Mediagazer: At a tech and media conference, Bob Iger says Disney is working to catch up with Netflix's tech capability and downplays the effects of activist investors (Todd Spangler/Variety)

5:40 AM ET, March 6, 2024

Top News:

Todd Spangler / Variety:

At a tech and media conference, Bob Iger says Disney is working to catch up with Netflix's tech capability and downplays the effects of activist investors — CEO says Nelson Peltz's activist investor proxy fight ‘designed to distract us’; reveals studio has ‘killed a few’ movie projects

Discussion: Business Insider, Gizmodo, @xpangler, Next TV, The Wrap, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg and TVBEurope

Peter Kafka / Business Insider:

Elon Musk's Tesla, which had been famous for shunning advertising, is now running ads on YouTube, TikTok, and Elon Musk's X; the ads started in early 2024 — - Elon Musk owns X, formerly Twitter, which has an advertising problem. — Musk controls Tesla, which famously didn't buy advertising until very recently.

Discussion: @sawyermerritt, @annmlipton@esq.social, @jyarow, Electrek, @annmlipton, @dangillmor@mastodon.social and @pkafka

Emma Roth / The Verge:

A US judge upheld parts of a National Music Publishers' Association's copyright lawsuit against X and dismissed the claim that X engaged in direct infringement — The music labels suing Twitter — now X — for copyright infringement can move forward with parts of their lawsuit.

Discussion: US District Court, Middle District of Tennessee, Billboard and Reuters, more at Techmeme »

Tara Cobham / The Independent:

Presenter Dan Wootton says he's left GB News to launch an independent platform after Ofcom ruled misogynistic comments made on his show broke broadcasting rules — Mr Wootton's name no longer features in the channel's list of presenters on its website — Dan Wootton is out at GB News …

Discussion: Deadline, @danwootton, Mediaite, Broadband TV News, Dan Wootton Outspoken, The Guardian, PA Media, BBC, Sky News, Byline Times and Financial Times

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Filing: GB News owner All Perspectives has been forced to provide a further £41M in funding to cover operating costs, and is now owed £83.8M by GB News

Discussion: Advanced Television and Broadband TV News

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
GB News reports year to May 2023 revenue up 80% YoY to £6.7M, losses up 38% YoY to £42.4M, for £76M in losses since 2021, and 295 staff, up from 175 in May 2022

Discussion: @rasmus_kleis, @carolvorders, @otto_english, @seaninsound, @jamesrbuk, The Independent, Nick Manning on LinkedIn and Mediaite

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:

EY report: the Indian media and entertainment industry grew 8% YoY to $27.9B in 2023; TV shrank 2% YoY to $8.3B due to advertising declining by 6.5% YoY — The Indian media and entertainment industry grew 8% in 2023 to reach a value of $27.9 billion, according to the annual EY report released during …

Discussion: Business Standard and Financialexpress

Apple:

Apple adds transcripts to Apple Podcasts, which let listeners read and search the text of the episode, available in English, French, Spanish, and German — Transcripts offer full-text display for each episode, making podcasts more accessible and immersive than ever before

Discussion: Dan Misener on LinkedIn, Allie Primak on LinkedIn, Ted Hosmann on LinkedIn, The Verge, 9to5Mac, @rustyhammer.bsky.social, Dyllon Young on LinkedIn, The Apple Post, RedCircle Blog and Digital Trends, more at Techmeme »

Emma Roth / The Verge:

In response to the EU's ruling, Spotify submits an app update for the EU to provide pricing info within its iOS app and link users to its subscription options — Spotify isn't going to launch the in-app purchases it previously planned for the European Union, at least right now.

Discussion: Engadget, The Sun, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, Marcus James B. on LinkedIn, The Apple Post, CMU, Total Telecom, MediaNama, The Information, Fast Company, Wired, mobivention and BleepingComputer, more at Techmeme »

Mia Sato / The Verge:

TikTok moves its Creativity Program, now rebranded as the Creator Rewards Program, out of beta, and requires videos to be longer than a minute to be monetized — A year ago, TikTok introduced a new way for creators on the platform to make money: make longer videos.

Discussion: Engadget, Tubefilter, TikTok and Fox Business, more at Techmeme »

Amy Maclean / Cablefax:

C-SPAN is searching for a new CEO as co-CEOs Rob Kennedy and Susan Swain step down this year; VP of Finance Matt Deprey will replace Kennedy as CFO — C-SPAN has started searching for a new CEO with longtime co-CEOs Rob Kennedy and Susan Swain stepping down this year, Cablefax has learned and confirmed.

