Top News:
Bill Donahue / Billboard:
Drake launches legal action against UMG and Spotify for allegedly using bots, payola, and more to inflate Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us, a track attacking Drake — Drake has initiated legal action against Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify over allegations that the two companies conspired …
Discussion:
The Independent, The Guardian, Associated Press, Music Ally, New York County Supreme Court, Cele|bitchy, Variety, Rolling Stone, The Wrap, @desusnice, @daviddennisjr.bsky.social, @phil_lewis_, New York Daily News, @mford.bsky.social, @mannyfidel, @annaknicolaou, AV Club, @myfakeironlung.bsky.social, Sandra Rose, @annaknicolaou, @janecoaston, Bossip, Los Angeles Times, Stereogum, Entertainment Weekly, @casey_evans_, UPROXX, @kashana.bsky.social, @brianzisook, @_zeets, @joshgondelman, @dragonflyjonez, @hebennigatu, @fadamgotdajuice, @billdonahue.bsky.social, @darrylc.bsky.social, @theneedledrop, @wowthatshiphop, CBS News, @markroebuck.bsky.social, @mikemadden.bsky.social, @nhoodpublicist, @wowthatshiphop, @wickednfine, @skrappy83, Digital Music News, TMZ.com, @mrmedina, @dragonflyjonez, @big_business_, People, @arianfoster, theJasmineBRAND, @umg, @_zeets, @variety, @gothamhiphop, @phil_lewis_, @engineeringbae.bsky.social, @britticisms.bsky.social, Music Business Worldwide, The Verge, Forbes, Deadline, Consequence, Fox News, Just Jared and Oh No They Didn't!, more at Techmeme »
Sam Tobin / Reuters:
Prince Harry's phone-hacking lawsuit against News Group Newspaper will go to trial in January 2026, with the parties' legal costs set to exceed £38M — Prince Harry and other high-profile British figures' privacy lawsuits against the Daily Mail newspaper's publisher will go to trial in early 2026 …
Discussion:
Daily Express, Irish Examiner, @jack_royston, Newsweek and GB News
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: NBC's new deal with Macy's to keep the Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC and Peacock has an average annual fee of $60M+, up from ~$20M in the current deal — Macy's and NBC near pact that would raise the spectacle's annual average price to $60 million.
Discussion:
New York Post, The Wrap, @wsj.com, Benzinga, @bsdtectr.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck and Just Jared
Carmen Reinicke / Bloomberg:
Conservative video streaming platform Rumble hires Guy Beahm, aka Dr Disrespect, to lead Rumble Gaming; RUM rises 13%+ to its highest level since May 2024 — - Amazon's Twitch platform banned Guy Beahm four years ago … Guy Beahm will stream both free and premium content on the platform …
Discussion:
Investing.com, Dexerto, Dexerto, Sports Illustrated, Metro.co.uk, @brndxix, Kotaku, Insider Gaming, @airbagged, @dickmasterson, @nameismattt, @gamingonrumble, @wendlertv, @aukeeno, @drdisrespect, @rumblevideo, @chrispavlovski, @tsmviss, @thequartering, @soltek, @dinkathemuslim, @1xtitan, @toolmantimlwc, @ir0ktv, @mothxunknown, @guybeahm, The Verge, Rumble, @drdisrespect, Reclaim The Net, The Daily Dot, Benzinga and Forbes
Ben Smith / Semafor:
Public figures are asking their PR advisers to reach out to podcasters like Joe Rogan and other right-leaning platforms after Trump's success in the US election — The News — Corporate executives and other public figures emerged from this month's election with a new task for their handlers …
Discussion:
@dannygroner.bsky.social, @cbalfe and Jaime Medovitch Smith on LinkedIn
Hua Hsu / New Yorker:
A look at Giant Robot, a magazine published from 1994 to 2011 that explored Asian American pop culture and peaked with a circulation of ~27K in the early 2000s — The magazine explored Asian American culture, without dwelling too much on what that meant. — The first issue …
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
A UK House of Lords committee warns that UK news coverage is at risk of “fracturing irreparably” within 10 years as people rely on “dubious online sources” — Lords communications committee calls on government to take steps to avert ‘two-tier’ media environment
Discussion:
Press Gazette, HoldtheFrontPage and UnHerd
Marc Fisher / Nieman Reports:
A look at the changes made by hard-right TV mogul David Smith at The Baltimore Sun and the anxiety over his plans for the paper inside the shrunken newsroom — David Smith built a television empire on sensational, crime-saturated newscasts. Then he bought Maryland's premier newspaper.
Dominic Patten / Deadline:
Filing: Disney agrees to pay $43.25M to settle a 2019 lawsuit over pay equity for up to 14,000 female Disney employees; the trial was set to begin in May 2025 — We now know how much Disney is writing a check for to end the pay equity class-action suit that has loomed over the company for the past five years.
Discussion:
CNN, Wall Street Journal, @rwhelanwsj, Variety, @barkjack_, The Wrap and TVNewsCheck
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Italian private equity firm Bending Spoons plans to take cloud video management and monetization platform Brightcove private in a deal valued at $233M — Brightcove, a cloud platform that helps businesses manage and monetize video content, is being taken private by Italian technology company Bending Spoons …
Jason Zinoman / New York Times:
A look at Disney's plans to compete with Netflix in standup comedy through Hulu, emphasizing quality over quantity while largely avoiding controversy — Under the Hulu banner, the company says it will offer quality over quantity while largely avoiding controversy. Many comedians are ready to give it a shot.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, Deadline and IndieWire
Greg Stohr / Bloomberg:
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:
Music Business Worldwide, Billboard, MediaPost, RedState and Reuters
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