Top News:


NBC News launches its 24/7 streaming service NBC News Now in Latin America in two of its biggest markets, Mexico and Brazil — NBC News' 24/7 streaming platform, NBC News Now, is launching in Mexico and Brazil, Latin America's biggest markets, as it continues to expand across the world.
Discussion:
The Desk


Trade body data: copyrighted music revenue was $45.5B in 2023, above cinema box office spending of $33.2B in 2023 and $41.9B in 2019; record labels made $28.5B — Annual revenues from copyrighted music hit almost $46bn last year, against $33.2bn for cinema
Discussion:
Pivotal Economics, CMU, Music Ally, Billboard and Will Page on LinkedIn


Sources: CVC Capital Partners and a major European broadcaster, thought to be France's Groupe TF1, are among those considering a takeover of the UK's ITV — The commercial broadcaster is back on alert for takeover approaches as financial and industry players evaluate offers which could lead …
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Times, Deadline, Advanced Television, City A.M., Bloomberg and RTÉ


As Elon Musk posts memes about buying MSNBC, sources say one liberal billionaire expressed interest in buying the channel; Comcast is not looking to sell MSNBC — Elon Musk has called MSNBC “the utter scum of the Earth.” He has said the channel “peddles puerile propaganda.”


In response to a tweet claiming X deprioritized posts with links in them, Elon Musk said to “put the link in the reply. This just stops lazy linking” — Elon Musk confirmed that posts containing links in their main text are deprioritized on X in a revelation that renews criticism …


The music industry is entering a cycle of consolidation, driven by a slowdown at the major labels, the growing market for independents, and the rapacity of PE — The music industry is entering new era, one driven by a slowdown at the major labels, the growing market for independents and the rapacity of private equity.
Discussion:
@lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw and @lucas_shaw


Internal email: the UK's Reach plans to merge staff at The Daily Mirror and celebrity magazine OK! to cut costs, but the move won't result in cutting of roles — Merging of daily newspaper and celebrity magazine employees is latest move by owner, Reach, to cut costs


Sources: CNN is considering making network anchor Kaitlan Collins its chief White House correspondent and relocating her show from New York to DC — The Scoop — CNN's leadership says it doesn't want to go back to its wall-to-wall 24-hour coverage of Donald Trump when he returns to the White House in January.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck


Investigation: how hack-for-hire Appin tried silencing 15+ outlets since 2022 over articles, newsletters, and podcasts covering Appin's “ethical hacking” — Whether based in the US, Switzerland, France or India, any media outlet investigating the “ethical hacking” of Appin …
Discussion:
@rsf_inter and Reporters Without Borders on YouTube


An interview with Alsu Kurmasheva of RFE/RL, a seasoned editor and broadcaster who spent months in a Russian prison before being released in a prisoner swap — Russian authorities put Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Alsu Kurmasheva behind bars, but they couldn't outsmart her.
Discussion:
Voice of America, Kathleen Moore on LinkedIn and Freedom of the Press …


SCOTUS seeks the US government's views in the $1B copyright fight between Cox Communications and Sony, Warner Music, Universal Music, and other music companies — - Sony among companies suing Cox over customer song downloads — Appeals court tossed out big 2019 jury award against Cox
Discussion:
RedState, Reuters and SCOTUSblog


Press freedom groups send six questions to the Scott Trust over The Observer sale, including why there is only one bidder and why staff can't speak out freely — The chair of the Scott Trust has offered to meet a consortium of press freedom groups which has raised concerns over the sale of The Observer.
Discussion:
@brianone.bsky.social, Financial Times and osce.org


PlayAI, which uses AI to clone voices for $49 or $99 per month and recently rolled out AI agents, raised a $20M seed co-led by 500 Startups and Kindred Ventures — Back in 2016, Hammad Syed and Mahmoud Felfel, an ex-WhatsApp engineer, thought it'd be neat to build a text-to-speech Chrome extension for Medium articles.
Discussion:
PlayAI Blog, more at Techmeme »