Top News:
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Meta unveils Movie Gen, which creates up to 16-second videos from a text prompt, available to some staff and partners; Meta plans to add it to its apps in 2025 — Movie Gen tool can create short videos from a text prompt — Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. debuted a new artificial intelligence tool …
Discussion:
Meta, @koltregaskes, Ars Technica, @kimmonismus, Futurism, @soumithchintala, @jimclydego, @dr_cintas, @nearcyan, @soumithchintala, @prashant_1722, @_akhaliq, ZDNET, AV Club, @prashant_1722, DNyuz, MediaPost, @arankomatsuzaki, @prashant_1722, iPhone in Canada Blog, TechRadar, @reece___rogers, @ahmad_al_dahle, Financial Times, Gizmodo, CNET, PetaPixel, The Information, Engadget, Digital Trends, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Neowin, The Verge, Reuters, New York Times, @aaldahle@threads.net, @jakebailey@threads.net, @aiatmeta@threads.net, @evolving.ai@threads.net, @chriscox@threads.net, Wired and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »
ProPublica:
Sources and records: Trump Media has forced out its COO, CPO, and other executives after internal allegations that CEO Devin Nunes is mismanaging the company — Several people involved with the former president's company, operator of Truth Social, believe the departures …
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Filing: Nexstar cuts its chief revenue officer position, and CRO Michael Strober will leave the company on October 30; he was hired after Nexstar bought The CW — Nexstar Media Group, which hired Turner veteran Michael Strober as EVP and Chief Revenue Officer in 2022, has eliminated his position.
Discussion:
The Desk, Variety and TVNewsCheck
Karen Raugust / Publishers Weekly:
Penguin renews its master publishing deal with BBC Studios for Bluey books; the books have sold 20M+ copies in 22 languages worldwide, including 8.5M in the US — Penguin has renewed its master publishing deal with BBC Studios for the hit preschool animated series Bluey.
Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Leading UK cultural figures decry Observer's planned sale to Tortoise as “a betrayal” of liberal journalism; Guardian, Observer staff consider striking — Guardian and Observer journalists have agreed they may take industrial action in protest at plans to sell The Observer to Tortoise Media.
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
A UK judge rules that GB News can challenge an Ofcom ruling about a Q&A show with Rishi Sunak in a court hearing, but says Ofcom can keep pursuing sanctions — But the broadcaster failed in its bid to temporarily block Ofcom from publishing a sanction against it.
Discussion:
Financial Times, Financial Times and Broadband TV News
Ben Cohen / Wall Street Journal:
A look at Google NotebookLM's Audio Overview feature, which was built by Google Labs and has gone viral thanks to its the Deep Dive podcast with two AI hosts — With this Google tool, you can now listen to a show about any topic you could possibly imagine. You won't believe your ears.
Discussion:
Axios, Barron's Online, @ericjorgenson, @davetroy, @karpathy, @cnbctechcheck, Hard Fork on YouTube, @karpathy, @stevenbjohnson, @karpathy, MIT Technology Review, @omartosca, Forbes, @stevenbjohnson, @omarsar0, @firstadopter, @ambermac, MIT Technology Review and @elonmusk, more at Techmeme »
Ashley Belanger / Ars Technica:
YouTube says it fixed an issue that appeared to affect thousands of accounts, incorrectly flagging channels as spam, removing them, and disabling subscriptions — YouTube confirmed Friday that a bug mistakenly removing seemingly thousands of accounts wrongly marked as sharing spam and deceptive content was finally fixed.
Dan Rys / Billboard:
Warner Music Group and Meta strike a multiyear licensing deal across all Meta platforms, including WhatsApp for the first time — The deal will cover WhatsApp for the first time and includes an agreement to jointly tackle issues around generative AI on Meta's platforms.
Brian Stelter / CNN:
In response to the NYT's decision not to issue local endorsements, Ben Smith and other NYC journalists launch a project to do interviews with and vet candidates — New York CNN — — As newspaper editorial boards lose influence, or withdraw from the space altogether, there are openings for others.
Discussion:
@brianstelter@threads.net and @brianstelter@threads.net
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
WBD's head of ad sales, Jon Steinlauf, announces he is stepping down at the end of 2024 after 32 years at the company — WBD is beginning the search for Steinlauf's replacement. … WBD chief revenue and strategy officer Bruce Campbell announced Steinlauf's looming exit Friday …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Adweek, MediaPost, Business Insider, Deadline, Ad Age and TVNewsCheck
Reuters:
Shares of Nature publisher Springer Nature opened at €24 in its Frankfurt IPO; the academic publisher priced its IPO at €22.5, giving it a ~€4.5B valuation — Springer Nature's (SPGG.DE) shares opened at 24 euros in its Frankfurt initial public offering (IPO) on Friday …
Discussion:
Financial Times, LinkedIn, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal