Top News:
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Warner Bros. Discovery says it will change the name of its Max streaming service back to HBO Max this summer, and tweaks its logo; WBD dropped “HBO” in May 2023 — Turns out, Warner Bros. Discovery thinks HBO has some pretty good brand equity, after all.
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Pressroom, New York Times, Deadline, Wall Street Journal, Decrypt, @hbo, @streamonmax, Daring Fireball, @dkthomp, LateNighter, Consequence, The Hollywood Reporter, @chopaganda@shakedown.social, @gedeonm@mastodon.social, @screenbrief, Newser, @willfulchaos, @scalzi.com, StreamTV Insider, @mikeisaac, SlashFilm, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, @thelincoln.bsky.social, @sherman4949, Yahoo Finance, Chicago Tribune, @streamonmax, @seanyoo, TechCrunch, @mattbinder, Comic Book, @pkafka, @kaleidotrope.bsky.social, @brettredacted, @lingounbound, @alexkoppelman.bsky.social, @dbreunig@note.computer, @nathanallebach, @harrymccracken.com, BGR, TVLine, Entertainment Weekly, @juansaaa.com, @rbripley.bsky.social, The Verge, Broadband TV News, @peacock, Bloomberg, The Streamable, Hollywood Life, Dara Gruen on LinkedIn, @kerrymflynn, @izzos.us, @parismarx.com, Chris Heatherly on LinkedIn, @maxwelltani, The Wrap, @scottnover, Reuters, @tuphlos.bsky.social, @chrisyogerst.com, TODAY.com, Axios, @jeremiahdjohns, @stefan@stefanbohacek.online, @loudmouthjulia, @riversoverflow.bsky.social, @caitiedelaney, The Drum, The Information, @defunctgames.com, Erin Sarofsky on LinkedIn, Business Insider, @danprimack, @timeimmemorial_, IndieWire, @carnage4life.bsky.social, @ernie.tedium.co, The Verge, Engadget, Aftermath, Polygon, Cara Lustik on LinkedIn, Streaming Better, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Adweek, Dallas Taylor on LinkedIn, @loudmouthjulia, @mcdaragh.bsky.social, @tvgrimreaper, @morningbrew, @moryan.bsky.social, Screen Rant, GamesRadar, Advanced Television, The Daily Wire, CNN, MediaPost, TV Tech, Associated Press, WPXI-TV, GoldDerby, WORLD SCREEN and Just Jared, more at Techmeme »
Sara Salinas / CNBC:
Netflix says its ad-supported tier now has 94M MAUs, up from 70M in November 2024, and reaches more 18- to 34-year-olds than any US broadcast or cable network — Netflix said Wednesday its cheaper, ad-supported tier now has 94 million monthly active users — an increase of more than 20 million since its last public tally in November.
Discussion:
About Netflix, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, @minddestroyedx, Reuters, Adweek, Streaming Better, Tubefilter and Media Play News, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Bill Bradley / Adweek:
Netflix says its in-house ad platform Netflix Ads Suite, currently live in the US and Canada, will be available in all 12 of its ad-supported countries by June
Netflix says its in-house ad platform Netflix Ads Suite, currently live in the US and Canada, will be available in all 12 of its ad-supported countries by June
Discussion:
TV Tech, Ars Technica, MediaPost, Ad Age, Cord Cutters News, Media Play News, The Wrap, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, TVNewsCheck and The Verge
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
The BBC plans to expand its Local Democracy Reporting Service beyond local authorities and “dramatically” increase BBC's presence on YouTube and TikTok — BBC director-general Tim Davie has revealed plans to expand the Local Democracy Reporting Service outside of its current focus on local authorities.
RELATED:
Mark Kleinman / Sky News:
Source: the UK plans to let foreign state investors hold stakes of up to 15% in British national papers, following RedBird IMI's attempt to buy The Telegraph — Ministers are to impose the new threshold on foreign state ownership amid a two-year row about the future ownership of The Daily Telegraph, Sky News learns.
Discussion:
The Daily Sceptic, Reuters, The Guardian, Financial Times, Telegraph, Bloomberg and The Times
Jeanna Smialek / New York Times:
The EU General Court rules the EU should not have denied an NYT journalist's request for text messages between Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla — The case revolved around whether texts between a top official and a drug company executive counted as a public record that might need to be disclosed.
Discussion:
Irish Independent, GB News, JURISTnews, UPI, @matisaksk.bsky.social, The Guardian, Le Monde, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Talking Biz News, City A.M. and Politico
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
National Trust for Local News plans to sell 21 local Denver publications to Times Media Group, a for-profit media company with a history of reducing newsrooms — The Times Media Group is an out-of-state, for-profit media company with a history of reducing roles in local newsrooms.
Stewart Clarke / Deadline:
Sony says it is doubling down on anime, including with Crunchyroll, which had 17M paid subscribers at the end of March 2025, up from 15M in August 2024 — The new subs number, for paying customers as of end-March, compares to the 15M total that previously out in the market.
Discussion:
@chrisbeveridge.bsky.social, The Streamable and Darren Traub on LinkedIn
Abid Rahman / The Hollywood Reporter:
Sony Pictures reports Q4 revenue flat YoY to $2.73B and operating income up 70% YoY to $354M; FY 24 revenue fell 4% to $9.9B, operating income fell 4% to $774M — The studio's top performing films in the period were ‘Venom: The Last Dance,’ ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die,’ ‘The Garfield Movie,’ and the scandal-plagued ‘It Ends With Us.’
Discussion:
Kidscreen, CNBC, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap and Associated Press, more at Techmeme »
Richard Headland / Press Gazette:
DMG's Eliza, a fashion brand for millennial women launched in 2022, shut down its site to focus on social media; an analyst says sites are “becoming redundant” — A fashion and beauty brand aimed at millennial women launched by DMG Media in 2022 closed its website and focused …
Will McCarthy / Politico:
Patrick Soon-Shiong has appeared with Trump on the first day of the president's Middle East trip, as he maneuvers into Trump's orbit and shifts LAT to the right — The billionaire newspaper owner is getting closer to the president. — The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times has gotten closer …
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
RFE/RL receives $12M from USAGM, its congressionally appropriated funds for the month of April, after a six-week delay and says it will continue its lawsuit — In Legal Win, RFE/RL Receives April Funding; Lawsuit Continues for Remainder of FY 2025 Funds — Share: — Share this page on Facebook
Discussion:
@scottnover and @newsguy.bsky.social
Lauren Feiner / The Verge:
FTC v. Meta: Meta's lead attorney disparaged tech journalists Kara Swisher and Om Malik, calling Malik a “failed blogger”, resurfacing years-old media tensions — Meta's lead attorney called a once-prominent tech journalist a “failed blogger.”
Discussion:
@jason_kint, @jason_kint, @superwuster, @jason_kint, @om, @superwuster, @superwuster, @jason_kint, @bbenedict33, @wavesblog.bsky.social, @anildash.com, @karaswisher.bsky.social, @darthbluesky.bsky.social, @edzitron.com, @noahgift.com, @kerrygutknecht.bsky.social, @karaswisher.bsky.social and @quillmatiq.com
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Xumo founder Colin Petrie-Norris launches Fairground, a production studio focused exclusively on AI-generated TV series that has raised a $4M seed round — Now he's hoping to stake a claim on the future of AI entertainment. — Petrie-Norris' new company is Fairground Entertainment …
