Streaming

The Stack: New Paramount Created; Xandr Accused of Breaching GDPR

This week on The Stack: New Paramount Created; Xandr Accused of Breaching GDPR; Streaming Giants Challenge New Canadian Legislation; Spotify Introduces Comments; Today's MadTech Daily Podcast

This week, Skydance Media and Paramount Global finally reached a definitive agreement which will see both parties merge to form New Paramount. The agreement follows months of talks which had previously come to a close. Going forward, Skydance’s financial resources and tech will be combined with Paramount’s film/television library, and linear and streaming platforms.

Meanwhile in Canada, the major streaming giants challenged new legislation from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission which obligates them to contribute in paying for certain news channels through a 5% tax raise. The tax aims to raise funds to sustain parts of the broadcasting system deemed to be in need, such as local news or indigenous content. Representing streaming companies including Paramount, Disney and Netflix, the Motion Picture Association has filed applications in federal court to appeal the legislation.

We saw more in the streaming space from Spotify: the platform has introduced podcast comments. The move intends to help podcasters grow their audience and better interact with their listeners. The feature will function as a two-way conversation between podcasters and listeners.

Focusing in on the ad tech landscape, Xandr has been accused of EU privacy breaches. The complaint – filed by an unnamed individual in Italy – has been backed by the non-profit privacy advocacy group noyb. Italy’s data protection authority is also backing the claim. If Xandr is found to be in breach of GDPR, Microsoft could face fines of up to 4% of its global annual turnover.