Mediagazer: ProRata.ai agrees licensing deals with Daily Mail-owner DMG Media, the Guardian, Sky News, and others; sources say DMG bought a stake that values it at ~$130M (Daniel Thomas/Financial Times)

7:20 AM ET, November 20, 2024

Top News:

Sources: Comcast plans to announce Wednesday that it will be spinning off its NBCUniversal cable TV networks including MSNBC and CNBC, with Mark Lazarus as CEO — New venture will house channels like E!, USA and MSNBC; company to announce several leadership changes

Kanis Leung / Associated Press:

Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai testifies for the first time in his years-long national security trial; he is already serving a jail term for a fraud conviction — Former Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai began testifying Wednesday in his landmark national security trial that is widely seen …

Discussion: Washington Post, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, The Wire China, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, Reuters, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, Financial Times, CBS News, Bloomberg, Raw Story, Semafor, London Evening Standard and Reporters Without Borders

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:

The Economist, The Week, ITV News, and others have joined Bluesky in the past week, while Politico, Semafor, Tortoise have resumed their activity on the site — A wave of news publishers have arrived on Bluesky in recent days, following audiences and journalists departing X/Twitter.

Discussion: Hindustan Times, @handle.invalid and @johnspurlock.com

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Bluesky says it now has 20M+ users after hitting 15M on November 13, and the app has been #1 in the US App Store since November 13, per Appfigures

Sophie Culpepper / Nieman Lab:

A profile of The Green Line, a Toronto-based local news site that combines traditional reporting, community events, and solutions and action — The Green Line combines events, explainers, and solutions to appeal to young Torontonians. — Toronto-based local news site The Green Line …

Discussion: @carolynjack, @tassosmorfis and @niemanlab

Ted Johnson / Deadline:

Brendan Carr says Trump's complaint over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris is “likely to arise” in the FCC's review of the Skydance-Paramount deal — In an interview with Fox News' America's Newsroom, Carr said, “Broadcasters are differently situated to other speakers.

Discussion: Fox News, The Daily Beast, Bloomberg, New York Post, Mediaite, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and TVNewsCheck

Mia Sato / The Verge:

Google tightens its rules against “parasite SEO” content, or articles that have little to do with the website's focus, after cracking down on “reputation abuse” — Google is tightening its rules against “parasite SEO” content, or articles and pages that often have little …

Discussion: MEDIANAMA, CNET and San Francisco Examiner, more at Techmeme »

Anil Dash:

Substack wants writers to call their work by its brand name because “they control your audience and distribution” and “want to own your content and voice” — Email's been here for years. But the reason Substack wants you to call your creative work by their brand name …

Discussion: Observer

Amanda Gerut / Fortune:

A Brooklyn federal grand jury indicts two brothers over allegedly running illegal sports streaming service 247TVStream, offering live NFL, NBA, and NHL games — “Thanks to the work of our prosecutors, along with our domestic and international law enforcement partners, the illicit digital streaming site …

Discussion: The Desk and US Department of Justice

Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:

A lawsuit against Netflix and Meta claims the two made a deal where Meta scaled back original video programming in trade for Netflix data and ad spending — The proposed class action points to Meta's streaming ambitions with Facebook Watch, whose original programming division shuttered last year.

Discussion: The Wrap, AV Club, The US Sun, Deadline, BroBible, @gunsdownamerica.bsky.social, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division, Tubefilter, New York Post, AdExchanger and Business Insider

Sean Burch / The Wrap:

Statement: Jay Penske says The Hollywood Reporter has replaced co-EIC Nekesa Mumbi Moody with Shirley Halperin, following staff cuts in June and August 2024 — Halperin recently resigned as editor of Los Angeles Magazine — The Hollywood Reporter replaced co-editor-in-chief Nekesa Mumbi Moody …

Discussion: Associated Press, TVNewsCheck, The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters and Talking Biz News

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

ProRata.ai agrees licensing deals with Daily Mail-owner DMG Media, the Guardian, Sky News, and others; sources say DMG bought a stake that values it at ~$130M — Groups including Guardian and Daily Mail agree licensing deals to ensure payment for content — ProRata.ai, a US artificial …

Discussion: Press Gazette, The Hollywood Reporter and @davidgrayrhodes

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:

Trump Media now has a ~$7B market cap despite struggling to build a profitable revenue stream; Similarweb says site visits fell 20% MoM to 10M in October 2024 — Trump Media & Technology Group's revenue and share price have sagged as its losses have piled up.

