Top News:
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: the Academy has talked informally with Netflix and others about airing the Oscars in future years; its exclusive negotiating window with Disney lapsed — The audience for the Oscars has declined more than 50% over the last decade. Will that lead to a break-up with its home of more than 50 years?
Discussion:
SlashFilm, Screen Rant, @bloomberg.com, Rolling Stone, @lucas_shaw, Decider, @lucas_shaw, The Wrap, Business Insider, Motley Fool, Semafor and Collider
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Ryan Coleman / Entertainment Weekly:
Hulu faced technical difficulties during its live airing of the Oscars; in the Oscars' first hour, 34K+ users told Down Detector that the service wasn't working — More than 34,000 users reported the streaming site was down within the ceremony's first hour.
Discussion:
IndieWire, Variety, Bloomberg, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, TVLine, People, Screen Rant, The Verge, Hollywood Life, @jbillinson@threads.net, @john_mike_, @jostraveler.bsky.social, @bengoggin.bsky.social, @alexanderchee.bsky.social, @georgehahn.com, USA Today, @artcandee.bsky.social, @hulu_support, StyleCaster, The Independent, Deadline, San Francisco Chronicle, TV Insider, Decider, The Hill, WMAZ-TV and KIII-TV
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Disney sells out ad inventory for Oscars 2025, which will stream on Hulu for the first time; source: 30-second spots went for $1.7M to $2.3M, in line with 2024
Disney sells out ad inventory for Oscars 2025, which will stream on Hulu for the first time; source: 30-second spots went for $1.7M to $2.3M, in line with 2024
Discussion:
Adweek, New York Post, Benzinga, Forbes, New York Times, ABC7, MediaPost, Rolling Stone, Boston Herald, The Wrap, Variety, Wired and KBMT
Ben Mankiewicz / CBS News:
Interviews with Ted Sarandos, Sony's Tom Rothman, and Nancy Meyers on how movies have changed in the era of streaming — Hollywood has been re-inventing itself for more 100 years. Change is part of the culture. But a pocket-sized “Sunset Boulevard”? That's not a close-up!
Kendra Barnett / Adweek:
Letters: Google, Amazon, and other ad companies respond to US senators' inquiries about ad placement on pages with CSAM, saying they blocked the sites and more — Amazon has issued refunds to affected advertisers — Under pressure from bipartisan lawmakers, Google, Amazon …
Discussion:
Scripting News
Matthew Keys / The Desk:
Amazon is set to launch a dedicated linear channel in the Prime Video app in Germany and Austria, offering a selection of Amazon Originals, sports, and more — Prime members in Germany and Austria will be able to stream original TV shows and movies via the Prime linear channel, starting in April.
Luke Bouma / Cord Cutters News:
Sinclair tests AI-driven, live audio translations in Spanish of local newscasts in Baltimore, San Antonio, West Palm Beach, and Las Vegas on their YouTube feeds — Sinclair has made history as the first broadcaster to introduce real-time, AI-powered language translation for local newscasts …
Discussion:
The Desk, StockTitan, Sinclair, Inc, Adweek, TVNewsCheck, Radio & Television … and NewsBlues.com
New York Times:
Sources: VOA's parent opened probes into VOA journalists for reporting on criticism of Trump or for comments seen as critical; Steve Herman was placed on leave — The broadcaster placed a longtime journalist on leave amid growing concerns about its editorial independence.
Discussion:
NPR, @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social, The Desk, James Bruno on LinkedIn, @louishenwood.bsky.social, @matthewfraser.bsky.social, @tomaskenn, @kaedotcom, @acarvin.bsky.social, @gentlegardener@mastodon.scot, @mho@social.heise.de, @mareikeohlberg.bsky.social, Raw Story, @lizzieohreally.bsky.social, @noupside.bsky.social, @noupside.bsky.social, @kairyssdal.bsky.social, @pattyshea.bsky.social, @taniel.bsky.social, @ampersine@mastodon.online, @mattmihaly.com, @davidenrich.bsky.social, Voice of America, The Daily Signal and @leahmcelrath.bsky.social
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Source: more than 75,000 Washington Post digital subscribers have cancelled their subscriptions following Jeff Bezos' overhaul of the paper's opinion section — More than 75,000 digital subscribers to The Washington Post have cancelled since its owner, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos …
Discussion:
@cgallaher.bsky.social, @marietjeschaake.bsky.social, Breitbart, Business Insider, Stephan A. Schwartz on LinkedIn, Links I Would Gchat …, Mock Paper Scissors, ZeroHedge News, @ctreese2.bsky.social, The Wrap, BBC, @jayrosen.bsky.social, @sleavenworth.bsky.social, @ambientvisions.bsky.social, The National Pulse, New York Post, @kjephd.bsky.social, @qitty1.bsky.social, Celeste Headlee on LinkedIn, @proddev.bsky.social, @timkarr.bsky.social, The Hill, @hammbear2024.bsky.social, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, @picardonhealth.bsky.social, @poohsdaddy.bsky.social, @amandabecker.bsky.social, @npr.org, @davidfolkenflik.bsky.social, @davidfolkenflik.bsky.social, Diane Ravitch's blog and Cele|bitchy
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Jack Nicas / New York Times:
Ahead of the Oscars, Brazil revels in national pride following nominations for best picture for I'm Still Here and best actress for Fernanda Torres — The best picture and best actress nominations for “I'm Still Here” have inspired national pride in a country whose culture has long been overlooked.
Discussion:
Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Orange County Register, Deadline, Reuters, Elle, GoldDerby, The Playlist, Associated Press, WWD, KOB.com, SheKnows, Just Jared, E! Online, The Dispatch and PBS NewsHour
Jonathan Lemire / The Atlantic:
After AP was banned, some WH correspondents floated the idea of boycotting covering Trump events in protest, but members of TV networks pushed back on the idea — When the White House handpicks reporters to cover the president, the American public suffers. — Kim Jong Un stared blankly as I spoke.
Maggie Harrison / Futurism:
Pinterest says it is building tools to label AI-generated or AI-altered content, amid an AI slop onslaught from SEO spammers that is making the site less useful — “Is this platform dead?” — Pinterest, the web's de facto mood board, has long been one of the best places for finding …
Sharon Knolle / The Wrap:
LAT's De Los assistant editor Paloma Esquivel resigns, saying its leadership failed to address longstanding HR complaints against managing editor Hector Becerra — In a message on the Times' internal Slack Friday, Paloma Esquivel says she hopes the newsroom becomes a place where journalists …
Discussion:
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