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Yahoo strikes a deal to sell TechCrunch to media investment firm Regent, which acquired PCWorld publisher Foundry earlier this week — Yahoo on Friday said it has struck a deal to sell TechCrunch, the 20-year-old tech journalism site, to Regent, a media investment firm.
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Variety, Talking Biz News, MediaPost, The Wrap, Adweek, Reuters, The Information, @rakeshsfnyc, Kwaku Otchere on LinkedIn, @jacqmelinek, The Verge, Frederic Lardinois on LinkedIn, @caseynewton.bsky.social, @richardlaihk@threads.net, @danprimack, @patrick_orourke, @ricmac@mastodon.social, @lucasmtny, @haje, @danjensenpr.bsky.social, @iainthomson.bsky.social, Regent, @karlbode.com, @sarafischer, @metacurity.com, @arrington, @crumbler@threads.net, @thekenyeung@threads.net, @technologizer@threads.net, @lisatozzi.bsky.social, @joshkolm.bsky.social, @alex, @arrington, @simonkhalaf, @prcarly and @niedermeyer.online, more at Techmeme »
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TechCrunch says the Regent deal is structured to ensure minimal disruption to its operations and Yahoo is keeping a small interest in the company — If you haven't heard the news, TechCrunch has a shiny new home. After years under Yahoo's ownership — which, in turn, is backed by Apollo Group — the brand is now in fresh hands.


Source: US Senators Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham plan to introduce a bipartisan bill with wide support that would make Section 230 expire on January 1, 2027 — In June 1995, two young congressmen reached across the aisle to introduce legislation that would become the defining legal protection …
Discussion:
@zack415, @wexler, @robertfreundlaw, User Mag, @viacristiano, @wyden.senate.gov, Investor's Business Daily, AppleInsider, @paris.nyc, @mmasnick.bsky.social, @mjnblack, @pat_hedger, @aricohn.com, @mmasnick.bsky.social, @paris.nyc, @abebrown716, @parismartineau, @jessmaddox.bsky.social, @parkert@threads.net and @tpapres, more at Techmeme »


UK's CMA fines Sky, BT, IMG, ITV, and the BBC a combined £4M+ after they admitted “to breaking the law” by “colluding” on pay rates for freelancers — Britain's competition regulator fined four sports broadcast and production companies about 4 million pounds …
Discussion:
Advanced Television, Financial Times, The Guardian, The Independent, @cmagovuk, Yahoo Finance, The Standard, GOV.UK, BBC, Broadcast, @bectu, Deadline, CMA and RTÉ


Bard College acquires Lapham's Quarterly at no cost from the American Agora Foundation, which had placed the print publication on hiatus in November 2023 — The beloved magazine started by Lewis Lapham, who died last year, is being acquired by Bard College.


Activist investor David Hoffmann, who owns ~10% of Lee Enterprises after investing in October, proposes acquiring the company; $LEE rose ~18% on March 20 — Hoffmann says conversations between the companies have been ongoing since October; he declined to comment on an offer price
Discussion:
Arizona Daily Star, @benmullin, InsideArbitrage, Tulsa World, TVNewsCheck and St. Louis Business Journal


A jury convicts two men, whom US prosecutors say are Russian mobsters, of involvement in an Iran-backed plot to kill US-based journalist Masih Alinejad — Two men who U.S. prosecutors say belong to a Russian organized crime group were convicted of involvement in an unsuccessful Iran-backed plot …


A look at LibGen, one of the largest online pirate libraries, with 7.5M+ books and 81M+ research papers, allegedly used by Meta and OpenAI to train AI models — Meta pirated millions of books to train its AI. Search through them here. — When employees at meta started developing …
Discussion:
The Atlantic, @carlbergstrom.com, @bcmerchant.bsky.social, @katz.theracket.news, @mcusolito.bsky.social, @jscalzi@threads.net, @bradthor, @mitpress.bsky.social, @kelliehailes.bsky.social, @gwhitta@threads.net, Music Ally, Fiona Moore on LinkedIn, Timnit Gebru on LinkedIn, @www.johnbleasdale.com, @pattymo.com, @ajwestauthor.bsky.social, @around.com, @annafeatherstone.bsky.social, @joachim123.bsky.social, @karin.kallmaker.com, @jwilker@wandering.shop, @conordougherty.bsky.social, @ipcopyright.bsky.social, @cigitalgem@sigmoid.social, @rr4idic@mastodon.online, @philnel@mastodon.green, Marcus on AI, Lou In Progress, @chrisbstringer.bsky.social, @ethanz@social.coop, @invicticide@mastodon …, @michael_w_busch …, @dorotheabaur.bsky.social, @garymarcus.bsky.social, @thecommongreen@mastodon.scot, @beep@follow.ethanmarcotte.com, @katienotopoulos.bsky.social, ARTnews, south downs founding father …, Music Technology Policy, Twisted Dreams, Ellipsus and The Daddy Complex, more at Techmeme »


Sinclair names Valeria Riccioli, ex-VP of Talent at Newsmax, as the director of content for The National News Desk, which airs on 80+ US stations and YouTube — She will oversee content strategy and audience engagement for Sinclair's newscast that airs on more than 80 stations plus websites and on YouTube.
Discussion:
Radio & Television …


Fubo discontinues Essential, its $85 per month plan with no regional sports, for new customers, after launching it in December 2024 — Hey there! I'm Jared Newman, and this is Cord Cutter Weekly, my newsletter on how to save money on TV and make the most of streaming.
Discussion:
Billboard, PCWorld, @rodoinvesting and The Desk

Cloudflare announces AI Labyrinth, which uses AI-generated content to confuse and waste the resources of AI Crawlers and bots that ignore “no crawl” directives — Today, we're excited to announce AI Labyrinth, a new mitigation approach that uses AI-generated content to slow down …
Discussion:
@nickmolnar, @maybe_dan_ and The Register, more at Techmeme »


French media regulator Arcom orders Eutelsat to stop broadcasting Russian channels STS and Channel 5, after finding the channels had ties to a sanctioned entity — French media regulator Arcom has ordered Eutelsat (ETL.PA) to cease broadcasting Russian channels STS and Channel 5 …