Sources: Koch's PE arm is in talks with a media entrepreneur to partner on a bid for Forbes valuing the company at ~10% less than its $630M 2021 SPAC valuation (Sara Fischer/Axios)

Mediagazer: Sources: Koch's PE arm is in talks with a media entrepreneur to partner on a bid for Forbes valuing the company at ~10% less than its $630M 2021 SPAC valuation (Sara Fischer/Axios)

Top News:

Bloomberg:

TikTok says it plans to shut down TikTok Music on November 28 and will delete customer data; the app, originally called Resso, first launched in 2019— TikTok Music will go offline on Nov. 28 and customer data will be deleted, the music division said in a post on its website.
Discussion:

Dan Whateley /
Business Insider: TikTok has admitted defeat in music streaming

Hanna Kahlert /
MIDiA Research Blog: TikTok may be shutting down its music service, but it will still compete with streaming

Coco Feng /
South China Morning Post: TikTok to close music-streaming business in November amid tough competition

Rob Abelow /
@abelowrob: TikTok Music is dead. TikTok is shutting down the the potential Spotify killer worldwide. Instead, TikTok will focus on the ‘Add to Music App’ feature, which drives fans straight from discovery to consumption on their favorite streaming app.

Ed Carson /
@ibd_ecarson: TikTok obviously realized there is no money in people dancing on the interwebs.

Tim Ingham /
Music Business Worldwide: TIKTOK TO SHUTTER MUSIC SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE TIKTOK MUSIC IN NOVEMBER

Ivan Mehta /
TechCrunch: ByteDance is shutting down TikTok Music globally

Chris Stokel-Walker /
@stokel: Hands up if you ever heard of TikTok Music. No? Most people didn't. https://www.bloomberg.com/...

Sarah Fielding /
Engadget: TikTok Music is on its way out — The platform will shut down at the end of November.

Axios:

The NYT aims to sell podcast subscriptions via Apple Podcasts and Spotify, requiring users to pay to access older episodes, starting Oct. for $6/mo. or $50/year— - “A big part of our strategy is building direct relationships with our customers,” said Ben Cotton, The Times' head of subscription growth.

Discussion:
The Streamable, The Hill, The Wrap, The New York Times Company, The Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg, @sarafischer and 9to5Mac

Discussion:

Matt Tamanini /
The Streamable: Save 40% on PBS Kids Subscription and Stream Safe, Family-Friendly Content

Dominick Mastrangelo /
The Hill: New York Times to launch subscription service for podcasts The New York Times Company: The New York Times will launch podcast subscriptions on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Alex Weprin /
The Hollywood Reporter: The New York Times to Launch Podcast Subscriptions on Spotify and Apple (Exclusive)

Ashley Carman /
Bloomberg: New York Times to Launch Podcast Subscription Plan for Shows Like ‘The Daily’

Sara Fischer /
@sarafischer: NEW: @nytimes to sell audio subscriptions through @ApplePodcasts & @Spotify —Similar to its deal w @AppleNews to sell @wirecutter & @TheAthletic subscriptions through that app —New $APPL & $SPOT subs will be counted towards NYT's overall sub # total https://www.axios.com/...

Axios:

Sources: Koch's PE arm is in talks with a media entrepreneur to partner on a bid for Forbes valuing the company at ~10% less than its $630M 2021 SPAC valuation— The firm often targets companies that are poorly managed or undervalued. — It will often partner with a strategic buyer …

Discussion:
Talking Biz News

Discussion:

Chris Roush /
Talking Biz News: Koch PE arm looking to bid for Forbes

The Hollywood Reporter:

Paramount's Pluto TV and M6+ strike a partnership that includes content channels and ad sales in France; French TV company M6 launched the AVOD platform in May— The strategic commercial and editorial partnership is designed to “scale and expand their free streaming and digital businesses in France.”

