Mediagazer: HBO restores next-day YouTube posts for Last Week Tonight clips after imposing a few days delay in February 2024; sources say Max viewership saw little increase (Rick Porter/The Hollywood Reporter)

9:10 PM ET, February 18, 2025

Top News:

Sources: Trump's administration fired multiple staffers who handle FOIA requests, limiting reporters' access to security clearance records for Musk and DOGE — The Trump administration has quietly fired multiple members of the “privacy team” and other officials from the office that oversees …

Evan Drellich / New York Times:

SportsNet New York will launch a paid streaming service to watch the Mets' games without paying for a TV bundle; 22 MLB teams can be watched without a TV bundle — SportsNet New York, the Mets' local television partner, will launch a subscription streaming service on Tuesday …

Discussion: The Streamable, New York Post, Cord Cutters News, @evandrellich, TVNewsCheck, @williamnyy23, @tvgrimreaper, The TV Answer Man!, @robpegoraro.com, Awful Announcing and r/baseball

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

RELX, formerly known as Reed Elsevier, says AI and face-to-face events helped grow 2024 revenue by 7% YoY to £9.4B and adjusted operating profit by 10% to £3.2B — Artificial intelligence and face-to-face events helped the UK's largest media company RELX deliver record financial results in 2014.

Discussion: Substack, Law360, Investing.com, The Times, Reuters, RELX and Yahoo Finance

Sara Fischer / Axios:

The Knight Foundation will invest $25M in the American Journalism Project, to expand AJP's work supporting local newsrooms from 50 to 60 over three years — - Over the past few years, more philanthropists have stepped up to fill that void, investing in community-based nonprofit newsrooms …

Discussion: @sarafischer, @theajp.bsky.social and Patty Pina Slutsky on LinkedIn

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

Starting Feb. 19, Meta will store Facebook Live broadcasts for 30 days instead of storing them indefinitely and will remove videos currently older than 30 days — Facebook announced on Tuesday that live videos will now only be stored on the social network for 30 days, after which they will be deleted.

Discussion: Meta, The Verge, @arictoler, @chronotope.aramzs.xyz, @markeortega and @mediaevan, more at Techmeme »

Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:

HBO restores next-day YouTube posts for Last Week Tonight clips after imposing a few days delay in February 2024; sources say Max viewership saw little increase — HBO reverses a decision to keep John Oliver's show off of the platform for several days.

Discussion: Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, @antevansmma, GoldDerby, @tvgrimreaper, @latenightercom, Deadline, LateNighter, TVLine, @rickporter.bsky.social and ME

Ben Mullin / @benmullin:

Memo: Politico announces a reorganization, naming six key leaders reporting to Global EIC John Harris, with two also reporting to CEO Goli Sheikholeslami — babe wake up the new Politico leadership structure just dropped [image]

Discussion: @bsdtectr.bsky.social and @dylanbyers

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Letter: Hearst CEO Steve Swartz told staff Hearst brought in a record $13B in revenue in 2024, and a tough ad market and cord-cutting is impacting A+E Networks — Steve Swartz says that Hearst had $13 billion in revenue in 2024 thanks to political advertising, but adds that a tough ad market …

Discussion: The Desk, @matthewkeys.net, @matthewkeys.net, TVNewsCheck and The Wrap

Nika Schoonover / Courthouse News Service:

A US federal judge orders Carlos Watson and Ozy Media to pay $36M+ in restitution and nearly $60M in forfeiture for lying about finances; Watson plans to appeal — A federal judge ordered Watson and his company to pay over $36 million in restitution and nearly $60 million in forfeiture …

Shahana Yasmin / The Independent:

India's top court criticizes podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia over controversial comments on a YouTube show, and orders him to stop doing shows until further orders — Ranveer Allahbadia faced severe backlash after his appearance on an episode of YouTube comedy show India's Got Latent where he made the comments

Discussion: Business Standard, Livemint, Hindustan Times, Times of India, The Tribune, Hindustan Times, India Today, MEDIANAMA, NDTV, BBC, Reuters and The Indian Express

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google Play Books for iOS will now let users complete their e-book or audiobook purchase on the Google Play website, under Apple's “reader apps” exception — Google has gained permission to sell its e-books and audiobooks directly to customers through its iOS app, Google Play Books.

