Mediagazer: Game Informer, closed by GameStop in 2024, returns with its full staff and new owner Gunzilla Games; EIC Matt Miller says it will stay editorially independent (Anna Washenko/Engadget)

9:10 AM ET, March 26, 2025

Top News:

The Atlantic publishes Houthi attack plans that Trump advisers shared on Signal, after Trump and other officials asserted no classified information was shared — The administration has downplayed the importance of the text messages inadvertently sent to The Atlantic's editor in chief.

Discussion: USA Today, Mediaite, New York Times, NBC News, Deadline, HotAir, @marquardta, @jmart, @alexthomp, Lawyers, Guns & Money, @davidfolkenflik, @senmarkkelly, @mathurashton, @realryannicol, @shaneharris, @quorumcaller, @iblametom, @leapfrogmark, @tylersmithfc, @itsborys, @natashabertrand, @biannagolodryga, @alexthomp, @yappelbaum, @annabower, @noahcrothman, @adriennelaf, @nxthompson, @chaykak, @pbump.com, @joshsternberg.com, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, @presssec, @brianstelter, @annettebeebe.bsky.social, @jamesrball.com, @emptywheel.bsky.social, @annabower.bsky.social, Washington Examiner, Fox News, Axios, New York Post, Washington Post, Civil Discourse …, CBS News, Washington Times, The Hill, One America News Network, Al Jazeera, Vanity Fair, Bloomberg, IJR, The Daily Caller, Daily Mail, Suggest, CNBC, Fortune, New York Times, RedState, Metro.co.uk, Ars Technica, KTVU-TV, The Maritime Executive, PoliticusUSA and New Republic

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Deloitte: on average, US SVOD subscribers pay for four services totaling $69/month, up 13% YoY; 54% pay for at least one ad-supported tier, up from 46% in 2024 — Streaming services like Netflix used to look like a much cheaper alternative to cable TV. But now streamers are facing similar pressures …

Discussion: Deloitte Insights, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, StreamTV Insider, RedState and TV Tech

Matthew Keys / The Desk:

Trump withdraws the nomination of Media Research Center founder L. Brent Bozell III to head USAGM, naming him instead to serve as US ambassador to South Africa — President Donald Trump on Tuesday withdrew his nomination of Leo Brent Bozell III to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM).

Discussion: New York Times, @davidfolkenflik, @jonsalvia.bsky.social, Bloomberg and @thedesk.net

Matthew Keys / The Desk:

Court docs: a federal judge has ordered USAGM to restore operational grants to RFE/RL, after the outlet sued to stop the blocking of funds allocated by Congress — A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to stop depriving Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty …

Discussion: @rferl, @kyledcheney, New York Times, @rferl, Politico, Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Inside Radio and The Kyiv Independent

Sara Guaglione / Digiday:

Mansueto Ventures tightens Fast Company and Inc. paywalls, reserving four daily stories for subscribers, up from one, to grow revenue amid traffic volatility — Fast Company and Inc. are tightening up their paywalls. Up until a few weeks ago, the Mansueto Ventures-owned publishers would put one new story a day behind a paywall.

Discussion: @dannygroner.bsky.social

Anna Washenko / Engadget:

Game Informer, closed by GameStop in 2024, returns with its full staff and new owner Gunzilla Games; EIC Matt Miller says it will stay editorially independent — The publication resumes under the new ownership of Gunzilla Games. — Gaming journalism stalwart Game Informer has risen from the ashes.

Blake Brittain / Reuters:

Anthropic convinced a California federal judge to reject a preliminary bid to block it from using lyrics owned by UMG and other music publishers to train Claude — Artificial intelligence company Anthropic convinced a California federal judge on Tuesday to reject a preliminary bid to block …

Discussion: MEDIANAMA, TorrentFreak and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »

Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:

UK-based agency Newsflare, which counts the NYT, the BBC, and Mail Online among its clients, withdraws AI-generated videos from social media after criticism — UK-based agency Newsflare has withdrawn a number of fake videos it distributed which appear to have been generated using AI.

Ruth Michaelson / The Guardian:

A prosecutor in Turkey remands eight journalists to custody, reversing a decision to release them after they were arrested for covering anti-government protests — Arrests condemned as ‘unlawful’ by press freedom groups, highlighting growing repression amid demonstrations against President Erdoğan

Discussion: NDTV, Breitbart, JURIST and Reuters

Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:

How the AP is managing to cover the White House while it awaits a decision on its ban: reliance on pool reports and dependence on foreign AP correspondents — The news organization has relied on work-arounds after being barred from events for not using “Gulf of America,” but on Thursday will have another chance to make its case.

Discussion: American Press Institute, HuffPost, Townhall, TVNewsCheck, NDTV, Newsbusters and r/Journalism

Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:

Nielsen: YouTube made up 11.6% of all US TV use, the most of among media providers; viewers over age 50, accounted for 36% of time spent watching YouTube on TV — The service supplants Disney atop the Nielsen list for the second time. — YouTube commanded more TV time than any other media provider …

Discussion: Nielsen, @lucas_shaw, Tubefilter, StreamTV Insider, Radio & Television …, The Desk, WORLD SCREEN, Media Play News, Cord Cutters News, The Wrap and Deadline, more at Techmeme »

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

NBCUniversal will launch 40 FAST channels on LG smart TVs in an expanded partnership, spanning entertainment, news, sports, Spanish-language content, and more — NBCUniversal will launch 40 FAST channels on LG smart-TVs under an expanded partnership agreement reached by the two companies.

