Mediagazer: A look at budget pressures on WBD's movie studio unit: sources say WBD CEO David Zaslav has been pushing for more financial accountability and consistency (Thomas Buckley/Bloomberg)

12:10 PM ET, February 27, 2025

Top News:

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

WBD reports Q4 revenue down 2% YoY to $10B, ad revenue down 11% to $1.8B, and losses up 24% YoY to $494M, including $1.9B in charges and restructuring expenses — Like its rivals., Warner is navigating a difficult era for the media sector, one in which linear TV audiences, much easier to monetize …

Discussion: Sportico, The Streamable, Deadline, Deadline, Barron's Online, @jacktweets44, @gameoverthirty, Yahoo Finance, @mauronl3, @tvgrimreaper and @mauronl3

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
WBD reports Q4 adjusted EBITDA for DTC, including streaming and pay-TV, of $409M, up from a $55M loss in Q4 2023, and 116.9M subscribers, up from 110.5M in Q3

Discussion: Advanced Television, Adweek, The Streamable, The Wrap, Streaming Better, Media Play News, The Information, Warner Bros. Discovery, @bristei and Cord Cutters News

Harshita Mary Varghese / Reuters:
WBD projects at least 150M subscribers by the end of 2026, as Max is set to launch in Germany and Italy in Q1 2026; Netflix ended 2024 with 302M subscribers

Discussion: Reuters, Broadband TV News, Quartz, CNBC, Streaming Better and Yahoo Finance

Corbin Bolies / The Daily Beast:

Marty Baron condemns changes to WaPo's opinion section, says he is “disgusted” as Bezos is “betraying” WaPo's “longstanding principles” for commercial interests — Former executive editor Marty Baron told the Daily Beast there was “no doubt in my mind” …

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Memo: WaPo CEO Will Lewis says opinion section changes are “not about siding with any political party” but about “being crystal clear about what we stand for”

Discussion: Cameron Barr on LinkedIn, The Guardian, Status, Mediaite, Washington Post, American Greatness, NPR, @danlamothe, Poynter, Townhall, The Message Box, @danlamothe, @naturalism.bsky.social, American Crisis, @sarafischer, @ktmboyle, @briannawu, @nprinskeep, Nieman Lab, @benmullin, Issues & Insights, Deadline, Futurism, Benzinga, Mark Lemley on LinkedIn, @drewharwell.com, @brianstelter, @brianstelter, @farhip, @sherman4949, @jackmirkinson, @hadas_gold, @maxwelltani, @kylebrussell, @mikeisaac, @earleyedition.bsky.social, @makgrossi.bsky.social, @knightlat.bsky.social, @athul.acharya.cc, The Washington Free Beacon, @sachadylan.bsky.social, @davidrlurie.bsky.social, Jerry Davis on LinkedIn, @limeylizzie.bsky.social, The Daily Wire, The Daily Signal, Wall Street Journal, @strangernalps.bsky.social, @jerdem.bsky.social, New Jersey Online, @mikemadden.bsky.social, @kyra_davis@mstdn.social, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Times, @notaaroncraig.bsky.social, Twitchy, Washington Examiner, New Republic, Colin Woodard on LinkedIn, @briankrebs@infosec.exchange, @kevinleecaster.bsky.social, The Wrap, Newsbusters, @benmullin.bsky.social, Associated Press, Howard Pulchin on LinkedIn, @picardonhealth.bsky.social, The Verge, @TCatInReality@mastodon.social, @thiagokrause.bsky.social, Financial Times, Sara Langhinrichs Gifford on LinkedIn, @Naureckas@mastodon.world, @silviomarcacci.bsky.social and @jeffbezos

Charlotte Klein / New York Magazine:
Sources: WaPo publisher Will Lewis told Jeff Bezos that changes to the Opinion section would have consequences for the health of the paper

Discussion: MediaPost, JONATHAN TURLEY, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, Axios, @nkulw, @charlottetklein, The Atlantic, Editor and Publisher, @ArenaCops@infosec.exchange, Ace of Spades HQ, Politico, @nomaga.bsky.social, Backbencher, Blaze Media, The Hollywood Reporter and @maxwelltani

Ben Johansen / Politico:

Reversing decades of precedent, the WHCA announces it will no longer coordinate shared coverage of President Trump amid an escalating dispute over press access — The move breaks from decades of cooperation between the White House and the journalists who cover the president.

