Mediagazer: Sources: UK's Evening Standard has made plans to use AI to write reviews under the name of its former art critic of 30 years Brian Sewell, who died in 2015 (Jake Kanter/Deadline)

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

TikTok says it plans to shut down TikTok Music on November 28 and will delete customer data; the app, originally called Resso, first launched in 2019 — TikTok Music will go offline on Nov. 28 and customer data will be deleted, the music division said in a post on its website.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, MarketWatch, South China Morning Post, Business Insider, Engadget, @ibd_ecarson, @stokel, @abelowrob, Music Ally and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

The NYT aims to sell podcast subscriptions via Apple Podcasts and Spotify, requiring users to pay to access older episodes, starting Oct. for $6/mo. or $50/year — - “A big part of our strategy is building direct relationships with our customers,” said Ben Cotton, The Times' head of subscription growth.

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg, The New York Times Company, 9to5Mac and @sarafischer

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

Paramount's Pluto TV and M6+ strike a partnership that includes content channels and ad sales in France; French TV company M6 launched the AVOD platform in May — The strategic commercial and editorial partnership is designed to “scale and expand their free streaming and digital businesses in France.”

Discussion: Advanced Television, Variety, WORLD SCREEN, TVNewsCheck, Deadline and TVBEurope

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Reach CEO Jim Mullen says there is “too much power in the hands of platforms and their algorithms” and calls for regulation to make platforms pay for content — The chief executive of the UK's biggest commercial news publisher has called for big tech regulation so the platforms pay …

Discussion: Liverpool Echo and HoldtheFrontPage

New York Times:

How WhatsApp Channels, launched in late 2023, are driving traffic to digital news outlets, especially readers from outside the US, as social media traffic falls — An illustration of a man sitting on a green chair reading a newspaper called “World News” as he looks at his phone behind it.Jackson Gibbs

Discussion: @simondowens@threads.net, @mikeisaac, @mikeisaac and @hanaatameez

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Roku unveils the $100 Roku Ultra, which is 30% faster than its other streaming players and has Wi-Fi 6, HDMI 2.1, Dolby Atmos, the Voice Remote Pro, and more — One day after the Google TV Streamer hit stores, Roku is announcing its own latest streaming player.

David Ingram / NBC News:

TikTok permanently removes accounts associated with the parent organizations of Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik, citing “covert influence operations” — Social media rivals Meta and YouTube have announced similar suspensions of Russian state media accounts this month.

Discussion: CNN, Engadget, Adweek, The Hill, @alenapopova and @beefeater_fella, more at Techmeme »

Ryan Browne / CNBC:

Warner Bros. Discovery partners with Google to add its “caption AI” tool built on Vertex AI to Max to automatically generate captions for unscripted programming — Warner Bros. Discovery is partnering with Google to integrate the internet giant's AI technology …

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Variety, @dfwsam.bsky.social, The Keyword and Google Cloud, more at Techmeme »

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Memo: Paramount unveils “phase two” of layoffs and says 90% of them will be complete after this round, following its August plan to cut 15% of its US workforce — Paramount Global unveiled a second wave of staff cuts Tuesday morning, part of a larger bid by the owner of CBS …

Discussion: The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, Advanced Television, Bloomberg, The Hollywood Reporter, Next TV and Deadline

Jake Kanter / Deadline:

Sources: UK's Evening Standard has made plans to use AI to write reviews under the name of its former art critic of 30 years Brian Sewell, who died in 2015 — Deadline understands that London's historic Evening Standard newspaper has been making plans to revive its former writer using artificial intelligence.

Discussion: @jscalzi@threads.net, @siddhantadlakha, @eddiehenryjames, @chrismoranuk, @_zeets, @sturgios, @wendyide, @willardfoxton and @nina_metz

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:

WP Engine sends a cease-and-desist letter to Automattic to “retract false, harmful, and disparaging statements”, after Matt Mullenweg called it a “cancer” — WordPress hosting service WP Engine on Monday sent a cease-and-desist letter to Automattic …

Discussion: TechRadar, @photomatt, @photomatt, Search Engine Journal, @justinferriman, @rarst, @mattpaulsonsd, @jacobwolf, @twentworth12, @asmartbear, @katiekeithbarn2, r/Wordpress, @wpengine, Hacker News and r/Wordpress, more at Techmeme »

Discussion: Sherwood News, WordPress News, Search Engine Journal, @varunkrish and @michaelbishop.me

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:

Spotify rolls out its AI Playlist feature in beta to Premium subscribers in the US, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, after launching in the UK and Australia — Spotify is expanding an AI feature that creates customized playlists from your text descriptions to additional English-speaking regions.

Discussion: Reuters, TechCrunch, Spotify, 9to5Mac, MobileSyrup, Engadget, @spotifynews, Mashable, iPhone in Canada Blog and MSPoweruser, more at Techmeme »

Katie Paul / Reuters:

Source: Meta plans to launch the voices of Judi Dench, Kristen Bell, John Cena, Awkwafina, and Keegan-Michael Key for its Meta AI chatbot at Connect this week — Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O) is planning to announce this week that it has secured deals with actors including Judi Dench …

Discussion: MEDIANAMA and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »