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India's Zee Entertainment remains committed to its $10B Sony India merger, calling media reports of the deal falling through “baseless and factually incorrect” — India's Zee Entertainment (ZEE.NS) on Tuesday said it was committed to its merger with Sony's (6758.T) local arm …
Discussion:
Financial Times, Anto Antony on LinkedIn, Bloomberg and Advanced Television
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Sources: Zee misses a deadline to pay $200M to Disney's India unit for cricket TV rights, citing a cash crunch; Zee agreed to pay $1.4B+ in August 2022 — - Payment was part of a $1.4 billion cricket rights purchase — Network is saving cash ahead of likely collapse of its merger


Imax says its 2023 box office was $1.06B, near 2019's $1.1B record and up 24.4% YoY, with $393.2M in North America, its highest grossing year ever in the region — Christopher Nolan's ‘Oppenheimer’ and Taylor Swift's concert film helped drive the rebound in ticket sales coming out of the pandemic.
Discussion:
Variety and IMAX Corporation
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Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour becomes the highest-grossing concert film of all time, earning $261.6M+ globally, surpassing Michael Jackson's This Is It from 2009
Discussion:
Rolling Stone UK, Forbes, Rolling Stone, Billboard, ScreenRant, Digital Music News and The Hollywood Reporter


How the internet reshaped itself around Google's search algorithms, including via SEO tricks, and the company's role in many websites now using similar designs — How the internet reshaped itself around Google's search algorithms — and into a world where websites look the same. — Animations by Richard Parry


OpenAI responds to The New York Times' lawsuit: training is fair use and there is an opt-out, “regurgitation” is a rare bug, and NYT “manipulated” its models — We support journalism, partner with news organizations, and believe The New York Times lawsuit is without merit.
Discussion:
MediaNama, The Guardian, CMU, The Hill, @jeremymbarr, @isaiahporitz, @andrewyng, @tomwarren, Jason Wong on LinkedIn, New York Times, @verge, @giordanorogers, @minimaxir, @saurabhsachan, @ndiakopoulos, @froomkin, @jamesrbuk, @carnage4life, @quasarfortress, @nomadsvagabonds, @themacrosift, @selmarsmit, @drcolinwplewis, @obscure_jazz, @aimee_maree, @maxkannen, @acidflask, @rohanposts, @sai_prasanna, @nicky_bonez, @gdb, @garymarcus, @jacquesthibs, @techau, @altryne, Puck, The Information, The Register, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, @reporterzoe@threads.net, @thatadamguy@threads.net, Thurrott, CNBC, Futurism, Financial Times, The Verge, Bloomberg, The Hollywood Reporter, @karlauerbach@sfba.social, TechCrunch, CNN, @martin@openedtech.social, @fifilamoura@eldritch.cafe, @willoremus@mastodon.social and Stratechery, more at Techmeme »


Meta plans to start automatically restricting teen Instagram and Facebook accounts from harmful content, including posts about self-harm, in the coming weeks — Efforts to curb harmful material and reduce unwanted interactions with teen social-media accounts come as states sue parent company Meta
Discussion:
The Hill and NPR, more at Techmeme »


Amazon announces Matter Casting, an Apple AirPlay-like feature to send video from different platforms to Amazon devices, initially supporting Echo Show devices — Amazon.com Inc. introduced a new feature that mimics Apple Inc.'s AirPlay while working across different platforms …
Discussion:
Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »


Memo: Channel 4 Chair Ian Cheshire says the government-approved appointments of four white directors to the broadcaster's board lag behind its diversity targets — Chair says government-approved appointments lag behind broadcaster's diversity targets — A row has broken out over the lack …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Deadline, The Express & Star, Daily Mail, Telegraph, @roziebreen and @jake_kanter


Netflix defeats a shareholder lawsuit over accusations of hiding the impact of account sharing; Netflix lost ~50% of its value in 2022 after growth warnings — Netflix (NFLX.O) has defeated a lawsuit filed by shareholders in a federal court in California that accused the streaming entertainment company …
Discussion:
Broadband TV News and The Hollywood Reporter


An analysis of 23 leading paywalled publishers: the price of a digital news subscription rose by 20% on average in the UK in 2023; Bloomberg's grew by 50% — How annual digital subscription prices at the biggest news titles compare to one year ago. — The price of a digital news subscription …
Discussion:
@baekdal, Media Voices and Press Gazette


Substack plans to remove some Nazi publications, but its new policy interpretation won't include proactively removing neo-Nazi and far-right extremism content — Substack is removing some publications that express support for Nazis, the company said today.
Discussion:
The Verge, @jbenton, @brianstelter, Engadget, @jasonkoebler@threads.net, @brian.fishman.5@threads.net, @fraying@xoxo.zone, @LyleDAL@universeodon.com, @neurovagrant@masto.deoan.org, @crumbler@threads.net, @ernie@writing.exchange, @thisismissem@hachyderm.io and Rolling Stone, more at Techmeme »


Out of 321 Oscar-qualifying films of 2023, just 265 are eligible for Best Picture, as the Academy starts enforcing its Representation and Inclusion Standards — “Dumb Money,” “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” are among those not in the running for the top prize
Discussion:
@davidpoland, @expert_oscar, Gizmodo, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire