Mediagazer: Sources: Vince McMahon seeks as much as $9B for WWE, or 37% above its ~$6.5B market value; potential buyers include UFC owner Endeavor and Middle East investors (Lucas Shaw/Bloomberg)

3:45 PM ET, February 17, 2023

Top News:

A new filing in Dominion's defamation case against Fox News reveals more comments by hosts and executives privately showing disbelief in stolen election claims — The comments, by Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and others, were released as part of a defamation suit against Fox News by Dominion Voter Systems.

Discussion: Superior Court of the State of Delaware, Wall Street Journal, @erikwemple, The Daily Beast, NPR, @anniegrayercnn, TVNewser, New York Magazine, The Wrap, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @willsommer, @erikwemple, Mediaite, Washington Post, @oliverdarcy, Insider, Media Matters for America, CNN, Wonkette, Vanity Fair, MediaPost, @binarybits, @maximlott, @ememess, Associated Press, New Republic, @oliverdarcy, The Guardian, Politico, @kbandersen, @jimlaporta, @normeisen, Media Nation, @pbump@journa.host, @harrylitman, @nicoleperlroth, @billpascrell, Newser, @gtconway3dg, @pbump@journa.host, The Hill, @ryanjreilly, @joelkatz, Columbia Journalism Review, @johnpavlovitz, @cherijacobus, @hasanthehun, Rolling Stone, @oliverdarcy, @oliverdarcy, Tierney's Real News, @ariehkovler, @beyondreasdoubt, @nikkimcr, @bubbaprog, @libcasey, @andylevy, @orinkerr, @jonkarl, @petestrzok, @rmtiede, @jonfavs, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @davidfrum, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @gtconway3d, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @betsy_klein, @erikwemple, @erikwemple, @kevinmkruse, @radiofreetom, @davidfolkenflik, @existentialfish, @existentialfish, @existentialfish, @existentialfish, @badfoxgraphics, @existentialfish, @existentialfish, @badfoxgraphics, @existentialfish, @existentialfish, @rschooley, @elizlanders, The Daily Beast, @svdate, Letters from an American, @gtconway3d, @jwpetersnyt, Boing Boing, @SteveBellovin@mastodon …, CNBC, Deadline, Law & Crime and @Teri_Kanefield@law …

Oliver Darcy / CNN:

Text messages and emails in the Dominion-Fox suit show that Fox News hosts and executives feared losing audience to Newsmax, which embraced election denialism — New York CNN — — Fox News has been exposed like never before. — A trove of newly-released text messages and emails …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Atlantic, @brentnyt, Mediaite, Associated Press, @chasten, @senwhitehouse, @kimmasters, The Guardian, New York Daily News, @oliverdarcy, Insider and Media Matters for America

Sheila Dang / Reuters:

Source: Microsoft is demoing the Bing chatbot to ad agencies and is testing inserting traditional search ads and industry-specific ads into the responses — Microsoft (MSFT.O) has started discussing with ad agencies how it plans to make money from its revamped Bing search engine powered …

Discussion: MediaPost, The Information, @carlquintanilla, Search Engine Land, @kantrowitz and MIT Technology Review, more at Techmeme »

Ryan Glasspiegel / New York Post:

Memo: Sports Illustrated laid off 17 people on February 15, including Executive Editor Adam Duerson; co-EIC Ryan Hunt is retiring in March 2023 after 25 years — Layoffs hit Sports Illustrated on Wednesday as the media business continues to have a rough winter with job losses.

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:

Barnes & Noble launches a $40/year membership offering 10% discounts, free shipping, and more, like the UK's Waterstones', which Elliott Management also owns — Book retailer also launches free membership program in effort to learn more about its customers

Discussion: The Wrap

Angela Fu / Poynter:

A look at Hearst's decision to hire a dedicated therapist for staff in California and Texas, as part of its effort to better support employees' mental health — Stressed, burnt out and sick of therapists who didn't understand them, San Francisco Chronicle journalists asked for help — and got it.

Discussion: @jilltucker and @trishathadani

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: Vince McMahon seeks as much as $9B for WWE, or 37% above its ~$6.5B market value; potential buyers include UFC owner Endeavor and Middle East investors — Vince McMahon is looking to get as much as $9 billion in a potential sale of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. …

Discussion: @wyshynski, @susanlitv, @mrwarrenhayes and @lucas_shaw

Isobel Koshiw / The Guardian:

Russia increases its propaganda efforts in occupied Ukraine with a free package of satellite channels, including 10 TV channels produced for the local residents — Free satellite package is part of attempts to cut off occupied population from rest of Ukraine, say analysts

Discussion: Carnegie Endowment … and @glasnostgone

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Penn Entertainment completes its acquisition of Barstool Sports, after paying $388M for the 64% stake in Barstool the entertainment company didn't already own — Barstool Sports is now fully owned by casino operator and entertainment company Penn Entertainment, which Friday completed …

Discussion: Awful Announcing, Business Wire, TVNewsCheck and Barrett Media

Jon Lafayette / Next TV:

Starz and Amazon bundle the Starz streaming service with MGM Plus on Prime Video for $11.99 per month, a 20% discount, expected to be available in a few weeks — Package will cost $11.99 a month, a 20% discount, programmers say — Starz said it reached a deal with Amazon to offer consumers …

Discussion: The Streamable, The Wrap, Variety, Collider, Deadline, IndieWire, Media Play News and The Hollywood Reporter

Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:

AMC Networks reports Q4 revenue up 20% YoY to $965M, a $264.7M net loss, full year streaming revenue up 35% YoY to $502M, and 11.8M streaming subscribers — AMC's James Dolan issued a stark warning as the company revealed its fourth-quarter earnings Thursday: The industry's “current mechanisms for monetizing content are not working.”

Discussion: Next TV, The Streamable, @seekingalpha, @tvgrimreaper, The Hollywood Reporter, Barron's Online and The Desk

Reuters Institute:

An interview with Ukrainian independent journalist Olga Tokariuk on Ukrainians' attitude toward the media, challenges for local outlets, press freedom, and more — In this episode we discuss the tremendous toll that Russia's full-scale invasion has had on journalists and the news media in the country

Discussion: @risj_oxford, Quartz, European Federation …, Bloomberg, @mitalilive, @rasmus_kleis, @palewire and Breitbart

The Daily Beast:

Memo: The New York Times Executive Editor Joe Kahn defends the outlet's trans coverage and warns staff and contributors not to campaign or attack colleagues — “We do not welcome, and will not tolerate, participation by Times journalists” in protests over the paper's coverage of trans issues, its executive editor wrote.

Max Tani / Semafor:

Memo: Drake and 21 Savage agree to pay Condé Nast to settle a trademark infringement lawsuit over a fake Vogue cover they created and used to publicize an album — Drake and 21 Savage have agreed to pay magazine publisher Condé Nast over a fake edition of Vogue the duo created and publicized last year.