Mediagazer: Source: Disney held talks in 2015 and 2016 about buying Vice for $3.4B; Shane Smith is believed to be paid millions in a 2019 deal finishing at the end of 2024 (Lachlan Cartwright/The Hollywood Reporter)

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.

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.

Discussion: Reuters and Deadline

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 Hollywood Reporter, The Hill, The Daily Caller, The Wrap, Mediaite, Deadline, @jeremymbarr, @pressgazette, @mehdirhasan and @mehdirhasan

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, Tim Gaynor on LinkedIn, The Hill, @alexcrawfordsky, Lucy Carrigan on LinkedIn, @clarissaward and Press Gazette

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Adobe unveils Project Music GenAI Control, a platform that can generate audio from text descriptions or a reference melody and let users customize the results — There's plenty of GenAI-powered music editing and creation tools out there, but Adobe wants to put its own spin on the concept.

Discussion: @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

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: CMU, @lucas_shaw, Bloomberg, @jbflint, Billboard and Music Business Worldwide

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Drew Thurlow on LinkedIn, Reuters, TechCrunch, Digital Music News, Rolling Stone, Music Business Worldwide, The Ankler, CMU and Music Ally, more at Techmeme »

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

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

Sources: The Center for Public Integrity is considering merging with a competitor or shutting down, after falling ~$2.5M short of its $6M budget goal for 2023 — The nonprofit had a budget shortfall of roughly $2.5 million last year amid a difficult market for fund-raising.

Lachlan Cartwright / The Hollywood Reporter:

Source: Disney held talks in 2015 and 2016 about buying Vice for $3.4B; Shane Smith is believed to be paid millions in a 2019 deal finishing at the end of 2024 — How did a Brooklyn media giant valued at $5.7 billion just a few years ago wind up going bankrupt and folding its newsroom?

Discussion: @matthewkeyslive, @hunterduesing, @lachcartwright, @misterjohndoyle and @davelafontaine

Max Tani / Semafor:

In an email to some staff, ABC News president Kimberly Godwin said Trump's recent comments about Black Americans were “as racist as they come” — The Scoop — Kimberly Godwin, the president of ABC News, said privately that recent comments by President Donald Trump about Black people were “as racist as they come.”

Discussion: New York Post, The Hill, Fox News, @maxwelltani, Reuters and Boing Boing

Dara Kerr / NPR:

Time owner Marc Benioff tells a reporter, who is looking into his Hawaii land acquisition, that he knows where she is staying and her family's personal details — WAIMEA, Hawaii — A life-size bronze statue of a cowboy sits at the center of Waimea. The cowboy is riding a horse, lasso in hand, pursuing a wild bull.

Discussion: @scotian.bsky.social, @rustyhammer.bsky.social, @davidfolkenflik, @brianmannadk, New York Post and Mitakuye Oyasin, more at Techmeme »

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Magazine and newspaper subscription app Readly had 464K full-paying subscribers at the end of 2023, up 2.7% YoY, and a £9.10 ARPU, up from £7.80 in 2022 — Readly CEO Philip Lindqvist says there is still “ample” room to grow in UK and Europe. — The chief executive of …

Discussion: Philip Lindqvist on LinkedIn