Top News:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Skydance reached a preliminary deal to pay $1.75B for National Amusements and agreed to a 45-day period where other Paramount bidders can make offers — Skydance would pay $1.75 billion for National Amusements under the preliminary deal — David Ellison's production company …
Discussion:
New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Awful Announcing, The Playlist, Jessica Toonkel on LinkedIn, The Wrap, Media Play News, The Information, Financial Times, TVNewsCheck, Deadline, @sherman4949, Cord Cutters News, @richlightshed, @paulconstant.com, @richlightshed, @rfaughnder, @sherman4949 and Forbes, more at Techmeme »
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Bloomberg:
Sources: Paramount Global is in exclusive talks to sell BET for $1.6B-$1.7B to buyers that include BET CEO Scott Mills and Chinh Chu, who runs CC Capital — - Discussing offer from BET CEO and CC Capital's Chinh Chu — New interest after Paramount talks with Skydance fell apart
Discussion:
IndieWire, Fast Company, Stereogum, Variety, New York Post, The Streamable, @mattbelloni, The Wrap, The Desk and The Hollywood Reporter
New York Times:
Sources: Barry Diller is exploring a bid to take control of Paramount; his digital media conglomerate, IAC, has signed NDAs with National Amusements
Sources: Barry Diller is exploring a bid to take control of Paramount; his digital media conglomerate, IAC, has signed NDAs with National Amusements
Discussion:
Fast Company, The Ankler, New York Post, Cord Cutters News, The Streamable, NewscastStudio, Axios, CNBC, The Wrap, @webbarr, @davidkeithlaw, @jbmp51, @jgdean14, @davidpoland, @susanlitv, @davidgura, @benmullin, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, Variety, IndieWire, The Hollywood Reporter, Alex Sherman on LinkedIn, TVNewsCheck, Deadline, Bloomberg, Media Play News and CNBC
Eugen Rochko / Mastodon Blog:
Mastodon adds clickable bylines under article links, pointing to the author's fediverse account; The Verge and MacRumors are among the pubs using the feature — A new feature for media organizations, journalists and bloggers — To reinforce and encourage Mastodon as the go-to place for journalism …
Discussion:
The Verge, @Mastodon@mastodon.social, TechCrunch, @frozencanuck@mas.to, @bretcarmichael@mastodon …, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @dimillian@mastodon.social, @nileane@nileane.fr, J. Nathan Matias on LinkedIn, @btp@fosstodon.org, @Edent@mastodon.social, @ernie@writing.exchange, @seanfobbe@fediscience.org, @amberage@eldritch.cafe, @IceCubesApp@mastodon.online, @mho@social.heise.de, @buddiesofbudgie@floss.social and Melanie Sill on LinkedIn
Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:
EverPass Media, which has commercial rights to NFL's Sunday Ticket, acquires UPshow, a service that enables live sports streaming at commercial establishments — A satellite dish is no longer the only way bars and restaurants can air the National Football League's package of “Sunday Ticket” games.
Discussion:
EverPass Media, Deadline, The Hill, Barrett Media, The Media Leader, Sportico, Awful Announcing and The Hollywood Reporter
Reece Rogers / Wired:
AI spam still sometimes ranks higher than original reporting in Google Search despite Google's adjustments to target AI spam in March 2024 — Google adjusted its policies to target AI spam earlier this year, but plagiarizing content still comes up higher in search results months later—and SEO experts aren't sure why.
Discussion:
Quartz, @wired, @wired, @wired and Beyond Search, more at Techmeme »
Tim Wu / New York Times:
Judges have allowed First Amendment free speech rights to be hijacked to suppress the sovereignty of humans in favor of the power of companies and machines — The First Amendment was written in the 18th century with the noble and vitally important goal of ensuring robust political debate and a free press.
Discussion:
Ann Rutledge on LinkedIn, Fox News, @g_shullenberger, @elonmusk, Electronic Frontier Foundation, @mkhammer, @rationalist69, @alex, @jess_miers, @sergiovengeance, @murielblaivephd, @aaron_renn, @scottgreenfield, Reason, @jeninyounesesq, @pluribuspub, @KevinCarson1@kolektiva.social, Freedom of the Press …, @centralunplan, @jeninyounesesq, @g_shullenberger, @aricohn, @michaelkpate, @g_shullenberger, @emmma_camp_, @scottlincicome, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, News/Media Alliance, Engadget, The Verge, Voice of America, Bloomberg, Free Press, Slate, Techdirt and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Snapchat adds new features, including letting Snapchat+ subscribers design a personalized house on Snap Map and send Snaps that last less than .5 seconds — Snapchat is introducing new ways for users to personalize their accounts, the company announced on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Snap Newsroom, Randy Meech on LinkedIn and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Dan Gillmor:
Journalists need to reject formulas that have made them ineffective, like presenting “both sides”, after the SCOTUS ruling giving presidents unrestricted power — This is the first in a series of posts. — Dear journalists: This is your moment.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Following Paramount's takedown of MTV News, the Internet Archive has assembled a searchable index of 460,575 web pages earlier published at MTV.com/news — MTV News lives! Well, sort of. … You can search the MTV News archive on the organization's Wayback Machine at this link.
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, @ernie@writing.exchange, Internet Archive Blogs, @internetarchive, Deadline, POP!, @jillpantozzi, @center4popmusic and @variety
Yadarisa Shabong / Reuters:
The London Stock Exchange Group partners with Dow Jones to share news and data; the companies plan a curated news space in LSEG's Workspace platform in 2025 — The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG.L) announced a multi-year news and data partnership with Dow Jones that will include content …
Discussion:
MediaPost, Dow Jones Newswires and Talking Biz News
John Buckley / Capital Brief:
Memo: News Corp CEO Robert Thomson signals the company is weighing legal action against at least one generative AI firm, weeks after finalizing an OpenAI deal — In the memo, the CEO shared more detail on his approach to generative AI, which he considers a major risk to journalism — even as the company strikes deals with AI firms.
Discussion:
@kalihays1@threads.net and @johnbuckley_
Stephanie Palazzolo / The Information:
Source: Runway, a startup focusing on generative AI video for Hollywood and other filmmakers, is in talks to raise $450M at about a $4B valuation — Runway, already the best funded among a cluster of startups developing artificial intelligence software to generate videos for Hollywood …
Discussion:
@steph_palazzolo, more at Techmeme »