Mediagazer: Roku launches Howdy, an ad-free streaming service for $2.99 per month, initially only on Roku devices, with content from Lionsgate, WBD, FilmRise, and others (Kelly Lawler/USA Today)

12:15 PM ET, August 5, 2025

Top News:

Fox reports Q4 revenue up 6% YoY to $3.29B, ad revenue up 7% YoY to $1.1B, driven by Tubi and Fox News, and a net income of $719M, up from $320M in Q4 2024 — The company saw revenues rise across the board in tis fiscal Q4 quarter, as it prepares to launch its Fox One streaming service.

Discussion: MediaPost, Advanced Television, TheDesk.net, Reuters, The Wrap, Variety, @genetics56, Deadline, Fox Corporation and @earnings_time

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch says Fox One, a streaming service offering NFL and MLB games, Fox News programs, and more, will debut August 21 at $19.99 per month — The new broadband outlet, a venue that offers Fox Corp.'s Sunday-afternoon NFL games and post-season MLB play along with Fox News programs and more …

Rebecca Falconer / Axios:

Court filing: Trump and Rupert Murdoch agree to postpone Murdoch's deposition in the Epstein letter libel suit until after a ruling on the WSJ's dismissal case — President Trump and Rupert Murdoch reached a deal Monday to postpone the media mogul's deposition in a libel lawsuit related …

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Skydance announces the 10 board directors for Paramount Skydance, including Oracle CEO Safra Catz and former Paramount Pictures CEO Sherry Lansing — Skydance Media announced the full slate of 10 directors for Paramount Skydance Corp., the company resulting from its merger with Paramount Global.

Discussion: Radio & Television …, TVNewsCheck, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter and Skydance Media

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
David Ellison names Paramount Global's senior leadership team, appointing himself as CEO, Jeff Shell as president, and RedBird Capital's Andy Gordon as COO

Discussion: The Information, Forbes, Deadline, Reuters, Variety, Deadline, The Wrap, Variety, Deadline, Sports Business Journal, New York Post, Adweek, Los Angeles Times, WORLD SCREEN and MediaPost

Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Skydance TV President Matt Thunell will run a merged division with Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, reviving Paramount TV Studios which was shut down in 2024

Discussion: The Wrap, Deadline, C21Media, The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, LateNighter and Sports Media Watch

John Herrman / New York Magazine:

Search-engine optimization feels dated as marketers look to generative-engine optimization, or GEO, which focuses on tricking AI chatbots rather than Google — Search-engine optimization now feels dated. Generative-engine optimization is all about trying to trick AI chatbots.

Discussion: Street Fight, The Information, Implicator.ai, @metacurity.com, Michael King on LinkedIn, Social Media Today, @jwherrman.bsky.social, @jayrosen.bsky.social, Forbes and Search Engine Journal, more at Techmeme »

Jon Blistein / Rolling Stone:

A Parkland shooting victim's parents created an AI version of their late son to speak about gun safety, starting with an interview with journalist Jim Acosta — AI-generated Joaquin Oliver, which was created by his parents, discussed gun control measures and movies in a new interview

Kelly Lawler / USA Today:

Roku launches Howdy, an ad-free streaming service for $2.99 per month, initially only on Roku devices, with content from Lionsgate, WBD, FilmRise, and others — Roku is ready to say Howdy. — The company − which sells set-top streaming devices, smart TVs and has its own free …

Oliver Darcy / Status:

Axios shutters its Pro: Policy product, which launched in September 2022 and offered legislative tracking tools, breaking news alerts, and more for $4,500+/year — It began with a thank you for being a “valued subscriber” and expressed a desire to “better serve” both them and the outlet's “entire audience.”

Discussion: @passantino.bsky.social, @murshedz.bsky.social and @oliverdarcy.bsky.social

Jay Peters / The Verge:

IGN lays off staff, including eight members of the IGN Creators Guild, representing 12% of the bargaining unit, as parent company Ziff Davis cuts costs — The ‘perplexing’ cuts laid off eight employees at IGN. … Ziff Davis-owned IGN Entertainment has laid off staff, including eight members of the IGN Creators Guild.

Discussion: Kotaku, WebProNews, The Sun, Angelo Caproitti on LinkedIn, Spilled, @jaypeters.net, @erikadams.bsky.social, @geminibros.bsky.social, @lukeplunkett.com, @oswinstark.bsky.social, @ignunion.bsky.social and Aftermath

Max Goldbart / Deadline:

BAFTA changes its rules to let all 6,000 members vote in the international TV category; the 2026 TV awards are set for May 10, and the craft awards for April 26 — BAFTA has tweaked its international TV category so that all of its 6,000 members are allowed to determine the nominations and winners.

Discussion: Variety, Broadcast, Bafta, The Hollywood Reporter and MacTech.com

Josh Axelrod / Nieman Lab:

How some news organizations are using AI models powered by retrieval-augmented generation to surface the most newsworthy elements from very large datasets — “If we sit on the sideline and observe, I think the risk is too high that we are gonna be left behind.”

