Top News:
The Hollywood Reporter:
Paramount CEO Bob Bakish steps down; Brian Robbins, Chris McCarthy, and George Cheeks will run Paramount on an interim basis as an “Office of the CEO” — The entertainment company, in the midst of a sale process, has tapped Brian Robbins, Chris McCarthy and George Cheeks to run Paramount on an interim basis.
Discussion:
@benmullin, @jeremymbarr, @dylanbyers, Deadline, @sherman4949, @alexweprin, StreamTV Insider, @benmullin, Adweek, @jeremymbarr, CBS News, The Information, Axios, The Guardian, The Verge, Variety, Media Play News, Paramount, IndieWire, New York Times, The Wrap, Variety, Business Insider, The Hill, Next TV, WORLD SCREEN and Wall Street Journal
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Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
Paramount reports Q1 revenue up 6% YoY to $7.69B and a $417M operating loss, down from $1.2B YoY; Paramount+ hit 71M+ global subscribers with revenue up 51% YoY — The studio unveiled its first quarter earnings amid talk of deal-making options and a CEO shake-up.
Discussion:
Paramount, @sherman4949, @jbflint, @sherman4949, The Daily Beast, @sherman4949, MediaPost, Bloomberg, The Wrap, Deadline, The Streamable and Media Play News
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: Shari Redstone agreed to take less than $2B for her Paramount stake as part of Skydance's “best and final” offer, lower than what was initially offered
New York Times:
Sources: in a revised bid, Skydance offered Paramount shareholders a larger stake in the combined company and a $3B cash infusion to pay debt and buy back stock
Discussion:
Bloomberg, @sherman4949, @benmullin, @benmullin, Barrett Media, New York Post, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and The Desk
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: NBCUniversal is prepared to pay an average of about $2.5B per year to air a package of NBA games, as WBD makes last-ditch efforts to keep those rights — Comcast's NBCUniversal is prepared to pay an average of about $2.5 billion a year to air a package of National Basketball Association games …
Discussion:
The Desk, @2xaught7.bsky.social, Awful Announcing, @tvgrimreaper, Deadline, Barrett Media and Sports Media Watch
Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg:
UAE-backed RedBird IMI withdraws from the Telegraph and Spectator auction, which starts today, and will look to sell on its rights to the UK outlets — After a bruising few months, UAE-backed investor RedBird IMI is withdrawing from its attempt to acquire the Telegraph newspaper and Spectator magazine …
Discussion:
Reuters, Telegraph, Deadline, @steven_swinford and @pippacrerar
Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
The Financial Times signs a deal with OpenAI to train AI models on the publisher's archived content and to let ChatGPT reply with short summaries of FT articles — Agreement comes as Microsoft-backed start-up seeks data from reliable sources to train latest artificial intelligence models
Discussion:
Financial Times, Media Voices, MIT Technology Review, TechCrunch, @chrisgiles_, @bondhack, Fast Company, @decka227, @btibor91, @mattlcapon, @pressgazette, @bradlightcap, @thanosalifantis, @jenit, @mikeyearworth, @mdbaccardax, @maurobattellini, @gdb, @alexrkonrad, @andrewcurran_, @ftpressoffice, @petepachal, @mattgarrahan, @openai, @robinwigg, Observer, @gadget_ry@threads.net, @jjvincent, @stokel, @james_muldoon_, @lukolejnik, @rasmus_kleis, @rasmus_kleis, @mhbergen, City A.M., The Times, Michael Hobbs on LinkedIn, Damian Burns on LinkedIn, The Information, Press Gazette, Philipp Mueller on LinkedIn, Bloomberg, The Guardian, The Verge and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
New York Times:
OAN retracts a story that said Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen had an affair with Stormy Daniels and apologizes, part of a settlement with no monetary damages — Michael D. Cohen's lawyers took on OAN over the false story. The settlement came as right-wing news outlets face a barrage of defamation suits.
Discussion:
One America News Network, HuffPost, @nycsouthpaw, CNN, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Deadline and The Hill
Bloomberg:
The EU opens a DSA investigation into Facebook and Instagram over deceptive ad and political content; sources say the move relates to a pro-Kremlin campaign — - Probe said to target pro-Putin Doppelganger campaign — Meta probe is under the EU's tough new Digital Services Act
Discussion:
Politico, European Commission, @clothildegouj and Semafor, more at Techmeme »
Timothy B. Lee / Asterisk:
Tech journalism is often characterized by scandals, sensationalism, and shoddy research, and publishers are reluctant to invest in it without a clear ROI — A huge proportion of tech journalism is characterized by scandals, sensationalism, and shoddy research. Can we fix it?
Discussion:
@brianwilt, @rob_lh, @rao_hacker_one, @adamkovac, @chastaylor, @robinwauters, @calebwatney, @adamthierer, @tomaxwell, @binarybits, LinkedIn and @kelseytuoc, more at Techmeme »
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Everyone TV, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5, launches free streaming service Freely on smart TVs, targeting internet-only homes — The service is backed by U.K. broadcasters BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Paramount Global's Channel 5.
Alexandra Topping / The Guardian:
As News UK's TalkTV closes its linear channel and moves online, experts say the future of both of UK's broadcasting upstarts, TalkTV and GB News, is uncertain — TalkTV's shift to online only is a moment of reckoning for the two broadcasting upstarts — In April 2021, the boss …
Rachel Kurzius / Washington Post:
A profile of Samir Mezrahi, the ex-BuzzFeed social media director behind Zillow Gone Wild, which has 4M+ followers and a spin-off HGTV show debuting in May — Samir Mezrahi posted his first outrageous house in 2020. Now he has 4 million followers and an HGTV show on the way.
Discussion:
@jeremymbarr
Tom Phillips / The Guardian:
How the 2018 killing of Rio de Janeiro councilor Marielle Franco inspired a generation of journalists to investigate the city's dangerous underworld — The killing of councillor Marielle Franco has inspired a generation of journalists to probe the city's dangerous underworld
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