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, Deadline, @jeremymbarr, The Wrap, @dylanbyers, @sherman4949, The Verge, IndieWire, @alexweprin, The Guardian, StreamTV Insider, @benmullin, Variety, Media Play News, Adweek, Paramount, @jeremymbarr, The Information, Axios, Next TV, Business Insider, The Hill, New York Times and WORLD SCREEN
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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, Bloomberg, @sherman4949, Deadline, @jbflint, @sherman4949, The Daily Beast, @sherman4949, The Streamable, The Wrap, MediaPost 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:
@sherman4949, @benmullin, @benmullin, New York Post, Barrett Media, The Hollywood Reporter and The Desk
Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Paramount is planning for what happens if no big deal arises, mulling cutting $2B in costs, selling BET and TV stations, starting a streaming JV, more
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Deadline, New York Times, CBS News, The Streamable, New York Post, @waystarcroixco, @jtoonkel and Awful Announcing
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, City A.M., @rasmus_kleis, @rasmus_kleis, @mhbergen, The Times, Michael Hobbs on LinkedIn, Press Gazette, Damian Burns on LinkedIn, The Information, Philipp Mueller on LinkedIn, Bloomberg, The Guardian, The Verge and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: NBCUniversal is prepared to pay an average of about $2.5B a 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
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, CNN, @nycsouthpaw, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Deadline and The Hill
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
Laura Wagner / Washington Post:
Over 50 journalism professors call on the NYT to address questions on its report that described a “pattern of gender-based violence” in Hamas' October 7 attack — A major investigative report into sexual violence in the Hamas attack on Israel has drawn criticism inside and outside the newspaper
Discussion:
@thrasherxy, @peterkirstein, @matteomedia, @bazzinyu, @jayrosen_nyu and Amal Ghandour on LinkedIn
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