Mediagazer: Sirius XM acquires rights to SmartLess, a podcast by Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes, sources say for $100M+; Amazon previously paid $60M-$80M (Bloomberg)

Sirius XM acquires rights to SmartLess, a podcast by Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes, sources say for $100M+; Amazon previously paid $60M-$80M — - The popular interview program has spent three years at Amazon — Actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes host the show

Discussion: Inside Radio, CNN, Sirius XM Holdings Inc., Variety, The Wrap, Radio Ink, @pkafka@threads.net, Digital Trends, @frankyarriola, @johnjedwards3, @shaun_obanion, @variety, @lucas_shaw, The Hollywood Reporter and @lucas_shaw

Max Goldbart / Deadline:

Memo: Channel 4 plans to merge commissioning departments, including TV drama and film, leave a London premises, and more, part of a five-year Fast Forward plan — Channel 4 is merging several commissioning departments including TV drama and film and leaving its Horseferry Road premises …

Discussion: The Guardian, @scottygb, @bectu, Broadband TV News, @halalltakeaway, BBC, The Guardian, @jake_kanter and Sky News

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”

Discussion: Broadband TV News, @scottygb, Variety, CampaignUK, WORLD SCREEN, @joshoewaa, Mediaite and Financial Times

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 …

Discussion: Sportico, nyguild.org, Awful Announcing, The Wrap and Columbia Journalism Review

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Bloomberg starts providing AI-generated summaries of companies' earnings calls on its terminal; the company has more than 310,000 subscribers to its terminal — Bloomberg is now providing artificial intelligence summaries of company's earnings calls on its terminal.

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

Discussion: Matthew Sekol on LinkedIn, Dan Novack on LinkedIn, NPR, @davidmpaige, @michellemanafy@journa.host, @jbflint and Why Evolution Is True

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Plex raised new funding, larger than the $50M funding it raised in 2021, and expects to be profitable by the end of 2024 — Media streamer Plex has raised new capital. The company, which began as a media organization startup, has morphed over the years to become a one-stop shop for all your media …

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” …

Alex Barinka / Bloomberg:

TikTok is testing a feature that could make all posts shoppable, by identifying objects in videos and prompting users to “find similar items on TikTok Shop” — - Feature links products to any posts, not just influencers — TikTok is testing a feature that could make all posts shoppable …

Discussion: The Messenger and @carnage4life, more at Techmeme »

Christopher Kuo / New York Times:

Ukraine's foreign ministry criticizes HBO for casting Milos Bikovic in The White Lotus' season three, saying without evidence the Serbian actor supports Russia — On social media, Ukraine's foreign ministry posted clips of the Serbian actor Milos Bikovic receiving a medal for cultural achievement from Vladimir Putin in 2018.

Discussion: @mfa_ukraine and Business Insider

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

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: @eklovyajain, @baphometsblade, @david_marcelis, CNN, Insider Intelligence, New York Post, 9to5Mac, Fast Company and The Streamable, more at Techmeme »

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: IndieWire, Variety, The Streamable, Screen Rant, The Hollywood Reporter, BGR, New York Times, The A.V. Club, The Wrap, Nielsen, AppleInsider, UPROXX, Media Play News and The Messenger

Reuters:

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 — Britain on Monday imposed sanctions on Iranian officials it said were involved in threats to kill journalists on British soil …

Discussion: The Hill, CBS News, Deadline and Press Association