Top News:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Memo from Disney execs: YouTube pulled Disney channels before the expiration time of the carriage deal with “no advance notice to their subscribers, or to us” — Disney top brass told the troops that the media company's leaders are going to continue to fight for a “fair deal” …
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Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Disney networks including ABC and ESPN go dark on YouTube TV after the two sides failed to reach a new carriage deal — YouTube TV customers have lost access to ABC, ESPN, and other Disney-owned channels this evening as a contract between Google and Disney failed to reach a renewal in negotiations …
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Max Tani / Semafor:
Sources: after earlier suing CBS over 60 Minutes, Trump is set to be interviewed for the show by Norah O'Donnell, following David Ellison's Paramount purchase — The Scoop — CBS News is learning that several million dollars go a long way to healing a relationship with President Donald Trump.
Discussion:
Reuters, The Wrap, Columbia Journalism Review, Variety, Deadline, @semafor.com and CBS News
Justin Baragona / The Independent:
CBS has cut two streaming shows, disbanded its race and culture unit, eliminated the Johannesburg bureau; all eight on-air correspondents cut were women — EXCLUSIVE: Multiple sources told The Independent that senior foreign correspondent Debora Patta was added to the layoff list following …
Discussion:
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Brianna Tucker / Washington Post:
An NC Republican Party spokesman appeared to threaten ProPublica, citing party ties to Trump's administration, and tried to coerce the outlet to kill a story — Communications director Matt Mercer later says in a social media post that Trump should “feed ProPublica to the USAID wood chipper.”
Reuters:
Sources: Netflix is exploring a bid for WBD's studio and streaming business and has tapped investment bank Moelis & Co to evaluate a prospective offer — - Netflix hires Moelis & Co for Warner Bros Discovery bid evaluation — Sarandos confirms no interest in legacy media networks like CNN
Discussion:
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John Melloy / CNBC:
Netflix announces a 10-for-1 stock split, after its shares boomed over the last three years to above $1,000 a share — Netflix announced a 10-for-1 stock split, a move that changes nothing fundamentally about the company, but could make the pricey individual shares more accessible to the retail investor.
Discussion:
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New York Times:
Puck acquires Air Mail, the startup founded by Graydon Carter; sources: the deal values Air Mail at $16M, less than the $32M in funding it raised since 2019 — Graydon Carter, the legendary Vanity Fair editor who founded Air Mail, is leaving the company. — The check is in the mail.
Discussion:
Breaker, Mediaite, @benmullin, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap and Axios
Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Indiana University reverses course on its decision to stop student journalists from including news coverage in print editions, after accusations of censorship — The university faced fierce criticism after it fired the director of student media and said that news coverage could be published only online.
Discussion:
Indiana Daily Student, TVNewsCheck, Indiana Daily Student, @mcuban and @caregivertalk
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Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Bluesky says it has hit 40M users and plans to launch “dislikes” in beta to tailor content rankings and reply rankings — Social network Bluesky, which on Friday announced a new milestone of 40 million users, will soon start testing “dislikes” as a way to improve personalization on its main Discover feed and others.
Variety:
Sources: Gayle King, who has anchored CBS News' morning show for over a decade, is expected to leave the program next year; her existing contract expires in May — Mainstay of network's morning show may shift to different role as contract expiration approaches in May
Discussion:
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Andrew Deck / Nieman Lab:
An analysis of AI training datasets, compiled by The Atlantic, shows AI models were trained on hundreds of thousands of YouTube videos from news publishers — YouTube channels from major news publishers and creators were in video data sets used by Microsoft, Meta, Snap, Runway AI, and Bytedance.
Michelle Kim / Rest of World:
A look at the rising popularity of virtual K-pop stars, usually created by artists wearing motion sensor suits, and the labor rights questions they raise — In an industry studded with megastars like BTS and Blackpink, virtual idols are building powerful new fandoms even while their true identities remain obscured.
Discussion:
@restofworld.org
