Mediagazer: 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 (Etan Vlessing/The Hollywood Reporter)

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.”

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 …

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

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: 9to5Mac, Bloomberg, New York Times, Media Play News, Neowin, CNBC, Deadline and AppleInsider, more at Techmeme »

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

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, The Intercept, Slate, New Yorker, The Hill, Poynter, Media Nation, Associated Press and Rolling Stone

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

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

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.

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

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: @lucas_shaw and Sohee Kim on LinkedIn