Top News:
Jon Lafayette / Next TV:
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:
The Desk, Cord Cutters News, @tvgrimreaper, @sportstvratings, @bristei, @tvanswerman, Dallas Morning News, Variety and Deadline
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
A look at Disney's leading internal candidates to replace Bob Iger and how their lack of comprehensive experience at Disney should not be the board's sole focus — None of the four leading candidates has the perfect resume for the top job. Neither did Bob Iger when he was first named CEO.
Discussion:
@lucas_shaw
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
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:
@joshua_pieters, HuffPost, Mediaite, Business Insider, @mehdirhasan, @pourmecoffee, @ndrew_lawrence, @jamesstout, @brianstelter, @eyesontheright, @taylorlorenz, Mother Jones, @kaysertommasi.bsky.social, @lazylazyjane.bsky.social, The Wrap, The A.V. Club, The Guardian, UPROXX, TMZ.com and ABC News
Bill Grueskin / Columbia Journalism Review:
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
Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg:
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
Tim Higgins / Wall Street Journal:
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.
Josef Adalian / Vulture:
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
Financial Times:
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:
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
Alexandra Topping / The Guardian:
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
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
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
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
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.
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