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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 …
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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
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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 …
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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.
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Mark Zuckerberg says Threads has 175M+ MAUs, up from 150M in April, ahead of its one-year anniversary on July 5; source: Meta may turn on ads in Threads in 2025 — A year and a half ago, Threads was but a twinkle in Mark Zuckerberg's eye. — Now, the rival to Elon Musk's X has reached …
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Emma Roth / The Verge:
Reddit users: Netflix is phasing out its cheapest $11.99/month ad-free tier for existing subscribers as planned, pushing its $6.99, $15.49, and $22.99 tiers — Netflix is following through on its plan to phase out its cheapest ad-free tier for existing subscribers.
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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.
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EverPass Media, The Hill, Awful Announcing, The Media Leader, Barrett Media, Deadline, Sportico and The Hollywood Reporter
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.
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@g_shullenberger, @elonmusk, @mkhammer, @rationalist69, @alex, @jess_miers, Ann Rutledge on LinkedIn, @sergiovengeance, @murielblaivephd, @aaron_renn, @scottgreenfield, @jeninyounesesq, @pluribuspub, @centralunplan, @jeninyounesesq, @g_shullenberger, @aricohn, @michaelkpate, @g_shullenberger, @emmma_camp_, @scottlincicome, Fox News, Reason, Public Knowledge, Freedom of the Press …, @KevinCarson1@kolektiva.social, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, News/Media Alliance, Engadget, Bloomberg, The Verge, Free Press, Slate, Techdirt and Deadline
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Brad Stone, editor of Bloomberg Businessweek, which moved to monthly circulation, says print may make a comeback as readers want “distraction-free luxury” — Editor of Businessweek Brad Stone said he believes print journalism could make a comeback as the 95-year-old title moved from weekly to monthly circulation this week.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Telegram rolls out the ability for creators to share paid content to channels using its Stars digital currency and for channels to convert Stars to Toncoin — Telegram launched a digital currency called Stars for in-app use last month. Now, the company is expanding its use cases to paid content.
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.
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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.
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