Mediagazer: NewsGuard: with news-related prompts, DeepSeek's chatbot repeated false claims 30% of the time and provided non-answers 53% of the time, giving an 83% fail rate (NewsGuard's Reality Check)

8:05 AM ET, January 30, 2025

Top News:

Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:

Comcast reports Q4 revenue up 2% YoY to $31.92B and media revenue, including its TV networks, up 3.5% to $7.22B; Comcast lost 311K cable TV customers — Comcast topped Wall Street's fourth-quarter estimates on Thursday as revenue from the company's broadband business gave it a boost despite losing customers.

Discussion: Variety, Reuters, Barron's Online, Bloomberg, Deadline, @tvgrimreaper and Comcast

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

Comcast reports Peacock's Q4 losses fell to $372M from a $825M loss in Q4 2023 and revenue rose 28% YoY to $1.3B; Comcast didn't disclose a subscriber count — Comcast, led by chairman and CEO Brian Roberts, reported fourth-quarter and full-year results for its entertainment unit and other operations.

Discussion: The Wrap

Wall Street Journal:

Meta agrees to pay ~$25M to settle Trump's 2021 lawsuit against Meta and Mark Zuckerberg after the company suspended his accounts following the January 6 riot — The president had sued the social-media company after his accounts were suspended following Jan. 6 riot

Discussion: MediaPost, Washington Post, New York Times, Poynter, HuffPost, NPR, Digby's Hullabaloo, @mattgertz, @davidfrum.bsky.social, The Hill, Benzinga, The Guardian, AV Club, @rebeccaballhaus, One America News Network, Reclaim The Net, Reuters, @katarinacorleone.bsky.social, Associated Press, RedState, CNBC, Mediaite, Raw Story, @derfbackderf.bsky.social, Politico, Le Monde, Forbes, @philipmai.com, The Verge, Engadget, The Gateway Pundit, The Desk, Daily Mail, @zacheverson.com, The Post Millennial, ABC News, @kjhealy.co, The Atlantic, @annmlipton@esq.social, TVNewsCheck, @documentingmeta@threads.net, NBC4 Washington, The Information, Axios, Variety, The Wrap, ZeroHedge News, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, CNN, The Independent, @noupside.bsky.social, @brianfung.me, @brianstelter.bsky.social, @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social, Business Insider and CBS News, more at Techmeme »

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Fox EVP of Ad Sales Mark Evans says there is an increase in Super Bowl ad buys from AI companies, while ad buys from movie studios and streamers are down — AI-focused ads are up, and movie spots are down, Fox says, as 30-second ads hit an eye-watering $8 million.

Discussion: Adweek, TVNewsCheck, RetailWire, Gizmodo, The US Sun, The Verge, Awful Announcing, @mousterpiece.bsky.social and Ad Age

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Sources: Fox has sold at least ten 30-second Super Bowl ad spots for $8M+, a record; pre and post-game ad prices have also increased, reaching $4.5M and ~$4M — Super Bowl LIX is still days away, but someone has already scored a key Big Game touchdown.

Discussion: Axios, Sports Business Journal, CNBC, FTVLive, Awful Announcing, Benzinga, The Mirror US, @jason_kint, @alexweprin, Forbes, CNN, Bloomberg, Us Weekly, The Wrap, Just Jared, Adweek, Associated Press, TVNewsCheck and Deadline

Yasmin Rufo / BBC:

The BBC apologizes to staff after an internal review found employees felt unable to raise concerns about Russell Brand's misconduct during his tenure at BBC — The BBC has apologised to staff who felt they could not speak up with concerns about Russell Brand's behaviour because he was seen as …

Discussion: Variety, Daily Mail, The Independent, The i Paper, Sky News, The Mirror, The Sun, Deadline, Irish Mirror, GB News and Irish Independent

NewsGuard's Reality Check:

NewsGuard: with news-related prompts, DeepSeek's chatbot repeated false claims 30% of the time and provided non-answers 53% of the time, giving an 83% fail rate — Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek's new chatbot failed to provide accurate information about news …

Discussion: Politico, @firstadopter, The Mirror, BGR, TechNode, @peark.es, @newsguard.bsky.social, @brianfung.me, Interesting Engineering, Gizmodo, Fortune and Reuters, more at Techmeme »

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:

Court filing: Elon Musk, seeking to dismiss Don Lemon's lawsuit, blames an “invasive and charged interview” for canceling Lemon's $1.5M partnership with X — - Former CNN star is suing Musk over failed $1.5 million deal — X owner says journalist's interview led to ‘sour’ relationship

Discussion: @kurtwagner.bsky.social, @kurtwagner.bsky.social and The Root

Julia Alexander / Posting Nexus:

How Epic is transforming Fortnite into a content platform, paying $350M to creators in 2024; 36.5% of the total playtime was spent in games made by creators — What are creator made islands competing for players' attention if nothing but decentralized channels in a centralized ecosystem?

Discussion: @michaelmartinez.co, @loudmouthjulia, @simonowens.bsky.social, The Mirror US and Simon Owens's Media Newsletter

Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:

Influence Media Partners secures ~$360M in debt financing through private securitization, collateralized by music royalties from its portfolio of music rights — Rights-backed securitization deals are becoming increasingly common in the music industry. — Today (January 29) brings the latest news from this space.

