Mediagazer: Court documents reveal the Murdochs' family succession drama in which Rupert Murdoch failed, so far, to lock in his media empire's right-wing bent (New York Times)

12:00 PM ET, February 14, 2025

Top News:

Todd Spangler / Variety:

YouTube TV says it has “reached a short term extension” to keep Paramount's content, including CBS and Nickelodeon, “as we work toward a deal” — YouTube TV and Paramount Global, still haggling over a new distribution deal, have reached a short-term extension …

New York Times:

Court documents reveal the Murdochs' family succession drama in which Rupert Murdoch failed, so far, to lock in his media empire's right-wing bent — Part 1: ‘These companies are my legacy’ — In early December 2023, Rupert Murdoch flew into London to see his two oldest daughters, Prudence and Elisabeth.

Discussion: @sooneratty@threads.net, @tchristianmiller.bsky.social, @jessicalessin, @jeffjarvis, @emilybell.bsky.social, @jeffjarvis, @harrymccracken.com, @technologizer@threads.net, @katie_robertson, Sydney Morning Herald, @edmundlee.bsky.social, @davidenrich.bsky.social, @nickfield.bsky.social, @timbays.bsky.social, @heathercherone.bsky.social and @stuartathompson.bsky.social

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Apple and Google restore TikTok to their US app stores after its January 18 removal, following Trump admin assurances that a ban won't immediately be enforced — - Companies had removed the app to abide by US legislation — Trump signed executive order to delay a potential ban

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Melania Trump's cut of her $40M documentary licensing deal with Amazon is 70%+, and her agents are selling “sponsorships” for the film starting at $10M — First lady's documentary deal with Amazon, president's legal settlements and other transactions near $80 million so far; Trump library a major beneficiary

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Netflix seems to be integrating with Apple's TV app on Apple TV 4K for the first time, as some US users are being prompted to connect their Netflix account — Apple and Netflix have seemingly managed to find some common ground and strike a partnership for integration in the Apple TV app.

Discussion: The Streamable, Cord Cutters News, Advanced Television, MacRumors, @mgsiegler, Spyglass, The Verge, @sigjudge, Six Colors, MacDailyNews, AppleInsider, Tom's Guide, MacRumors, @flatpanels, BGR, TechRadar and r/apple

Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:

The White House blocked AP reporters from official events for the third day in a row, after the organization decided to keep using the name Gulf of Mexico — For the third day in a row, the White House barred an AP reporter from attending official events because the organization won't use the name Gulf of America.

Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
Bloomberg, The New York Times, Reuters, The Washington Post, and other major US news outlets say they don't plan to switch completely to “Gulf of America”

Jill Goldsmith / Deadline:

The Paramount-Skydance merger receives approval from the US SEC, following the EU's nod earlier this week; the FCC's approval is still pending — Paramount Global moved a step closer to a deal, technically anyway, as the Securities and Exchange Commission made effective its registration statement outlining the transaction.

Discussion: The Streamable, Associated Press and The Wrap

Amanda Meade / The Guardian:

Australia's ABC Chair Kim Williams calls News Corp's claims that the public broadcaster costs taxpayers more than Netflix “unbalanced and agenda-driven” — In strongly worded statement, Kim Williams says allegations in Murdoch-owned tabloids ‘do not stand up to scrutiny’

David Cohen / Adweek:

DoubleVerify announces steps to further prevent clients' ads from appearing on sites hosting CSAM, after Adalytics found major brands appearing on unsafe sites — The platform had added new exclusion categories and reached out to agencies dedicated to child safety

Discussion: DoubleVerify, DoubleVerify, Ad Age and The Media Leader

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

The Guardian signs a licensing deal with OpenAI, a day after becoming a part of a lawsuit filed against AI startup Cohere for alleged copyright infringement — The Guardian has become the latest news publisher to sign a deal with ChatGPT owner OpenAI over content licensing.

Discussion: Engadget, @kimmonismus, OpenAI and @brandyljensen

Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
The Atlantic, Politico, Vox and others sue Cohere, alleging it used copyrighted works to train its LLM and shared versions of entire articles without permission

Kendra Barnett / Adweek:

Reddit says content licensing deals with Google and OpenAI account for ~10% of its revenue but it's focused on its ad revenue business, which grew 60% YoY in Q4 — Despite this new revenue, Reddit remains focused on its growing advertising business, its COO says

Discussion: Bloomberg, @kendrabarnett.bsky.social, Kiplinger, MediaPost, The Information, Yahoo Finance and Reuters, more at Techmeme »

The Indian Express:

JioStar, the joint venture that merged Viacom18 and Star India, launches JioHotstar, a streaming service in India offering JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar content — Jio Cinema and Disney+ Hotstar have officially merged as JioHotstar, making it one of the biggest streaming platforms in India.

Discussion: Advanced Television, TechCrunch, WORLD SCREEN, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, JioHotstar helpdesk and Deadline, more at Techmeme »

Aditya Kalra / Reuters:
Sources: the Reliance-Disney JV will no longer offer free streaming for IPL cricket matches and will adopt a hybrid model, and plans to launch a rebranded app

Discussion: The Indian Express

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:

AMC Networks posts Q4 revenue down 12% YoY to $599M, a $254M operating loss, subscription revenue down 4% to $314M, and 12.4M streaming subscribers by year-end — AMC Networks took a $268.7 million goodwill impairment charge on its domestic operations reporting unit.

Discussion: Advanced Television, Variety, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, Bloomberg, Media Play News, Streaming Better, Yahoo Finance, Deadline, Cord Cutters News and AMC Networks

Jon Lewis / Sports Media Watch:

Report: ESPN chose not to renew its US F1 media rights package expiring in 2025; F1 executives met with Netflix and NBC during Super Bowl week in New Orleans — The following article “ESPN reportedly dropping F1” originally appeared on Sports Media Watch. — After indications to the contrary …

Discussion: Barrett Media, Awful Announcing and Spyglass

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Charlotte Klein / New York Magazine:
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Committee to Protect Journalists:
A record 124 journalists across 18 countries were killed in 2024, up 22% YoY, and one in three were freelancers; Israel was responsible for 70% of the deaths

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Josh Beckerman / Wall Street Journal:
BuzzFeed expects to cut ~5% of its workforce as it seeks to streamline its HuffPost news operations, incurring restructuring charges between $1.8M and $2M

Discussion: Gizmodo, TVNewsCheck and Bloomberg Law

Patrick Brzeski / The Hollywood Reporter:
French cinema giant mk2 secures exclusive ad sales rights for Letterboxd in France, which is Letterboxd's second-largest non-English speaking market

Discussion: Variety

From Techmeme:

Andrew Goudsward / Reuters:
A US federal judge orders agencies whose leaders participated in the Signal chat on the Houthi attacks to preserve all messages sent from March 11 to March 15

Bloomberg:
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Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Nintendo unveils Virtual Game Cards to make it easier for users to port over their existing Switch games to other devices and lend out games, available in April

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