Mediagazer: Sonos launches Sonos Pro, a service that lets businesses play music across numerous locations without breaking licensing rules, for $35 per month per location (Chris Welch/The Verge)

1:05 PM ET, April 18, 2023

Top News:

Dominion-Fox defamation trial kicks off in Delaware Superior Court, more than two years after Dominion accused Fox of knowingly airing lies about the company — Ex-Fox News producer Abby Grossberg said she recently found more evidence relevant to Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit …

Jane C. Timm / NBC News:

Ex-Fox News producer Abby Grossberg says she recently found more evidence relevant to Dominion's lawsuit against Fox and plans to turn it over to the court — Abby Grossberg said in a new sworn statement that she recently found two more recordings on an old cellphone, which she alleges Fox News lawyers failed to search.

Discussion: @thereidout, @repriggleman, @kylegriffin1 and @katiephang

Ann M. Simmons / Wall Street Journal:

A Moscow court rejects an appeal by WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich and upholds his pretrial detention at the prison where he has been held since his March arrest — Journalist to remain in pretrial detention at Moscow's Lefortovo prison — A Moscow court upheld the detention …

Steve Scherer / Reuters:

Elon Musk says Twitter changed the label on Canada's CBC to “69% Government-funded Media” after the outlet said it's “less than 70% government-funded” — Public broadcaster Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) Twitter account was on Monday labeled as …

Reuters:
Sweden's Sveriges Radio will deactivate or delete its Twitter accounts, the first big European public broadcaster to do so; PBS and CBC quit Twitter last week

Discussion: The Guardian, CNN, American Press Institute, Semafor, @jayrosen_nyu, Washington Post, @digiphile and Crikey

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:

In 2022, 39% of new hires at Condé Nast US and 44% at NYT were POC, down 2% and 10% YoY, respectively, while 54% were white at Vice and 59% at Hearst — Publishers are slowly publicly releasing the latest reports on the diversity of their workforces.

Discussion: @karenkho

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

Samsung rebrands its Samsung Free app as Samsung News, offering custom news feeds, morning and evening news briefings, and podcasts, starting with the US — Samsung announced today that it's introducing a “Samsung News” app that gives users access to everyday news from a variety of publications.

Discussion: Media Play News

Sinéad Crowley / RTÉ:

Irish broadcaster RTÉ appoints Ofcom's group director of broadcasting and online content Kevin Bakhurst as its next DG, taking over from Dee Forbes in July — Media executive Kevin Bakhurst has been appointed as the next Director General of RTÉ.

Discussion: BBC, @williamsjon, @thejeremyvine and @ohanloneilis

Bailey Schulz / USA Today:

Gannett news division president and USA Today EIC Nicole Carroll is stepping down on May 1; Managing Editor Michael McCarter takes over as Interim EIC — USA TODAY Editor-in-Chief Nicole Carroll will step down on May 1 after leading the news organization for more than five years.

Discussion: @mgsquires, @bethany_bruner, @meganmfinnerty, @npenzenstadler, @oliverdarcy, @sarafischer and @maxwelltani

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Deloitte: US consumers pay $48 per month on average for subscription video services; millennials spend $54 per month on average, more than any other generation — Deloitte's 17th annual Digital Media Trends report highlights challenges for subscription streamers

Discussion: Media Play News and VentureBeat

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Sonos launches Sonos Pro, a service that lets businesses play music across numerous locations without breaking licensing rules, for $35 per month per location — Maybe the long-rumored Sonos headphones aren't coming this year after all. A few months ago, CEO Patrick Spence announced …

Discussion: Sonos and @chriswelch, more at Techmeme »

Lauren Forristal / TechCrunch:

Mansa, a free, ad-supported streaming service and content aggregator that offers Black cultural content, launches out of stealth with $8M in seed funding — Mansa, a free ad-supported streaming service and content aggregator that offers a curated selection of Black cultural content, launched out of stealth today.

