Mediagazer: The Guardian joins other publishers, including Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Reuters, and CNN, in blocking OpenAI's GPTBot web crawler (Dan Milmo/The Guardian)

6:25 PM ET, September 1, 2023

Top News:

J. Kim Murphy / Variety:

ESPN, ABC, Disney Channel, and other Disney outlets go dark on Charter's Spectrum, which has nearly 15M subscribers, after failing to sign a new carriage pact — ESPN, ABC, Disney Channel and other outlets owned by the Walt Disney Co. have gone dark on Charter Spectrum cable systems …

Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:

Charter says its Disney dispute “is not a typical carriage dispute”, and the cable company is prepared to “move on” from its video business if no deal is made — The cable giant, with nearly 15 million TV subs, told analysts Friday that it is prepared to “move on” …

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

The US BLS August 2023 employment report shows the film, TV, and music industries shed 17,000 jobs, “reflecting strike activity”; other sectors saw job growth — The U.S. government's Bureau of Labor Statistics released the number in its August employment report.

Discussion: New York Times, Ad Age, The Wrap and Cord Cutters News

Wendy Lee / Los Angeles Times:
California State Treasurer Fiona Ma sends letters to seven AMPTP member companies, urging them to negotiate “fair deals” to end the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes

Discussion: Publishing Perspectives, @sarahwatson42, CNN, @margotroosevelt, @megjameslat, California State Treasurer's Office and Deadline

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
IAC Chairman Barry Diller says traditional Hollywood studios should negotiate directly with unions, splitting from Apple, Amazon, and Netflix, a mutual “enemy”

Discussion: Above the Line, MediaPost, @tvgrimreaper, @carlquintanilla, @blackamazon, @tvgrimreaper, CNBC, @davidaugust@mastodon.online, Deadline, The Wrap and Deadline

Reuters:

Canada tries to address Big Tech's Bill C-18 concerns, saying Google and Meta would pay publishers ~$126.6M and ~$44M per year; Meta plans to keep blocking news — Canada unveiled draft rules on Friday for a law to compel internet giants to pay news outlets, saying it was addressing …

Discussion: Michael Geist, CBC News, @aartipole, @carnage4life@threads.net, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, @mgeist, @mgeist, @pascalestonge_, @jeffjarvis, @awudrick and @caseynewton.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »

Vittoria Elliott / Wired:

A Media Matters for America report on PragerU Kids: Meta isn't consistently enforcing transparency rules for ads around “social issues, elections, or politics” — A nonprofit watchdog group has found that the right-wing group PragerU has pushed out more than 100 political ads …

Discussion: @telliotter, @telliotter, @telliotter, @telliotter, @telliotter and Media Matters for America

WNEP-TV:

Times-Shamrock Communications is selling its four Pennsylvania dailies to Alden Global Capital's MediaNews Group; the newspapers' founding family pans the sale — The sale includes four local daily papers and several weekly and periodic publications. — SCRANTON, Pa. …

Discussion: Editor and Publisher, Associated Press, The Shenandoah Sentinel, @vrp2003, @jeffsonderman, @jeffsonderman, @bradfordpearson, @politicspa, @kennysmith@mstdn.social, The Rural Blog, The Shenandoah Sentinel and Morning Call

Dan Milmo / The Guardian:

The Guardian joins other publishers, including Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Reuters, and CNN, in blocking OpenAI's GPTBot web crawler — Publisher is latest news organisation to block the artificial intelligence company from harvesting content to create its tools

Discussion: The Hill, @riptari, @blackamazon, @john_w_hayes and Axios

New York Times:

Sources: Meta is considering paid, ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram for users in the EU, to fend off privacy concerns and scrutiny from EU regulators — The subscription plan is a response to European Union policies and court rulings to restrict Meta's data-collection practices.

Discussion: Engadget, MediaPost, Gizmodo, Mashable, The Information, Neowin, @ppatel@mstdn.social, @mikeisaac, @martinsfp and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

A look at Pamplonews, a WhatsApp-only daily newsletter covering cultural news in Pamplona, Spain, started in May 2023 by a former CNN en Español managing editor — “There's no point in making a wonderful website or an amazing app if people aren't going to the website or downloading the app.”

