Top News:
John Koblin / New York Times:
Sources: Netflix plans to begin streaming HBO's Sex and the City in early April 2024, but the series' spinoff And Just Like That will remain exclusive to Max — Media companies that had been reluctant to are increasingly offering shows to Netflix, which is pulling further ahead in the streaming wars.
Discussion:
@dylanbyers, Screen Rant, Variety, TVLine, @tim_bays, @tvmojoe, @tvgrimreaper, @jbflint, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, @pkafka, Media Play News, The Wrap, Rolling Stone and TV Insider
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Sarah Whitten / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q4 revenue up 12.5% YoY to $8.83B, vs. $8.72B est., paid users up 12.8% YoY to 260.3M, vs. 256M est., and net income up 1,605% YoY to $938M
Discussion:
SlashFilm, @lucas_shaw, NBC 7 San Diego, Niels Langereis on LinkedIn, @pkafka, @jasonkilar, NME, Mumbrella, @tvgrimreaper, @tvmojoe, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, Associated Press, Netflix, Business Insider, Axios, Financial Times, Thurrott, NBC Bay Area, The Messenger, The Streamable, IndieWire, Sarah Whitten on LinkedIn, The Hollywood Reporter, Media Play News and NBC Bay Area, more at Techmeme »
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Netflix plans to retire its ad-free Basic plan in some countries where the company offers ad-supported plans, starting with Canada and the UK in Q2 2024
Discussion:
The Streamable, Gizmodo, Broadband TV News, BGR, Benzinga, Mashable, Business Insider, @tvgrimreaper, @alex, @sherman4949, @tim_bays, @tvmojoe, The A.V. Club, Engadget, The Messenger, AppleInsider, @dtgeek@mastodon.social, Variety, @ianbetteridge@writing …, Hollywood Reporter, 9to5Mac and CNBC, more at Techmeme »
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Comedy Central says Jon Stewart will return to The Daily Show as Monday host during the 2024 election cycle, starting on February 12, and as executive producer — Comedy Central is reaching back to the past to keep its long-running “The Daily Show” going in the present.
Discussion:
CNN, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Mediaite, SlashFilm, Fox News, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Bloomberg, TVLine, The Wrap, IndieWire, Screen Rant, New Jersey Online, The Verge, Vanity Fair, CBS News, Associated Press, Rolling Stone, Axios, Polygon, TV Insider, @lucas_shaw, Boing Boing, @jbflint, BGR, @paninid@mastodon.world, @joelmathis.bsky.social, @jbflint, @lanceulanoff, @mattbelloni, Irish News, New York Times, The A.V. Club, FOX8 WGHP and The Messenger
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Sources: G/O Media is shopping around its portfolio of editorial assets on an individual basis, with an emphasis on offloading The Onion, which isn't profitable — The company, after working to sell its whole portfolio, is now shopping individual properties
Discussion:
Awful Announcing and @markstenberg3
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
Originality AI: 88%+ of the top US news outlets now block AI companies' web crawlers; leading right-wing outlets, like Breitbart and Newsmax, mostly permit them — Nearly 90 percent of top news outlets like The New York Times now block AI data collection bots from OpenAI and others.
David Folkenflik / NPR:
NPR names Web Summit CEO and former Wikimedia Foundation chief Katherine Maher as its 12th permanent CEO and president — NPR has selected former Wikimedia Foundation chief Katherine Maher to lead the network through an era of declining broadcast listenership, financial uncertainty and technological turbulence.
Discussion:
Variety, TechCrunch, @davidfolkenflik and Independent.ie, more at Techmeme »
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
HuffPost UK increased its freelancer invoicing period from 30 to 60 days in September 2023, telling some freelancers that the outlet had “cash flow problems” — Freelances paid outstanding money after Press Gazette enquiries made. — Buzzfeed-owned Huffpost has belatedly paid …
Discussion:
@jim_edwards
Angela Fu / Poynter:
Texas Tribune staff vote to unionize, five months after the outlet's first layoffs; CEO Sonal Shah says the company will respect their right to representation — The Tribune's union campaign comes a week after workers at the San Antonio Report announced their own union.
Discussion:
The Texas Tribune, Nieman Lab, Austin Chronicle, @hanaatameez, @sdkstl and The NewsGuild
Noam Cohen / Bloomberg:
As Wikimedia Russia shuts down, a look at the Kremlin-compliant Wikipedia alternative Ruwiki, which recently went live, led by an ex-Wikimedia Russia director — A campaign to replace the country's Wikipedia with a more pliant alternative seems near completion.
Ariel Shapiro / The Verge:
An interview with NPR podcasting chief Collin Campbell on its “broadcast-to-podcast” strategy, navigating the new podcasting landscape, and more — Today, I have a preview of an interview with NPR's new podcasting chief, Collin Campbell. Campbell, who is an alum of WNYC …
Discussion:
The Verge and Blubrry Podcasting
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Zee Entertainment urges Sony to revive their $10B merger, sues the Japanese company over the deal's termination, and says Sony seeks a $90M breakup fee from Zee — - Indian entertainment conglomerate Zee Enrtertainment on Wednesday said it urged Sony to revive their blockbuster entertainment merger …
Discussion:
Reuters, Bloomberg, Forbes, India Today, Dow Jones Newswires, Business Standard, Moneycontrol and The Economic Times
Sara Guaglione / Digiday:
How podcast networks, like Acast and iHeartMedia, are testing AI tools to increase their ad sales, translate shows into different languages, and more — It seems it's not just big digital publishers like BuzzFeed and BDG looking to generative artificial intelligence tools as ways to streamline their sales process.
Discussion:
American Press Institute and Inside Radio
Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
The Los Angeles Times' layoffs have hit the outlet's Latino-focused vertical De Los, which was launched in 2023, and the Washington, DC bureau — “We are not in turmoil. We have a real plan,” the paper's owner, billionaire businessman Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, said.
Discussion:
Mediaite, @danielmorain, NBC News, @alemolina, @froomkin, @sarahscire, @ximena_bustillo, @melissagomez004, @grace_degraaf, Newser, @byjulialove, @jherrerx, @izzieramirez, @chels_hylton, @hshaban, @sarahdwire, Media Nation, @erinblogan, @shiramstein, Associated Press, Talking Biz News, Awful Announcing, HuffPost, LAist, The Daily Beast, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and Los Angeles Times
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