Mediagazer: Sources: if Sony and Apollo acquire Paramount Global, they plan to sell off CBS, cable channels like MTV, and Paramount+, while keeping Paramount Pictures (New York Times)

1:55 AM ET, May 9, 2024

Top News:

Sources: if Sony and Apollo acquire Paramount Global, they plan to sell off CBS, cable channels like MTV, and Paramount+, while keeping Paramount Pictures — CBS and other well-known properties would be sold if Sony and Apollo are able to buy Paramount. But the new owners would keep the movie studio.

Discussion: @yonetteajoseph@threads.net, @serwer, @brianstelter, @danprimack, @benmullin, The Desk, Media Play News, Reuters, @benmullin, @ernie.tedium.co and Axios

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

Disney and WBD announce a streaming bundle of Disney+, Hulu, and Max, with ad-supported and ad-free plans, beginning this summer in the US, with pricing to come — Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are breaking ground in streaming with a bundled offering featuring Disney+, Hulu and Max in a single package.

Maggie Harrison Dupré / Futurism:

An investigation into AdVon, the company behind Sports Illustrated's fake writers, finds its AI content and fake authors at the LA Times, Miami Herald, and more — A few years back, a writer in a developing country started doing contract work for a company called AdVon Commerce …

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

The New York Times Games rolls out a Wordle archive with 1,000+ past puzzles for “Games” and “All Access” subscribers, and adds its WordleBot to NYT Games app — The New York Times Games announced on Tuesday that it's launching a Wordle archive …

Discussion: The New York Times Company, Fast Company, Gizmodo and The Verge

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: WBD plans more cost cutting to hit financial targets for next year, including the possibility of more layoffs, and has decided to raise Max prices — - Job cuts are possible as executives look for more savings — CEO eyes streaming operations' marketing, technology costs

Discussion: Engadget, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, 9to5Google, The Desk, Reuters, The Hill, The Streamable, @lucas_shaw, Sports Media Watch, Android Headlines, Streaming Better, Awful Announcing, Next TV and The Verge

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

The NYT added 210,000 digital subscribers in Q1, for 10.5M subscribers in total, up 8% YoY, and ad revenue fell 2.4% YoY to $103.7M; the OpenAI lawsuit cost $1M — Adjusted operating profit was $76.1 million, an increase of about 41 percent from a year earlier.

Discussion: @benmullin, Charles Miller on LinkedIn and The Wrap

The New York Times Company:
The NYT reports Q1 revenue up 6% YoY to $594M, subscription revenue up 13% YoY to $293M, operating profit up 73% YoY to $48.3M, Athletic revenue up 33% to $37M

Discussion: Rory Maloney on LinkedIn, CoinGape and The Information

Lisa Schlein / Voice of America:

The UN high commissioner for human rights condemns Russia's crackdown on journalists; at least 30 journalists are currently detained on various criminal charges — United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Tuesday condemned Russia's brutal crackdown on journalists …

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:

Researchers: Meta's Canada news ban resulted in news outlets posting much less on Facebook, and posts with screenshots of news stories increasing dramatically — “We observe a dramatic increase in posts containing screenshots of Canadian news stories in the post-ban period.”

Discussion: @niemanlab@mastodon.social, @niemanlab, Gail J. Cohen on LinkedIn and Media Ecosystem Observatory

Nik Roseveare / Advanced Television:

Sky announces Sky Sports+, a new service starting in August that will increase coverage of the English Football League and more, as part of its EFL partnership — Sky has announced it will launch Sky Sports+ this August, a service it says will be “transformational in the amount of choice sports fans …

Discussion: The Athletic, Daily Mail, The Desk, WORLD SCREEN, The Guardian and City A.M.

Jamie Dettmer / Politico:

How investigative journalists in Ukraine face increasing intimidation, as some worry outlets are censoring themselves, seeing patriotism as trumping journalism — Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe. — KYIV — “I ran investigations for 15 years before the war, and it was always hard and risky.

Discussion: @hanse_mina@mastodon.social

Kathryn Lundstrom / Adweek:

Disney Advertising strikes a deal with Walmart Connect to let advertisers target Disney's streamers, including Disney+ and Hulu, using Walmart's shopper data — The new retailer-CTV partnership promises detailed sales attribution data — Disney Advertising struck a deal with Walmart Connect …

Discussion: Julia Thornton on LinkedIn, Dana McGraw on LinkedIn, MediaPost, AdExchanger and The Verge

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

EchoStar reports losing ~348K net pay TV subscribers in Q1, vs. a 552K drop in Q1 2023, and revenue down 8% YoY to $2.7B; Sling TV subscribers fell 135K to 1.9M — Telecom mogul Charlie Ergen's EchoStar is led by Hamid Akhavan as president and CEO, with Ergen serving as executive chairman.

Discussion: The Desk, The Streamable, Deadline and Streaming Better

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Source: last month, Sundial Media bought Refinery29 for ~$30M, or roughly its 2023 revenue; Refinery29 buys trade beauty show Beautycon to move away from ads — - The company bought Refinery29 for roughly the same amount that the publisher made in top-line revenue in 2023, which was $30 million, a source told Axios.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

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Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Google researchers say DPRK's IT workers are fraudulently securing positions at companies in Germany, Portugal, and the UK, after facing sanctions in the US

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