Mediagazer

The DOJ withdraws subpoenas that would have forced three NYT reporters to testify about sources, after a federal judge criticized the DOJ for sloppy legal work — Criticized by a federal judge for sloppy legal work, the government on Thursday withdrew subpoenas that would have compelled three …

Discussion: New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Wrap, CNN, Axios, CBS News, CNBC, @rgoodlaw.bsky.social, @timkarr.bsky.social, Law.com, New York Magazine, Reuters, The Guardian, The Hill and Straight Arrow

Corbin Bolies / Variety:NEW!

Patreon lays off 20% of its employees, or 93 people, citing a “painful” restructuring due to “profound” changes in the creator economy — Patreon, the creator-focused monetization platform, said on Thursday it was laying off 20% of its employees as it changed how its internal structure operates.

Discussion: ABC News and thesource.com, more at Techmeme »

Samantha Cole / 404 Media:

Email: Patreon laid off 93 employees, totaling 20% of its workforce, on Thursday as part of a restructuring — In an internal email shared with creators, CEO Jack Conte wrote that AI doesn't replace human creativity — but it does affect how the company operates.

Discussion: The Wrap, @samleecole.bsky.social, @hrbrmstr@mastodon.social, @lexroman.com, @scriptor.bsky.social and The Verge

Reuters:

Sources: Jeff Bezos pushed Prime Video head Mike Hopkins to highlight AI in an overhaul of the service, leading to an internal effort called Project Lighthouse — Jeff Bezos has identified a new, high-profile platform to help showcase the hundreds of billions of dollars Amazon (AMZN.O) has bet on artificial intelligence: Prime Video.

Discussion: Tom's Guide, International Business Times, Android Authority, The Streamable, @grantmeaccess.bsky.social, The American Bazaar, Digital Trends and PYMNTS, more at Techmeme »

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Amazon is integrating its Luna cloud gaming service into Prime Video via a new Games tab, starting with games like Hogwarts Legacy and EA Sports FC for Fire TV — The Amazon Luna gaming platform, which had been included in the larger Prime offering, will now be baked into Prime Video too.

Financial Times:

Financial firms, their lawyers, and ethics experts say there could be legal risks in paying Trump Media for fast access to Truth Social posts via an API — New venture has raised questions as financial firms decipher risk of paying for advanced access to market-moving feed

Discussion: The Hill, Variety, Mother Jones, @johanpienaar.bsky.social, @annmlipton@esq.social, @annmlipton@esq.social, @peterschiff, Joe.My.God. and Los Angeles Times

Kelcee Griffis / Bloomberg:

Comcast reports Peacock revenue up 54% YoY to $1.9B and its adjusted EBITDA of $189M, its first-ever quarterly profit; film revenue rose 25% YoY to $3.04B — Comcast Corp. reported earnings that beat analysts' estimates on key metrics, buoyed by the first-ever quarterly profitability …

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

Hearst, Dow Jones, Condé Nast and NJ.com are setting subscription renewal prices using dynamic pricing, often using AI and referred to as “personalized offers” — Outlets like Wired, NJ.com, and The Wall Street Journal are setting renewal prices just for you — and being forced to disclose it.

Discussion: Talking Biz News, @daviddaniel.bsky.social, @dankennedy.net, @hanaatameez.bsky.social and @jasonaw.bsky.social

Jesse Whittock / Deadline:

Night-owned podcast network The Roost rebrands as Podium, signs Trisha Paytas, and says it reaches 50M monthly video and audio impressions — The Roost's parent, talent management and media company Night, has made the move two years after it acquired the podcast business …

Discussion: Ellie Andrews on LinkedIn and Tubefilter

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

WNET, parent company of New York PBS station Thirteen, names Edward O'Keefe as its new CEO; O'Keefe was previously VP at CNN and executive producer at ABC News — Mr. O'Keefe, who was previously an executive at CNN, is the chief executive of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, Radio & Television …, Current and Steve Bass on LinkedIn

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

A specialist UK tribunal awards BBC correspondent Vincent Kearney £20K in damages after MI5 and police admitted to illegally obtaining Kearney's call records — Former BBC Northern Ireland journalist paid £20,000 in damages by MI5 and PSNI. — A journalist whose communications data …

Discussion: The Guardian, ComputerWeekly.com, The Standard and RTÉ

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Forbes Chief Content Officer and magazine EIC Randall Lane has left after joining in 2011; executive editor Kerry Lauerman will oversee editorial operations — Randall Lane, the chief content officer at Forbes, has left the business news organization. — “We can confirm that Randall Lane …

Discussion: The Wrap and @benmullin