“Defendants’ unlawful use of The Times’s work to create artificial intelligence products that compete with it threatens The Times’s ability to provide that service.” - Deadline
"Not every adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel has been frank about Celie's sexual orientation. And (the) new movie musical version of the story … has reignited a decades-long debate over whether Hollywood and Broadway can ever do its most transformative romance justice." - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
In countryside near Vancouver, on the studio backlots where many of the holiday romances are filmed, a Christmas-skeptical journalist went to the cable channel's first Hallmark Fan Experience, where visitors got to wander sets and enjoy hot cocoa with some of the network's acting stalwarts. - Salon
Netflix’s share of U.S. streaming viewership by 2- to 11-year-olds fell to 21% in September from 25% two years earlier, according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, YouTube’s share jumped to 33% from 29.4% over the same period. - The Wall Street Journal
Billions of people access social media monthly, but users are posting less and favoring a more passive experience, surveys of users and research from data-analytics firms say. - The Wall Street Journal
In recent years, the Malayalam-language cinema industry of Kerala — the state with the country's highest literacy rate and standard of living — has been moving beyond the action-pic, song-and-dance blockbusters typical of Bollywood to depict ordinary people and such sensitive topics as closeted gay politicians. - The New York Times
"Pundits have been puzzling over the Mouse House’s annus horribilis for weeks, identifying several factors. A key one being that the COVID-19 pandemic got people into the habit of watching films at home. … Then there is 'superhero fatigue.'. … But there is another, more important explanation for Disney's woes this year." - BBC
I think that we’ve always been an international industry, but the pandemic has really illuminated that fact in some ways, both in physical production, as well as in content distribution. And that’s a good thing. - Variety
"The shell of Carlos Watson's Ozy Media (has) filed a lawsuit against Semafor co-founder Ben Smith, his news site and his former outlet, BuzzFeed, claiming that Smith stole trade secrets from the now-defunct (Ozy) and then forced its implosion" with a New York Times story revealing Ozy's lies about its readership." - TheWrap
Paramount Global planned to sell the Black-oriented cable network earlier this year but backed off after deciding that the purchase offers were too low. Now Byron Allen of Allen Media Group has offered $3.5 billion for the BET Media Group, which also includes studios and the cable channel VH1. - Variety
"(The 41-year-old LGBTQ+ festival's) dramatic reversal of fortune began with a series of clashes between board members and the group's former executive director over spending decisions that allegedly deepened financial woes faced by the organization, according to a Times review of internal emails, board-meeting minutes and interviews." - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
"Attorney general (Letitia James) filed suit Wednesday against SiriusXM, accusing the satellite radio and streaming service of making it intentionally difficult for its customers to cancel their subscriptions." - AP
"Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav met with Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish (for several hours) on Tuesday in New York City to discuss a possible merger, Axios has learned from multiple sources." - Axios
Notwithstanding the big bets on the continent made by Netflix and Showmax, "multiple producers and executives in countries including Nigeria and Kenya … said African producers in 2023 had to adapt to tighter production budgets driven by harsh macroeconomic conditions, and they expect more of the same in 2024." - Semafor
According to a 2019 Deloitte report, India has the largest film industry in the world in terms of films produced each year. The industry employs 850,000 people. As AI tools get sharper and the internet is filled with uncanny deepfake videos of popular Indian stars. - BBC
