Top News:
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
After CBS aired two 60 Minutes segments, Trump calls on CBS to lose its license and asks FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to “impose the maximum fines and punishment” — Donald Trump again lashed out at 60 Minutes, this time angry over two segments the newsmagazine ran on Ukraine and Greenland.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Variety, Fox News, HuffPost, TVNewsCheck, RedState, @nullset.bsky.social, ZeroHedge News, TV Insider, @christopherterry.bsky.social, Washington Examiner, @metacurity.com, @hissgoescobra, @ronfilipkowski, @richardhanania, @artcandee, CBS News, @davidenrich, @trumpdailyposts, The Independent, Daily Mail and Raw Story
Andrew Marchand / New York Times:
Sources: College GameDay host Rece Davis agreed to a new seven-year deal worth tens of millions to stay with ESPN, after being heavily pursued by Fox Sports — College football's pregame battle between ESPN's iconic “College GameDay” and Fox Sports' upstart “Big Noon Kickoff” …
Discussion:
Poynter, @sportswhp, @gill_boldberg, @idocmedia, @bricrozier, @richfromatl, @andrewmarchand.bsky.social, Awful Announcing and New York Post
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Less than a week before A Minecraft Movie had a $160M+ opening weekend in the US and Canada, experts projected ~$65M, following four high profile misses in 2024 — A Minecraft Movie took in more than $500 million in 10 days. Nobody saw that coming — Good evening from New York …
Discussion:
Daily Mail, @pkafka, @pkafka and Forbes
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Jack Dorsey says “delete all IP law” in an X post and Musk says “I agree”; Dorsey says current models “take way too much” from creators and “only rent-seek” — Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter (now X) and Square (now Block) …
Discussion:
Fortune, Music Ally, Benzinga, @chrismessina.me, @nicoleshanahan, @ednewtonrex.bsky.social, @jack, @jack, Notes From The Circus, @rabble, @gianmarcosoresi, @alikgriffin, @saifedean, @silvermanjacob, @_alexhirsch, @krassenstein, Zachary St. Martin on LinkedIn, @attorney_tom, @timsweeneyepic, @elonmusk, @tombombadeel, @tristansnell, @jack, @financelancelot, @marklemley.bsky.social, @romanhelmetguy, @walterkirn, @poordart, Jeremy Katzenstein on LinkedIn, @lukeburgis, @madsposting, @gmorganjr, Christopher A. Suarez on LinkedIn and Ace of Spades HQ, more at Techmeme »
Joseph Bernstein / New York Times:
A profile of Darryl Cooper, a Holocaust denier who has become one of the most popular podcasters in the US and has tens of thousands of Substack subscribers — All of a sudden, everyone was coming for Darryl Cooper. — There were the newspaper columnists, the historians, the Jewish groups …
Discussion:
@hearnimator, @elilake, @bernstein, @mattyglesias, @jawillick and Althouse
Mike Fleming Jr / Deadline:
Q&A with Warner Bros. Pictures co-CEOs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy on recent negative press, playing the long game, filmmaker relationships, reviving IP, and more — Using a couple flops and risky upcoming films as fodder, several reports with scant backup say their Warner Bros Discovery boss David Zaslav …
Discussion:
Cele|bitchy, Screen Rant and Vanity Fair
Tony Maglio / The Hollywood Reporter:
The WGA says TV writer jobs fell 42% YoY, or by 1,319 positions, for the 2023-2024 season, including 642 jobs lost at the co-executive producer or higher level — Of the 1,319 total writing jobs lost from 2022-23, 642 of them were co-executive producers or above.
Discussion:
@matjohnson.bsky.social, @tvgrimreaper, The Post Millennial, AV Club, Deadline, The Wrap and IndieWire
Matthew Keys / The Desk:
EchoStar asks the FCC to abolish rules preventing its Dish and Sling TV services from importing distant local TV affiliate signals during carriage disputes — Echostar Communications has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to abolish a rule that prevents …
Discussion:
@tvgrimreaper, Policyband, Radio & Television …, TV Tech, Cord Cutters News and TVNewsCheck
Andrew Trunsky / New York Times:
A profile of Natalie Winters, a Steve Bannon protégée, War Room reporter, and Piers Morgan Uncensored contributor, who now has a White House press pass — Natalie Winters at Butterworth's, a restaurant in Washington popular with President Trump's supporters and associates.Justin T. Gellerson for The New York Times
Harshita Mary Varghese / Reuters:
Warner Bros. Discovery says John Malone is not seeking re-election to the board of directors and will instead take on the role of chairman emeritus — Cable TV pioneer John Malone is not seeking re-election to the board of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O) and will instead take on the role of chairman emeritus …
RELATED:
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Filing: WBD CEO David Zaslav's 2024 pay package was worth $51.9M, up 4% YoY, driven by $23.9M in non-equity incentive plan pay and $23.1M in stock awards
Filing: WBD CEO David Zaslav's 2024 pay package was worth $51.9M, up 4% YoY, driven by $23.9M in non-equity incentive plan pay and $23.1M in stock awards
Discussion:
Variety, @discussingfilm, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times, @ajmckay.bsky.social, Adweek, Cord Cutters News, Deadline and TVNewsCheck
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Twelve-year-old French policy title Contexte, which had €10.7M in 2024 revenue, plans to launch an EU-focused English-language edition to rival Politico in May — A French media brand hopes to rival the likes of Politico on the EU policy news stage with an English-language expansion.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News and Atlantic Council
New York Times:
Current and former editors discuss whether Vanity Fair's EIC remains an appealing and fun job given the magazine industry's decline and a loss of lavish perks — Radhika Jones is stepping down as editor in chief, and the search for her replacement has begun.
Bloomberg:
India's JioHotstar now has 200M+ paid subscribers, driven by multi-language IPL cricket streams, ranking third-largest globally after Netflix and Prime Video — JioHotstar, India's largest streaming platform, has increased its paying subscriber base to over 200 million …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, The Streamable and Streaming Better