Discussion:
The Desk, Advanced Television, Variety, TVNewsCheck, Deadline, Broadband TV News, TVBEurope and WORLD SCREEN

Discussion:

Matthew Keys /
The Desk: France's M6, Paramount's Pluto TV announce streaming pact

Stewart Clarke /
Deadline: ‘Blue Bloods’ And ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ Among Shows Launching On M6+ After Paramount's Pluto TV Inks Free Streaming Deal With French Broadcaster

Julian Clover /
Broadband TV News: M6+ announces strategic partnership with Pluto TV

Matthew Corrigan /
TVBEurope: Pluto TV and M6+ team up with strategic alliance in France

Mansha Daswani /
WORLD SCREEN: Pluto TV Pacts With M6+

CNBC:

Warner Bros. Discovery partners with Google to add its “caption AI” tool built on Vertex AI to Max to automatically generate captions for unscripted programming— Warner Bros. Discovery is partnering with Google to integrate the internet giant's AI technology …

Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Variety, Engadget, TechHive, Quartz, The Verge, The Keyword, Google Cloud and @dfwsam.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

Etan Vlessing /
The Hollywood Reporter: Warner Bros. Discovery Inks AI Deal With Google For Captions on Programming

Todd Spangler /
Variety: Warner Bros. Discovery's Max Using Google Gen AI Platform to Create Closed Captions

Ben Patterson /
TechHive: Google AI is now writing closed captions for Max shows

Rocio Fabbro /
Quartz: AI-generated captions are coming to Warner Bros. Discovery — with help from Google

Umar Shakir /
The Verge: Max is getting Google AI-generated closed captions

Thomas Kurian /
The Keyword: Customers are putting Gemini to work Google Cloud: Warner Bros. Discovery Deploys AI-Powered Captioning Solution Built Using Google Cloud AI @dfwsam.bsky.social: This makes me reconsider my subscription to your services. — You may want to do so too. [embedded post]

Variety:

Memo: Paramount unveils “phase two” of layoffs and says 90% of them will be complete after this round, following its August plan to cut 15% of its US workforce— Paramount Global unveiled a second wave of staff cuts Tuesday morning, part of a larger bid by the owner of CBS …

Discussion:
Adweek, New York Post, The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, Deadline, TVNewsCheck, Next TV, Bloomberg and Advanced Television

Discussion:

David Cohen /
Adweek: Paramount Global Kicks Off Phase 2 of Layoffs

Alexandra Steigrad /
New York Post: Paramount Global bloodbath continues with ‘phase two’ of planned 2K job cuts

Samantha Masunaga /
Los Angeles Times: Paramount starts second phase of its planned layoffs

Dade Hayes /
Deadline: CBS Broadcasting Layoffs, Part Of Broader Paramount Cuts, Slammed By IBEW As “A Hard Pill To Swallow”

Dade Hayes /
Deadline: Paramount Initiates Next Round Of Layoffs In Ongoing Effort To Cut 15% Of U.S. Workforce

Dade Hayes /
TVNewsCheck: Paramount Initiates Next Round Of Layoffs

Jon Lafayette /
Next TV: Paramount Starts New Round of U.S. Staff Reductions

Hannah Miller /
Bloomberg: Paramount Cuts More Jobs as Part of Planned Reductions

New York Times:

How WhatsApp Channels, launched in late 2023, are driving traffic to digital news outlets, especially readers from outside the US, as social media traffic falls— An illustration of a man sitting on a green chair reading a newspaper called “World News” as he looks at his phone behind it.Jackson Gibbs

Discussion:
@hanaatameez, @mikeisaac, @simondowens@threads.net

Discussion:

Hanaa' Tameez /
@hanaatameez: where....have i seen.....this story....before.... [image]

Rat King /
@mikeisaac: meta wants it to be much more than just a media thing — especially since they've shied away from courting publishers to the degree they did years ago — focusing on creators, organizations, etc etc but at least some publishers like the early numbers https://www.nytimes.com/...

Rat King /
@mikeisaac: for publishers, social referrals and google traffic have tanked over the past 18 months, and they're looking to other platforms for lifelines some are starting to find a glimmer of hope in a new channel — WhatsApp Channels w /@katie_robertson [image]

Press Gazette:

Reach CEO Jim Mullen says there is “too much power in the hands of platforms and their algorithms” and calls for regulation to make platforms pay for content— The chief executive of the UK's biggest commercial news publisher has called for big tech regulation so the platforms pay …

Discussion:
Liverpool Echo and HoldtheFrontPage

Discussion:

Maria Breslin /
Liverpool Echo: Why backing proud brands like the Liverpool Echo must be on the political agenda

Press Gazette:

Trending Now, which offers AI-powered B2B newsletters, changes its logo after BuzzFeed sent a cease-and-desist letter over alleged copyright infringement— An AI-powered aggregator newsletter publisher has changed its logo in response to a legal threat from Buzzfeed.

