Top News:
New York Times:
Sources: Sony Pictures and Apollo Global formally express interest in acquiring Paramount for ~$26B; Paramount's negotiating period with Skydance ends May 3 — Paramount has been exploring a potential deal for months, talking to suitors including Skydance, producer of “Top Gun: Maverick.”
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Inside Radio, The Guardian, Radio & Television …, Los Angeles Times, Business Insider, The Wrap, The Desk, CNBC, The Streamable, Variety, ComingSoon.net, The Information, Next TV, Liz Spaulding on LinkedIn, Financial Times, Media Play News, Deadline, Quartz, Bloomberg, @sherman4949 and Cord Cutters News
Jem Aswad / Variety:
Universal Music Group and TikTok strike a new music licensing deal to bring UMG music back to the platform, including “improved remuneration” and AI protections — The months-long standoff between Universal Music Group and TikTok over royalty payments and AI policies is finally over …
Discussion:
UMG, Wall Street Journal, Tubefilter, Deadline, Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, The Hill, CMU, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Music Business Worldwide, Android Headlines, The Guardian, Digital Music News, Social Media Today, 9to5Mac, WFAA-TV, New York Times, Music Technology Policy, Neowin, CBS News, The Information, Conrad Withey on LinkedIn, Fraser MacKenzie on LinkedIn, Axios, UPROXX, CNN, Engadget, Consequence, The Wrap, Reuters, Billboard, Music Ally, Rolling Stone, TechCrunch, The Verge, The Hollywood Reporter and The A.V. Club, more at Techmeme »
Clare Malone / New Yorker:
A look at Hunterbrook, whose hedge fund makes trades based on investigations by its newsroom, and well-connected founders Sam Koppelman and Nathaniel Horwitz — The hybrid media-finance company wants to monetize investigative journalism in the public interest. Is it a visionary game changer or a cynical ploy?
Discussion:
Business Insider, Talking Biz News, @pkafka, @pkafka, @bgrueskin and @claremalone
Sohee Kim / Bloomberg:
Indonesia's Vidio, a local streaming competitor to Netflix, aims to double its paid subscribers to 8M in the next two to three years ahead of an IPO — - Youthful population of over 270 million a draw for streamers — Low 5G penetration remains an obstacle to increasing customers
Discussion:
Sohee Kim on LinkedIn and @lucas_shaw
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Apple Q2: revenue from Services, which includes Apple TV+ and Apple Music, rose 14% YoY to $23.9B, vs. $23.27B estimated, an all-time record — The Apple Services segment generated $23.87 billion, up 14.2%, for the quarter ended March 30, topping analyst forecasts of $23.12 billion.
Discussion:
New York Times, Neowin, CNBC, Deadline, Media Play News and AppleInsider, more at Techmeme »
Jack Mirkinson / Discourse Blog:
Dana Bash's May 1 CNN monologue about pro-Palestinian student protests included lies, regurgitated others' spin, and repeated lines of pro-Israel propaganda — I have covered the U.S. media for a long time. I have watched more hours of cable news than is healthy for any human being.
Kyle Chayka / New Yorker:
As social media platforms pivot away from news distribution, a look at news sites like The Verge, which feel more like social media, with aggregation and more — As social networks become less reliable distributors of the news, consumers of digital journalism are seeking out an older form of online real estate.
Justin Miller / New York Magazine:
A look at Joanna Coles' start as the Daily Beast's chief creative and content officer, where her vision is at odds with the outlet's hard-news scoop approach — On her first week on the job as chief creative and content officer, Joanna Coles carried a tip into the newsroom …
Discussion:
@jessicalessin, Columbia Journalism Review, @mediaevan, @davidwtaintor, @willsommer and @nkulw
Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
In a letter, Fubo, DirecTV, and others call on Congress to hold hearings on the Fox, Disney, and WBD's sports streamer, citing “serious competition concerns” — DirecTV, Dish Network and Newsmax also joined the call for hearings in Washington, D.C. into the future of pay TV competition and its impact on consumers.
Discussion:
The Desk, Next TV, The Verge, ir.fubo.tv, The Streamable, Variety, Barrett Media, Media Play News and Light Reading
Jim Edwards / Press Gazette:
A look at 1440, a media brand with a single daily newsletter that aggregates news and has 3.5M subscribers, 15 staff, and ~$15M in annual revenue — 1440 may be the biggest media brand you've never heard of. It has an email subscriber list of 3.5 million, and it is growing at a rate …
Tom Jones / Poynter:
The Dallas Morning News hires Duke University professor Stephen Buckley as its public editor, an increasingly uncommon role across US media organizations — The news organization hopes to reestablish trust by creating “a bridge between the public and our newsroom,” the publisher says.
Discussion:
@jillgeisler, @poynter, @sarahscire, @amy_hollyfield, @sarahscire, @pmnapoli, @deggans, NewsLab, DallasNews Corporation, Dallas Morning News and Media Nation
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Nielsen signs a deal to be SAG-AFTRA's third-party provider of streaming content measurement, to help the union cross-check viewership data from streamers — The data will “complement first-party data from streaming platforms.” … The Nielsen data — from its Streaming Content Ratings service …
Discussion:
Nielsen, Los Angeles Times, Eric Steinberg on LinkedIn, Variety, The Wrap, Nielsen, Media Play News, WORLD SCREEN and Deadline
College Media Association:
A coalition of collegiate and professional press freedom groups urges campus administrators to respect the rights of student journalists covering protests — College Media Association, Associated Collegiate Press, Society of Professional Journalists, Student Press Law Center and Foundation …
RELATED:
Hadas Gold / CNN:
Journalists covering protests on college campuses have been denied access and faced assaults and arrest, as some student media websites struggle with outages
Discussion:
Freedom of the Press …, Media Nation, The Boston Globe, @dailybruin, Vanity Fair, @cat__hamilton5, @brizzyc, @evanhill, @thedartmouth, Associated Press, @jangelooff, Los Angeles Times, @hadas_gold, @paulglader, @jangelooff, @dailybruin, @cat__hamilton5, @davidkaye.bsky.social, @cat__hamilton5, @brianstelter@threads.net and The NewsGuild
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