Discussion: The Keyword and 9to5Google, more at Techmeme »

Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:

VFX company DNEG's AI unit Brahma acquires Metaphysic, a maker of AI tools for de-aging and more; Abu Dhabi's UASG and DNEG will invest another $25M into Brahma — The UK-based company has acquired the AI tech platform that first gained headlines for popularizing a deepfake TikTok account spoofing Tom Cruise.

Discussion: Deadline, DNEG, Variety, The Wrap, Livemint and Business Standard, more at Techmeme »

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 9:10 PM ET, February 18, 2025.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Bureau Reporter - Vietnam, HCMC — Bloomberg

Curation Editor (Contract), NY — Apple News

Business Editor, CA — TheWrap

Executive Ed. - Tech & Electronics, AZ — AspenCore

Economy & Industry Reporter, TX — Texas Tribune

Deputy Editor - Health Care, VA — Politico

Political Enterprise Editor, DC — Guardian US

Housing & Real Estate Reporter, ME — BDN

Associate Reporter - Yahoo Finance — Yahoo

Senior Editor, Remote — Raw Story

Deputy Politics Editor, CA — Sacramento Bee

Alphaville Reporter, London — FT

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Rebecca Stewart / Adweek:
Publicis Groupe buys Brazil-based influencer and content agency BR Media for an undisclosed sum; BR Media claims it has access to a network of 500,000+ creators

Discussion: Ad Age, The Rio Times and MediaPost

The Wrap:
TheWrap announces additions to its editorial team, including Tom Lowry in the newly created role of SVP of editorial strategy and Brian Lowry as media editor

Discussion: Sharon Waxman on LinkedIn, Talking Biz News and Talking Biz News

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Filing: Lee Enterprises confirms that a ransomware attack is behind ongoing disruptions impacting the group's operations for over two weeks

Discussion: MediaPost, The Register, The Record, TechCrunch and US Securities …

Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
MPA: South Koreans streamed 131B minutes of premium VOD in 2024, up 18% YoY, as sector revenue reached $2B; Netflix held 35% viewership share, as Tving hit 34%

Discussion: WORLD SCREEN

Tommy Walker / Deutsche Welle:
Journalists raise concerns over press freedom in Cambodia after reports of a crackdown against local and foreign journalists reporting on sensitive issues

Discussion: @neiloughlin, @nathanpsouthern and @tommywalkerco

Jim Zarroli / New York Times:
As local cinemas close around the US, residents in some small towns are forming nonprofits to buy and operate them; 250+ cinemas across the US are nonprofits

Earlier Picks:

Advanced Television:
Ampere Analysis forecasts streamers' spending on sports rights to reach $12.5B in 2025, accounting for a fifth of global sports rights spend, led by DAZN

Discussion: WORLD SCREEN, Broadband TV News, The Desk and Media Play News

Jim Acosta / The Jim Acosta Show:
Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta calls on news outlets to unite in opposition to the Trump administration's treatment of journalists and news organizations like AP

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority tells Reach to stop posting ad features on social media without clearly labeling them as ads

Financial Times:
Surj, the sporting arm of Saudi Arabia's PIF, plans to invest $1B in DAZN and a new joint venture with the sports streamer; source: Surj will take a <5% stake

Discussion: Broadband TV News, @surj_sports, Variety, SportsPro, @millar_colin, Media Play News, Axios, SURJ Sports Investment, @martynziegler, @sportspronick, @mjshrimper, @robnashville, Globe and Mail, Advanced Television, @martingrantross, New York Times and Bloomberg

Katie Robertson / New York Times:
The New York Times wins three 2024 Polk Awards, the most of any publication; The New Yorker, ProPublica, Vanity Fair, and The Baltimore Banner also won

From Techmeme:

CNBC:
Circle files for a US IPO, with plans to list on the NYSE under CRCL; Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin, is reportedly seeking a $4B to $5B valuation

John Hudson / Washington Post:
Sources: WH national security adviser Michael Waltz and other National Security Council members have conducted government affairs over personal Gmail accounts

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Meta is ramping up work on its first glasses with a display, codenamed Hypernova, which it could debut as early as the end of 2025 for $1,000 to $1,400

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page