Mediagazer: News organizations' deals with OpenAI and its rivals echo past Google and Meta “partnerships” and could ultimately help companies put journalists out of work (Mathew Ingram/Columbia Journalism Review)

10:35 PM ET, July 20, 2023

Top News:

The New York Times' newsroom union files a grievance over the company's plans to shutter its sports section and rely on The Athletic for sports news coverage — The union representing the New York Times newsroom filed a grievance Thursday challenging the company's announcement that it plans …

Discussion: Awful Announcing

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

YouTube increases YouTube Premium's price in the US from $11.99 per month to $13.99 per month and YouTube Music from $9.99 per month to $10.99 per month — The price of an individual YouTube Premium subscription is increasing by $2 to $13.99 per month in the US for new and current customers.

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: a syndicate of investors led by Matthew Roszak of Tally Capital and Peter Vessenes of Capital6 is close to acquiring CoinDesk in a deal worth ~$125M — Syndicate is led by Matthew Roszak of Tally Capital and Peter Vessenes of Capital6 — A syndicate of investors is in the final stages …

Discussion: The Information, Bloomberg and Talking Biz News, more at Techmeme »

Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:

Sources: AMC Entertainment drops its seat location pricing plan; a test didn't grow revenue as moviegoers didn't pay up for better seats or less for worse seats — The world's largest cinema chain, which said in February it would expand its tiered-pricing structure to theaters in the US and Canada …

Discussion: CNET, Variety, Deadline, The Wrap, CBS News, Fox Business, Screen Rant, The Verge, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, Gizmodo, TMZ.com, New Jersey Online, New York Times, IndieWire, CNN, The A.V. Club, SlashFilm, The Hollywood Reporter and UPROXX

Wall Street Journal:

Artisan Gateway: box-office sales for US films in China hit $592M in H1 2023, down from $1.9B in H1 2019, as Chinese audiences gravitate toward local movies — Chinese audiences are gravitating toward movies made at home, rather than in Hollywood — Over the past decade, Fang Fang …

Discussion: @jbflint, @lucas_shaw and @erichschwartzel

Byline Times:

Investigation: Dan Wootton was the subject of at least six bullying claims from Sun colleagues but was promoted while claims were silenced with payouts and NDAs — In the second part of its three-year investigation, Byline Times examines the professional conduct of the TV presenter …

Discussion: @harriettmb@mastodon.ie, @themeredish, @themeredish, @jasonpedlow, @jacquihames, The Guardian, The Week and Hacked Off

Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:

News organizations' deals with OpenAI and its rivals echo past Google and Meta “partnerships” and could ultimately help companies put journalists out of work — On Tuesday, the American Journalism Project, a nonprofit organization that aims to revitalize local media in the US …

Discussion: @mathewi, @cjr, @jayrosen_nyu, Platformer, The Information, @sarahposner.bsky.social and MediaPost

Natalie Korach / The Wrap:

Hearst Magazines Media Union says 41 of its members were laid off over “company restructuring”; impacted publications include Elle, Seventeen, and Men's Health — Hearst Magazines Media Union, which announced the news Thursday, says, “We are losing talented people whose creativity …

Discussion: WWD, @hearstunion, MediaPost, Insider, @tamara_fuentes, @bdwilliams910, @kath_krueger, @hannahorens, @katie_robertson, @eschumer, @emmaspecter, Business of Fashion and @stacey_grant91

Ellise Shafer / Variety:

Q&A with NME Networks COO Holly Bishop on relaunching the magazine as a global bimonthly using a “high-hype model” after shutting down print production in 2018 — Iconic music publication NME is relaunching its print magazine. — After shutting down production in 2018 …

Discussion: Mumbrella, Press Gazette, Digital Music News and Music Business Worldwide

Max Goldbart / Deadline:

Vivendi's Canal+ acquires a 12% stake in Viaplay Group; in June 2023, Canal+ planned to acquire a 26.1% stake in Hong Kong-based streaming service Viu for $300M — Canal+ has taken a minority stake in embattled Nordic outfit Viaplay Group, which this morning announced it was making 25% of its workforce redundant.

Discussion: Broadband TV News, Variety and The Desk

Anton Wilen / Bloomberg:
Stockholm-based streaming service Viaplay lays off 25%+ of its ~1,600 staff and puts itself up for sale, after reporting a ~$574M loss in Q2; VPLAY-B drops 40%+

Discussion: Media Play News, Yahoo Entertainment, Broadband TV News, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline

Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:

Production workers, 66 at Warner Bros. Animation and 22 at Cartoon Network, file an NLRB petition to form a union and ask WBD to voluntarily recognize the unit — The staffers, who work on projects including ‘Batman: Caped Crusader’ and 'Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake …

Discussion: Deadline, Gizmodo, The Verge and IGN

Makena Kelly / The Verge:

A look at Gigi Sohn's unsuccessful FCC confirmation: Joe Biden nominated her in October 2021 and she withdrew 497 days later after a fierce opposition campaign — ‘Dark money’ and the never-ending election cycle kept a qualified consumer advocate out of the Federal Communications Commission.

Discussion: New York Post, @matthewkeys.net, @petersuber@fediscience.org, @joeo10@mastodon.sdf.org, @jvagle@mastodon.lawprofs.org and @acarvin.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »

Ken Stone / Times of San Diego:

San Diego Union-Tribune Editor and Publisher Jeff Light is leaving after the outlet's sale to Alden; an unofficial list of staffers taking buyouts has ~30 names — The editor and publisher of The San Diego Union-Tribune is leaving the paper after 13 years, he announced Thursday.

Discussion: KNSD-TV, The Intersect, @kenstonemedia, @kenstonemedia and The San Diego Union-Tribune

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Netflix expands its password-sharing crackdown to its remaining markets and doesn't plan to offer an “extra member” option due to low pricing and penetration — Netflix is bringing password-sharing crackdown to consumers in India and every other market starting today …

Or Goren / Cord Busters:
Netflix removes its most affordable $10/month ad-free Basic tier in the US and UK, charging new and rejoining members £10.99/month or $15.49/month for no ads

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Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
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Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
TelevisaUnivision reports Q2 revenue up 11% YoY to $1.2B, including ad revenue up 10% YoY, after its free Vix streaming service passed 30M MAUs in May 2023

Discussion: The Desk, TVNewsCheck, Deadline, Inside Radio, AllAccess.com and TelevisaUnivision

Hibaq Farah / The Guardian:
Ofcom survey: TikTok is the top news source for 12- to 15-year-olds in the UK, followed by YouTube and Instagram; 16- to 24-year-olds prefer Instagram for news

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New York Times:
Sources: Google is pitching an AI news article writing tool to outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and News Corp as a helpmate for journalists

From Techmeme:

Tim Nudd / Ad Age:
Apple apologizes for the “Crush” iPad Pro ad and scraps plans to run it on TV; Apple's VP of marketing communications Tor Myhren says “we missed the mark”

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple's first server chips for its upcoming AI features will be the M2 Ultra; simpler AI tasks will be processed directly on iPhones, iPads, and Macs

Anna Tong / Reuters:
Sources: OpenAI plans to announce its AI-powered search product on May 13

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