"On the surface, there is much reason to cheer. No country on the continent has benefited as much from the disruption of global streaming platforms as South Africa, where competition between Netflix and homegrown rival Showmax has fueled a surge in production." - Variety
In fact, this reform is already in place in Maine, Alaska, New York City, San Francisco, and the Twin Cities — and in the Best Picture category. It simply needs to be extended to the other categories and to other locales. - Literary Hub
Now deep into the five-year grant, the combined newsrooms reach 2.8 million readers and listeners; newsletter subscriptions total 760,500; and the Sun-Times’ pageviews increased 55% over the past year. Staff sizes also have grown — crucial to producing more content — as have staff compensation and diversity. - NiemanLab
“This decision sends a powerful message — no company, not even a monopoly like Apple, can wield power abusively to control how other companies interact with their customers,” Spotify said in response to the ruling. - The Verge
None of these efforts moved the audience measurement needle, in most cases because they didn’t sufficiently address the primary cause of audience — the appeal of the programming. The industry just keeps running content through the same psychographic filters and keeps getting the same audiences. - Current
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, said it found the company violated antitrust rules by restricting app developers from telling users about alternative ways to subscribe to music-streaming services. - The Wall Street Journal
"Warner Bros Discovery plans to shut down Newshub, a rebranded version of what most of us grew up knowing as '3 News' – leaving our country with just one English-language TV news team, and none that aren’t owned by the state." - The Guardian
The algorithm ends up being a centralizing force; although the viewing options on TikTok can feel limitless, the reality is that you are being fed content from a small pool of creators relative to the app’s overall size. - The Atlantic
"Viscerally depicting the psychic gulf between methods of massacre and their creators is not simple in a medium like film. Cinema tends to enforce closeness between us and the characters.” - The New York Times
The IATSE president "addressed one of the key issues in the negotiations — artificial intelligence — saying it should not be used to replace workers, but also that it has the potential to lighten the load." - Variety
A week ago, it was crunch time for actors, musicians, directors, writers, and PR people on the path to an Academy Award. But importantly, while trying their hardest, most (except for Robert Downey Jr.) had to walk the “Don’t be a try-hard” line. - Washington Post
"My main obsession was Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, so when Burger King released a line of light-up goblets with the visages of characters like Aragorn and Arwen etched on their sides, I knew I needed them." - The New York Times
Highland Park is yet another casualty of the pandemic, strikes, and multitude of streaming options. The theatre’s owner said, “It’s not the community’s fault or our fault. … The industry has been so bad that the theater was losing money every single week.” - Los Angeles Times
Sure, people binge-watched DVD sets (anyone remember the classic Portlandia sketch about Battlestar Galactica?), but streaming makes it extreme. "I guess I’m wondering if there might have been some good in those old days? Doesn’t sound right, but maybe something about less options and more waiting?" - The Smart Set
