Mediagazer: Amazon expects Prime Video's average hourly ad load to be 2 to 3.5 minutes, below traditional TV and most streaming services, and to reach 159M monthly viewers (Suzanne Vranica/Wall Street Journal)

1:15 PM ET, January 29, 2024

Top News:

Max Goldbart / Deadline:

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Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Channel 4 plans to lay off 18% of its staff, impacting ~200 jobs and closing ~40 unfilled roles, to become a “digital-first public service streamer by 2030”

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Ben Strauss / Washington Post:

Sports Illustrated's union files an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB, alleging retaliation and union-busting after the mass layoffs this month — The union representing the staff of Sports Illustrated filed an unfair labor practice charge against the magazine's publisher …

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Wall Street Journal:

How Penguin Random House started actively challenging the removal of books from US school libraries, including through an “Intellectual Freedom” task force — A fiery board meeting inspired Penguin Random House to actively challenge the removal of books from school libraries

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Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:

In response to the George Carlin estate's lawsuit, Dudesy says its YouTube video and podcast with an “AI” George Carlin were “created by two human beings” — Creators still face “name and likeness” complaints; lawyer says suit will continue.

Discussion: Engadget, @nina_metz, @tliterarian, @pluralistic@mamot.fr, @irenes@mastodon.social, Rafael Brown on LinkedIn, @lauren@mastodon …, The Register, Mostly signs, New York Times and Music Ally

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

An interview with Mail Online executives on rolling out its new £4.99 per month Mail+ tier to all UK users, the £12.99 per month Mail+ Editions app, and more — Mail Online is building on a “great position of strength” from its “huge, loyal, engaged, direct audience” …

Reuters:

German state broadcaster ARD says Israel was blocking two of its long-term Palestinian workers from leaving Gaza, citing security concerns that don't make sense — German state broadcaster ARD on Friday said Israel was blocking two of its long-term Palestinian workers from leaving Gaza …

The Intercept:

Sources: the NYT pulled a The Daily episode about sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, after an internal debate on the strength of its reporting — The New York Times pulled a high-profile episode of its podcast “The Daily” about sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 amid …

Discussion: CBS News, @markamesexiled, @evanhill, @zei_squirrel, @maryamsaleh, @drboguslaw, @snarwani, @ggreenwald and @kenklippenstein

Cecilia Kang / New York Times:

A look at the US Copyright Office, which is in the spotlight as it plans to release three key reports in 2024 revealing its position on copyright law and AI — The office is reviewing how centuries-old laws should apply to artificial intelligence technology, with both content creators and tech giants arguing their cases.

Discussion: @knibbs, @jeffplatsky, @dm_cooper, @toddbigphoto, @tvol and @stevelohr

Jennifer Maas / Variety:

A look at Warner Bros. Discovery's push to expand its gaming division with live services and mobile games, by leveraging its franchises like Game of Thrones — David Zaslav's most critical mission is leading Warner Bros. Discovery through the streaming wars.

Discussion: @captaingalxy, @benjisales, @variety, Screen Rant, @jmaasaronson and @aegies, more at Techmeme »

Suzanne Vranica / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon expects Prime Video's average hourly ad load to be 2 to 3.5 minutes, below traditional TV and most streaming services, and to reach 159M monthly viewers — Move prompts longtime subscribers to cancel Prime altogether, forgoing free shipping; ‘There is only one way to show them that this is not OK’

Discussion: CNN, Fast Company, The Streamable, New York Post and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »

Patrick Frater / Variety:

CNN Philippines plans to close on January 31, impacting up to 300 jobs; the outlet launched in 2015 under a brand licensing deal and, a source says, lost $89M+ — CNN Philippines is to close down on Wednesday, the company announced on Monday local time. The move means up to 300 jobs will be lost.

Discussion: @cnnphilippines and Deadline

Katie Campione / Deadline:

Nielsen: Ted Lasso was the most-watched streaming original in 2023, at 16.9B minutes, despite Apple TV+'s small footprint, followed by Netflix's The Night Agent — Ted Lasso went out on a high note at Apple TV+. — According to Nielsen, the series was the most-watched streaming original last year …

Discussion: Variety, The Streamable, Screen Rant, The Wrap, New York Times, AppleInsider, BGR, UPROXX, The Hollywood Reporter and Media Play News

Alex Fitzpatrick / Axios:

The New York Times says users played its puzzles and games more than 8B times in 2023, led by Wordle with 4.8B plays, and the NYT Games app had 10M downloads — The New York Times' puzzle and games were played more than 8 billion times last year, the company tells Axios exclusively …

Discussion: @counternotions@mastodon … and Jonathan Knight on LinkedIn

Reuters:

Report: Zee Media founder Subhash Chandra says his family plans to eventually raise its stake in Zee from 4% to 26% after a merger with Sony India collapsed — Zee Entertainment (ZEE.NS) founder Subhash Chandra's family will eventually lift their stake in the media house to 26% from 4% currently …

Discussion: Livemint

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UK sanctions Iranian officials who were found by an ITV report to be involved in plots to assassinate two TV presenters from Iran International in the UK

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Sources: former MGM executive Jonathan Glickman is in talks to join Miramax as its CEO, following Bill Block's departure last year

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Pete Croatto / Poynter:
A look at the 2003 film Shattered Glass on serial fabulist Stephen Glass, the people involved in his rise and fall, and its enduring appeal in journalism school

Discussion: Nick Hirshon on LinkedIn, @sonnybunch, @jonathanchait, @petecroatto, @williams_paige, @billyray5229, @petecroatto, @benmullin, @om and On my Om

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Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Sources detail how a $300M investment from Blackstone, structured as a line of credit, became an albatross for Recurrent Ventures due to rising interest rates

Discussion: Media Voices, @markstenberg3, @rafat and Jared Lake on LinkedIn

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
X plans to build a new “Trust and Safety center of excellence” in Austin, Texas, and hire 100 full-time moderators to fight child sexual exploitation material

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Tim Harford / Financial Times:
With high-stakes elections in 2024, some experts are worried that a piece of disinformation potentially involving a deepfake might soon have a calamitous impact

Discussion: Slate, @prachisrivas@masto.ai, @glentarman, @alanhickslondon, @mrbrownsir, @johngapper, @timharford, @lukolejnik, Kelvin Low on LinkedIn, @bakerluke, @zemedeneh, @nikiblasina and @ftweekend

Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Jon Franklin, a pioneer of literary journalism who won two Pulitzer Prizes for stories published in The Baltimore Evening Sun, died on January 21 at age 82

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Gretel Kahn / Reuters Institute:
Emerging journalists from Europe, North America, and Latin America discuss the challenges they face entering the news industry, like high tuition and low pay

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From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is finalizing a deal with OpenAI to use ChatGPT features in iOS 18; talks with Google to license Gemini are still ongoing

Stephanie Palazzolo / The Information:
Sources: OpenAI is preparing to demonstrate an AI voice assistant that recognizes objects and images and has better logical reasoning than its current products

Beeban Kidron / Financial Times:
Ofcom's draft Children's Safety Code of Practice's emphasis on kids choosing protective tools rather than safety by design and default is not ambitious enough

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