcrawfordsky, @clarissaward and Press Gazette
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: TikTok reached out to Universal with a proposal the music company felt didn't address its concerns on compensation, platform safety, or AI protections — Universal's showdown with the platform is testing the value of the seconds-long song snippet—and who has the most power in today's music economy
Discussion:
Bloomberg, @lucas_shaw, @jbflint, Billboard and Music Business Worldwide
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Angelique Jackson / Variety:
Study: 77 of the top 100 top-grossing domestic films in the US in 2023 featured more male characters than female characters in speaking roles — The latest 'It's a Man's (Celluloid) World' report shows 77% of movies had more male than female characters — A new study indicates that the tenets …
Discussion:
Screen Rant, IndieWire and Deadline
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
Axel Springer and 31 other media groups in Europe file a $2.3B lawsuit against Google, alleging that they suffered losses due to its digital ad practices — Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google was hit with a 2.1-billion-euro ($2.3 billion) lawsuit by 32 media groups including Axel Springer and Schibsted …
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Nexstar Q4: $1.3B net revenue, down from $1.5B YoY, core ad revenue down 5.9% to $449M, with political ad sales down 88.7% to $30M, and a $52M loss for the CW — Nexstar reported its fourth-quarter 2023 earnings Wednesday, revealing its TV ad sales were down 36% from Oct. 1- Dec. 31.
Discussion:
The Desk, @tvgrimreaper, TVNewsCheck, @matthewkeyslive, @matthewkeyslive and Business Wire
Newshub:
WBD proposes shutting down Newshub, one of New Zealand's major newsrooms, on June 30, as part of which ~200 journalists and other staff could lose their jobs — One of the country's major newsrooms could close, thanks to a collapse in TV advertising revenue and changes in viewing habits.
Marina E. Franco / Axios:
Mexican President Obrador reading aloud an NYT reporter's cellphone number during his widely broadcast morning presser shows perils of reporting in the country — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's repeated claims that he has a “political right” …
Discussion:
New York Times, New York Times, Committee to Protect …, Fox News, The Hill, The Daily Beast and Fox News
Byron Tau / Wired:
A look at some government contractors that are helping US intelligence agencies and others use targeted mobile ads to track down people — Meet the guy who taught US intelligence agencies how to make the most of the ad tech ecosystem, “the largest information-gathering enterprise ever conceived by man.”
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Unionized editorial workers at LexisNexis-owned Law360 authorize a strike; the union says the vote is partly due to planned layoffs after record profits in 2023 — Unionized editorial workers at LexisNexis-owned Law360 voted to authorize a strike Monday. — The union says the strike …
Discussion:
@law360union and NewsGuild of New York
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