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Settlement: Murdoch's NGN apologizes to Prince Harry over “unlawful” phone hacking by The Sun and “extensive coverage and serious intrusion on his private life” — In the past few minutes, the BBC reported NGN apologizing for phone hacking, and the impact this had on Harry …
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Prince Harry reaches a settlement with Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers over allegedly gathering unlawful information, an abrupt end to the London trial — Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers offered Harry an “unequivocal apology,” admitting for the first time to “unlawful activities” …
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CNN, CNN, The Guardian, Associated Press, Mercury News, Vogue, Reuters, DNyuz, New York Post, Extra, People, E! Online, Bloomberg, @davidfolkenflik, @tom_watson, Mediaite, @hadas_gold, @davidfolkenflik, The Hollywood Gossip, @markjacob.bsky.social, @chrisshipitv, NBC News, @tom_watson, @davidfolkenflik, @jim.londoncentric.media, @chrisshipitv, CBS News, @jimwaterson, @hackedoffhugh, @peston, CNN, TVNewsCheck, The Bulwark, @tom_watson, @fraser_knight, @chrisshipitv, @jimwaterson, Washington Post, Financial Times, UPI, Cele|bitchy, Raw Story, Deadline and Al Jazeera


Adobe makes an additional $5M commitment to support underrepresented film and TV creators and filmmakers, on top of its $6M pledge in 2024 — Company also donating $1 million toward L.A. wildfire relief — Software giant Adobe is making an additional $5 million commitment …
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire


Nielsen: Trump's inauguration drew an average of 24.59M viewers on 15 networks from 10:30am ET to 7pm ET, down from 33.76M in 2021 and 30.64M in 2017 — According to Nielsen, the inauguration drew 24.59 million viewers, compared to 33.76 million for Biden's 2021 inauguration and 30.64 million for Trump's first in 2021.
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Variety, IJR, New Jersey Online, @overpixelated.bsky.social, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, Forbes, Fox News, New York Times and Just Jared


YouTube adds experimental features for Premium users, including higher audio bitrate of up to 256kbps for music videos and faster playback on mobile — YouTube said Wednesday that it is adding new experimental features for Premium users, including high-quality audio, faster playback speed option on mobile …
Discussion:
Engadget and The Verge, more at Techmeme »


The UK's ITV News appoints Channel 4 News executive Laura Wilshaw as editor, succeeding Andrew Dagnell, who will become director of news and current affairs — Laura Wilshaw has been appointed as ITV News editor, succeeding Andrew Dagnell who is becoming ITV's director of news and current affairs.
Discussion:
Advanced Television


Chris Brown sues WBD and others for $500M over sexual assault claims in the documentary Chris Brown: A History of Violence, released on October 27, 2024 — Chris Brown may like Donald Trump, but the ‘Weakest Link’ singer really doesn't like Warner Bros. Discovery.
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Nielsen gains MRC accreditation for its Big Data + Panel measurement, which includes viewership data from 45M households across 75M+ set-top boxes and smart TVs — - The development cements Nielsen's reputation as the most authoritative provider of TV measurement.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, TV Tech, Radio & Television …, MediaPost, Adweek, Awful Announcing, Ad Age, The Wrap, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and @kerrymflynn


Annapurna Interactive hires Leanne Loombe, who previously oversaw Netflix's second- and third-party game development and publishing, as its head of games — Loombe joins the Megan Ellison outfit from Netflix's gaming division. … Loombe has been named executive vice president, head of games …
Discussion:
The Verge, Sharon Tal Yguado on LinkedIn, @knoebel.bsky.social and @wario64.bsky.social


The Ankler launches Like & Subscribe, a trade publication on the creator economy, as a weekly Substack newsletter for $129/year with plans for podcasts and more — - Like & Subscribe will launch as a weekly newsletter, and will eventually be accompanied by a podcast, events, and subscriber engagement features.


Netflix raises prices in the US, Canada, Portugal, and Argentina; the standard US plan rose from $15.49 to $17.99 and standard with ads jumped a dollar to $7.99 — The company said those results were buoyed by programming in recent months that exceeded internal expectations.
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Netflix reports Q4 revenue up 16% YoY to $10.2B and 301.6M global subscribers, adding 18.9M subscribers, more than double analysts' estimates; NFLX jumps 14%+
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Nielsen: Netflix captured 8.5% of all US streaming viewership in December 2024, its highest share since July 2023, in part due to NFL games; YouTube had 11.1%
Discussion:
The Media Leader, Sports Business Journal, Nielsen, Deutsche Welle, Barrett Media, Adweek, Benzinga, Cord Cutters News, The Wrap and Bloomberg


Nielsen now counts Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu as a single entity called Disney Streaming in its The Gauge TV usage reports — Nielsen will soon count three streaming services owned or operated by the Walt Disney Company as one collective unit in future reports on total time spent with television each month …
Discussion:
@matthewkeyslive, @tvgrimreaper and TVNewsCheck


Music AI, the AI startup behind Moises music creation service, raised a $40M Series A led by monashees and Connect Ventures, a partnership between CAA and NEA — Music AI, the “AI-first” company behind the increasingly popular Moises music creation platform, has announced it has raised USD $40 million in a Series A funding round.
Discussion:
Billboard and Digital Music News, more at Techmeme »


MrBeast joins a US investor group led by Employer.com founder Jesse Tinsley that made an all-cash bid to acquire TikTok US; several groups have shown interest — - YouTube star is part of investor group run by Jesse Tinsley — TikTok has less than three months to sell or face a US ban
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Donald Trump says he would be open to Elon Musk or Larry Ellison purchasing TikTok US as part of a joint venture that would give the US government 50% ownership
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