Top News:
Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
Paramount agrees to pay Trump $16M to settle his 60 Minutes lawsuit, stating the money will go to his future presidential library, without offering an apology — Paramount Global has agreed to pay President Trump $16 million to end his lawsuit over edits to a “60 Minutes” interview …
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Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Comedy Central delays the Season 27 premiere of South Park from July 9 to July 23, citing complications from the pending Paramount and Skydance merger — Comedy Central has delayed the upcoming debut of the new season of South Park, prompting a vitriolic response from the show's creators.
Discussion:
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Brian Steinberg / Variety:
WGA East, which represents CBS News writers, says the Paramount settlement is a “transparent attempt to curry favors” with Trump to get Skydance merger approved — The familiar tick-tick-tick of the famous stopwatch that has been part of “60 Minutes” for decades may give way to a new sound: a loud alarm.
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Paramount says its settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret and 60 Minutes will release transcripts of presidential candidates in the future — Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS News, said it has agreed to pay $16 million to President Trump's foundation …
Discussion:
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Meg James / Los Angeles Times:
Paramount faces a backlash for settling with Trump; Democrat FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez says it “marks a dangerous precedent for the First Amendment” — - Journalists and others said the payoff will embolden attacks by Trump and his allies on news outlets.
Kerry Flynn / Axios:
G/O Media sells gaming news site Kotaku to Keleops, the European company that acquired Gizmodo in 2024, leaving G/O Media with just one property, The Root — - Kleis declined to share the purchase price of the all-cash deal. … - “I like to trust people, and I know that people in this industry …
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Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Similarweb: since the launch of Google's AI Overviews, the number of news searches that result in no click-throughs grew from 56% in May 2024 to 69% in May 2025 — Referrals from ChatGPT to news publishers are growing, but not enough to counter the decline in clicks resulting …
Jorge A. Aguilar / How-To Geek:
Amazon is shutting down its Freevee app in August, but its content will remain on Prime Video, whether or not users have a Prime subscription — Amazon's free streaming service with ads, Freevee, finally has a (rough) shutdown date. The platform will officially stop working in August 2025.
Discussion:
AFTVnews, TechCrunch, Pocket-lint, Android Police, Cord Cutters News, PCWorld and CNBC
Bloomberg:
Google ends its Recipe Quick View pilot, which showed full recipes directly in search results, after some bloggers feared it would reduce traffic and ad revenue — Google has ended tests of a feature that would have let users open a snapshot of cooking-recipe content directly in web search results …
Discussion:
Paul Bannister on LinkedIn, more at Techmeme »
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Future shuts down Laptop Mag, which started as a print magazine in 1991; Future shut down AnandTech in 2024 — The tech publication got its start as a print magazine in 1991. … Laptop Mag is shutting down after nearly 35 years of providing consumers with in-depth information about laptops and other technology.
The Information:
Kargo: ad prices fell 4.4% on FAST channels and grew 4.5% on VOD from May to June as big-name subscription services compete with FAST channels for ad dollars — Until recently, it seemed video streaming had a channel for every taste. Fans of the 1970s Western drama “Little House on the Prairie …
Discussion:
Streaming Better and Catherine Perloff on LinkedIn
Jessica Toonkel / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Netflix has held talks with Spotify about partnering on projects such as a music awards show, as it adds content that was core to the cable bundle — The streamer has had talks with Spotify about partnering on events — Netflix ascended by offering prestige TV and movies on demand for a monthly fee.
