Apple removes podcast re-publisher

A company who re-purposed other publisher’s content into new Apple Podcasts listings without permission has been kicked out of the service, Podnews can report today. Read the full story.

WNYC Studios has partnered with Whooshkaa for ad sales in Australia. “This partnership will allow Australian advertisers to reach even more local podcast listeners”.

Radiotopia announced three new shows: ZigZag documents the process of two friends (Manoush Zomorodi and Jen Poyant) starting a media company while trying not to simultaneously become bad mothers, bankrupt themselves, or destroy their wonderful creative partnership; Everything is Alive, an interview show in which all of the subjects are inanimate objects; and, within Radiotopa’s Showcase feed, The Great God of Depression, a true story of a brilliant physician, a literary genius and madness in America.

iOS podcast app Procast has released v1.9 of their podcast app. The new release supports a dark theme, integration of chapter marks, support for video podcasts, and voice-over for people with visual impairment. The player has an 'inbox’ allowing for quick selection and a tool that creates podcast snippets for sharing. It’s produced in Munich, Germany.

High 5 Media, parent company of Dallas-based YEA Networks, announced that it has acquired a majority interest in Spoke Media, a podcast company based in Dallas that specializes in branded content.

Sparemin, a tool that produces shareable video from audio, has done a deal with Pixabay so podcasters can add 'true video’ to their audiograms. This is in addition to a deal with Getty Images (May 17). They’ve also added a 'labs’ section with new features, including longer 24fps video. The Earshot Creative blog also wrote up a good overview of the service.

Mary Meeker has released her annual Internet Trends Report. There’s video and a summary at Recode. The word 'podcast’ doesn’t appear.

Premium podcasts are a headache, says Digiday. Gabriel Roth from Slate goes further: “It is a pain in the ass for us, and more importantly, it’s a pain in the ass for users”.