Mediagazer: Outbrain confirms plans to acquire Teads from Altice, in a transaction valuing the SSP and video monetization company at ~$1B; Outbrain will pay $725M in cash (Alyssa Boyle/AdExchanger)

12:33 PM ET, August 1, 2024

Top News:

Russia frees Evan Gershkovich, RFE/RL reporter Alsu Kurmasheva, and others as part of a prisoner swap involving 24 prisoners and at least six countries — Release of 32-year-old American from Russia secured as part of largest East-West prisoner swap since Cold War

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Voice of America, Reuters, HuffPost, The Guardian, ABC News, CBS News, BBC, Bloomberg, Fox News, The Independent, Poynter, Semafor, Politico, NPR, The White House, WFLA, Mother Jones, Associated Press, New York Times, Foreign Policy, Forbes, Elayne Gan on LinkedIn, @mattdpearce, @brianbeutler, USAGM, @potus, ABC7, @potus, Committee to Protect …, @terellwright2, @natashabertrand, @paulwsj, @katie_robertson, @efindell, @peterbakernyt, @jaketapper, @joannastern, @nicktimiraos, @abarbashin, @annielinskey, UPI, Rolling Stone, @ishaantharoor, Meduza.io, KUSA-TV, New York Post, CNN, The Hill, The Mirror, The i Paper, Telegraph, @jamesrbuk, Deadline, @samberkhead, @silviakillings, @ianbremmer, @conorsen, TVNewsCheck, @srabil, @noahcrothman, @hadas_gold, ABC Columbia and Boston Herald

Wall Street Journal:

WSJ Editor Emma Tucker thanks the Biden administration, other governments especially Germany, and Evan Gershkovich in the effort to release him and others — Today is a joyous day for the safe return of our colleague Evan Gershkovich, who left a Russian aircraft moments ago in Turkey's capital …

Discussion: Press Gazette, Talking Biz News, Variety, CBS News, TMZ.com, The Guardian and Politico

Kate Conger / New York Times:

Don Lemon sues Elon Musk and X, arguing Musk refused to pay him after a $1.5M/year exclusive X content deal fell apart; Lemon did not sign a formal contract — The former CNN reporter said in a lawsuit that X had refused to pay him after a testy interview with its billionaire owner.

Discussion: TVLine, The Wrap, Variety, Mediaite, Reuters, CNN, Page Six, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Business Insider, Barrett Media and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

WBD, Disney, and Fox plan to launch their joint sports streaming venture Venu for $42.99 per month initially, with a seven-day free trial, expected in fall 2024 — Streaming sports on a stand-alone basis won't be cheap. … The service is expected to debut in the fall in conjunction with the start of the next NFL season.

Dan Sabbagh / The Guardian:

In a letter to ex-prime minister Gordon Brown, the UK's Met police say a special team is examining claims that Will Lewis helped cover up phone hacking claims — Exclusive: Scotland Yard move on complaint by ex-PM Gordon Brown, who accuses Will Lewis of phone hacking ‘cover-up’ in 2011

Discussion: Washington Post, @dangillmor@mastodon.social, @heerjeet, @davidfolkenflik, CNN, The Daily Beast, @bgrueskin, @jackshafer, @davidfolkenflik, @froomkin, @jeffjarvis, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, @heinendevon@threads.net, New York Times, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social and NPR

David Folkenflik / NPR:
Lawyers for Prince Harry and others accused WaPo CEO Will Lewis of fabricating a fake security threat 13 years ago in order to delete emails at Murdoch tabloids

Discussion: The Guardian, Media Nation, @northernlights@mstdn.ca and MediaPost

Anna Washenko / Engadget:

A group of US senators unveils the NO FAKES Act, which would make individuals and companies liable for producing, hosting, or sharing unauthorized AI deepfakes — OpenAI joined several entertainment industry groups in backing the NO FAKES Act. — Today, a group of senators introduced the NO FAKES Act …

Discussion: Human Artistry Camp, Publishers Weekly, U.S. Senator Christopher Coons …, 9to5Mac, Inside Radio, @amyklobuchar@threads.net, Variety, Rolling Stone, CMU, Consequence, Billboard and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »

Jesse Whittock / Deadline:

Ligue de Football Professionnel confirms a five-year deal with DAZN to broadcast the majority of France's Ligue 1 soccer; BeIN has rights to one match per week — Sports streamer DAZN is the new home of top-division soccer in France after tying up a five-year deal worth a reporting €500M ($540M).

Discussion: Advanced Television

Mark Kleinman / Sky News:

Sources: hedge fund tycoon and GB News shareholder Paul Marshall is close to a deal to buy The Spectator, separate from The Telegraph, as soon as this month — The GB News shareholder is now the frontrunner to buy one of Britain's most influential political magazines amid an ongoing auction …

Discussion: City A.M., @markkleinmansky, @markkleinmansky and @janemartinson

John Koblin / New York Times:

CBS News names John Dickerson, its lead political analyst, and Maurice DuBois, an anchor for an NY affiliate, as Evening News anchors replacing Norah O'Donnell — The pair are part of a broader shake-up at the show, which includes the addition of Lonnie Quinn as a regular weather anchor.