Discussion: @klingebeil.bsky.social, The Register, @tongli.bsky.social, @mikeananny.bsky.social and @niemanlab.org

Ben Strauss / Washington Post:

A profile of Katie Feeney, an influencer and a rising star in sports media with 8M TikTok followers, as ESPN hires her to appear across its social channels — Chasing content from the Rose Bowl to the red carpet with a 22-year-old influencer and rising media star. — LOS ANGELES — Katie Feeney's hand was shaking.

Discussion: @benjstrauss, The US Sun, New York Post and Awful Announcing

Scott Nover / Washington Post:

Filing: VOA Director Michael Abramowitz has been fired after refusing what he called an “illegal” reassignment to run a broadcasting station in North Carolina — Kari Lake tried to dispatch Michael Abramowitz to North Carolina. When he refused, she fired him.

Discussion: The Independent, @andria.bsky.social, TVNewsCheck, Poynter, @marionawfal, @w7voa, @scottnover, @kyledcheney, The Wrap and TheDesk.net

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More News:

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
The Athletic signs podcast licensing deals for Pablo Torre Finds Out and Sports Gossip Show; a source says the agreement with Torre is in the seven figures

Discussion: Awful Announcing, @mad_hill and @lebatardshow

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Patreon CEO Jack Conte says the platform paid out $10B+ to creators since its 2013 founding, creators now get $2B+ annually, and there are 25M+ paid memberships

Discussion: @sarafischer

Belle Lin / Wall Street Journal:
ElevenLabs launches Eleven Music, letting individuals and businesses use its AI model to generate music cleared for commercial use via English-language prompts

Discussion: TechCrunch, Implicator.ai, Shelly Palmer, Music Business Worldwide and WinBuzzer

Alice Brooker / Press Gazette:
Shareholder letter: Reddit cites Profound's analysis showing it is the most cited domain across AI models, as often as Wikipedia and ahead of YouTube and others

Discussion: David Buttle on LinkedIn, WinBuzzer and Reddit Investor Relations, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
WaPo veteran investigative reporter Carol Leonnig leaves to become a senior investigative correspondent at MSNBC, which is staffing up as it splits from Comcast

Discussion: Media Nation, Columbia Journalism Review, @dylanbyers, The Wrap, @ericschmeltzer.com and al.com

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A federal judge dismisses a defamation lawsuit by Devin Nunes against NBCU over a comment by Rachel Maddow about his dealings with a suspected Russian agent

Discussion: HuffPost, LGBTQ Nation, twitchy.com, Advocate, MSNBC, Baller Alert, Raw Story, @bselena.bsky.social, The Independent, @rebel-librarian.bsky.social, TheDesk.net, @chrisrauber.bsky.social, NewsMax.com, New Republic, @banksyfella.bsky.social, The Hill and Bloomberg Law

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Elon Musk says Vine's video archive is being brought back, and xAI's newly launched Grok Imagine, available to X Premium+ subscribers, is “AI Vine”

Sara Fischer / Axios:
The New York Post plans to launch a daily Los Angeles-based newspaper called The California Post in early 2026, with News Corp veteran Nick Papps as EIC

Discussion: New York Post, Semafor, CNN, Breitbart, New York Times, Variety, TheDesk.net, Politico, TODAY.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, American Thinker, Australian Financial Review, @henryporters, @tim_bays, @timj_b, @noahmallin, @blowryontv, @cmarinucci, @_bizbaz, @kellblog, The Gateway Pundit, @matthewkeyslive, @bristei, @jonchesto, @kentmoyer, @adriana_lacy, @spiccarella, @adamprobolsky, @edmundlee, @jg_cstt, @jimmyfailla, @jessicalessin, @benfritz, Mumbrella, Reuters, @maxwelltani, Newser, @richontech, @sarafischer, Fortune, NBC News, The Boston Globe, The A.V. Club, UPI, David Thalberg on LinkedIn, The Hollywood Reporter, Washington Post, The Post Millennial, The Guardian, Mediaite, MediaPost, @tranniehathaway.bsky.social, Wall Street Journal, Stacy Ezra Wormser on LinkedIn, The Daily Caller, Joe.My.God., @doughenwood.bsky.social, @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social, The Wrap, @tvmojoe.bsky.social, @honeymummy.co, Deadline, Fox News and Althouse

From Techmeme:

Suzanne Smalley / The Record:
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court rules that police can get Google search data without a warrant; an expert warns it may encourage warrantless searches nationwide

Lydia Beyoud / Bloomberg:
The US Senate confirms Trump pick Michael Selig as chairman of the CFTC, as lawmakers consider legislation to give the agency more control over digital assets

Meghan Bobrowsky / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Meta is developing a new image and video-focused AI model codenamed Mango, expected to be released in H1 2026 along with its new LLM dubbed Avocado

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