Discussion: @coffeephilosoph, Mediaite, @washingtonpost, @drewharwell, @drewharwell, Lawyers, Guns & Money, @drewharwell, @meyer_hm and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

New York Times:

Filings: The Onion's Infowars bid was $7M, including backing from Sandy Hook families and $1.75M in cash; Alex Jones-linked First United's bid was $3.5M in cash — A hearing is scheduled for Monday to review the auction process, which is being contested by a losing bidder associated with Alex Jones, the Infowars founder.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, @benmullin.bsky.social, Politico and Business Insider

Aaron Katersky / ABC News:
Filing: Alex Jones asks a judge to halt the sale of Infowars; a company affiliated with him, which was the losing bidder, seeks to disqualify The Onion's bid

Discussion: NPR, Raw Story, Newser, The Desk, @benmullin, Austin American-Statesman, @passantino@threads.net, CNN, Bloomberg Law, Associated Press, Reuters and New Republic

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State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

Multimedia Journalist, CA — Paramount

Community Engagement Mgr., DC — Freedom Forum

Staff Writer - Business, NY — WIRED

Editor, MA — Nieman Reports

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More News:

Dave Lawler / Axios:
Trump picks TV personality and 2022 US Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Discussion: CNN, Reuters, Washington Post, The Independent, @jakesherman, InsuranceNewsNet, PBS NewsHour, Los Angeles Times, Virginia Mercury, @edburmila.bsky.social, Breitbart, Le Monde, Roll Call, Entertainment Weekly, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Raw Story, WHEC.com, MM+M, KTVU-TV, The Lever, Benzinga, New Republic, The 19th, The Guardian, FierceHealthcare, Alternet.org, Healthcare Dive, Mediaite, The Wrap, Trending Politics …, @thedesk.net, STAT, @joel_montfort@threads.net, CNBC, @BrianJopek@mastodon.world, TVNewsCheck, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, @ronfrankl.bsky.social, Bloomberg, @pnwdreadpirate.bsky.social, NBC News, @petermorley.bsky.social, @davidmwessel.bsky.social, @ejfagan.com, @keithboykin.bsky.social, USA Today, @timobrien.bsky.social, Politico, Variety, NPR, Rolling Stone, People, New York Daily News, CBS News, Protect Our Care, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Business Insider and New York Post

Charlotte Klein / New York Magazine:
Sources detail continued financial losses at WaPo, internal competition for the top newsroom job, and staff dissatisfaction with a new return-to-office policy

Discussion: Twitchy, Breitbart, @nymag, Fox News, @claeshs.bsky.social, @charlottetklein.bsky.social and New York Post

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Spines, an AI-powered self-publishing service for book authors that provides suggestions on edits, cover design, more, raised a $16M Series A after a $6.5M seed

Discussion: @devinmadson.bsky.social, Michael Eisenberg on LinkedIn, Oren Zeev on LinkedIn and Spines

Bloomberg:
Source: Microsoft signs a deal with News Corp's HarperCollins to use nonfiction titles to train an unannounced AI model; HarperCollins says authors can opt out

Earlier Picks:

Apple:
The NYT's The Daily tops Apple Podcasts' most popular US shows in 2024, followed by Crime Junkie, The Joe Rogan Experience, Dateline NBC, and SmartLess

Discussion: @alexweprin, The Information, Jake Shapiro on LinkedIn, The Wrap, Variety, AppleInsider, BGR and 9to5Mac

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: Apple has started selling its own ad inventory for Apple News; publishers will get a 70% cut of the ad revenue generated by Apple within their articles

Discussion: @sarafischer, The Information, @shiraovide.bsky.social, AppleInsider and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

Brian Stelter / CNN:
Sources: MSNBC's Morning Joe meeting with Trump was driven by fears of retribution from the incoming administration, including governmental and legal harassment

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Amazon says Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers in the US, the UK, and Canada can now listen to one audiobook per month from Audible's catalog for free

From Techmeme:

Mishaal Rahman / Android Police:
Google ships the first Android 16 developer preview, far ahead of schedule compared to the past decade, hoping to lower fragmentation by giving OEMs more time

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Sony launches cloud streaming on the PlayStation Portal in beta, letting PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers in some countries stream select PS5 games

Nikkei Asia:
TechInsights: China's chip self-sufficiency rate rose from ~14% in 2014 to 23% in 2023 and is expected to hit 27% in 2027, as China rushes to boost chip supply

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