Discussion: Mediaite, Variety, Radio & Television …, TVLine, The Wrap, CBS News, Los Angeles Times, Next TV, New York Daily News, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount Press Express and TVNewsCheck

Natalie Korach / The Wrap:

SiriusXM plans to launch a premium podcast subscription service through Apple Podcasts for $5.99 per month or $44.99 annually, starting August 5 — The offering is intended to diversify the platform's podcast revenue stream while expanding the listener base

Discussion: Reuters, Engadget, Radio Ink and The Hollywood Reporter

Alyssa Boyle / AdExchanger:

Outbrain confirms plans to acquire Teads from Altice, in a transaction valuing the SSP and video monetization company at ~$1B; Outbrain will pay $725M in cash — The rumors are true: Outbrain is buying Teads. — On Thursday, the content recommendation platform announced it will acquire Teads …

Discussion: The Media Leader, Adweek, Digiday, Axios, Bloomberg and Outbrain Inc., more at Techmeme »

Tales Azzoni / Associated Press:

The Premier League, Bundesliga, DAZN, Sky, UEFA, CONMEBOL, and others write to X CEO Linda Yaccarino demanding more action against illegal soccer content on X — Some of Europe's main broadcasters and top soccer leagues have sent a letter to the CEO of social media platform X, Linda Yaccarino …

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

RAJAR: in Q2, GB News Radio reached 518K people per week on average, overtaking Times Radio for the first time; BBC Radio 2 had a weekly reach of 13.3M people — GB News Radio has overtaken Times Radio's weekly reach for the first time according to the latest RAJAR radio listening figures for Q2 2024.

Discussion: adambowie.com and Press Association

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More News:

Jem Aswad / Variety:
Midia Research: songwriters average 9.5% of the $0.004 Spotify pays per stream, and of the over 300 songwriters surveyed, only 10% earn over $30K annually

Discussion: MIDiA Research Blog and Music Ally

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
Global Project Oasis study: the number of launches of digital news startups has been slowing since 2022 in Europe, Latin America, and North America

Discussion: Global Project Oasis, @joao_f_pinto, @mattdpearce, @niemanlab, @mattdpearce@threads.net and LatAm Journalism Review

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Sports rights deals are moving money out of Hollywood to leagues: sports make up 40% of Disney's content budget, NBC's NBA deal will replace 150+ hours of shows

Discussion: @tvgrimreaper, @alexweprin, TVNewsCheck and Associated Press

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says Microsoft, Anthropic, and Perplexity need to pay to scrape Reddit's data, and blocking them has been “a real pain in the ass”

Discussion: Quartz, Engadget, Search Engine Land, Bloomberg, Business Insider, @jwherrman, @jwherrman, Ars Technica and Prof. Ahmed Banafa on LinkedIn, more at Techmeme »

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
A press release, now killed, said “Apex Capital Trust” put in a bid for Paramount, prompting multiple news stories, but background info on the org looks sketchy

Earlier Picks:

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Disney is cutting about 140 jobs at Disney Entertainment Television, or about 2% of staff; cuts will fall hardest on NatGeo, Freeform, and ABC stations

Discussion: The Wrap, Reuters, New York Post, Cord Cutters News, Deadline, Quartz, AV Club, Adweek, The Desk, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, Los Angeles Times and TVNewsCheck

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
In a Q&A at the NABJ convention, Trump questions Kamala Harris' racial identity, calls ABC News' Rachel Scott “very rude”, and complains about audio problems

Discussion: HuffPost, Mediaite, Fox News, The Hollywood Reporter, @abbydphillip, The Nation, TheGrio, Vibe, Axios, @jeffstorobinsky, New Republic, @kamalahq, PinkNews, @natashasalford, ABC News, TV Insider, New York Times, NPR, @cd_hooks, @graceokoro2, @moniquepressley, @chenueher, @cbcpac, Poynter, @sulliview, @aprildryan, TIME, @errinhaines, @kamalahq@threads.net, @abcworldnewstonight …, @griffinkyle@threads.net, @griffinkyle@threads.net, @keithedwards@threads.net, @emoltzen@threads.net, @noahcrothman, @steven_beschloss@threads.net, @willsommer, @brianstelter, CBS News, @corbinbolies, @brianstelter, @semaforben, @acyn, @parkermolloy, @trumpstaxes, @hadas_gold, @hadas_gold, @hadas_gold, @hadas_gold, @mossbergwalt@threads.net, PolitiFact, Washington Post, @timothystamm101@threads.net, @kenpopehat@threads.net, @kbode@threads.net, WXIA-TV, @goodyk@threads.net, @dkiesow@threads.net, The Daily Beast, Iowa Capital Dispatch, Axios, The Guardian, Slate, The 19th, Media Matters for America, New York Daily News, Shari Dunn on LinkedIn, Mother Jones, TMZ.com, The Wrap, Rolling Stone, Variety, Barrett Media, NABJ, Semafor, Associated Press and ABC7

Kyle Chayka / New Yorker:
Spotify prioritizes what a user has recently listened to and recommended content, encouraging users to become passive listeners, a form of enshittification

Discussion: Spotify, Digital Music News, The Verge, Jarrett Fuller on LinkedIn, Jon Goldmann on LinkedIn, Dan Klyn on LinkedIn and Kyle Austin on LinkedIn

From Techmeme:

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Exploring the scaling challenges of transformer-based LLMs in efficiently processing large amounts of text, as well as potential solutions, such as RAG systems

Reuters:
Albania bans TikTok for a year from January 2025, part of a broader plan to make schools safer following the killing of a 14-year-old near a school in November

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