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

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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:

The Information:
Sources: OpenAI considered making a browser, discussed deals to power AI features on Samsung devices and search on sites and apps from Condé Nast and others

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
A UK CMA report finds that Apple's policies hold back innovation in mobile browsers and recommends investigating Apple and Google's mobile ecosystems

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