Mediagazer: The Financial Times signs a deal with OpenAI to train AI models on the publisher's archived content and to let ChatGPT reply with short summaries of FT articles (Madhumita Murgia/Financial Times)

2:35 PM ET, April 29, 2024

Top News:

Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:

The Financial Times signs a deal with OpenAI to train AI models on the publisher's archived content and to let ChatGPT reply with short summaries of FT articles — Agreement comes as Microsoft-backed start-up seeks data from reliable sources to train latest artificial intelligence models

New York Times:

Sources: in a revised bid, Skydance offered Paramount shareholders a larger stake in the combined company and a $3B cash infusion to pay debt and buy back stock — The terms of the new deal would provide Paramount shareholders with an investment to pay down debt and buy back stock.

Discussion: The Desk, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, @benmullin and @benmullin

Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Paramount is planning for what happens if no big deal happens, mulling cutting $2B in costs, selling BET and TV stations, starting a streaming JV, more — The storied Hollywood company behind ‘The Godfather’ faces its biggest battle yet as Shari Redstone's merger plans collide with shareholder fury and a CEO on the outs

Discussion: The Streamable, New York Times, Deadline, Awful Announcing, @jtoonkel and @waystarcroixco

Alex Sherman / CNBC:

Sources: Shari Redstone agreed to take less than $2B for her Paramount stake as part of Skydance's “best and final” offer, lower than what was initially offered — Bob Bakish, CEO of Paramount, speaks with CNBC's David Faber on Sept. 6, 2023. — In what could easily be a plotline …

Discussion: Financial Times, The Streamable, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, @alexweprin, Broadband TV News, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, Cord Cutters News, New York Times, New York Post, Deadline and The Information

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: Paramount Global's board is preparing to fire CEO Bob Bakish as soon as Monday, after he lost the trust of controlling shareholder Shari Redstone

Ben Smith / Semafor:

Sources: Nicholas Carlson, who has been the global editor-in-chief of Business Insider since 2017, is expected to leave the publication later this summer — After a nine-month span in 2020, in which social media furors forced the resignations of editors at Condé Nast titles …

Discussion: Talking Biz News, @maxwelltani, @semaforben and @akarl_smith

Todd Spangler / Variety:

NBCUniversal hikes Peacock Premium with ads price by $2 to $7.99/month and Peacock Premium Plus price by $2 to $13.99/month, the second price hike in two years — NBCUniversal is looking to wring more money out of Peacock subscribers, with the streamer set to raise prices this summer — one year after its last fee hike.

Discussion: The Streamable, The Desk, Screen Rant, Adweek, TVLine, IndieWire, The Wrap, ComingSoon.net, The Verge, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, @xpangler and Media Play News

CNN:

In a letter to Fox News, Hunter Biden's attorneys demand Fox to remove “hacked” sexually explicit images of Hunter from its platforms, citing revenge porn laws — Hunter Biden is demanding that Fox News remove from its platforms sexually explicit images that President Joe Biden's son …

Discussion: TVLine, Mediaite, NBC News, The Gateway Pundit, @haleygirlwagun, @_johnnymaga, @acyn and @brianstelter

Laura Wagner / Washington Post:

Over 50 journalism professors call on the NYT to address questions on its report that described a “pattern of gender-based violence” in Hamas' October 7 attack — A major investigative report into sexual violence in the Hamas attack on Israel has drawn criticism inside and outside the newspaper

Discussion: @jayrosen_nyu, Amal Ghandour on LinkedIn, @peterkirstein, @matteomedia and @bazzinyu

Leila Abboud / Financial Times:

French production group Mediawan acquires German rival Leonine for €500M; Mediawan is unaffected by streaming cuts due to EU quotas on locally produced content — French TV and film company Mediawan is benefiting from EU quotas on locally produced content

Discussion: Variety, Broadband TV News, WORLD SCREEN, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:

Meta confirms it has started testing a limited-time invite-only bonus program for creators on Threads in the US — Meta's Threads social network passed the 150 million monthly users mark recently, but the company is not slowing down its growth engine. To increase engagement …

Discussion: @culturecrave@threads.net, @mattnavarra@threads.net, @akash.marketing_@threads.net, @arczaks@threads.net and @anmolsachar@threads.net

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:

Some publishers are hesitant to monetize generative AI chatbots with ads because of low CPMs and lack of scale, opting to build a subscription model first — This article was provided as an exclusive preview for Digiday+ members, who were able to access it early.

Discussion: @caddymarketing

Sammy Gecsoyler / The Guardian:

BBC presenter Liz Bonnin's likeness was used in an ad after the company running the campaign was tricked by a fake, likely AI-generated, version of her voice — Exclusive: Liz Bonnin's face used on insect repellant advert after deal negotiated via WhatsApp and voice notes generated by AI

Discussion: Deadline, @sammygecsoyler, Lynne Stainthorpe on LinkedIn, The Media Roundup …, The Overspill, The Drum and Steve Gray on LinkedIn

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Max Goldbart / Deadline:
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Discussion: @deepbagchee

Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
BBC ex-Director of News and Current Affairs James Harding says the BBC “will drain advertising away from journalism” if the broadcaster runs ads on its podcasts

Bloomberg:
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Mike Fleming Jr / Deadline:
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Discussion: Joy Gorman Wettels on LinkedIn, @mynette, @deadline, @ezhossington, @franklinleonard, @lynettehtaylor and New York Times

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
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Earlier Picks:

Elise Morton / Associated Press:
Russia arrests journalists Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin on “extremism” charges for allegedly working for a group founded by the late Alexei Navalny

Discussion: Washington Post, @polinaivanovva, The Wrap, The Hill, @maxseddon, @journalist_guy, Financial Times, Reuters, @jason_corcoran, @maimunkanews, @moscowtimes, The Insider, NHK WORLD, Deutsche Welle, Agence France-Presse, Politico and Fox News

Sharareh Drury / Variety:
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Associated Press:
Large protests outside the annual WHCD event condemned both the Western news' media coverage of the war in Gaza and President Biden's handling of the conflict

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A look at the rise in video podcasts, as YouTube leads in podcast consumption in the US and companies invest in video to gain new audiences and boost ad revenue

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Jeff Jarvis / BuzzMachine:
The New York Times is broken, shown by its entitled, petulant reaction to Politico's report on its tense relationship with Biden

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From Techmeme:

Kent Walker / The Keyword:
Google says the DOJ's “wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision”, would hurt US consumers, and jeopardize the US' global tech leadership

Daniel Howley / Yahoo Finance:
Nvidia reports Q3 revenue up 94% YoY to $35.1B, vs. $33.2B est., Data Center revenue up 112% YoY to $30.8B, vs. $29B est., and forecasts Q4 revenue above est.

Matt Swayne / The Quantum Insider:
Google Quantum AI and DeepMind researchers debut ML decoder AlphaQubit, which surpasses existing methods in identifying and correcting quantum computing errors

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