The Verge:

Roku unveils the $100 Roku Ultra, which is 30% faster than its other streaming players and has Wi-Fi 6, HDMI 2.1, Dolby Atmos, the Voice Remote Pro, and more— One day after the Google TV Streamer hit stores, Roku is announcing its own latest streaming player.

Discussion:
The Streamable, ZDNET, Bloomberg, iPhone in Canada Blog, MobileSyrup, Business Insider, CNN, TechRadar, Engadget, CNET, Tom's Guide, Next TV, @roku, The Nerdy, TechHive, 9to5Google, The Shortcut, How-To Geek, Digital Trends, Streaming Better, Cord Cutters News, Roku on YouTube and CNET on YouTube, more at Techmeme »

Discussion:

David Satin /
The Streamable: Roku Ultra Gets a Power Boost: Wi-Fi 6, Faster Processor, Upgraded Remote

Maria Diaz /
ZDNET: New Roku Ultra is faster with better Wi-Fi - how it compares with Google TV Streamer

Steven Cohen /
Business Insider: The new Roku Ultra promises faster performance. Here's how to buy the latest version of our favorite streaming device.

Henry T. Casey /
CNN: The Roku Ultra 2024 makes one of our favorite streamers even better

Jacob Krol /
TechRadar: Roku's new Ultra streamer is its fastest one yet, and the first to support all HDR formats

Anna Washenko /
Engadget: Roku says its new Ultra streaming box is 30 percent faster

Ryan Epps /
Tom's Guide: Roku Ultra (2024) just announced with 30% faster performance — watch out, Google TV Streamer

Sean P. Aune /
The Nerdy: Roku Ultra receives major upgrades for 2024

Ben Patterson /
TechHive: Roku's refreshed Ultra streamer gets a welcome speed boost

Ben Schoon /
9to5Google: Roku Ultra (2024) takes on Google TV Streamer with a backlit remote and more

Max Buondonno /
The Shortcut: The new Roku Ultra takes a jab at Google TV Streamer with faster chip and new remote

Faisal Rasool /
How-To Geek: The New Roku Ultra Has Arrived

Phil Nickinson /
Digital Trends: A newer, faster Roku Ultra rolls out for 2024

John Finn /
Streaming Better: Roku Ultra (2024) Is Roku's Most Powerful Player, And You Can Buy It Right Now

Raymond McCain /
Cord Cutters News: Roku Announces a New Roku Ultra 2024

Deadline:

Sources: UK's Evening Standard has made plans to use AI to write reviews under the name of its former art critic of 30 years Brian Sewell, who died in 2015— Deadline understands that London's historic Evening Standard newspaper has been making plans to revive its former writer using artificial intelligence.

Discussion:
@jscalzi@threads.net, @_zeets, @eddiehenryjames, @siddhantadlakha, @chrismoranuk, @sturgios, @wendyide, @willardfoxton and @nina_metz

Discussion:

John Scalzi /
@jscalzi@threads.net: This is ghastly. No matter how many words of this fellow they stuff into a large language model, it won't ever approximate him, because the critic he was is not found in his now-dead words, it was found in his once-active mind. This is a point the bean-counters at this paper seem to miss, or don't care about. …

Siddhant Adlakha /
@siddhantadlakha: This went really well for Lionsgate with those (wildly inaccurate) A.I. generated critic quotes

Chris Moran /
@chrismoranuk: AI has many, many possible applications for good. This is not one of them. And it shouldn't take more than 30s of contemplation to know that.

John Sturgis /
@sturgios: Hard to think of anyone who would write a better piece about what a stupid idea this is than...Brian Sewell https://deadline.com/...

Wendy Ide /
@wendyide: This is utterly obscene if true and an insult to the staff members who have lost jobs.

Willard Foxton Todd /
@willardfoxton: Lay off 150 staff including 70 editorial staff, replace with AI replicating a dead man. https://deadline.com/...

Adweek:

Vice relaunches its print magazine, on hiatus since 2019, and debuts $10 per month and $4 per month subscriptions with access to paywalled content— The publisher hopes to reach 10,000 subscribers by next spring — The digital media company Vice relaunched its print magazine and debuted …

Discussion:
VICE

Discussion:

Kevin Lee Kharas /