Mediagazer: In an interview, Ron DeSantis claims victory over silencing Disney in their feud over the “Don't Say Gay” bill, saying the company has “not made a peep” (Armando Tinoco/Deadline)

7:55 AM ET, May 7, 2023

Top News:

Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:

In a letter to Dominion, Fox News asks the voting tech company to “investigate and confirm” that it is not the source of leaked Tucker Carlson text messages — Lawyers for Fox News are asking officials at Dominion Voting Systems to conduct an internal investigation after media reports …

Discussion: Insider, New York Times, Reuters, @oliverdarcy, @oliverdarcy, @oliverdarcy, @BlueWaver22@genomic.social, @maxwelltani, @farhip, Mediaite, The Wrap, Gizmodo, Vanity Fair and Variety

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Fox News sends Media Matters a cease-and-desist letter over a series of stories featuring leaked footage of Tucker Carlson, claiming the material is its IP — Fox News has sent a cease and desist letter to Media Matters and its president and CEO Angelo Carusone over a series of stories posted …

Discussion: @maxwelltani, The Hill, @jeffjarvis, @imyourmoderator, @johnrobb, Yahoo News, @ggreenwald, @justinbaragona, @farhip, The Desk, @bgrueskin, @jeremymbarr, @catturd2, @megynkelly, CNN, The Wrap, Media Matters for America, Deadline, Insider and The Daily Beast

Washington Post:
Sources: Tucker Carlson aspires to move into a larger role that doesn't limit him to a single medium and wants to moderate a GOP candidates' forum for 2024

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Insider, Mediaite, New York Post, Adweek, @washingtonpost, @matthewkassel, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Hill, Rolling Stone, Mediaite, @froomkin@journa.host and Rolling Stone

BuzzFeed News:

BuzzFeed News, launched in 2012, shuts down and archives its website; current and former staff share their memories in a recap as the outlet's final post — BuzzFeed News has been described as a chaos agent, a pirate ship, a reputable news organization, and, most notably, a “failing pile of garbage” by former president Donald Trump.

Armando Tinoco / Deadline:

In an interview, Ron DeSantis claims victory over silencing Disney in their feud over the “Don't Say Gay” bill, saying the company has “not made a peep” — Ron DeSantis is claiming victory over silencing Disney following their public feud after the entertainment company openly opposed …

Discussion: Newsmax on YouTube, @acyn, New York Post, @jeremylevine92, New York Times, Insider, Mediaite, Al Jazeera, Reuters, The Hill, WNYC Studios and CBS News

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

UK specialist magazine publisher Haymarket plans to lay off up to 14 of 120 staffers in its automotive division as it suffers a drop in ad spend by car makers — The teams behind What Car? and Autocar are restructuring to cope with turbulence in the industry.

Discussion: @pressgazette

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Vice Media is nearing a deal to get acquired out of bankruptcy by lenders including Fortress Investment Group and Soros Fund Management for ~$400M — The media business is in talks to sell itself to top lenders Fortress Investment and Soros Fund Management through a reorganization that would wipe out other investors

Discussion: @jbflint, @aagave, @pressgazette, @tomlinsoncj, The Wrap, Variety, The Information, The Guardian and Talking Biz News

Matthew Keys / The Desk:

Fox launches Fox Local, a free streaming app featuring local news, weather, and programming in Atlanta, DC, and Detroit, with plans to roll out to 14 more later — The Fox Local app offers live access to news feeds from three Fox-owned stations; the other 14 will be added at a later date.

Discussion: Fox Local, TVNewsCheck, Adweek, Next TV, The Streamable and Cord Cutters News, Thanks:@thedeskdotnet

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Eight CW stations owned by CBS plan to go independent in September 2023, carry Paramount content, and pursue sports deals akin to Scripps' and Gray TV's — CW stations in Philadelphia, Seattle, Atlanta, Detroit and other major markets will drop their affiliation and go independent.

Discussion: Deadline, Awful Announcing, @tvgrimreaper, @snoodit, @alexweprin, Variety, Next TV, The Desk and The Streamable

Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:

A journalist recounts discovering that ByteDance surveilled her in 2022 after reporting on TikTok's staff troubles in London and wonders why she was targeted — The FT's Cristina Criddle on discovering she'd been surveilled by the controversial social media company

Discussion: Gizmodo, @byron_wan, VentureBeat, @michaels_saa, @jamesclayton5, @robertscammell, @_andyburrows, @cristinacriddle, @henryjfoy, New York Post, Insider, CNN and BBC, more at Techmeme »

Alex Sujong Laughlin / Defector:

A look at the idea that the 2007 writers' strike caused the rise of reality TV and how workers on unscripted shows and cast members are chronically undervalued — As of Tuesday, the Writers Guild of America is on strike. Their proposals are aimed at making the work of writing TV …

Discussion: Vanity Fair

David Robb / Deadline:
The AMPTP pushes back on the WGA's demands, saying writers have “almost nothing in common” with gig jobs, commits to more discussion about AI material, and more

Jennifer Gerson / The 19th:

Leila Fadel, Michel Martin, Ayesha Rascoe, and Juana Summers, the hosts of flagship NPR programs and women of color, discuss the outlet's efforts to diversify — Show your support for news that represents you. Donate today. — Juana Summers is struck by “an incredible sense of responsibility.”

