Tucker Carlson Debuts Twitter Show To Big Numbers; Threatens To Leave Elon Musk-Owned Platform If Anyone Calls Him Out

Tucker Carlson launched his promised new show, Tucker on Twitter, Tuesday with talk of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, UFOs, who killed JFK and what really went down on 9/11 — and the one-time Fox News host was a hit. In just over four hours, the low-tech 10-minute video posted on the Elon Musk-owned social media platform attracted 27 million views.

NBC Chicago To Highlight LGBTQIA+ Conversations In New Series ‘It’s Ok To Ask Questions’ Starting June 8

In honor of Pride month, NBC Chicago’s new original five-part series It’s Ok to Ask Questions will debut Thursday, June 8, at 7 p.m. on NBC Chicago’s 24/7 streaming news channel. Every […]

AI Poses New Threats To Newsrooms, And They’re Taking Action

The New York Times and NBC News are among the media companies that have started preliminary discussions about potential protections against generative AI systems. Digital Content Next, the digital media’s trade organization, published seven generative AI principles this week to help guide discussion. “It’s the beginning of what is going to be a hellfire,” Axios CEO Jim VandeHei said in an interview.

BRAND CONNECTIONS

CBS News Streaming’s WGA East Members Renew Union Contract

Fremantle Adds eTribez Digital Management Solution Software

eTribez, a provider of digital solutions to the global television, film and digital media industries, has added TV producer/distributor Fremantle to its list of leading international production companies signing adopting eTribez PM, […]

Viaplay CEO Anders Jensen Steps Down Amid Bleak Economic Reckoning

Twitter’s U.S. Ad Sales Plunge 59% As Woes Continue

In internal forecasts, the company projected that ad sales would keep declining, handing a tough challenge to its new chief executive.

Spotify Lays Off 200 Employees, Or About 2% Of Its Workforce

Will Advertisers Be Impacted By YouTube’s Reversal Of Political Ad Policies?

Advertisers may wonder how the reversal of YouTube’s decision to take down content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors or glitches occurred in the 2020 or other elections will impact ad-placement decisions. The change, which YouTube announced Friday, will not impact its advertising policies or YouTube monetization policies.

Meta To Test Blocking News On Instagram, Facebook For Some Canadians

Meta is preparing to block news for some Canadians on Facebook and Instagram in a temporary test that is expected to last the majority of the month. The Silicon Valley tech giant is following in the steps of Google, which blocked news links for about five weeks earlier this year for some of its Canadian users in response to a controversial Liberal government bill. Bill C-18, which is currently being studied in the Senate, will require tech giants to pay publishers for linking to or otherwise repurposing their content online.

WMAQ Chicago & LX News Highlight Murders Of Transgender People On ‘The Deadliest Year’

NBC O&O WMAQ Chicago will broadcast a new special The Deadliest Year on Saturday, June 3, at 6 p.m. An investigation led by NBC Chicago reporter, Regina Waldrop, and LX visual storyteller, Jalyn Henderson, […]

Streaming Consolidates: AMC Theater Chain Rolls Its Transactional Service Into Vudu

Widely used during the pandemic, AMC Theatres On Demand is now part of NBCU’s Fandango-operated movie sale and rental service.

‘Queen Charlotte’ Dominates Nielsen Streaming Top 10, Debuts At No. 1

In a crowning achievement, Netflix’s Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story made its debut on Nielsen’s U.S. ranking of streaming originals in the No. 1 spot, dethroning two-time champ The Diplomat. In its first week of eligibility, Queen C amassed 1.9 billion minutes viewed across its six-episode run.

Netflix Shareholders Reject Executive Pay Packages In Symbolic Move

In a symbolic rebuke of Netflix’s top executives, company shareholders voted against approving the compensation packages of leaders including co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters. At the streamer’s June 1 annual shareholders meeting, investors failed to approve the proposed exec pay packages for 2023. But the vote was a non-binding “say-on-pay” advisory measure, meaning Netflix’s board can disregard the result. The board had unanimously recommended voting for the 2023 compensation plans.

Judge Dismisses D.C.’s Privacy Lawsuit Against Meta

The District of Columbia accused the company of sharing user data in deceptive ways. A Superior Court decision said Meta had made its policies clear.

Telemundo & NBC Owned Stations’ Bilingual Podcast ‘My New Favorite Futbolista’ Showcases FIFA Women’s World Cup Stars

Beginning June 14, Telemundo and NBC Owned Stations will present a new season of the bilingual podcast My New Favorite Futbolista / Mi Mundialista Favorita profiling the most-inspiring FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 […]

Meta Threatens To Block News In California If Journalism Proposal Passes

Facebook parent company Meta is threatening to remove news content on its platforms Instagram and Facebook in California if the state legislature passes a new proposal that would make tech companies pay publishers for news content. “If the Journalism Preservation Act passes, we will be forced to remove news from Facebook and Instagram rather than pay into a slush fund that primarily benefits big, out-of-state media companies under the guise of aiding California publishers,” reads a statement posted to Twitter by Meta spokesperson Andy Stone.