Discussion: American Press Institute

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Amber de Botton, the UK prime minister's director of communications, leaves, after joining in October 2022; de Botton was previously ITV News' head of UK news — Amber de Botton was the second ITV News journalist to be snapped up by Rishi Sunak. — Update 1 September 2023 …

Discussion: @amberdebotton, @krishgm, Sky News, @robburl, The Guardian, @dhothersall, @joshuanevett, @samfr and Politico

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

Around 248 journalists at UK regional publisher National World vote to strike over a pay dispute; the NUJ rejected a 4.5% pay raise offer backdated to April 1 — Some 78% of 248 journalists said they would be prepared to strike. — Journalists at National World have voted to take strike action …

Discussion: @pressgazette and HoldtheFrontPage

Chris Willman / Variety:

Taylor Swift plans to release her concert film in AMC theaters on October 13 in the US; in a first, AMC plans to act as a distributor to unaffiliated theaters — Anyone who couldn't procure tickets for Taylor Swift's record-breaking stadium tour in the U.S. may be about to have their wounded …

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Josef Adalian / Vulture:
WBD's Max rolls out Top 10 movies and TV show lists in line with Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple TV+; WBD bases rankings on unique views of at least two minutes

Discussion: IndieWire, Variety, Comic Book, @tvgrimreaper, Collider, CNET, Deadline, Forbes and The Streamable

The Moscow Times:
A Russian court finds journalists Ruslan Leviev and Michael Nacke guilty of pushing “war fakes” and hands out 11-year sentences; both now live outside of Russia

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio …

Michael Schneider / Variety:
Variety SVP Tim Gray departs the outlet after 42 years to become the EVP of the Golden Globes, where he is set to oversee its newly formed board of directors

Discussion: Billboard, WWD, IndieWire, Deadline, The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter

Abner Li / 9to5Google:
YouTube Music redesigns its Now Playing screen on Android and iOS with larger cover art and a comments section, after launching real-time lyrics last week

Discussion: Engadget, Music Ally, TechCrunch, @krisnelson@legal.social, The Verge, Android Police and Cord Cutters News

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
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Discussion: Fast Company and On Substack

Earlier Picks:

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Meta begins testing keyword search on Threads in Australia and New Zealand, and plans a rollout to other English-speaking countries before adding more languages

Discussion: MediaPost, 9to5Mac, Engadget, @zuck@threads.net, Social Media Today, Android Police, Neowin, Mashable, @carnage4life@threads.net, @carnage4life@threads.net, Search Engine Land and The Verge

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
Mukesh Ambani's Viacom18 wins the digital and TV rights for India's domestic September 2023 to March 2028 cricket matches for ~$721M, on JioCinema and Sports18

Discussion: @deitaone, Front Office Sports and Bloomberg

Margaret Sullivan / The Guardian:
Mark Thompson, who helped reinvent The New York Times for the digital age and kept the newsroom's mission, is a good bet for CNN, another beleaguered behemoth

Discussion: Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, Columbia Journalism Review, MediaPost, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Slate, @maxwelltani, Business 2021, @jayrosen_nyu, Talking Biz News, Nieman Lab, New York Post, Poynter, @sulliview.bsky.social, The Desk and Vanity Fair

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
The Publishers Association asks the UK government to ensure IP law is “respected when any content is ingested by AI systems”, ahead of the UK's AI Safety Summit

Discussion: Media Voices, Publishers Association and The Bookseller

From Techmeme:

Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
Russian national Alexander Vinnik, one of the operators of crypto exchange BTC-e from 2011 to 2017, pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering

Agence France-Presse:
Ukraine unveils an AI-generated foreign ministry spokesperson called Victoria Shi, who will make official statements “written and verified by real people”

Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia:
As chipmakers move into or expand in the region around Germany's Dresden, skeptics say more government subsidies, skilled workers, and end customers are needed

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