The BBC may have struck what it described as a landmark YouTube deal this year but it sees little commercial opportunity on the Google-owned behemoth. In its charter review consultation response today, the corporation said “we do not envisage a major commercial upside” to making more YouTube-first shows “due to the limited revenues on offer from video sharing platforms.”
Source: ‘YouTube Economics Are Challenging For Broadcasters,’ BBC Says
Audible is rolling out a cheaper “Standard” subscription plan that costs $8.99 per month, the Amazon-owned company announced on Tuesday. The new plan is $6 cheaper than the platform’s existing “Premium” plan, which costs $14.95 per month. The Standard plan includes one audiobook per month from Audible’s catalog and unlimited listening from a curated library that includes a selection of Audible Originals.
Source: Audible launches a cheaper ‘Standard’ subscription plan, challenging Spotify
In an open letter, BBC director-general Tim Davie, Financial Times CEO Jon Slade, The Guardian CEO Anna Bateson, Sky News executive chairman David Rhodes, and Telegraph Media Group CEO Anna Jones have invited “global leaders across publishing, broadcasting, media and news” — to join as founding members of SPUR (the Standards for Publisher Usage Rights coalition).
Source: U.K. News Organizations Form Media Coalition Over AI Publishing Rights
The Authors Guild announced it has expanded its “Human Authored” certification program beyond its own membership to any author whose books are published in the United States. The certification program, which launched in beta for Guild members in January 2025, allows authors and publishers to place a trademarked seal on books to signal that the text was written by a human rather than generated by artificial intelligence.
Source: Authors Guild Expands ‘Human Authored’ Certification Program
As part of the expansion Van der Velden has tapped Prime Video’s Mark Whelan as head of strategy and operations at her new AI talent studio Xicoia. Whelan will be tasked with helping Van der Velden create the “Tillyverse,” described in a press release as a “dynamic, constantly evolving digital universe where Tilly and a new generation of AI characters will live, collaborate and build careers.”
Source: Tilly Norwood Creator Plans ‘Rapid Expansion’ With the ‘Tillyverse,’
“It’s entirely possible that in two years we’ll have clarity that’s probably good enough in terms of a set of best practices,” estimated Jessica Litman. But she warned it could be longer, “because these cases are so huge, they are happening in dribs and drabs… so it can take a while to establish a trend.” She said it could be as many as 10 more years until these lawsuits are resolved.
Source: Lawyers Warn of a Decade of Uncertainty over AI Copyright
The creators of a new technology have always sold it as producing a fundamental transformation of human existence. The radio was touted as bringing “perpetual peace on earth.” Television was supposed to arouse so much empathy for different cultures that it would end war. Cable television would educate the masses and lead to widespread enlightenment. This time, though, the masses have not been won over.
Source: People Loved the Dot-Com Boom. The A.I. Boom, Not So Much.
The past couple of years have increasingly felt like I’m writing a slow-moving, multi-part obituary for television as most of us knew it. The television that involves real sets being built, fully staffed writers rooms, series regulars, dozens of recurring and guest roles, attention spent on production value handled by below-the-line pros and an audience of millions of viewers who regularly tune in on a weekly basis.
Physical media was a cash cow for movie studios, who could sell a single film to the same consumer multiple times. Let’s say you loved The Lion King in a world before streaming: you might be paying Disney for a movie ticket, a VHS tape, a DVD, a Blu-ray, and now a 4K disc. That’s at least $100 of Lion King spending. Many films enjoyed active second lives on DVD and VHS, with hit titles grossing over $500M in additional revenue for Hollywood studios.
Source: The Rise, Fall, and (Slight) Rise of DVDs: A Statistical Analysis
Google announced on Wednesday that it’s adding a music-generation feature to the Gemini app. To use the feature, you’ll describe the song you want to create, and the app will generate a track along with lyrics. For instance, you could ask Gemini to create a “comical R&B slow jam about a sock finding its match,” and the app will generate a 30-second track along with cover art made by Nano Banana.
Source: Google adds music-generation capabilities to the Gemini app | TechCrunch