Mediagazer: Complex names Aria Hughes as editor-in-chief and Noah Callahan-Bever as chief content officer and buys Callahan-Bever's media company, Idea Generation (Marisa Guthrie/WWD)

1:50 PM ET, May 14, 2024

Top News:

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts says Comcast plans to launch StreamSaver, a bundle of Peacock, Netflix, and Apple TV+, later this month at a “vastly reduced price” — Get ready for the next cable-like streaming bundle: Comcast later this month will launch a three-way bundle …

Josh Ye / Reuters:

Tencent reports Q1 revenue up 6% YoY to ~$22.1B and online ad revenue up 26% YoY to ~$3.66B driven by upgraded ad infrastructure and WeChat Video Accounts — China's Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) posted a 6% rise in first-quarter revenue on Tuesday, beating analyst expectations …

Discussion: Variety, Financial Times, Nikkei Asia, Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, Seeking Alpha, CNBC, @pandawatch88, @davideborall, Tech in Asia, @byjoshye, The Information, Bloomberg, @thetranscript_ and Tencent

Priyanka.G / Reuters:
Tencent Music reports Q1 revenue down 3.4% YoY to $937M, profit up 27.5% YoY to $212M, music subscription revenue up 39.2% YoY to $501M, and 113.5M paying users

Discussion: Tencent Music, Music Ally, Music Business Worldwide, Digital Music News, Billboard and Variety

Sarah Basford Canales / The Guardian:

An Australian court sentences ex-army lawyer David McBride to five years and eight months for stealing Afghanistan war docs and leaking them to Australia's ABC — McBride, who pleaded guilty to stealing commonwealth information and passing it to the ABC, receives non-parole jail term of 27 months

Jesse Whittock / Deadline:

Sony Pictures reports Q4 revenue up 1.1% YoY to ~$2.74B, profit up 75% YoY to $208M, and FY 2023 revenue up 1.7% YoY to ~$10.31B, weighed down by the strikes — Sony Pictures Entertainment has seen operating income fall nearly 10% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024.

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter

Hadas Gold / CNN:

Sam Feist, CNN's longtime Washington bureau chief and senior vice president, will leave the network at the end of June to become C-SPAN CEO — Sam Feist, CNN's longtime Washington bureau chief and senior vice president, is departing the network to lead the nonprofit public affairs channel C-SPAN, the networks announced Tuesday.

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, The Hill, Washington Post, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, @dylanbyers, @jasonmillerindc, @samfeistdc, @maxfostercnn, @maccable, @cspan, @brianstelter, @ewerickson and @jeremymbarr

Julia Jacobs / New York Times:

Sony Pictures Television announces Pop Culture Jeopardy, a Jeopardy spinoff that will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video; the host is yet to be announced — Sony Pictures Television said that “Pop Culture Jeopardy!” — which will pit teams of three against one another — would be streamed on Prime Video.

Discussion: CNN, Variety, TVLine, New Jersey Online, WORLD SCREEN, The Verge, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter

Marisa Guthrie / WWD:

Complex names Aria Hughes as editor-in-chief and Noah Callahan-Bever as chief content officer and buys Callahan-Bever's media company, Idea Generation — Noah Callahan-Bever will return to the platform as chief of content. — Aria Hughes has been named editor in chief of Complex …

Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, @kerrymflynn and Complex

Emma Bubola / New York Times:

Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof says he has fled the country to Europe, after an Iranian court sentenced him to eight years in prison for his movies — Mohammad Rasoulof, known for the award-winning “There Is No Evil,” had been barred from leaving Iran after his work criticized Iran's authoritarian rule.

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Lawyer: the BBC will pay “substantial” compensation to Princess Diana's ex-chauffeur over “serious and unfounded” allegations made by Martin Bashir in 1995 — Martin Bashir told Princess Diana and her brother that Steve Davies “feeds Today newspaper”.

Discussion: The Guardian and Mediaite

Luke Harding / The Guardian:

An interview with the Kyiv Independent ex-Defense Correspondent Illia Ponomarenko about his new book on Russia's Ukraine invasion, social media, and more — Ahead of the publication of his raw account of the Russian invasion, the reporter talks about capturing the conflict in real time - and when the war will come to an end

Discussion: Associated Press

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Roku gets exclusive multiyear rights for MLB's Sunday Leadoff live games, starting May 19, a package previously held by NBCUniversal's Peacock — Starting May 19, Roku will stream Sunday MLB games for free on the Roku Channel. The company also will launch a new MLB Zone to help baseball fans find live …

New York Magazine:

Q&A with Walt Mossberg and YouTuber Marques Brownlee on tech reviews, handling pushback, YouTube, the issues with paid content, earning people's trust, and more — The two titans of tech reviewing talk shop with Kara Swisher. — Despite being two of the most influential tech reviewers ever …

Discussion: @karaswisher@threads.net, @mossbergwalt@threads.net and @mossbergwalt@threads.net

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Amber Neely / AppleInsider:
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Neal Mohan / The Hollywood Reporter:
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan argues that creators should be eligible for Emmys, as the awards “should reflect what viewers are actually watching on their TV screens”

Discussion: Ad Age, @davemorgannyc, @jimstenman, Michelle Goad on LinkedIn, Danielle Brown on LinkedIn, @tvgrimreaper, @tracytran, Tubefilter, @alexweprin and Fede Goldenberg on LinkedIn

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Many student protesters say they value Al Jazeera's on-the-ground coverage, as many major Western media outlets have struggled to gain access to Gaza

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Ramish Zafar / Wccftech:
AMD says it will lay off ~4% of its global staff to align “resources with our largest growth opportunities”; SEC filing: AMD had 26,000 employees at 2023's end

Bloomberg:
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