Top News:
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.
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:
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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.
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
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, The Streamable, @deeketweak, Screen Rant, Variety, @tim_bays, Deadline, @tvmojoe, @pkafka, @tvgrimreaper, TVLine, The Hollywood Reporter, Media Play News, @jbflint, The Wrap, NBC Bay Area, Rolling Stone and TV Insider
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Peter White / Deadline:
Netflix says it's not interested in acquiring “linear assets”, and it does not believe further M&A will “materially change the competitive environment”
Discussion:
The Streamable, @tvgrimreaper, Variety, Forbes, The Wrap and Bloomberg
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, Niels Langereis on LinkedIn, NBC Bay Area, @pkafka, BGR, @jasonkilar, Mashable, NME, NBC 7 San Diego, Mumbrella, @tvgrimreaper, @tvmojoe, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @lucas_shaw, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, Associated Press, Netflix, Business Insider, Axios, Financial Times, The Messenger, Thurrott, The Streamable, IndieWire, Sarah Whitten on LinkedIn, The Hollywood Reporter, Media Play News, The Verge and NBC Bay Area, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Warner Bros. Discovery, which replaced its HBO Max name with Max in May 2023 in the US, plans to expand the change to Latin America on February 27 — The HBO Max makeover to Max is heading overseas. — In the U.S., Warner Bros. Discovery in May 2023 killed off the “HBO Max” …
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
Ash Parrish / The Verge:
Twitch changes the Prime Gaming subscription payout model to a fixed rate, expands the Partner Plus Program, and removes the $100K cap for 70/30 revenue share — Twitch is making big monetization changes again in an attempt to make a more sustainable system, lowering earnings in some places and raising them in others.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, @morgan_sung, @twitch, @greibach_vt, @shindags, Twitch and @morgan_sung, more at Techmeme »
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.
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
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:
Washington Post, The Texas Tribune, Nieman Lab, Austin Chronicle, @sdkstl, @hanaatameez and The NewsGuild
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:
RAIN News, The Verge and Blubrry Podcasting
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