Top News:


DirecTV introduces a “No Locals” package, which allows customers to opt out of receiving their local TV stations and receive discounts of $12 per month — Subscribers would get $12 discount if they opt out — DirecTV said it would be allowing customers to opt out of receiving …
Discussion:
Variety, Deadline, Cord Cutters News, @tvgrimreaper, @sportstvratings, @bristei, @tvanswerman and Dallas Morning News


Two British YouTubers dupe Tucker Carlson into interviewing a fake Kensington Palace whistleblower about Kate Middleton's doctored image — Tucker Carlson has been pranked over Kate Middleton's infamous edited photo. — The former Fox News anchor was duped by British YouTubers Josh & Archie …
Discussion:
HuffPost, @joshua_pieters, Mediaite, Business Insider, @mehdirhasan, @pourmecoffee, @ndrew_lawrence, @jamesstout, @brianstelter, Mother Jones, @eyesontheright, @taylorlorenz, @kaysertommasi.bsky.social, @lazylazyjane.bsky.social, The Wrap, The A.V. Club, The Guardian, UPROXX, TMZ.com and ABC News


Lessons learned from the 77-page letter sent to Axel Springer by a lawyer for Neri Oxman, whose MIT thesis faced scrutiny for plagiarism in a BI investigation — Last fall, as then-Harvard president Claudine Gay was facing her first allegations of plagiarism, the Clare Locke law firm sent …
Discussion:
@sulliview, @jason_kint, @bgrueskin, @bgrueskin, @bgrueskin, @bgrueskin, @gregtsargent and Talking Biz News


French shipping billionaire Rodolphe Saadé agrees to buy Patrick Drahi's Altice Media, including French news channel BFM TV, in a deal valued at €1.55B — - Altice Media includes French news channel BFM TV, RMC radio — Deal with Saadé family could help Drahi cut debt pile
Discussion:
LinkedIn, Dow Jones Newswires, Politico, Deadline, Financial Times, Reuters and Broadband TV News


How Elon Musk courted Don Lemon to show that X isn't a right-wing tool, as the breakup highlights Linda Yaccarino's thankless task of trying to assure brands — Unexpected split leaves X CEO Linda Yaccarino with another loss — Don Lemon got to see both sides of Elon Musk.


Q&A with CBS' George Cheeks on choosing which shows to put on Paramount+ or broadcast, rethinking the show development cycle, developing franchises, and more — The failure of Hollywood studios to strike a timely deal with writers and actors last summer meant the traditional fall TV season was canceled in 2023.
Discussion:
Justin Dini on LinkedIn


Sources: TikTok's US revenue hit a record $16B in 2023 while ByteDance saw revenue grow ~40% YoY to $120B in 2023 and recorded a $28B net profit — Parent company ByteDance on track to become world's biggest social media group with $120bn in global sales — TikTok has hit $16bn in sales in the US …


Houston Landing CEO Peter Bhatia names Austin-American Statesman Executive Editor Manny García as new editor in chief and Angel Rodríguez as managing editor — - Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) … Manny García is the new editor in chief of Houston Landing …
Discussion:
@sewellchan, @kherman, @ajrod, @cristymsilva, @tplohetski, @samuelgaytan, @ladyviii, @hou_landing and @fidmart85


Local news website The Guildford Dragon News has become the UK's first charitable public interest news provider and can now benefit from a range of tax breaks — Guildford Dragon will be able to benefit from tax breaks after becoming UK's first charitable public interest news provider
Discussion:
@keithpp, Tom Murdoch on LinkedIn and Jonathan Heawood on LinkedIn


Amid its proxy fight, Disney reveals the return on investment for its franchises: 9.9x for Frozen, 5.5x for Toy Story, 3.3x for Marvel, and 2.3x for Star Wars — The tentpoles have generated $11.6 billion and $13.2 billion in value, respectively, since their $4 billion acquisitions in 2009 and 2012
Discussion:
@johnspurlock, @dwaynephillips, The Walt Disney Company, UPROXX and The Hollywood Reporter


Gumroad, an e-commerce company for creators, updates its rules to more strictly limit NSFW content, citing policies of payment processors like Stripe and PayPal — Gumroad, an e-commerce company for creators, updated its rules to more strictly limit NSFW content, citing restrictions from payment processors like Stripe and PayPal.


The family of slain Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova files a wrongful death suit against Fox News, saying Fox didn't adequately protect the team — On the second anniversary of a young journalist's killing in Ukraine, her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Fox News …
Discussion:
Adweek, The Wrap, Deadline, Los Angeles Times, Columbia Journalism Review and Fox News