Mediagazer: Disney and WBD announce a streaming bundle of Disney+, Hulu, and Max, with ad-supported and ad-free plans, beginning this summer in the US, with pricing to come (Dade Hayes/Deadline)

1:45 AM ET, May 9, 2024

Top News:

Sources: if Sony and Apollo acquire Paramount Global, they plan to sell off CBS, cable channels like MTV, and Paramount+, while keeping Paramount Pictures — CBS and other well-known properties would be sold if Sony and Apollo are able to buy Paramount. But the new owners would keep the movie studio.

Discussion: The Desk, Media Play News, Reuters, @benmullin and @ernie.tedium.co

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

Disney and WBD announce a streaming bundle of Disney+, Hulu, and Max, with ad-supported and ad-free plans, beginning this summer in the US, with pricing to come — Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are breaking ground in streaming with a bundled offering featuring Disney+, Hulu and Max in a single package.

Maggie Harrison Dupré / Futurism:

An investigation into AdVon, the company behind Sports Illustrated's fake writers, finds its AI content and fake authors at the LA Times, Miami Herald, and more — A few years back, a writer in a developing country started doing contract work for a company called AdVon Commerce …

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

The New York Times Games rolls out a Wordle archive with 1,000+ past puzzles for “Games” and “All Access” subscribers, and adds its WordleBot to NYT Games app — The New York Times Games announced on Tuesday that it's launching a Wordle archive …

Discussion: The New York Times Company, Fast Company, Gizmodo and The Verge

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: WBD plans more cost cutting to hit financial targets for next year, including the possibility of more layoffs, and has decided to raise Max prices — - Job cuts are possible as executives look for more savings — CEO eyes streaming operations' marketing, technology costs

Discussion: Engadget, Lucas Shaw on LinkedIn, 9to5Google, The Desk, Reuters, The Hill, The Streamable, @lucas_shaw, Sports Media Watch, Android Headlines, Streaming Better, Awful Announcing, Next TV and The Verge

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

The NYT added 210,000 digital subscribers in Q1, for 10.5M subscribers in total, up 8% YoY, and ad revenue fell 2.4% YoY to $103.7M; the OpenAI lawsuit cost $1M — Adjusted operating profit was $76.1 million, an increase of about 41 percent from a year earlier.

Discussion: @benmullin, Charles Miller on LinkedIn and The Wrap

The New York Times Company:
The NYT reports Q1 revenue up 6% YoY to $594M, subscription revenue up 13% YoY to $293M, operating profit up 73% YoY to $48.3M, Athletic revenue up 33% to $37M

Discussion: Rory Maloney on LinkedIn, CoinGape and The Information

Lisa Schlein / Voice of America:

The UN high commissioner for human rights condemns Russia's crackdown on journalists; at least 30 journalists are currently detained on various criminal charges — United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Tuesday condemned Russia's brutal crackdown on journalists …

Laura Hazard Owen / Nieman Lab:

Researchers: Meta's Canada news ban resulted in news outlets posting much less on Facebook, and posts with screenshots of news stories increasing dramatically — “We observe a dramatic increase in posts containing screenshots of Canadian news stories in the post-ban period.”

Discussion: @niemanlab@mastodon.social, @niemanlab, Gail J. Cohen on LinkedIn and Media Ecosystem Observatory

Nik Roseveare / Advanced Television:

Sky announces Sky Sports+, a new service starting in August that will increase coverage of the English Football League and more, as part of its EFL partnership — Sky has announced it will launch Sky Sports+ this August, a service it says will be “transformational in the amount of choice sports fans …

Discussion: The Athletic, Daily Mail, The Desk, WORLD SCREEN, The Guardian and City A.M.

Jamie Dettmer / Politico:

How investigative journalists in Ukraine face increasing intimidation, as some worry outlets are censoring themselves, seeing patriotism as trumping journalism — Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe. — KYIV — “I ran investigations for 15 years before the war, and it was always hard and risky.