Discussion: The Desk, @cspansusan, Amy Maclean on LinkedIn, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter

Ben Glickman / Wall Street Journal:

Ad company Entravision says Meta plans to wind down its authorized sales partner program and end its relationships with all ASPs, including Entravision, by July — ASPs are extensions of Meta's sales teams that have local presences in various countries — Meta Platforms plans to wind …

Discussion: Inside Radio and Radio & Television …

The Verge:

YouTube star Hank Green interviews The Verge EIC Nilay Patel about the pressure from algorithms, giving work away for free, AI, the fediverse, and more — On this special episode of Decoder, Complexly co-founder and YouTuber Hank Green turns the tables on Nilay Patel.

Discussion: @waxy@xoxo.zone

Sara Fischer / Axios:

NTWRK CEO says the company plans to fold its brand and business into Complex and form Complex NTWRK, less than two weeks after acquiring Complex for $108.6M — - The parent company that owns Complex will be called Complex NTWRK, but that will be the only place the NTWRK brand exists.

Discussion: Megan Rall on LinkedIn

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Former Rolling Stone EIC Noah Shachtman is returning to Wired as a contributing editor, where he worked in the same capacity from 2006 to 2013 — Katie Drumm, global editor in chief of Wired, send out the following on Tuesday: — Hi All — I'm very, very excited to share …

Discussion: @maxwelltani, The Desk, @katiedrumm@threads.net, @noahshachtman@threads.net and MediaPost

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 5:40 AM ET, March 6, 2024.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Energy & Commodities Editor, Tokyo — Bloomberg

Politics Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Consumer Brands Reporter, GA — AJC

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Product Editor, CA — CalMatters

Indigenous Affairs Editor, Sydney — Guardian US

China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — Reuters

Bangor Reporter, ME — Bangor Daily News

Commerce Editor - Health, Remote US — Yahoo

Sports Editor, MI — Detroit News

Managing Editor, Remote US — Velo

Lex Writer, London — FT

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Dan Primack / Axios:
TollBit, a startup whose two-sided marketplace lets publishers make their content available to AI companies for a fee, raised ~$7M in pre-seed and seed funding

Discussion: Olivia Joslin on LinkedIn and TollBit

David Pierce / The Verge:
Google rolls out new changes to its Search ranking to help surface good content, downrank content that summarizes others' work, and more, as AI content spreads

Discussion: Engadget, The Keyword, Gizmodo, Ars Technica, Lily Ray on LinkedIn, Wired, @waxy@xoxo.zone, Fast Company, TechCrunch, @hoonofthe.day and @itnewsbot@schleuss.online, more at Techmeme »

A. G. Sulzberger / Reuters Institute:
The NYT publisher's 2024 Reuters Memorial Lecture: journalistic independence, the Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, trans issues, being open to criticism, and more

Discussion: @mariaramirezny, @risj_oxford, @jongurutz, @risj_oxford, @jbenton, @rasmus_kleis, The Daily Beast and Reuters Institute on YouTube

Elizabeth A. Harris / New York Times:
Authors Equity, a US book publisher from former Penguin Random House and Macmillan executives, launches with plans to give authors the “lion's share” of profits

Discussion: Sarah Wills on LinkedIn, The Hollywood Reporter, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal, Publishing Perspectives and The Bookseller

Earlier Picks:

Matthew Weaver / The Guardian:
TalkTV plans to close down its linear TV channel in early summer 2024 and go online only, weeks after Piers Morgan left his daily show on the channel

Jesse Whittock / Deadline:
Source: Amazon Prime Video plans to lay off less than 5% of its staff across its European offices, as part of a restructure impacting Europe, MENA, and Africa

Discussion: The Desk

Bloomberg:
Vivendi's Canal+ increases its bid for South Africa's MultiChoice by almost a fifth, valuing MultiChoice's shares at $2.9B, and enters exclusive takeover talks

Discussion: Deadline, WORLD SCREEN and TVBEurope

Jane Elizabeth / Nieman Lab:
A look at the Chicago Public Media merger with Chicago Sun-Times two years later: newsroom and staff compensation grew, Sun-Times dropped paywall, and more

Discussion: American Press Institute, Holly Edgell on LinkedIn and @philmeyer@newsie.social

From Techmeme:

Samantha Subin / CNBC:
The Nasdaq closes down 4%, with Meta down 7%, Nvidia down 6%, Amazon down 5%, and Apple down 4%, as the White House says Trump's tariffs on China now total 145%

Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
Sources: OpenAI recently gave staff and third-party groups just days, vs. several months previously, to evaluate risks and performance of its latest models

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI rolls out a ChatGPT memory feature that references past chats for answers, starting with ChatGPT Pro and Plus subscribers, but not in the UK and the EEA

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page