Top News:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
A look at news publishers' conflicting approaches toward AI companies, and how the lack of a data marketplace makes it hard for buyers and sellers to set rates — - The new suits add heft to the Times' claims. … Several other large news publishers, including the Financial Times …
Discussion:
Peter Csathy on LinkedIn, Digimentors on LinkedIn, @sarafischer and New Republic
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Sources: the expectation at Paramount Global is that neither of the two offers in play, Skydance-RedBird and Sony Pictures-Apollo, will come to fruition — After months of M&A talks, Paramount Global and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone might be going it alone after all.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, CNBC, Quartz, Financial Times, Variety, @willsun_1, Rich Greenfield on LinkedIn, Reuters and The Wrap
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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, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Quartz, The Wrap, @sherman4949, Advanced Television, The Guardian, LightShed Partners, Associated Press, Yahoo Finance, Liz Spaulding on LinkedIn, Inside Radio, ComingSoon.net, The Information, Media Play News, Financial Times, CNBC, The Streamable, The Desk, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Radio & Television …, Variety, Next TV and Cord Cutters News
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
Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:
Elon Musk says he wants Grok to create news summaries by relying solely on X posts, without looking at article text, and improved story citations are coming — Musk emails with details on AI-powered news inside X. An AI bot will summarize news and commentary, sometimes looking through tens of thousands of posts per story.
Discussion:
Business Insider, @brianstelter, @pkafka, @scobleizer, @kurtwagner8, @thekenyeung, @mcculloughirvin, CoinGape, @kantrowitz, Bloomberg, @nzpom.com, @krveale.bsky.social, @smartsmears.bsky.social, @getwired.bsky.social, @emmiehine@dair-community …, @caprine.bsky.social, @hshaban, @LiamEgan@mstdn.ca, @blackamazon.bsky.social, @nxthompson, @chrismoranuk, @nateschenkkan.bsky.social, @notgareth.bsky.social, @hshaban, @firerock31@threads.net, @legalba.bsky.social, @Kierkegaanks@beige.party, @born2bemild.bsky.social, @avishaybsg.bsky.social, @hshaban, @mjpaul.bsky.social, @reneeleegreco@threads.net, @anthonyintx.bsky.social, @iethics, @kilgoretrout.bsky.social and @niedermeyer.io, more at Techmeme »
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Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
X launches Stories on X, with news curated and summarized by Grok AI, available for Premium subscribers in the Explore tab on iOS and on the web — X, formerly Twitter, is now using Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok to power a feature that summarizes the personalized trending stories in the app's Explore section.
Discussion:
@xeng, Engadget, @lindayax, @x, @rocksizedrock.bsky.social and @annlaabs.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
AJ Vicens / CyberScoop:
The Post Millennial and Human Events websites were hacked and defaced late May 2, initially with links added to datasets of subscribers, writers, and editors — The hack included links to download subscriber data and a message claiming that Post Millennial's editor was transitioning to a woman.
Discussion:
@r.gilmore@threads.net, @mmasnick.bsky.social, @phylan.bsky.social and Mediaite
Financial Times:
An interview with UK culture secretary Lucy Frazer on blocking RedBird IMI's Telegraph takeover bid, plans to cap foreign state ownership at 5%, and more — Culture secretary says UK ‘not stopping’ foreign investment as she defends blocking sale to Abu Dhabi-backed company
Discussion:
City A.M.
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.
Christina A. Cassidy / Associated Press:
In a letter, several Democrats serving as their state's top election officials ask Meta to repeal a policy allowing ads that claim the 2020 election was stolen — Several Democrats serving as their state's top election officials have sent a letter to the parent company of Facebook …
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.
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 Desk, StreamTV Insider, MediaPost, The Streamable and Next TV
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