Top News:
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.
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, @samhaft, 9to5Mac, IGN, Emily Chau Dea on LinkedIn, TVLine, Reuters, Scott Bishoff on LinkedIn, BGR, The Walt Disney Company, The Desk, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, CNBC, @rfaughnder, Tara Sigaroudi on LinkedIn, New York Times, @rakeshlobster, Wall Street Journal, @sherman4949, Los Angeles Times, SlashFilm, @jw@threads.net, Adweek, The Streamable, @counternotions@mastodon …, Next TV, @thekenyeung@threads.net, @trustedsystem.bsky.social, Gene Miller on LinkedIn, The A.V. Club, IndieWire, TV Insider, Engadget, Neowin, MediaPost, Awful Announcing, The Wrap, Media Play News, Bloomberg, Consequence, WORLD SCREEN, Screen Rant, Advanced Television and AdExchanger, more at Techmeme »
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Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
WBD reports a $86M profit in Q1 for its DTC unit, which includes streaming, up from $50M in Q1 2023, and 99.6M streaming subscribers, up from 97.7M in Q4 2023 — The entertainment conglomerate led by CEO David Zaslav reported its first-quarter results.
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
WBD reports Q1 revenue down 7% YoY to $9.96B, and a $966M net loss, down 10% YoY, as TV revenue fell 8% YoY to $5.13B and studio revenue fell 13% YoY to $2.82B — Warner Bros. Discovery reported its first-quarter 2024 earnings Thursday, revealing it had reached 99.6 million paid streaming subscribers …
Discussion:
Reuters, Deadline and CityNews Toronto
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
New York Times:
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:
@serwer, Media Play News, The Desk, @brianstelter, @benmullin, @danprimack, @benmullin, Reuters, @ernie.tedium.co and Axios
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
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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 …
Discussion:
Media Voices, Salon, @willyblackmore, @shwinyo, @newsguild, @bcmerchant, @gaufre, @taylorlorenz, @knibbs, @mattzollerseitz, @nxthompson, @caleweissman, @weareyourfek, @mattdpearce, @newsguyusa@threads.net, @mags_h11, @mags_h11, @mags_h11, @pkafka, @johnmcquaid@threads.net, Christopher Rice on LinkedIn, Jacob Hurwith on LinkedIn, @noellemitchell@mstdn.social, Sean Blanda on LinkedIn, @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org, @jvagle@mastodon.lawprofs.org, @jtlg@mastodon.lawprofs.org, @natematias@social.coop and @taylorlorenz@mastodon.social, more at Techmeme »
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 …
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Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:
News Corp reports Q3 revenue down 1% YoY to $2.42B, net profit down 40% YoY to $30M, ad revenue fell 8.9% YoY to $358M, and 3.715M digital subscribers — News Corp posted lower quarterly revenue and earnings due to a slowdown in advertising and declines at its overseas newspaper unit and subscription-video business.
Nicholas Yong / Rest of World:
Some Singaporean writers resist the government's request to use their works to train a multilingual LLM, citing little clarity on compensation and other issues — Singapore's literary community is pushing back against an official effort to train LLMs using their published works, part of a growing global resistance.
Discussion:
@anupkaphle, @nuurrianti, @incoherentboy and @restofworld, more at Techmeme »
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.”
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
ITV reports Q1 revenue down 7% YoY to £887M, ad revenue up 3% YoY, digital ad revenue up 14% YoY, and ITV Studios revenue down 16% YoY to £382M — U.K. broadcaster ITV has reported mixed financial fortunes for the first quarter of 2024. — Its advertising revenue growth of 3% …
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Media Leader, Advanced Television, Deadline, City A.M., IDX and The Hollywood Reporter
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