Mediagazer: Apple reports Q2 revenue from Services, which includes Apple TV+ and Apple Music, up 14% YoY to $23.9B, vs. $23.12B estimated, an all-time record (Todd Spangler/Variety)

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.”

Tom McArthur / BBC:

RSF publishes its World Press Freedom Index and places Norway, Denmark, and Sweden in the top three, the US down 10 spots at 55, and Eritrea in last place — Gaza is one of the deadliest places in the world to be a journalist, according to Reporters Without Borders

Discussion: Voice of America, Euractiv, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Reporters Without Borders, Journalism.co.uk and Newslaundry

Steven Levy / Wired:

Jeff Lawson's Global Tetrahedron plans membership tiers for the Onion and doesn't plan to put up a hard paywall as it moves away from G/O's ad-focused approach — Entrepreneur Jeff Lawson's plan to revive venerable satirical outlet The Onion involves borrowing from the playbook of the founders of WhatsApp.

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

The Guardian outlines plans for a “small number of voluntary redundancies”, says it is 60% funded by readers, and had a £39m loss in the year to March 2024 — Editor Katharine Viner said the business foresees revenue pressures continuing into the next year at least.

Discussion: Telegraph and The Drum

Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:

Fubo reports 1.51M FuboTV subscribers at the end of Q1, down from 1.61M in Q4, revenue up 24% YoY to $394M, and a $56.1M loss, down from $83.6M a year ago — The streaming platform shrunk its losses on higher subscription and advertising revenue. — Sports streaming platform FuboTV …

Discussion: The Streamable

Andrew Marchand / The Athletic:

Sources: MLB is in advanced talks to make Roku the new home for Sunday morning baseball this season, in what would be Roku's first major live rights deal — Major League Baseball and Roku are in advanced talks to make the service the new home for Sunday morning baseball this season …

Discussion: Awful Announcing, @andrewmarchand, @keshavbhat, @svg_brandon, @tvmojoe, The Desk, Bleacher Report, Barrett Media and Sports Media Watch

Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:

For weeks, grad students at The Columbia Journalism School have chronicled protests, and professors worked to ensure access and safety as the campus locked down — They've gotten a crash course in breaking news, capturing the Hamilton Hall occupation and the NYPD's crackdown, while surviving on pizza and operating on little sleep.

Discussion: NBC News, @charlottetklein, @jordangreennc, @misstessowen, @mathewi, Poynter, The Intercept, Slate, New Yorker, The Hill, Media Nation, Associated Press and Rolling Stone

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Apple reports Q2 revenue from Services, which includes Apple TV+ and Apple Music, up 14% YoY to $23.9B, vs. $23.12B 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 Post, 9to5Mac, Media Play News, Neowin, CNBC and BGR, more at Techmeme »

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: the NBA is close to signing deals that would pay the league ~$76B over 11 years, including $2.6B and $1.8B a year from Disney and Amazon, respectively — The National Basketball Association is close to signing new long-term broadcasting agreements that would pay the league …

Discussion: @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw and @dylanbyers

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

A look at 2023 media CEO pay amid industry contraction: Charter CEO Chris Winfrey, $89M; Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, $84M; WBD CEO David Zaslav, $49.7M; and more — It was a year of pain for the entertainment industry and shareholders of (many) media companies with months-long Hollywood strikes and layoffs.

Gannett:

Gannett reports Q1 revenue down 5% YoY to $635.8M, digital revenue up 8.1% to $267.5M, an $84.8M net loss including a ~$46M impairment charge; GCI closes up 27% — Gannett Co., Inc. ("Gannett", “we”, “us”, “our”, or the “Company") (NYSE: GCI) today reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024.

Discussion: Inside Radio, Yahoo Finance, Poynter, Gannett, Providence Business News, AdExchanger and MediaPost

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: @sammykoppelman, @pkafka, @pkafka, @bgrueskin, @claremalone, Business Insider and Talking Biz News