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Sources: Paramount is in talks with Donald Trump to settle his $10B 60 Minutes lawsuit, believing a deal would persuade Trump to not block its planned merger — A settlement, if reached, would be an extraordinary concession by a major U.S. media company to a sitting president.
Discussion:
Status, Associated Press, Mediaite, The Wrap, @daveweigel.bsky.social, The Daily Wire, @jasonzinoman.bsky.social, Deadline, @coachfinstock.bsky.social, @ianbassin.bsky.social, @aricohn.com, Raw Story, @reckless.bsky.social, @radleybalko.bsky.social, @greenwell.bsky.social, @davidenrich.bsky.social, Vanity Fair, AV Club and KGW-TV
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FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told CEOs of NPR and PBS that he had ordered a probe into whether member stations are airing commercial ads when they air sponsorships — Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said the inquiry could help Congress decide whether to continue funding local stations.
Discussion:
NPR, Variety, NPR, The Wrap, New York Post, @agomezfcc, Salon, Newsbusters, @evangreer.bsky.social, @onthemedia.bsky.social, @victorpickard.bsky.social, Ars Technica, @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social, @timbays.bsky.social, @seth-stern.bsky.social, @joesonka.lpm.org, @monscience.bsky.social, @ryanjhaas.bsky.social, @olivierrupert.bsky.social, @ndhapple.bsky.social, The Desk, TVNewsCheck, @mediaevan.bsky.social, @fbajak.bsky.social, @markey.senate.gov, Fox News, Cord Cutters News, @pamspaulding.bsky.social, @jetjocko.bsky.social, The Verge, @newsjennifer.bsky.social, Engadget, The Bulwark, @bee990.bsky.social, Federal Communications Commission, The Boston Globe, USA Today, Current, Justin's Political Corner, @ppopiel.bsky.social, Deadline, CNN, @thebradking@mastodon.social, Mediaite, @hallijayne.bsky.social, @plopseven.bsky.social, @brendannyhan.bsky.social, @mattdpearce.com, @benmullin.bsky.social, The Gateway Pundit, RadioInsight, The Hill, New Republic, freebeacon.com, Free Press and Radio & Television …
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Apple Services revenue reached an all-time high of $26.34B in Q1, up 14% YoY, beating estimates and helping lift the company's gross margin to a record 46.9% — Apple is struggling to squeeze growth out of its flagship iPhone unit, but its profit margin keeps going up thanks to a flourishing services business.
Discussion:
Reuters, CNBC, Apple, Reuters, The Verge, TechCrunch, MacRumors, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, AppleInsider, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, The Information, Yahoo Finance and Media Play News, more at Techmeme »
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Over 25 streaming partners including Disney+, Apple TV+, Netflix, and Prime Video simulcasted the FireAid fundraiser for Los Angeles, bypassing linear TV — Over 25 streaming partners will simulcast a mammoth five-and-a-half-hour FireAid benefit concert on Thursday to fundraise …
Discussion:
Variety, CBS News, Daily Mail, CNN, The Mirror US, Variety, Fargo | KFGO, CNN, The Independent, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Page Six, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Post, The Wrap, The Streamable, Time Out Los Angeles, Digital Music News, Rolling Stone, Deseret News, UPI, Fast Company, Entertainment Weekly, CBS News, Decider, USA Today, WPMT, Deadline and Billboard
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Sources: Amazon is ramping up ad spending on X, as companies re-evaluate their stances in a changing political climate; source: Apple considers a return to X — Shift occurs after many brands cut advertising on the platform over hate-speech concerns; Apple considers a return to site
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Sources: ITV has been holding early talks with Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI about a potential merger of their production businesses, ITV Studios and All3Media — British broadcaster ITV (ITV.L) has been holding early-stage talks with Abu Dhabi-backed group RedBird IMI about a possible merger …
Discussion:
Variety, Yahoo Finance and Deadline
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Comcast reports Q4 revenue up 2% YoY to $31.92B and media revenue, including its TV networks, up 3.5% to $7.22B; Comcast lost 311K cable TV customers — Comcast topped Wall Street's fourth-quarter estimates on Thursday as revenue from the company's broadband business gave it a boost despite losing customers.
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Mike Cavanagh says Comcast is “not really running a Peacock-only strategy. We're running a broadcast-plus-streaming strategy”, as NBCU prepares a spinoff
Discussion:
Deadline, @tvgrimreaper, StreamTV Insider, @tvgrimreaper, Awful Announcing and Adweek
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Comcast reports Peacock's Q4 losses fell to $372M from an $825M loss in Q4 2023 and revenue rose 28% YoY to $1.3B; subscribers stood at 36M, unchanged from Q3
Discussion:
@tvgrimreaper, The Desk, MediaPost, Yahoo Finance, The Streamable, Streaming Better, Media Play News, The Information and The Wrap
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SiriusXM reports Q4 revenue down 4% YoY to $2.19B, vs. $2.17B est., FY 2024 self-pay subscribers down by 296K, and 33M total subscribers at the end of 2024 — SiriusXM, which has been trimming staff and regrouping in several areas in a bid to reverse subscriber losses, reported better-than-expected results in the fourth quarter.
Discussion:
Billboard, Digital Music News, The Desk, Reuters, SiriusXM, Benzinga, Barrett Media, Advanced Television, The Hollywood Reporter and Inside Radio
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Amazon sues Washington state to limit the release of public records to The Washington Post about Jeff Bezos' Amazon Project Kuiper satellite facility in Seattle — In-depth Amazon coverage from the tech giant's hometown, including e-commerce, AWS, Amazon Prime, Alexa, logistics, devices, and more.
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Abu Dhabi's English-language newspaper The National laid off 28 journalists; sources: cuts included employees on the multimedia, digital, and foreign desks — The Scoop — Abu Dhabi's The National laid off 28 journalists Thursday, a spokesperson confirmed, amid a restructuring of the English-language publication.
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A Russian court issues an arrest warrant for Jerome Starkey, defense editor at the UK's Sun, for entering Russia from Ukraine; Downing Street condemns the move — The Kursk regional court accused Jerome Starkey of illegally crossing the border into Russia. — Your support helps us to tell the story
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Amazon hikes prices of Amazon Music Unlimited for Prime and non-Prime members by $1 to $10.99 and $11.99 per month, and Unlimited Family Plan by $3 to $19.99 — The higher prices come just a few months after market leader Spotify adjusted subscription prices of its own.
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Letter: DMG Media plans to merge Daily Mail's print operations with MailOnline, resulting “in a number of job losses”, as it looks to boost Mail+ subscriptions — News operations at Daily Mail and MailOnline to bring print and digital teams together
Discussion:
Financial Times, @imincorrigible.bsky.social, @jim.londoncentric.media and Press Gazette