Top News:
Samantha Masunaga / Los Angeles Times:
Disney says the standalone ESPN streaming service it plans for 2025 will be available on Disney+ for bundle subscribers, similar to its Hulu integration — Walt Disney Co. is betting big on ESPN as the Burbank entertainment company bolsters its streaming options and charts its future.
Discussion:
Reuters, Wall Street Journal, CNN, SportsPro, Hollywood Reporter, The Desk, Cord Cutters News and The Streamable, more at Techmeme »
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
Bob Iger says “succession is the board's No. 1 priority” and that the search committee met seven times in 2023; Iger's contract extension runs through 2026
CNBC:
Disney prevails in the proxy fight with Nelson Peltz's Trian Partners as shareholders vote to reelect its full board, a stamp of approval for Bob Iger's efforts
Discussion:
Variety, Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Deadline, Liz Spaulding on LinkedIn, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood Reporter, NBC News, @ivanthek, @sherman4949, @xpangler, @tvgrimreaper, @jbflint, @jbflint, @scottgustin, @alexweprin, @lmoses, @jbflint, @tvgrimreaper, Wall Street Journal, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, Next TV, World of Reel, @elonmusk, @billackman, Front Office Sports, Observer, Los Angeles Times, SlashFilm, @annmlipton@esq.social, @annmlipton@esq.social, @annmlipton@esq.social, Financial Times, @annmlipton@esq.social, Yahoo Finance, @passantino@threads.net, Gizmodo, The Information, Forbes, Bill George on LinkedIn, New York Post, ComingSoon.net, The Wrap, The Walt Disney Company, Bloomberg, CNN, Axios, Media Play News, Fox Business, Forbes, Fox Business, @josie.zone, Advanced Television, Fortune, Variety, @sinboy.bsky.social, @mousterpiece.bsky.social, New York Times, @vossbrink.bsky.social, @thielman.bsky.social, @alishagrauso.bsky.social, @blackamazon.bsky.social, Reuters, Reuters, Deadline, Quartz, CNBC, Los Angeles Times, Business Insider, New York Post and CNN
Patience Haggin / Wall Street Journal:
Forbes ran an alternate version of its website for years with reformatted articles, promoted on Taboola and others, to maximize ads intended for Forbes.com — Slideshows on parallel site—which Forbes shut down Tuesday—were loaded with ads and promoted through clickbait-style paid links
Discussion:
The Wrap, @tm_brown, Dr. Augustine Fou on LinkedIn, @chrismohney, The Drum, @redphase, @chronotope, @samro, Jay Friedman on LinkedIn, @asharma and Talking Biz News
Andrea Grimes / Home With The Armadillo:
Substack's new emphasis on followers, not subscriptions, and its opaque steps to migrate paid subscriptions off the platform make leaving harder for writers — And it'll be worse this time around! — The writing life, which has never exactly been a picnic for independent journalists and freelancers …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Vimeo names Philip Moyer, an ex-VP of applied AI engineering and business development at Google Cloud, as CEO and board member, replacing interim CEO Adam Gross — Video platform provider Vimeo named Philip Moyer, a senior exec at Google Cloud overseeing AI applied engineering and business development, as CEO and member of its board.
Discussion:
Vimeo.com, Inc., more at Techmeme »
Harriet Sherwood / The Guardian:
Guardian journalist Hella Pick dies at 96; she spent seven decades as a foreign correspondent and diplomatic editor after fleeing Nazi-annexed Austria in 1938 — Former colleagues pay tribute to Pick, who broke into male-dominated world of foreign affairs journalism in 1950s
Discussion:
@londonvinjamuri, @c_smaldonado, @williamsjon, @katyataylor, @freedland, @harrietgriffey, @janemartinson and @niemanlab
ProPublica:
ProPublica creates a dedicated newsroom team to sustain future investigative projects of current and prior Local Reporting Network partners — ProPublica announced on Wednesday a commitment to publishing accountability journalism in every state over the next five years.