Twitter Is Now Worth Just 33% Of Elon Musk’s Purchase Price, Fidelity Says

Twitter is now worth just one-third of what Elon Musk paid for the social-media platform, according to Fidelity, which recently marked down the value of its equity stake in the company. Musk has acknowledged he overpaid for Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion, including $33.5 billion in equity. More recently, he said Twitter is worth less than half what he paid for it. It’s unclear how Fidelity arrived at its new, lower valuation or whether it receives any non-public information from the company.

‘Succession’ Finale Marks New Series High Audience With 2.9M Viewers

Succession went out at the top of its game. The HBO series wrapped its final season on Sunday, revealing once and for all who would prevail as the new CEO of Waystar Royco. The finale drew 2.9 million viewers across Max and linear telecasts Sunday night, marking a new series high. Prior to the finale, the Sunday night high for Succession was Episode 6, which aired on April 30, with 2.75 million viewers. The Season 4 finale was up 68% versus the Season 3 closer.

Two-Thirds Of Netflix Password Sharers Say They’ll Pay For Own Accounts

Recent research by Samba TV and HarrisX may shed further light on how consumers are likely to respond to Netflix having last week moved to cut off free password sharing and charge $7.99 for adding an outside-the-household user. On the upside, more than four in 10 of the 2,500 U.S. adults polled at the end of March said they would be willing to pay more to share their account with someone outside of their home, with 41% saying they would pay up to $10 more per month, and another 10% that they would pay up to $15 more.

Sinclair Sells Control Of Stadium To Jerry Reinsdorf’s Silver Chalice

Sinclair Broadcast Group said it sold its controlling interest in Chicago sports network Stadium to Jerry Reinsdorf’s Silver Chalice. Reinsdorf is the owner of the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball and the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Chalice has owned a stake in Stadium since it was started in 2017.

Netflix Threatens To Purge Shows In UK To Avoid Falling Foul Of ‘Onerous’ New Streamer Regulations

Netflix has threatened to preemptively remove films and TV shows from its U.K. library to avoid falling foul of new streamer regulations being introduced by the British government. Ministers in the U.K. want media regulator Ofcom to police streaming giants in a similar way to traditional broadcasters, meaning the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video could be fined up to £250,000 ($310,000) for carrying harmful content. Pictured: Queen Cleopatra is a Netflix documentary that has attracted criticism.

Why Comcast Launched Streaming Bundle Now TV

The announcement of Comcast’s new virtual MVPD service, Now TV, comes at a pivotal moment for the media giant. The pay TV giant’s Xfinity cable service can’t stop shedding subscribers. It lost 2.1 million subs versus Q1 2021, 3.8 million versus Q1 2020, and it’s down 5.7 million subscribers when compared with the number held in 2018. In comparison, broadband subscribers grew by 5.6 million over the last five years, even if growth has plateaued in the last year as Comcast reaches the limits of its geographic footprint.

TVN’S

New Jobs Posted To TVNewsCheck

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for a morning news anchor/reporter, evening meteorologist, latenight news anchor/reporter, news reporter, transactional sales manager and multimedia journalist.

A New Era Of Podcast Mergers Is Just Beginning

The era of consolidation in podcasting seemed like it might have effectively started and ended when Spotify, Amazon, SiriusXM and others gobbled up major names in the space in an effort to diversify their audio lineups. But now, four years after Spotify got into podcasting by buying Anchor and Gimlet Media, we’re witnessing the dawn of a second wave. This time around, the companies up for sale are smaller production studios and networks.

Microsoft Calls For A.I. Rules To Minimize The Technology’s Risks

Its president, Brad Smith, said companies needed to “step up” and governments needed to “move faster” as artificial intelligence progressed.

DirecTV Stream Sets Distribution Deal With Telly, A Startup Giving Away 55-Inch Smart TVs

DAZN Group And Videocites Join Forces To Combat Piracy

Sports streaming service DAZN Group and Videocites, a technology company specializing in automated content detection solutions over social media, have formed a partnership to intensify Dazn’s battle against intellectual property […]

Comcast’s CEO Is Considering His Next Big Move In The Transforming Media Landscape

Comcast Corp. CEO Brian Roberts has a penchant for lining up a huge deal around every five years or so. It was 2018 the last time he made a big acquisition, and Wall Street is ready for his next dramatic move. Gaming and streaming could be in the cards.

‘Ted Lasso’ Scores Its Biggest Weekly Viewership Ever On Nielsen Streaming Charts; ‘The Diplomat’ Stays In First Place

AFC Richmond scored a goal for Apple TV+ on the Nielsen streaming charts for the week of April 24 to April 30. Ted Lasso managed its highest weekly viewership ever, moving its way up the list to No. 6 overall and No. 4 among original streaming programming with 795M minutes viewed. Meanwhile, Netflix dominated the Top 5 overall spots, with The Diplomat holding onto first place.