Kevin Robillard / HuffPost:
The White House kicked out Reuters and a HuffPost reporter from Trump's Wednesday press pool; with AP still blocked, just one wire service remained in the pool

Reuters News Agency:
Reuters, AP, and Bloomberg News editors, all permanent members of the White House pool, say limiting wire access to the president harms people and markets

Discussion: Mediaite, @spj_tweets, @reuterspr, @eduardosuarez.bsky.social, @mlang7.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, @marcoinbxl.bsky.social and Washington Examiner

Brian Stelter / CNN:
On day one of choosing its own “press pool”, the White House replaced HuffPost with Axios; two staunchly pro-Trump outlets, Newsmax and The Blaze, were added

Discussion: @brianstelter, New York Post, @gilmored85.bsky.social, HuffPost, @tancred1098.bsky.social, @dsquareddigest.bsky.social, @paulmainwood.bsky.social, @paulmainwood.bsky.social, @alherix.bsky.social, @unlox.bsky.social, @dsquareddigest.bsky.social, The Wrap and New Republic

Jake Kanter / Deadline:

BBC Chief Content Office Charlotte Moore is leaving to become Left Bank Pictures CEO and Sony Pictures TV's creative director of international production — Newswire … PMC — Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Discussion: BBC, TVNewsCheck, The Guardian, Deadline, Telegraph, WORLD SCREEN, Daily Express, The Sun, @iowbobseely, @chrischibnall.bsky.social, C21Media, @scottygb, Variety, Screen, @journalismseen and GB News

Michael Levenson / New York Times:

A Mississippi judge lifts an order requiring a newspaper to remove an editorial, after Clarksdale city officials voted to abandon their libel lawsuit — The judge's order against The Clarksdale Press Register in Clarksdale, Miss., had alarmed press advocates, who said it was a violation of the First Amendment.

Discussion: FIRE, The Clarion-Ledger, @thefireorg, @rcfp, WATN and Reason

Dylan Butts / CNBC:

Meta apologizes and says it had fixed an “error” that resulted in some Instagram users seeing violent and graphic content in their Reels recommendations — Meta apologized on Thursday and said it had fixed an “error” that resulted in some Instagram users reporting a flood …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

ESPN plans to launch SC+, a new SportsCenter show, on March 3 exclusively on Disney+ for US subscribers, designed for a casual, entertainment-focused audience — Disney and ESPN have cooked up a plan to try to whet the sports appetite of Disney+ U.S. customers — who may not necessarily be the more voracious fans of sporting events.

Discussion: The Streamable, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, The Verge, Deadline, @disneyplus, Barrett Media, Cord Cutters News, @espnpr, The Hollywood Reporter and ESPN Press Room U.S.

John Koblin / New York Times:

Sony Pictures Entertainment says it is soliciting bids from media and tech companies for the streaming rights to new episodes of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune — Sony Pictures Entertainment is soliciting bids for the streaming rights to the two popular game shows.

Discussion: New York Post, TVNewsCheck, NewscastStudio and r/Jeopardy

Nicole Sperling / New York Times:

A profile of London-based Mubi, a niche movie streaming service with 400 employees boosted by hit film The Substance, turning it into a real Hollywood player — Early on in “The Substance,” the body horror film starring Demi Moore that has been nominated for five Academy Awards …

Discussion: Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

CBS News names Tom Cibrowski, a TV news veteran who has managed Good Morning America and the San Francisco station KGO, as president and executive editor — Your Privacy Rights — PMC, its service providers, and third-party partners collect information about you and how you use our services …

Discussion: TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, Radio & Television …, Barrett Media, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, @ajkatztv, @brianstelter and @brianstelter

Reuters:

A Vietnam court sentences former journalist Truong Huy San to 30 months in prison over Facebook posts; San wrote “The Winning Side” about post-war Vietnam — A court in Vietnam on Thursday sentenced a former journalist to 30 months in prison after finding him guilty of …

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, Al Jazeera, Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg

Benoit Berthelot / Bloomberg:

WPP's shares drop 15%+ after the company forecasted adjusted sales for 2025 to remain flat or shrink in 2025, missing analysts' estimates — WPP Plc shares dropped the most in more than six years after the British advertising agency group forecast sales that would remain flat or shrink this year, missing analysts' estimates.

Discussion: Adweek, The Drum, The Independent, The Standard, CampaignUK, Yahoo Finance, More About Advertising, Telegraph, Fortune, Financial Times and Reuters

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: MrBeast is looking to raise a couple hundred million dollars at a ~$5B valuation; MrBeast has said he “lost tens of millions of dollars on Beast Games” — - YouTube star aims to raise a couple hundred million dollars — He lost ‘tens of millions’ of dollars on Amazon reality show

Discussion: The Ankler, The Guardian, @ericbalchunas, Jason Illian on LinkedIn, Mirror US and Hindustan Times