Discussion:
Steve Myers on LinkedIn, @charlesornstein and @charlesornstein
Emanuel Maiberg / 404 Media:
Google Books is indexing low quality, AI-generated books, which may impact Google Ngram viewer, an important tool used by researchers to track language use — Google said it will continue to evaluate its approach “as the world of book publishing evolves.”
Reuters:
Sources: Alphabet is considering an offer for the marketing software company HubSpot, which has a $35B market cap, in what would be its largest acquisition yet — Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O) has been talking to its advisers about the possibility of making an offer for HubSpot (HUBS.N) …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, MediaPost, Alexander Atzberger on LinkedIn, Quartz, The Information, Benzinga, Barron's Online, CRN, CNBC, Reuters, Irish Examiner, @drewvolpe, @drnovac, @thekenyeung, Bloomberg, @carnage4life, @trace_cohen, @kevin_indig, @bigbullcap, @reuters, @andreasklinger, MSPoweruser, Silicon UK, @bdsams@threads.net, Kiplinger.com, @mikeisaac, @carnage4life@mas.to, @pkafka@threads.net, @economyapp, Finbold, @jackivaughan, @pitdesi, Search Engine Land, MarTech and Slashdot, more at Techmeme »
Financial Times:
Since Poland rid state broadcaster TVP of its right-wing staff, viewership has plummeted, while ratings for right-wing news channel TV Republika have shot up — Viewers switch from state broadcaster TVP to conservative Republika as it mimics the US right-wing channel
Discussion:
Raphael Minder on LinkedIn and @raphaelminder
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
US rock band Kiss sells rights to its music, name, image, and likeness to Swedish entertainment company Pophouse to create a live show, a source says for ~$300M — Sale to Swedish entertainment group Pophouse set to 'fulfil the band's vision to become immortal'
Clay Wirestone / Kansas Reflector:
Facebook removed every post linking to the Kansas Reflector on April 4; the issue coincidentally arose on the day the Reflector ran a piece critical of Facebook — Facebook has blocked the sharing of Kansas Reflector stories and removed all posts linking to our website. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
Amrita Khalid / The Verge:
X adds blue checks to some accounts, including journalists, as part of its plan to give free Premium status to those with 2,500+ “verified subscriber followers” — Just as Elon Musk said, X is doling out free Premium and Premium memberships to accounts with a high number of verified followers.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Desk, Quartz, Timnit Gebru on LinkedIn, @doctorow, NBC News, @jason_kint, 9to5Mac, @willoremus, @johnonolan, @holy_schnitt, @alexeheath, Axios, @inafried, Caroline Giegerich on LinkedIn, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @jasonabbruzzese, @alexrkonrad, @evacide, @angie_rasmussen, @aodespair, @brandyzadrozny, @mattdpearce, @sethabramson, @natesilver538, @timnitgebru, @radleybalko, @carnage4life@mas.to, @mattbinder, @monaeltahawy, @seungminkim, Engadget, @inafried, @sarahspain, @harrymccracken, Rolling Stone, Deadline, @tomwellborn3@threads.net, Raw Story, @pilgrimaltsburg.bsky.social, @kevinmkruse.bsky.social, @radiofreetom.bsky.social and @w7voa@journa.host, more at Techmeme »
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Bloomberg:
YouTube's CEO says that OpenAI training Sora with YouTube videos would violate YouTube's ToS, and Google adheres to YouTube's creator contracts to train Gemini — The use of YouTube videos to train OpenAI's text-to-video generator would be an infraction of the platform's terms of service …
Discussion:
Fortune and @rustybrick, more at Techmeme »
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Memos: Jonathan Greenberger is departing ABC News, where he has been bureau chief in Washington, DC, to become executive vice president of Politico — Jonathan Greenberger is departing ABC News, where he has been Washington, D.C. bureau chief, for a new job as executive vice president of Politico.
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