Discussion: Adweek, Variety, Cord Cutters News, The Desk, TVNewsCheck and Radio & Television …

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More News:

Katie Kilkenny / The Hollywood Reporter:
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers names Gregory Hessinger as president, succeeding Carol Lombardini, who is stepping into an advisory role

Discussion: The Wrap, Deadline, Variety, TVNewsCheck, Los Angeles Times and Deadline

Alex Konrad / Upstarts Media:
Alex Konrad, who worked for 12 years at Forbes covering startups and broader tech stories, launches Upstarts Media on Substack, about the startup ecosystem

Discussion: @alexrkonrad, @ericnewcomer, @alexrkonrad, @brextonpham, @joshconstine and Talking Biz News

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Megyn Kelly plans to launch podcast network MK Media, starting with shows hosted by Mark Halperin, columnist Maureen Callahan, and commentator Link Lauren

Discussion: Wide World of News, @stevekrak, The Desk, Adweek, RedState, Daily Caller News Foundation, The Hill, @djmissbluesky.bsky.social, Megyn Kelly, The Daily Wire and Barrett Media

Reuters:
India's finance minister says the country will scrap a 6% tax on digital advertisements, easing costs for US tech giants, as a way of soothing US trade concerns

Discussion: Hindustan Times, The Register, CNBC-TV18, Times Bull, Business Today, The Indian Express, Business Today, The Indian Express, Moneycontrol, Moneycontrol, MEDIANAMA, Times of India and r/GeopoliticsIndia

Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
The UK CMA says Ticketmaster may have broken consumer protection law in how it sold 900K+ Oasis tickets in 2024 and told it to change how it gives pricing info

Discussion: Billboard, UPROXX, Reuters, The Sun, Music Business Worldwide, Consequence, Charlotte Business Journal, BBC, GOV.UK, Music Ally, The Standard, Bloomberg, Insider Media Ltd, Wall Street Journal, The Verge, The Independent and Daily Mail

Melissa Heikkilä / Financial Times:
AI startup Synthesia says it's creating a $1M stock pool to pay actors with equity for the use of their likeness; Synthesia was valued at $2.1B in January 2025

Earlier Picks:

Michael Burkhardt / 9to5Mac:
Apple Music is opening its catalog to DJs by integrating with popular DJ software and hardware platforms including Algoriddim's djay Pro and AlphaTheta

Discussion: Music Ally, Digital Music News, Billboard, AppleInsider, MacRumors, MusicTech, Music Week, Resident Advisor, Engadget and TechCrunch

Ian Youngs / BBC:
Barb: Netflix's Adolescence becomes the first streaming show to top the UK's weekly TV ratings, with the first episode drawing 6.45M viewers in its debut week

Deadline:
No Other Land co-director Yuval Abraham says co-director Hamdan Ballal has been freed after being beaten by Israeli settlers and arrested by soldiers

Discussion: @yuval_abraham, Variety, @yuval_abraham, Al Jazeera, WHDH-TV, Semafor, @monicalmarks, @nextbestpicture, @dropsitenews, @yuval_abraham, @yuval_abraham, Mirror, IPM Newsroom, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Alex Neve on LinkedIn, The Japan Times, The Hollywood Reporter, NPR, UPI, Forbes, @yuval_abraham, The Daily Caller, Reuters, Entertainment Weekly, The Guardian, Consequence, The Week, Vanity Fair, GoldDerby, Committee to Protect …, Rolling Stone, @sorayanadiamcdonald.com, Haaretz, Sky News, Channel 4, The Guardian, BuzzFeed, The Economic Times, USA Today, ArtReview, Yahoo Movies, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, Yahoo News, Decider, New York Post, NDTV, Los Angeles Times, @marwilliamson.bsky.social, @georgejreije.bsky.social, Variety, The Wrap, TMZ.com, @harikunzru.bsky.social, @zidan.bsky.social, The Hollywood Reporter, @lailalalami.com, @jcollins.bsky.social, Entertainment Weekly, @dryad.technology, @trinityphoenix.bsky.social, Rolling Stone, The Forward, NBC Bay Area, @amyspitalnick.bsky.social, @fmls.bsky.social, LewRockwell, International Documentary …, CNN, WTTG-TV, Le Monde, Politico, IndieWire, New Republic, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Just Jared

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
PBS CEO Paula Kerger and NPR CEO Katherine Maher are set to testify to Congress on March 26 at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's “Anti-American Airwaves” hearing

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
3D tech company Infinite Reality acquires Napster for $207M; Infinite's CEO says that the file-sharing phenomenon will be used for marketing in the metaverse

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The Daily Mail crosses 250K digital subscribers, including more than 163K Mail+ subscribers, and appoints Celia Duncan as its first global women's editor

Discussion: Simon Owens's Media Newsletter, @chronotope.aramzs.xyz, @michaelsderby.bsky.social, ResponseSource and Daily Mail

From Techmeme:

Bloomberg:
Ubisoft carves out a unit, which includes Assassin's Creed, into a ~€4B subsidiary; Tencent will invest €1.16B to acquire a 25% stake in the new entity

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:
Source: CoreWeave's IPO raised $1.5B, selling ~37.5M shares at $40 each, down from an initial plan of 49M shares at $47-$55; Nvidia anchored with a ~$250M order

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