Weekly Roundup – April 16th, 2024

"In a 43-page filing Wednesday, attorneys for Walt Disney, ESPN and Hulu urged Judge Margaret Garnett of the Southern District of New York to dismiss FuboTV’s antitrust case over what the streaming service contends are unlawfully restrictive terms. Two other defendants, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, filed their own motions to dismiss Wednesday.
The moves came a day after Fubo attorneys asked Garnett in a 35-page brief to issue a preliminary injunction that would block Disney, ESPN, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery and Hulu from launching a joint venture streaming platform this fall that Fubo says will control at least 54% of U.S. sports rights.
The legal battle over the future of the live sports streaming industry is heating up."

"When Glen Taylor canceled the sale of the Timberwolves last month, would-be buyers Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore took to "The Dane Moore Podcast" to tell their side of what happened.
Why it matters: A local, independent sports podcast landing such a coveted interview didn't happen years ago. But Moore and a handful of other Twin Cities podcasters have bucked national trends to become profitable and influential.
State of play: Media companies are struggling to sell advertising and, in turn, have shed jobs and cut podcasts, which they've struggled to monetize.
By the numbers: Moore declined to share specific numbers, but when we talked in early April, his was the 11th-most-downloaded basketball podcast in the country behind mainly national programs, according to Chartable.
Typical episodes of Matthew Coller's "Purple Insider" podcast that covers the Vikings get 5,000-10,000 listens apiece through downloads or YouTube streams, with some even more popular.
The "Gleeman and the Geek" weekly free Twins podcast averaged 14,500 downloads last year and has a subscriber base of 4,000 for its $1 per-episode Patreon podcast."

"The women’s NCAA championship game drew a bigger television audience than the men’s title game for the first time, with an average of 18.9 million viewers watching undefeated South Carolina beat Iowa and superstar Caitlin Clark, according to ratings released Tuesday.
The Sunday afternoon game on ABC and ESPN outdrew Monday’s men’s final between UConn and Purdue by four million. The Huskies’ 75-60 victory averaged 14.82 million on TBS and TNT.
The audience for the women’s game — in which the Gamecocks won their fourth national title and denied Clark’s Hawkeyes their first — peaked at 24.1 million during the final 15 minutes.
It was the second most-watched non-Olympic women’s sporting event on U.S. television, trailing only the 2015 Women’s World Cup final between the United States and Japan, which averaged 25.4 million on Fox. That also was on a Sunday and took place in prime time on the East Coast."

"Google said Friday it would remove links to California news sites from its search results for some of its users, as it pushes back against a pending bill that would require the Silicon Valley technology company to pay publishers.
The online search giant said the bill, called the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), would upend its business model. The bill, if signed into law, would require companies including Google to fork over a “journalism usage fee” when they sell ads next to news content."

"In television, what's old is new again. After more than a decade of growth in streaming services that make viewers click on shows they want to watch "on demand," a growing number of streaming services are offering new
"channels" that function more like old-style TV, with a continuous, scheduled stream of shows.
Disney is the latest to expand in this market. The company plans to create a series of such channels within its Disney+ streaming service that show programming in specific genres, including either Star Wars or Marvel-branded shows, according to people involved in the planning. Lots of other companies have already launched such channels, although typically as free offerings rather than within a subscription service."

"In a surprise move, Taylor Swift‘s songs have returned to TikTok after a 10-week hiatus amid a licensing dispute between the app and Universal Music Group.
...
The return of Swift’s music to TikTok comes ahead of the release of her next studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” due out April 19.
Swift’s catalog of music was among the tracks pulled from TikTok in February, after the app company and UMG failed to renew a licensing pact that expired Jan. 31. Universal Music accused TikTok of trying to “bully” the music company into a deal worth less than their previous agreement — and alleged TikTok was not willing to address AI and piracy concerns. TikTok countered that Universal was engaging in “false narrative and rhetoric.”"

"A group of major news organizations — including The Associated Press and the five big broadcast and cable networks — issued an unusual joint statement on Sunday urging President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump to commit to participating in televised debates before Election Day.
“General election debates have a rich tradition in our American democracy,” the group wrote. “There is simply no substitute for the candidates debating with each other, and before the American people, their visions for the future of our nation.”
Media organizations rarely weigh in so explicitly on the campaign plans of presidential candidates. The statement underscores just how much uncertainty surrounds whether this year’s debates will occur."