Mediagazer: Apple debuts Apple Sports, a free app offering scores and stats for the NBA, NHL, Premier League, and more, in the US, Canada, and the UK, on iOS 17.2 or later (Todd Spangler/Variety)

Mark Stenberg / Adweek:

Sources: Amazon plans to shut its FAST service Freevee in the coming weeks, as part of a broader effort to focus its ad and product efforts on Prime Video — The service has become redundant following the introduction of ads to Prime Video — Amazon is planning to sunset its free …

Corbin Bolies / The Daily Beast:

Newsmax joins the New York Post's editorial board and other right-leaning outlets criticizing a pair of Florida bills making it easier to sue for defamation — The cable channel joins a growing list of right-wing outlets bashing Florida GOP legislation that takes square aim at the news media.

Discussion: @aaron.rupar@threads.net, New York Post and Fox News

Margi Murphy / Bloomberg:

A profile of ElevenLabs, whose AI voice cloning tech is being used to spoof politicians; five of the startup's 40 employees are dedicated to trust and safety — ElevenLabs' technology is already being used to spoof political candidates and promote scammy products.

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

ABC report: UK magazines' digital sales rose 15.4% YoY to an average of 2.6M per edition, including 1.2M from “all you can read” sales via Readly and others — UK magazine titles report surge in access to digital editions according to ABC. — Digital sales of UK magazines rose 15.4% year …

Discussion: @pressgazette and Press Gazette

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

Press Forward, the philanthropic initiative to invest $500M over five years in local news, says 11 new communities have joined six established chapters — 11 more communities have joined the movement — On Wednesday, Press Forward announced an expansion of its local chapters at the opening of the Knight Media Forum.

Discussion: Nieman Lab, Editor and Publisher, Press Forward, Sarah Gustavus Lim on LinkedIn, Lizzy Hazeltine on LinkedIn and North Carolina Local …

Katie Paul / Reuters:

Israel-based BRIA, a Getty-backed AI image generation startup that licenses 1B+ images from 18 stock providers, raised a $24M Series A from Publicis and others — A “responsible” AI image generation startup backed by stock photo provider Getty Images (GETY.N) has raised $24 million in a Series …

Discussion: Amit Goldenberg on LinkedIn, Jay Eum on LinkedIn, Assa Eldar on LinkedIn, Yair Adato on LinkedIn and AdExchanger, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Apple debuts Apple Sports, a free app offering scores and stats for the NBA, NHL, Premier League, and more, in the US, Canada, and the UK, on iOS 17.2 or later — Game on! Apple launched a free standalone app for sports fans, Apple Sports, which is engineered to fire scores and stats to your iPhone as quickly as possible.

Amelia Pollard / Bloomberg:

Filing: a US court gives Audacy, the second-largest radio broadcaster in the US, approval to exit bankruptcy, slashing ~$1.7B of its debt in a restructuring — - Soros Fund Management slated to own largest stake in company — Firm to slash $1.7 billion of debt through restructuring plan

Discussion: The Desk, Inside Radio and Radio & Television …

Patrick Brzeski / The Hollywood Reporter:

Q&A with Disney President of Asia-Pacific Luke Kang on the Asian entertainment business, evolving Disney's streaming strategy, growing Disney+, ads, and more — Luke Kang shares how the media giant has come to its streaming strategy for the region and his current views on major content markets like China, South Korea and Japan.

Discussion: Claudia Zhang on LinkedIn

Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:

FTC letter: Twitter did not violate an order restricting its data practices, as staff prevented the “Twitter Files” writers from directly accessing its systems — After investigating his handling of the ‘Twitter Files’ for more than a year, the agency found no evidence the company violated consent order

Discussion: Ars Technica and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Max Tani / Semafor:

Mehdi Hasan joins The Guardian US as a regular columnist; the outlet has been staffing up in recent months, adding well-known writers and an investigative unit — The Scoop — The progressive pundit Mehdi Hasan is joining The Guardian following his abrupt departure from MSNBC.

Discussion: The Guardian, @pressgazette, Press Gazette, The Hill and The Wrap

Lachlan Cartwright / The Hollywood Reporter:

Q&A with Jeff Zucker about RedBird IMI's approach to news investments, backlash from The Telegraph journalists, lessons from The Messenger launch, and more — Two years after his ouster from the network, the mogul explains why his investment firm RedBird IMI is snapping up media properties at a frantic clip.

Discussion: @lachcartwright, @jeremymbarr and @pressgazette