Top News:
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
WBD reports Q1 revenue down 10% YoY to $8.9B, net income down 53% to $453M, $2.6B streaming revenue, $339M streaming adjusted EBITDA, and 122.3M streaming subs — Even so, the company had to contend with dips in all of its traditional streams of revenue, including advertising and distribution …
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Todd Spangler / Variety:
WBD says it'll start getting “more assertive” about blocking password sharing later in 2025 and Max password-sharing feature will fully roll out in 12-18 months — That lets a primary account owner share their Max account by inviting a friend or family member outside of their household …
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, Business Insider, Cord Cutters News, Deadline, @tvgrimreaper, Media Play News and The Hollywood Reporter
Tony Maglio / The Hollywood Reporter:
CNBC's David Faber: sources say WBD is moving toward a split that would see its linear cable networks spun off from the studio and Max
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, Mediaite, Seeking Alpha, MediaPost, Los Angeles Times, @dylanbyers, Yahoo Finance, CNBC, Reuters and Cord Cutters News
Eshe Nelson / New York Times:
President Trump's threatened 100% tariffs on foreign films causes anxiety in the UK industry; nearly 90% of the £5.6B spent on 2024 production came from abroad — After struggling through pandemic shutdowns and twin Hollywood strikes, the British film and TV industry is worried that duties will wreak devastation.
Financial Times:
Jefferies expects the global anime market to hit $60.1B by 2030, up from $31.2B in 2023, as Hollywood searches for IP; Japanese studios capture <10% of revenues — Stay informed with free updates — Simply sign up to the Media myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.
Discussion:
Screen Rant and @simondowens@threads.com
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Mark Lazarus says Versant, Comcast's cable TV spinoff, will have its own sports strategy, and has held talks with the NWSL and MLB on acquiring live game rights — Comcast's spinoff of most of NBCUniversal's cable portfolio has a new name - Versant. This week, I had a chance to speak …
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, Alex Sherman on LinkedIn, Sports Media Watch and Washington Examiner
Jeré Longman / New York Times:
Clarence O. Smith, co-founder and president of Essence, the first general circulation magazine directed at Black women, has died at age 92 — As president, he helped persuade companies like Estée Lauder and Ford to advertise in the pages of the first mass-circulation magazine directed at Black women.
Discussion:
Essence
Chris Vallance / BBC:
The Wikimedia Foundation says it is taking legal action to challenge the UK's Online Safety Act, saying it could threaten the safety of its volunteer editors — Wikipedia is taking legal action against new Online Safety Act regulations it says could threaten the safety of its volunteer editors …
Discussion:
Engadget, The Verge, @openrightsgroup, Silicon UK, Diff, City A.M. and The Guardian, more at Techmeme »
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Meta says it will start testing video ads on Threads with a “small number” of advertisers, and “Reels trending ads”, which will be shown next to trending Reels — Instagram Threads will begin testing video ads, Meta announced on Thursday.
Discussion:
Adweek, Deadline and @devonheinen.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »
Jem Aswad / Variety:
Rolling Stone announces CEO Gus Wenner will assume the role of executive chairman and Julian Holguin, the former president of Billboard, will become the new CEO — Rolling Stone has announced that Gus Wenner will assume the role of executive chairman, and Julian Holguin will become the brand's CEO.
Discussion:
The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and Julian Holguin on LinkedIn
Lachlan Cartwright / Breaker:
Sources: NYT reporter Rob Copeland filed a HR complaint against editor Ellen Pollock after she threatened to “kill” him if a Harvard story exceeded 2,000 words — Pamela Paul's new gig; Keith McNally censored; VERSANT vs Vaulter — In partnership with … Newsrooms plus pressure equals... more drama.
Discussion:
New York Post, @danack@threads.com, @joemenn.bsky.social, @lachcartwright, @chadloder.bsky.social, The Independent, @lopatto.bsky.social, @joolia.bsky.social, The Post Millennial, @markgongloff.bsky.social, @robhanna.bsky.social, @petersterne.com, @paris.nyc, @choire.bsky.social and Talking Biz News
Zac Ntim / Deadline:
India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting orders all streamers and OTT companies operating in India to pull Pakistani content, citing national security — The order was published today by India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. In an X caption along with the order …
Discussion:
The Economic Times, Times of India, @globalaffairs, The Indian Express, @ani, BMI and Fortune India
Mark K. Miller / TVNewsCheck:
Nexstar reports Q1 revenue down 3.9% YoY to $1.23B, primarily due to reduced political advertising revenue and net income down 42% to $97M — Save this article for later! Login or create a Free Member Profile to bookmark it. — That $50 million drop to $1.23 billion was “primarily due to reduced political advertising revenue.”
Discussion:
The Desk, Sportico, Variety, @tvgrimreaper, Yahoo Finance, Barrett Media and Nexstar Media Group, Inc.
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