Discussion: Axios, @ricardoharvin@mstdn.social and Cord Cutters News

Patience Haggin / Wall Street Journal:

Q&A with Microsoft's CVP of ads on keeping Bing Chat results from becoming too promotional, AI-powered search threatening publishers' ad revenue, and more — Kya Sainsbury-Carter, who recently was named to head the company's ad business, offers an inside look at Microsoft's game plan

Discussion: Wired, @patiencehaggin, CNET and Ars Technica

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More News:

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Joseph Staten, Microsoft's former head of creative for Halo Infinite, is joining Netflix as Creative Director for a new AAA multiplatform game and original IP

Discussion: Eurogamer.net, @brandonstirrup, @twthereddragon, @tomwarren, @joestaten, VentureBeat and Engadget

David Robb / Deadline:
WGA members vote to authorize the WGA West Board and the WGA East Council to call a strike if a “fair” deal for a film and TV contract isn't reached by May 1

Harry McCracken / Technologizer:
A eulogy for the era of computer magazines in the US, as Maximum PC and MacLife, both of which started in 1996, abandon print after their April 2023 issues

Discussion: @alexlindsay, @harrymccracken, Media Voices, @notthanekrios, @heybonanos, @nerdcmo, @andydentperth, @davidlidsky, What's New in Publishing, @harrymccracken, @ronanprice, @stevenplin, @lemonodor and Boing Boing, Thanks:@vtuss

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
Muck Rack survey of 2,226 journalists globally: 78% say Twitter is the most valuable social media platform to them but ~50% considered leaving in the past year

Discussion: Muck Rack for journalists …, @bowlerderek, @pressgazette, @pressgazette, @mattnavarra, @markborkowski and @pressgazette

Ariel Shapiro / The Verge:
Source: Nir Zicherman, who leads Spotify's audiobook unit, plans to leave in 2023; Zicherman joined in 2019 when Spotify acquired Anchor, which he co-founded

Discussion: @arshapiro90 and The Information

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
Amazon relocates the second season of its show Citadel from the UK to California after the state awarded the company $35.3M in tax incentives for TV production

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Wrap and Deadline

Earlier Picks:

Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:
The Media Rating Council votes to restore Nielsen's national TV ratings accreditation, suspended in 2021, after Nielsen fixed issues, like undercounting viewers

Discussion: AdExchanger, MarTech, Variety, Ad Age, Cablefax, @sportstvratings, @megancgraham, Inside Radio, Next TV, Axios, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, MediaPost and TVNewsCheck

Sylvia Varnham O'Regan / The Information:
Sources: after its first-ever drop in ad sales, Meta ditched its brash tone with advertisers and is offering sweeteners, like up to a 25% discount for Reels ads

Discussion: Insider, @sylviavarnham, @digitalshields and @blackamazon

Max Tani / Semafor:
Spotify plans to drop its paywall and change its exclusivity rules for some of Gimlet's podcasts in the coming months; Spotify acquired Gimlet for $230M in 2019

Discussion: @michellemanafy, @ajmacadam, @maxwelltani, Gizmodo, The Information, @semaforben and Engadget

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
AMC Networks plans to roll out a less expensive, ad-supported tier of AMC+ by October 2023; AMC+ currently costs $8.99 per month

Discussion: AMC Networks Inc., Comic Book, Broadband TV News, @parkerdelrey, WORLD SCREEN, Cablefax, @freddytrannager@newsie.social, CNET, Ad Age, TechCrunch, The Wrap, The Streamable, MediaPost, Variety, Adweek and Collider

Mark Savage / BBC:
Heart On My Sleeve, a song allegedly created using AI trained on the voices of Drake and The Weeknd without the artists' permission, goes viral on social media

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Netflix's second ever livestream hit technical issues, leading to a 75+ minute delay and the company taping the Love is Blind reunion episode for later viewing

From Techmeme:

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
A number of Apple users say they were logged out of their Apple ID across multiple devices on April 26 and forced to reset their password before logging back in

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has renewed discussions with OpenAI about using its technology to power some features in iOS 18; talks with Google on using Gemini remain ongoing

Karen Weise / New York Times:
Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet disclosed that they had spent $32B+ combined on data centers and other capital expenses in Q1, as they accelerate AI spending

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