Paramount Skydance will withdraw from United International Pictures (UIP), a film distribution joint venture, with Universal Pictures in order to gain European Union approval for its acquisition of Warners Bros. Discovery, The Hollywood Reporter writes. Antitrust regulators urged Paramount to drop its UIP stake to calm antitrust concerns expressed by European cinema operators and to secure approval of the $111 billion deal.    

The media business is being increasingly shaped by a small group of billionaires like Jeff Bezos, David Ellison, Michael Bloomberg and Marc Benioff, whose interests go far beyond journalism, according to an analysis by Observer. Their decisions have an impact on newsroom direction and public trust as they control the most visible outlets in the country. The article is accompanied by a roster of tech founders and investors with media interests. 

Charles H. Townsend, who was chief executive of Condé Nast during a period in which the company and other media firms were rocked by falling ad revenues and the shift from print to digital, has died at age 82, The New York Times reports. Townsend, who started his 12-year tenure in 2004, oversaw the closures of Gourmet, Details and Lucky.

The News/Media Alliance has submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, calling for a narrow definition of consumer under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). It says a consumer is someone who subscribes to audiovisual materials and that definition has been accepted by the Sixth Circuit and the D.C. Circuit courts. A broader view would apply the VPPA to consumers who do not subscribe. The brief supports Paramount in the case of Salazar vs. Paramount Global. 

Almost six out of ten U.S. adults support banning access to social media sites for young people under the age of 16, Pew Research Center reports. But one in five adults oppose such a ban and one in four are unsure. Those in the 30-49 age group are the most likely to favor a ban, and parents with an 18-year-old are more supportive of a ban than those without a child that age. Pew surveyed 9,750 U.S. adults from May 26 to June 1 of this year.

IBM is about to name Omnicom Media as its global media agency of record. Marketing Interactive reports. This comes as IBM seeks to focus its marketing machine on AI, quantum, semiconductors and enterprise automation. “IBM is working side-by-side with clients around the world, co-creating innovative technology and AI solutions that address their most complex challenges,” says Jonathan Adashek, senior vice president of marketing and communications at IBM. “To be successful, we need agency partners who understand our business, our ambitions, and the needs of the clients we serve."

Axel Springer,  the German publishing group, has closed its $761 million acquisition of the Telegraph Media Group following regulatory approvals, Reuters reports. The deal was approved by authorities in Britain, Ireland and Australia. This is the second-largest purchase by Axel Springer, just behind its $1 billion acquisition of Politico in 2021. 

Miroma Group, a London-based marketing and content firm, has become a controlling shareholder in Ad Results Media, a radio and digital audio ad agency, Inside Radio reports. This represents Miroma’s most significant expansion into the U.S. to date, while increasing its annual media investment to $750 million+. Shamrock Capital, which has controlled Ad Results Media, will retain a minority stake in the firm. 

Artificial intelligence is breaking the model through which traffic was sent back to content creators, Vincentas Grinius, co-founder at IPXO, writes in The AI Journal. “The better these systems get at synthesizing content, the less reason users have to visit the source,” Grinius continues. In addition, Grinius observes that as “original high-quality content stops being economically viable to produce,” the supply of it will shrink. “The industry is, in a slow and indirect way, eating the foundation it depends on.” 

Little more than 40% of the youth-safety features offered by TikTok, Instagram, Snap and YouTube work as advertised, according to a report from the Cybersafety Research Center, Scripps News reports. The researchers tested 86 safety features and found that only 35 worked as described and that children could find and use them. The companies disputed the findings, saying the tests did not reflect actual use of the platform by children and teens.