The startup, xAI, says that it has raised the cash from investors including Fidelity, Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal.
AI & THE MEDIA
In less than a decade, Right Side Broadcasting Network has gone from an upstart internet broadcaster to a major player in Trump's MAGA universe, amassing more than 2 million subscribers on its YouTube channel and on Rumble, an alternative video-sharing platform. Pictured: Monitors at Right Side Broadcasting Network in Opelika, Ala., display Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaking at a campaign rally in North Carolina on Saturday, March 2. (Mike Stewart/AP)
JESSELL AT LARGE
FCC’s Rosenworcel Elbows Out Full Commission, And Broadcast Suffers
The FCC chairwoman’s penchant for onerous deal conditions and circumventing her fellow commissioners on critical ownership cases has pushed broadcasters to a “break glass” moment.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Basketball Hall of Fame legend Bill Walton laughs during a practice session for the NBA All-Star basketball game in Cleveland, Feb. 19, 2022. Walton, who starred for John Wooden's UCLA Bruins before becoming a Basketball Hall of Famer and one of the biggest stars of basketball broadcasting, died Monday, May 27. He was 71. (Charles Krupa/AP)
CLOSING BELL
Dow Adds 4, Nasdaq Gains 185, S&P Advances 37
Nasdaq set another record Friday as Wall Street won back earlier losses.
Exclusives
Media Matters for America, the progressive watchdog journalism organization, underwent a round of layoffs, as its president cited the shifting media landscape as well as its defense against legal action. A spokesperson said that more than a dozen staffers were impacted.
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees wrapped up its first week of negotiations over the union’s Area Standards Agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Friday. IATSE and the AMPTP will head back to the table next Tuesday following the Memorial Day holiday.
Shields takes over from Kate Shindle, who had served as president since 2015, but decided to step down after her term ended May 23.
The FCC commissioner calls the effort “as misguided as it is unlawful” and said it would "do more harm than good."
AI & THE MEDIA
FTC Chair: AI Models Could Violate Antitrust Laws
Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan said Wednesday that companies that train their artificial intelligence models on data from news websites, artists’ creations or people’s personal information could be in violation of antitrust laws.
AI & THE MEDIA
WPP Adds More Gen AI Firepower With Anthropic Partnership
WPP has struck a deal to integrate Amazon-backed Anthropic's suite of AI large language models (branded as Claude) into its marketing operating system WPP Open. The holding company has similar agreements with other large language model providers including Open AI and Google’s Gemini. Large language models — a type of generative AI — use machine learning to recognize and generate text and other content.
WEDNESDAY OVERNIGHTS
‘Jeopardy Masters’ Ends On High Note, ‘Survivor’ And ‘Chicago Fire’ Finales Lead Wednesday
NBC’s Chicago Fire finale (5.8 million/0.4) was Wednesday’s most-watched show, while CBS’ Survivor finale dominated the night in the demo (4.5M/0.8).
Breaking with more than a century of policy, the NCAA will pay billions in damages to former athletes and allow schools to pay athletes up to $20 million a year.
Quarterly losses shrank at Lionsgate and revenues climbed as the company’s television business rebounded from the twin strikes that had shut down production for much of 2023. Revenue at the company behind The Hunger Games and John Wick franchises topped out at $1.12 billion for the three-month period ending in March, up from $1.08 billion in the prior-year quarter.
CBS filed a motion Thursday to throw out a lawsuit challenging its diversity hiring practices for writers on the show SEAL Team, arguing that it has a First Amendment right to hire who it wants. Brian Beneker, the longtime script coordinator on the show, sued in February, arguing that he had been repeatedly passed over for writing jobs because he is a straight, white man.
The Disney CEO talks brand-building and maintaining company culture at the inaugural Canva Create event. Iger, who is an investor and board member of the privately held online design platform, commended Canva for embracing the potential of generative AI tools and other cutting-edge technologies to make high-end visual media design tools readily available to everyday users.
BuzzFeed shares soared by as much as 56% Wednesday after Vivek Ramaswamy disclosed that he had taken an activist stake.
Collective viewership for the last day of the season hit nearly three million, and the 2023-24 season saw the first match ever to top two million viewers.
Anderson Cooper humbles Sean Hannity and Rachel Maddow, while Lester Holt is the standout in a new THR/Morning Consult poll.
In a highly anticipated announcement, Paramount Global and Charter Communications said they’re extending their longstanding partnership with a multi-year distribution agreement for Paramount’s full portfolio of linear cable networks, CBS owned-and-operated broadcast stations and direct-to-consumer streaming services.
From April 22 to 28, the video game adaptation scored 1.5 billion viewing minutes across all eight episodes, according to Nielsen's streaming report. While that was down a hefty billion minutes from the week before, it was pretty comfortably above basically everything else on streaming that week.
Technology leaders from NBC Regional Sports Networks, Sinclair, Gray Television, Hearst Television and Fox Television Stations discuss the benefits and challenges of remote production in an IP environment in a TVNewsCheck Working Lunch webinar on July 16 at 1 p.m. ET. Register here.