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

Internal memo: Paramount is making changes to its DEI policies to conform to efforts by the Trump administration to eliminate diversity programs — The company has a merger pending before the Federal Communications Commission, whose chief has criticized programs focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Discussion: Variety, Adweek, Variety, CNBC, @aaronmyers, Cartoon Brew, @benmullin, @doriandavis, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Yahoo Finance, RetailWire, TechCrunch, Fortune and Observer

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Paramount reports Q4 revenue up 5% YoY to $7.98B and a $129M operating loss; Paramount+ subscribers grew by 5.6M in Q4 to 77.5M+ with revenue up 16% YoY

Discussion: Broadband TV News, Advanced Television, The Streamable, The Hollywood Reporter, TVNewsCheck, @matthewkeyslive, @sherman4949, Reuters, Front Office Sports, Streaming Better, The Information, Cord Cutters News, Media Play News, Paramount and The Wrap

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Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
TikTok revamps its desktop website with a new modular layout, refreshed For You feed, a new Explore tab, and a floating player, in a bid to take on YouTube

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Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Nexstar anticipates The CW to become profitable in 2026, largely due to a push into live sports, which account for about 40% of its total programming time

Discussion: @tvgrimreaper and Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Pete Distad, previously named as the CEO of now-shuttered Venu Sports streaming service, will serve as CEO of Fox's recently announced DTC streaming service

Discussion: Adweek, Reuters, The Wrap, Barrett Media, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, @tvgrimreaper, C21Media and WORLD SCREEN

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
EchoStar reports Q4 net pay-TV subscriber down ~253,000, compared to a loss of 314,000 in Q4 2023, and ends 2024 with 7.78M pay-TV subscribers

Discussion: The Streamable, EchoStar Corporation, Streaming Better, Cord Cutters News and @tvgrimreaper

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Sky COO Nick Herm criticizes Amazon for failing to tackle sports broadcast piracy, costing “hundreds of millions”, and to stop illegal Fire Stick TV devices

Discussion: Broadband TV News, Advanced Television and New York Times

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix says its customers watched 94B+ hours in H2 2024, up 5% YoY; Squid Game, despite premiering on December 26, dominated the period with nearly 87M views

Discussion: Advanced Television, Radio Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Media Play News

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
UK right-wing political news outlet Guido Fawkes settles a defamation case by Ecotricity founder Dale Vince; founder Paul Staines says costs would be “ruinous”

Discussion: @dalevince and The Guardian

Advanced Television:
Gracenote: sports programming on top five streamers globally, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Paramount+, and Netflix, grew by 72%+ in the recent quarter

Discussion: The Media Leader and NewscastStudio

Earlier Picks:

Kirk Carapezza / GBH:
Student newspapers that increasingly rely on financial support from the institutions they cover face struggles for editorial independence, as ad sales drop

Discussion: Kristine Maloney on LinkedIn, Kirk Carapezza on LinkedIn, Jessica Sparks on LinkedIn, @dankennedy.net and Caitlin Reardon on LinkedIn

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Notus, the nonprofit outlet created by the Allbritton Journalism Institute, launches the Washington Bureau Initiative to provide DC coverage to local newsrooms

Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:
A look at budget pressures on WBD's movie studio unit: sources say WBD CEO David Zaslav has been pushing for more financial accountability and consistency

Discussion: Screen Rant, The InSneider and SlashFilm

Paul Vieira / Wall Street Journal:
Canada's broadcast regulator says that Google will be charged a fee to recover regulatory costs related to Canada's online news law, starting April 1

Discussion: @paulvieira, Reuters and Benzinga, more at Techmeme »

The Information:
Source: Instagram considers launching a standalone Reels app, improving recommendations, and distributing more three-minute-long videos, to compete with TikTok

Discussion: Gizmodo, Meghan Bobrowsky on LinkedIn, Hindustan Times, New York Post, Music Ally, Fortune, Mashable India, Neowin, TechCrunch, The Verge, The Indian Express, Digital Music News and Daily Sabah, more at Techmeme »

David Bauder / Associated Press:
Wired gained 62,500 new subscribers in the US during the first two weeks of February, as the tech outlet aggressively covers the Trump administration and DOGE

Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Meta's Oversight Board says it will weigh in on Meta's hate speech policies, changed before Trump's inauguration, in a test of the enforceability of its powers

Discussion: TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

David Folkenflik / NPR:
NPR Chief Diversity Officer Keith Woods says he is retiring May 2 after 15 years at NPR; CEO Katherine Maher says NPR won't veer from a dedication to diversity

Discussion: New York Post, Whitney Maddox on LinkedIn, Eric Deggans on LinkedIn, RedState, Fox News and @davidfolkenflik.bsky.social

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CNBC:
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A look at the internal chaos behind Apple's Siri failure, in part due to poor leadership, with John Giannandrea's AI/ML group dubbed “AIMLess” internally

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