Mediagazer: 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 (Nika Schoonover/Courthouse News Service)

7:25 PM ET, February 18, 2025

Top News:

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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 …

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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.

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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.

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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 …

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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 »

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 — It was only a matter of time. — The Trump White House placed unconstitutional restrictions on the Associated Press last week …

Marc Caputo / Axios:
Sources: Trump is targeting AP to amplify GOP and conservative criticisms that the AP Stylebook shapes political dialogue by favoring liberal words and phrases

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 …

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, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, @matthewkeys.net and @matthewkeys.net

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: BBC, Business Standard, Livemint, Hindustan Times, Times of India, The Tribune, Hindustan Times, India Today, MEDIANAMA, NDTV, 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 »

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 — Tom Lowry joins as SVP, Editorial Strategy; Jen Laski heads photography and video; Graham Starr joins as Business Editor; Brian Lowry as Media Editor

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

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 »

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Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
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From Techmeme:

Qianer Liu / The Information:
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Jake Bleiberg / Bloomberg:
Sources: Oracle told some clients this week that a hacker stole old login credentials, the second breach that Oracle acknowledged to clients in the past month

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