Mediagazer: A look at Disney and Comcast's Hulu fight; sources say their Hulu valuations vary by tens of billions, they're in arbitration, and Comcast stopped funding Hulu (Wall Street Journal)

1:15 PM ET, May 25, 2023

Top News:

An in-depth look at Vice's downfall, as private equity's ill-fated bet on the future of media fell apart; some shareholders blame TPG, which invested $450M — The evaporation of TPG's $450mn investment shows what can happen when Wall Street collides with an uncontrollable creative industry

Discussion: @rafat, @maxseddon, @mattgarrahan, @hamzajahanzeb, @johnreedwrites, @oliverbullough, @paleofuture, @fd, @tonytassell, @sallyhayd, @tariqpanja, @ftopinion, @birdyword, @hayekmg and @annaknicolaou

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign announcement on Twitter Spaces suffers crashes, feedback glitches, and audio failures — - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign announcement plans evening were derailed by massive technical glitches on Twitter that prevented him from declaring his candidacy.

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Philip Bump / Washington Post:
Elon Musk's intent in buying Twitter wasn't only to dismantle a tool he perceived as empowering the media but also to turn the app into a right-wing heavyweight

Discussion: Insider, Axios, Vox, Al Jazeera, Vanity Fair, NPR, CBS News, Free Press, Reason, @johnjharwood, @cwarzel, Associated Press, The Guardian, Gizmodo, @jayrosen_nyu, @scalzi, @pbump, @jordanbpeterson, @danprimack, @zaleskiluke, @zaleskiluke, New York Magazine, New York Times, @digiphile, Fast Company, Bloomberg, @stollmeyereu, @pbump, @penamerica, @stillgray, @pbump, Mediaite, The Atlantic and BGR

Wall Street Journal:

A look at Disney and Comcast's Hulu fight; sources say their Hulu valuations vary by tens of billions, they're in arbitration, and Comcast stopped funding Hulu — Parent companies are in final phase of battle marked by legal threats, broken promises and secret arbitration

Discussion: The Wrap, @great_katzby, @loudmouthjulia, @great_katzby, @aagave, @rwhelanwsj, @loudmouthjulia, @edmundlee, @jtoonkel, @sherman4949, @jtoonkel and @edmundlee, more at Techmeme »

Access Now:

Pegasus was used in the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict to target at least five journalists, among others, in 2021 and 2022, the first documented use in a war — The Armenia spyware victims include a former Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia (the Ombudsperson) …

Discussion: Politico, @cpj_eurasia, @naghdalyan, Bloomberg, Committee to Protect …, AppleInsider, The Guardian, Wired, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac and TASS, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

YouTube plans to shut down Stories on June 26, 2023, as the company focuses on other key areas, like Shorts, Community posts, and live videos — Stories are over — at least on YouTube, that is. The Google-owned video site announced today that YouTube Stories will be shutting down on June 26 …

Discussion: The Verge and DeepMind Blog, more at Techmeme »

Washington Post:

Washington Post Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan announces two AI teams: the AI Taskforce, working on strategy and priorities, and the AI Hub, an operational team — Announcement from Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan on The Post's next steps in AI innovation: — Dear Washington Post colleagues,

Discussion: @steven_aquino, @ndiakopoulos, @ethangach, @pressgazette and MediaPost

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:

MoviePass relaunches in the US with four credit-based tiers, starting at $10/month for one to three movies; showtimes determine how many credits a film “costs” — As promised, MoviePass is returning. After last year's Labor Day beta/waiting list launch, the movie theater subscription service …

Discussion: Variety, MoviePass Inc. and The Hollywood Reporter

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

In an email, Wall Street Journal EIC Emma Tucker says Deputy EICs Neal Lipschutz and Jason Anders are leaving the paper — Wall Street Journal editor in chief Emma Tucker sent out the following on Thursday: — Dear All, — I am writing to share the news that Neal Lipschutz and Jason Anders …

Discussion: @katie_robertson, @bgrueskin, @bgrueskin and @froomkin

Financial Times:

Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe says AI can help authors generate content; Bertelsmann is using AI to analyze character emotions on shows to help place fitting ads — Thomas Rabe says that despite copyright challenges machine-generated content could be ‘very positive’

Discussion: @baldwinre

Emily Steel / New York Times:

US Interior Department report: two Park Police officers used excessive force against two Australian journalists covering a George Floyd protest in 2020 — The Interior Department concluded that U.S. Park Police officers exceeded the “minimum level of reasonable force” during a George Floyd protest in 2020.

Discussion: Politico and The Hill

Tom Kludt / Vanity Fair:

A look at the NFL's widening streaming portfolio, including YouTube, Peacock, and Amazon, signaling that the future of live sports is outside the cable bundle — Football still dominates traditional TV ratings, but the league's deals with YouTube, Peacock, and Amazon—all while ESPN considers …

Discussion: New York Post, Observer, @vanityfair, @jkosner and Billboard

Kate Knibbs / Wired:

A look at AI-generated podcasts, like “The Joe Rogan AI Experience” and “Myself, I Am and That”, created using AI voice tools from ElevenLabs and other startups — Inside the strange world of podcasts made by artificial intelligence, where even creators aren't sure who wants to hear robot chit-chat.

Discussion: Mediaite, @knibbs, @mckinneykelsey and @arjunbasu

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Matthew Keys / The Desk:
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Peter Kafka / Vox:
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Andrew Fedorov / The Fine Print:
A Forbes contributor sent two story drafts to his source “first for approval and changes”; other writers are criticizing the practice as damaging to journalism

Discussion: @hernameisjae, @hernameisjae, @dariccott, @kathmschmidt, @dancow, @andrewfed, @imgarysuarez, @justicar, @parismartineau, @lisaofu, @chashomans, @gerrickkennedy, @jbenton, @jbenton, @thefineprintnyc and Debate Me

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Hands-on with Sudowrite's Story Engine, a generative AI tool for writing long-form fiction novels that works better than expected but still has big limitations

Discussion: @iethics, @shakeelhashim and @jjvincent

Todd Spangler / Variety:
After backlash, Max will change back film credit listings to break out directors and writers, blaming a technical “oversight” for grouping them under “creators”

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Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
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