Top News:
Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:
Byron Allen makes a ~$30B offer, including debt and equity, to buy all of Paramount; sources: Allen plans to sell the Paramount film studio and keep Paramount+ — - The media mogul offering to pay a 50% premium for voting stock — Allen already has interest from investors for assets
Discussion:
MediaPost, Variety, The Wrap, Reuters, @tvgrimreaper, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, @solomonmissouri, Cord Cutters News, @gracerandolph, @ipodave and @authorrandallb
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Alphabet CEO says its digital subscription services, including YouTube Premium and YouTube TV, are on a $15B annual revenue run rate, up fivefold since 2019 — Alphabet's suite of digital subscription services — including YouTube Premium, YouTube Music, YouTube TV and Google One cloud storage …
Discussion:
@xpangler, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Reuters:
Alphabet reports Q4 Google advertising revenue up 11% YoY to $65.5B, vs. $66.1B estimated, with Google Search & other revenue up 13% YoY to $48B — Alphabet (GOOGL.O) disappointed Wall Street on Tuesday as holiday season advertising sales came in below expectations and overshadowed …
Discussion:
MarketWatch, @thetranscript_, MediaPost and Reuters, more at Techmeme »
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Google Chief Business Officer says “YouTube TV is doing well”, and the company is “closely looking” at an international expansion of YouTube TV — Google execs are actively considering an international expansion of pay-TV service YouTube TV, Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler …
Discussion:
Media Play News, @tvgrimreaper, The Desk, The Streamable and Business Insider
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Universal Music Group plans to cease licensing content to TikTok after their agreement expires on January 31, saying they failed to reach new licensing terms — UMG said that its agreement with TikTok is set to expire on Jan. 31. “The companies have not agreed to terms for a new agreement …
Discussion:
UMG, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Mumbrella, TechCrunch, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, The Register, The Daily Beast, The Messenger, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, The Information, @broderick, Billboard, PR Newswire, @mikeisaac, @lucas_shaw, @tiktokcomms, @umg, The Music Network, @jamesrbuk, @runciedan, Music Technology Policy, @annaknicolaou, @xpangler, @mikeisaac, @broderick, Financial Times, @russdiemon, Reuters, The Wrap, 9to5Mac, The Hollywood Reporter and Digital Music News, more at Techmeme »
The New York Times Company:
The New York Times introduces a new format to its byline pages, called enhanced bios, highlighting journalists' expertise and ethics, how they operate, and more — The New York Times is introducing a new format to its byline pages. — Our journalists are what set The New York Times apart.
Discussion:
@ben@werd.social, @jayrosen_nyu, @nytimespr, @mattwelch, @mjnblack, @glenngabe, @froomkin, @froomkin, @edmundlee, @andrew_marshall, @jayrosen_nyu and @talmonsmith
Alexandra Alter / New York Times:
Bookstat: the US audiobook market grew 14% YoY in Q4 2023, excluding Spotify; with Spotify, it grew 28% YoY; Spotify had an 11% market share, behind Audible — There are early signs that Spotify's addition of audiobooks to its streaming service is helping drive audiobook consumption — already a growing market.
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Novara Media says the left-wing UK nonprofit opinion and news outlet has nearly 15K monthly donors, up from 10K in July 2022, and 25 staff, paid £19 per hour — Press Gazette checks in with the un-paywalled outlet as it adds coverage of the North. — Supporter-funded Novara Media …
Discussion:
@pressgazette and @pressgazette
Elizabeth A. Harris / New York Times:
Profile of Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya, who was tasked to lead the company after the DOJ won its fight to stop the $2B+ Simon & Schuster acquisition — As chief executive of Penguin Random House, Nihar Malaviya runs a global company and the largest book publisher in the United States …
John Seabrook / New Yorker:
A profile of UMG CEO Lucian Grainge, who helped record labels rake in billions of dollars from streaming and now hopes to do the same with generative AI — Lucian Grainge, the chairman of UMG, has helped record labels rake in billions of dollars from streaming. Can he do the same with generative artificial intelligence?
Discussion:
@drorpoleg and Natalie Jacobs on LinkedIn
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Minute Media, owner of The Players' Tribune, raised “tens of millions”, per its CEO, at a $1B+ valuation, and bought sports streaming service STN Video — Minute Media, the parent company to sports and entertainment sites like The Players' Tribune and Mental Floss …
Discussion:
@simondowens@threads.net, BetaKit, @kendallbaker and Minute Media
Emilia David / The Verge:
The NYT starts hiring for a team that will explore the use of generative AI in the newsroom “to help with reporting and how the Times is presented to readers” — The New York Times will begin building a team to explore the use of generative AI in its newsroom.
Discussion:
The Messenger, @technicallymims@threads.net, @palewire, @palewire, @chris@threads.net and @zseward@threads.net
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