Discussion: @hanse_mina@mastodon.social

Kathryn Lundstrom / Adweek:

Disney Advertising strikes a deal with Walmart Connect to let advertisers target Disney's streamers, including Disney+ and Hulu, using Walmart's shopper data — The new retailer-CTV partnership promises detailed sales attribution data — Disney Advertising struck a deal with Walmart Connect …

Discussion: Julia Thornton on LinkedIn, Dana McGraw on LinkedIn, MediaPost, AdExchanger and The Verge

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

EchoStar reports losing ~348K net pay TV subscribers in Q1, vs. a 552K drop in Q1 2023, and revenue down 8% YoY to $2.7B; Sling TV subscribers fell 135K to 1.9M — Telecom mogul Charlie Ergen's EchoStar is led by Hamid Akhavan as president and CEO, with Ergen serving as executive chairman.

Discussion: The Desk, The Streamable, Deadline and Streaming Better

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Source: last month, Sundial Media bought Refinery29 for ~$30M, or roughly its 2023 revenue; Refinery29 buys trade beauty show Beautycon to move away from ads — - The company bought Refinery29 for roughly the same amount that the publisher made in top-line revenue in 2023, which was $30 million, a source told Axios.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal

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More News:

Todd Spangler / Variety:
NBCUniversal signs deal to make iHeartMedia the exclusive audio partner for the 2024 Paris Olympics; iHeartMedia will create an original iHeartPodcast

Discussion: Jeff Hurley on LinkedIn, Chris Harp on LinkedIn, Michael Biondo on LinkedIn, @xpangler, Inside Radio, Barrett Media, Radio & Television … and New York Post

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Fox Corp reports Q3 revenue down 15% YoY to $3.4B, ad revenue down 33% YoY to $1.2B, a $704M net income, up from a $50M loss YoY, $1.9B affiliate fee revenue

Discussion: @brianstelter, @jbflint, @jbflint, @jbflint, @jbflint, The Wrap, Fox, Variety, Next TV and WORLD SCREEN

Reuters:
A Moscow court places veteran Russian journalist Nadezhda Kevorkova in pre-trial detention for two months on suspicion of “justifying terrorism”, per her son

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
Internews survey of 25 exiled news outlets: all but two are financially dependent on philanthropic or institutional funding, 28% are fully funded by donors

Discussion: @niemanlab and @internews

Earlier Picks:

Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Substack announces Substack Creator Studio, a program to support 10 US-based video creators to “turn their TikTok channels into Substack shows and communities”

Discussion: Digiday, The Information, Christina Loff on LinkedIn, Washington Post, On Substack and On Substack

Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
Dotdash Meredith unionized workers ratify contracts with management after negotiating since 2021; the deal covers ~160 staffers at People and other magazines

Discussion: @meredithunion and @nyguild

Nellie Andreeva / Deadline:
Ricky Strauss, who has been head of marketing at Apple TV+ for 16 months, is leaving; he earlier was president of content and marketing at Disney+ at its launch

Discussion: Variety, @rarebre3d, Puck, The Wrap and 9to5Mac

Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Disney CEO Bob Iger says Marvel is going to reduce output and focus on quality by releasing “about two TV series a year” and a “maximum of three” films per year

Discussion: Empire, ComingSoon.net, Screen Rant, IGN, @ballmatthew, @tvgrimreaper, The Playlist, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Business Insider, Jackie Szymanski on LinkedIn, The Wrap, Quartz, SlashFilm, TVLine, The A.V. Club and CNBC

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Sources detail tensions between Apple and Elon Musk's SpaceX over expanding satellite cellphone services; Apple discussed linking iPhones to SpaceX satellites

Michael J. de la Merced / New York Times:
Isomorphic Labs, a DeepMind spinoff focusing on drug discovery, raised $600M led by Thrive to research treatments, including for cancer and immune disorders

Bloomberg:
Chinese startup Manus, whose AI agent service is still in beta, announces a $39 per month Manus Starter plan and an upgraded $199 per month Pro tier

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