Top News:
Bloomberg:
Court filings show that Soros Fund Management could become the biggest shareholder of Audacy when the radio and podcast company emerges from bankruptcy — - Fund owns more than $400 million of Audacy's first-lien debt — Radio company's restructuring would hand ownership to lenders
Discussion:
Boston Herald, @ashleyrcarman, New York Post, @ashleycarman@threads.net, @buythecryptodip, The Desk and Barrett News Media
The Information:
Sources: Meta is reducing payments to news orgs that fact-check potential WhatsApp misinformation, including on elections, and has cut funding for CrowdTangle — Meta Platforms is reducing payments to news organizations that fact-check potential misinformation on WhatsApp, including around elections …
Discussion:
@kalleyhuang, @aginnt, @brooklynmarie and @mattnavarra@threads.net
Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:
David Leonhardt's views shaped NYT newsletter The Morning, which has 5M+ daily readers, leading to newsroom tension; others will share its lead column in 2024 — The New York Times' flagship newsletter is hugely popular with readers, a source of tension among some reporters, and …
Discussion:
@mlcalderone and @charlottetklein
Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
As The Daily Beast put Confider on hiatus, weeks after editor at large Lachlan Cartwright left, sources say the media newsletter could instead be “dead” — “We decided to put Confider on hiatus after Lachlan Cartwright, who initiated it, departed The Daily Beast,” The Daily Beast editor in chief said in a statement
Discussion:
@danackerman
BBC R&D:
The BBC plans to continue its Mastodon trial for at least six months and publish its work using ActivityPub, after gaining 60K followers on six trial accounts — In July 2023 we announced our plan to establish a BBC presence in the distributed collection of social networks known as the Fediverse …
Damilare Dosunmu / Rest of World:
Omdia: South African streaming company Showmax had 2.1M subscribers in Africa at the end of November 2023, ahead of Netflix's 1.8M and Amazon Prime Video's 300K — Showmax sits at the top of the market with a vast library of local content, partnerships with Comcast and HBO …
Discussion:
The Information and The Hollywood Reporter
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Walmart is in talks to buy smart TV manufacturer Vizio for $2B+, as the company looks to bolster its advertising business in its battle with Amazon — Retail giant discussing a more than $2 billion deal that would boost its advertising business in battle with Amazon
Discussion:
Observer, Victor Elmann on LinkedIn, Next in Media, Oliver Pangborn on LinkedIn, Media Play News, @hiebertpaul, @anshelsag, Jeff Rauseo on LinkedIn, Engadget, David J. Katz on LinkedIn, Christine Grammier on LinkedIn, Timothy Edwards on LinkedIn, Variety, The Streamable, MediaPost, Digiday, LightShed Partners, Bloomberg, The Desk, The Information, The Verge, 9to5Google, Reuters and Ad Age
Angela Fu / Poynter:
Utah's Deseret News says The Digest, a free monthly print compendium of its best journalism launched in September 2023, has been profitable since October — The Deseret News launched a free monthly compendium of its best journalism in September. It's been profitable since October.
Discussion:
Burke Olsen on LinkedIn and American Press Institute
Roger Cheng / Cord Cutters News:
Altice USA's Optimum lost 114,000 internet subscribers and 266,700 cable TV subscribers in 2023, including 62,200 cable subscribers in Q4 — Cable and internet provider Optimum continues to bleed customers at an alarming rate even as it lost money. — The company reported fourth-quarter results …
Discussion:
Altice USA, Inc. and Next TV
Committee to Protect Journalists:
Iranian authorities raided the newsroom of economic news site FardayeEghtesad on February 5, initially detaining 30 staff; four journalists are still detained — Washington, D.C., February 13, 2024—Iranian authorities must immediately release four journalists from the FardayeEghtesad news site …
Discussion:
Trusting News and Nieman Lab
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Disney merges ABC News and local station operations under Debra OConnell; ABC News President Kim Godwin and Stations President Chad Matthews will report to her — Another major media company is merging its news division and its local stations in hopes of wringing new profits from two businesses …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, Radio & Television …, The Walt Disney Company, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter
Sara Fischer / Axios:
An interview with Jimmy Finkelstein, who says The Messenger's model was working and the outlet would have been profitable by August 2024 if it had raised $20M — The Messenger CEO Jimmy Finkelstein told Axios he did not mislead a New York Times reporter about the company's revenue …
Discussion:
Poynter, @pressgazette, Awful Announcing, @jakewilkns, @mradamtaylor, @jimlaporta, @sarafischer, @tomgara and @coreypein.bsky.social
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