Top News:
Axios:
Internal memo: AG Pam Bondi rescinds Merrick Garland's policy restricting most subpoenas for journalists, “to identify and punish the source of improper leaks” — Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an internal memo obtained by Axios that the Justice Department is rescinding …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
SEC filing: Bob Bakish's severance compensation was worth $69.3M after his exit as Paramount CEO in April 2024, and his 2024 compensation totaled $86.96M — 2024 pay packages for George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy Brian Robbins each included $6 million bonuses for their co-CEO roles
Discussion:
The Wrap, @tvgrimreaper, Bloomberg, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, @lucas_shaw and @theinsneider
Teddy Rosenbluth / New York Times:
A federal prosecutor sent letters to New England Journal of Medicine and at least three other journals saying they're biased and influenced by external pressure — The New England Journal of Medicine received a letter suggesting that it was biased and compromised by external pressure.
Lachlan Cartwright / Politico:
A look at the future of MSNBC under Mark Lazarus and Rebecca Kutler once it's spun off from NBC; MSNBC must fill 100 roles to build out newsgathering operations — What becomes of every liberal's favorite TV network once it loses its connection to NBC? — Inside 30 Rock …
Gabe Kaminsky / The Free Press:
Leaked letter: interim DC attorney Ed Martin accused Wikipedia of allowing foreign manipulation and propaganda, threatening its tax-exempt status — In a letter obtained by The Free Press, Trump appointee Ed Martin accuses the Wikimedia Foundation of violating the law. Critics say his tactics are ‘grandstanding.’
Bloomberg:
Sources: Tencent Music is in advanced talks to buy Chinese podcasting startup Ximalaya in a $2.4B deal — An agreement could be reached as soon as the coming weeks, the people said. — Talks are ongoing and no final decisions have been made, the people said.
Discussion:
Digital Music News, Reuters, Music Business Worldwide and @jenniferxie12
Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
Charter Communications lost 181K pay TV subscribers in Q1 vs. a decline of 405K in Q1 2024; it had 12.7M pay TV subscribers as of March 31 — The cable giant shed less video customers than last year as overall revenue edge up slightly to $13.67 billion. — Cable and broadband giant Charter …
Discussion:
StreamTV Insider, TVNewsCheck, Reuters, The Desk, The Wrap, MediaPost, @tvgrimreaper, Benzinga, Advanced Television and Yahoo Finance
Mark Stenberg / Adweek:
Vevo unveils Vevo Evolve, a suite of ad products designed to simplify the planning, measurement, and activation processes for advertisers across CTV and YouTube — Evolve lets marketers plan, measure, and activate across CTV, and YouTube — The music video network Vevo is launching …
Discussion:
Vevo, Digital Music News, @markstenberg3, @markstenberg3 and Music Ally
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
British insurance tycoon and Prospect magazine owner Clive Cowdery takes a minority stake in Tortoise; the Scott Trust has a 9% stake after committing £5M — The 234-year-old Sunday newspaper will produce its first edition under new ownership this weekend
Discussion:
The Times
Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:
The European Commission accepts requests from Austria and the Netherlands to assess UMG's proposed $775M Downtown Music acquisition announced in December 2024 — European regulators are officially preparing to investigate Universal Music Group's proposed $775 million Downtown Music acquisition.
Discussion:
Financial Times, Benzinga, @eu_competition, Variety, Reuters, Billboard, Music Ally, Reuters and Bloomberg
Carmen Arroyo / Bloomberg:
Docs: X's data licensing and subscriptions revenue grew 32% YoY to $91M in February, ad revenue grew 4% YoY to $146M; Twitter had $4.5B in ad revenue in 2021 — Elon Musk's X Holdings Corp. is evolving from a social media platform powered by mainstream advertisers to one betting …
Discussion:
@simonowens.bsky.social, @simonowens.bsky.social, The Information and Yahoo Finance, more at Techmeme »
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Ziff Davis sues OpenAI, alleging it used Ziff Davis' content to train AI models; sources say Ziff Davis is seeking at least hundreds of millions of dollars — Ziff Davis, which owns more than 45 media properties, is accusing the tech company of infringing on the publisher's copyrights and diluting its trademarks.