Discussion: @kimfoxwosu, @johnbking and @webjournalist

Will Oremus / Washington Post:

AI text generators are quietly authoring more of the internet; more AI-generated books and personalized articles mean fewer clients buying human-written content — From recipes to product reviews to how-to books, artificial intelligence text generators are quietly authoring more and more of the internet.

Discussion: @paulhchadwick, @thelincoln, @macloo, @amyklobuchar, Every, @nitashatiku, @shoq, @jeffjarvis, @chrismoranuk, @willoremus, @josephmenn, @grantrants, @ryanbarwick, @kashhill, @willoremus, @chrisalbon and @bdeskin@saturation.social, more at Techmeme »

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:

Despite big reach elsewhere, on YouTube, Slate podcasts averaged ~75 views/video last week while NPR averaged ~179/video; studio footage drives views higher — Hello and welcome back to Soundbite. Today we'll look at how podcast networks are faring on YouTube and have an update on Sony Music Entertainment's podcast efforts.

Discussion: @robgreenlee, @parismarx, @mattnavarra, @ashleyrcarman, We Edit Podcasts, Josh Taylor and Podnews

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More News:

The Guardian:
English Football League clubs vote to accept a £935M, five-year deal with Sky Sports, which raises the number of matches broadcast to 1,000+ per season

Discussion: Variety, @rugbyleagueontv, Reuters, Broadband TV News, WORLD SCREEN and The Athletic

Sahil Patel / The Information:
Nielsen: YouTube makes up more TV viewing than any network or streamer; sources: nearly 45% of US YouTube viewing is on TV and upfront ad sales could hit $7B+

Discussion: @tvgrimreaper, @sub8u, @tarawlevy, @theinformation, @reidjjackson, FWIW, Ad Age and Fast Company

John Ourand / Sports Business Journal:
Scripps signs a multiyear deal to carry the games of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights, another team bypassing RSNs, two weeks after signing to carry WNBA games

Discussion: The Streamable, @just1nbruce, @506sports, @ourand_sbj, Light Reading, Next TV, Barrett Media, The Desk, Sportico and Awful Announcing

Janko Roettgers / Lowpass:
Sources: Pluto TV co-founder Ilya Pozin is working on Teevee, a startup building a free TV set, to be revealed in 2023, monetized via ads on a second screen

Discussion: @morganwick, @tvgrimreaper, Gizmodo, @davezatz, The Verge, AdExchanger and Cord Cutters News

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
WBD Q1: revenue down 6% YoY to $10.7B, a $1.07B net loss, $2.46B streaming revenue and $50M profit, up from a $217M loss in Q4 2022, and 97.6M DTC subscribers

Discussion: CNBC, Forbes, Deadline, @io9, @mannyhagopian, @labuzamovies, @robsforman, @pateduncan, @blackmajikman90, @thr, @sailorsctaustin, @jtoonkel, @marinafang, @carlos_cisco, Gizmodo, Adweek, MediaPost, Ad Age, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Warner Bros. Discovery, IndieWire and Variety

Earlier Picks:

Aisha Majid / Press Gazette:
Chartbeat data for 1,350 publishers: Facebook drove 27% of page views coming from external, search, and social in January 2018, falling to 11% in April 2023

Discussion: @otienoc, @chrismsutcliffe, @rasmus_kleis and @rasmus_kleis

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Apple reports Q2 revenue for its Services segment, which includes Apple TV+, Apple News+, and Apple Music, grew 5.5% YoY to $20.9B

Discussion: Apple, Reuters, @xpangler, Digital Music News, The Hollywood Reporter, 9to5Mac, TechCrunch, Billboard, 9to5Mac and Reuters

Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Fox opposes news outlets' efforts to unseal Dominion's redacted lawsuit material, saying the company settled the case in large part to end the “media spectacle”

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Hill, @cfidd, Mediaite and TVNewsCheck

ABC News:
Ed Sheeran wins the copyright infringement lawsuit accusing him of copying the sheet music for his song Thinking Out Loud from Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On

From Techmeme:

New York Times:
Sources: OpenAI leans toward holding off its IPO until 2027 after warnings that Sam Altman's desired $1T valuation may not be met in current market conditions

The Information:
Sources: Sam Altman told staff the US government asked OpenAI to stagger the release of GPT-5.6 over security concerns, approving “access customer by customer”

Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:
Apple raises Mac, iPad, and other product prices by 15%-25%, saying it has “never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly”; iPhone is unchanged

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