Discussion: Billboard, Digital Music News, Influence Media Partners and Variety

Jordan Valinsky / CNN:

Save the Music, a nearly 30-year-old nonprofit promoting music education in public schools, goes independent after Paramount's decision to end financial support — New York CNN — — Save the Music, the nonprofit foundation that grew in popularity on cable TV in the late 1990s through the 2000s, is going indie.

Discussion: Castanet.net, @kevdgrussing.bsky.social, Billboard and Digital Music News

Dan Kennedy / Media Nation:

The co-founder of the nonprofit National Trust for Local News, Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, is stepping down as the organization's CEO after four years — Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, who co-founded the National Trust for Local News four years ago, is stepping down as the organization's CEO.

Discussion: Press Herald, The Maine Wire, NTLN and @dankennedy.net

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More News:

Alexandra S. Levine / Bloomberg:
Employer.com founder Jesse Tinsley says his US investor group vying to buy TikTok has secured $20B+ and recruited the CEOs of Roblox and Anchorage as investors

Discussion: Music Business Worldwide, Benzinga and @bloomberg.com, more at Techmeme »

Meta Investor Relations:
Meta reports Q4 revenue up 21% YoY to $48.4B, net income up 49% YoY to $20.8B, and family daily active people up 5% YoY to 3.35B on average for December 2024

Discussion: Fortune, Jackie Pimentel on LinkedIn, Reuters, Adweek, The Verge, Benzinga, CNBC, @lizdye.bsky.social, Quartz, @julieroginsky.bsky.social, @mariopro.bsky.social, Yahoo Finance, Wall Street Journal and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:
US Rep. Zoe Lofgren introduces the Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act that would require US ISPs to make “a good faith effort” to block foreign-run piracy sites

Discussion: Ars Technica, @misctakes.com and CMU

Zaheer Kachwala / Reuters:
Trump Media unveils fintech brand Truth.Fi with an investment of up to $250M, which can be allocated to various investments, like bitcoin and other crypto

Elsa Keslassy / Variety:
Disney+ agrees to invest 25% of annual sales in France into French and European shows; in return, it can access new films nine months after theatrical release

Discussion: Advanced Television, Broadband TV News, @revan.social and Deadline

Aisha Counts / Bloomberg:
The NFL plans to let retired players use official game footage on their YouTube channels, part of its strategy to draw in younger, more diverse audiences

Discussion: Tubefilter

Earlier Picks:

Taylor Lorenz / User Mag:
Candace Owens launches Club Candace, a women-focused media platform featuring YouTube videos, podcasts, exclusive content, a fitness app, a book club, and more

Discussion: @bcc_mitchell, @taylorlorenz, @taylorlorenz, @mmmccarthy.bsky.social, @the-k-syndicate.bsky.social, @sarablade.bsky.social and @taylorlorenz.bsky.social

Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Apple partners with DirecTV and Comcast to offer the MLS Season Pass through their platforms, starting with the 30th season kickoff on February 22, 2025

Discussion: Advanced Television, Sports Business Journal, @tvgrimreaper, @great_katzby, @tvgrimreaper, Awful Announcing, TV Tech, BGR, Media Play News, USA Today, @matthewkeys.net, The TV Answer Man!, Apple and 9to5Mac

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix now lets iPhone and iPad app users download an entire TV show season with one tap, a much-requested feature that launched on Android in 2021

Discussion: Advanced Television, Variety, TVNewsCheck, MacRumors, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, Streaming Better, BGR, The Wrap, The Verge and Media Play News, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Prime Video signs a deal with Lionsgate to get exclusive streaming rights to Lionsgate films after an initial run on Starz, starting with its 2026 slate

Discussion: @tvgrimreaper, The Verge, IndieWire, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, WORLD SCREEN and Media Play News

Gene Maddaus / Variety:
The US Copyright Office says using AI tools to assist in creative processes doesn't compromise copyright protections as long as the content has human authorship

Discussion: CMU, @rainisto, @brianmcbrearty, @c_valenzuelab, @lewisdsorokin, @copyrightoffice, Barney Miller on LinkedIn, The Hill, VentureBeat, Peter Csathy on LinkedIn, Nem Perez on LinkedIn, Music Business Worldwide, Billboard, @cpaxton.bsky.social, Yahoo Finance, US Copyright Office and Bloomberg Law, more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:
David Field steps down as Audacy's president, CEO, and a member of its board; board member Kelli Turner will become interim President and CEO

Discussion: Radio Ink, Radio & Television …, Barrett Media, RADIO ONLINE, The Desk, Philadelphia Business Journal, The Wrap, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Inside Radio, RadioInsight and Audacy, Inc.

From Techmeme:

John Hudson / Washington Post:
Sources: WH national security adviser Michael Waltz and other National Security Council members have conducted government affairs over personal Gmail accounts

CNBC:
Circle files for a US IPO, with plans to list on the NYSE under CRCL; Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin, is reportedly seeking a $4B to $5B valuation

Reuters:
Sources: Arm decided not to pursue a deal after recently seeking to acquire Alphawave, a UK-listed supplier of semiconductor IP that is exploring a sale

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