Top News:
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
WBD's board unanimously rejects Paramount's amended $108.4B acquisition offer, saying the bid still has “significant” risks compared to Netflix's $83B offer — The board says the revised $108.4 billion bid continues to offer “significant costs, risks and uncertainties” compared to its $83 billion deal with Netflix
Discussion:
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Josh Sisco / Bloomberg:
Filing: the US DOJ opened an in-depth review of Paramount's hostile tender offer for WBD on December 23; Netflix has said it's also talking with the DOJ and EC
Discussion:
IndieWire, Reuters, The Hill, Bloomberg Law, Sky News, The Wrap, Financial Post, Telegraph, Al Jazeera, Agence France-Presse, The Independent, Screen Rant and WPXI-TV
Katie Arcieri / Bloomberg Law:
The US House Judiciary Subcommittee scrutinizes the WBD-Netflix deal, and Rep. Jamie Raskin expresses concern over Trump's influence on Paramount and Netflix
The US House Judiciary Subcommittee scrutinizes the WBD-Netflix deal, and Rep. Jamie Raskin expresses concern over Trump's influence on Paramount and Netflix
Discussion:
Reuters, Irish Examiner and Comic Book
Tony Maglio / The Hollywood Reporter:
WBD board chair indicates WBD remains open to a Paramount acquisition, saying David Ellison “stepped up to the table” but “ultimately didn't raise the price”
WBD board chair indicates WBD remains open to a Paramount acquisition, saying David Ellison “stepped up to the table” but “ultimately didn't raise the price”
Discussion:
CNBC, Business Insider, CNBC, The A.V. Club, The Wrap, The Movie Blog, Front Office Sports, Vanity Fair, Screen, Media Play News, NBC News, Reuters, CBS News and Mediaite
Mark Walker / New York Times:
Block Communications announces that The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will cease publication May 3; the closure will not affect its sister newspaper, The Toledo Blade — The family-owned company that operates the newspaper cited mounting losses and labor constraints. A final edition is expected on Sunday, May 3.
Discussion:
Nieman Lab, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Wrap, The Guardian, Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, Fox News, The Hill, Editor and Publisher, Poynter, @sulliview, Courthouse News Service, Awful Announcing, Plain Dealer, Dow Jones Newswires, MLive.com, CBS News, Keith Reed on LinkedIn, @colinbwilliams.com, @stephenthompson.bsky.social, @lrearick.bsky.social, Stacy Skiavo on LinkedIn, @steve@s.yelvington.com, Barrett Media, @pghguild, @victorpickard.bsky.social, Daily Caller News Foundation, @byerussell.com, Angela S. Jones on LinkedIn, @kevincollier.bsky.social, Bloomberg, Chicago Tribune, Deadline and r/Journalism
Isabella Simonetti / Wall Street Journal:
Semafor raised $30M at a $330M valuation after generating $2M in EBITDA in 2025, its first profitable year, and plans to expand its annual CEO gathering in DC — The digital media outlet, which aims to inform the ‘global leadership class,’ plans to expand its events business and add journalists
Discussion:
@johnwilson, @thesimonetti, @neilcybart, Axios, @parryravi, @sbanjo, The Wrap, @emily_sundberg, @lizrhoffman, Reuters, Semafor, Justin B. Smith on LinkedIn and Talking Biz News
Katherine Doherty / Bloomberg:
Polymarket agrees to supply Dow Jones outlets like the WSJ and Barron's with prediction market trading data for online and in print, its first media partnership — Polymarket will supply Dow Jones with trading data under a new partnership, the latest in a string of deals between exchanges …
Discussion:
Benzinga, Cointelegraph, Reuters, Business Wire, Blockonomi, Bitcoin Magazine, Coinspeaker, Watcher Guru, The Block and Crypto Briefing, more at Techmeme »
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Spotify lowers monetization eligibility for video podcasters to three episodes, 2,000 consumption hours, and 1,000 engaged audience members over a 30-day period — Spotify is lowering its eligibility criteria for podcasters to monetize their videos on the platform, dropping …
Discussion:
Tubefilter, Ghacks, The Wrap, Reuters, The Hollywood Reporter, Digital Music News and Los Angeles Times
Etan Vlessing / The Hollywood Reporter:
Imax reports $1.28B in 2025 global box office, a company record, driven by a global theater network expansion and films like Ne Zha 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash — The latest global ticket receipt haul surpassed the $1.1 billion year-end box office posted in 2019, as exhibitors saw their domestic box office end 2025 at $8.87 billion.
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
The White House debuts a website to revise the history of January 6, with false claims blaming police for fomenting the attack and calling Mike Pence a coward — The website appeared to be a way to counter what has been a daylong commemoration at the Capitol, featuring primarily Democrats …
Discussion:
The White House, Fox News, @btarrington.bsky.social, Breitbart, @denisedwheeler.bsky.social, The Present Age, The Hill, @steadystatevets.bsky.social, New Jersey Online, @rpsagainsttrump, @wessmith123.bsky.social, MS NOW, @barbmcquade.bsky.social, NewsMax.com, Cele|bitchy, Metro.co.uk, @lifesafeast.bsky.social, @localnotail.bsky.social, Washington Post, @democratswin.bsky.social, LGBTQ Nation, CBS News, Rolling Stone, LateNighter, @CStamp@mastodon.social, People, One America News Network, The Parnas Perspective, New York Post, Mediaite, al.com, The Wrap, Human Events, Axios, Raw Story and The Rambling Panda
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Disney announces it is adding vertical videos to Disney+ later this year, following the launch of ESPN's “Verts” in the ESPN app last August — Other new offerings include a new “brand impact” metric and a new video generation tool that helps advertisers create high-quality …
Discussion:
The Wrap, StreamTV Insider, Adweek, @2xaught7.ing, The Hollywood Reporter, Cord Cutters News, The Verge and Collider
Deadline:
Deadline names Nellie Andreeva, its current co-editor-in-chief and head of the TV department, as sole EIC; Mike Fleming Jr. will become editor-at-large — Nellie Andreeva, Deadline's current Co-Editor-In-Chief and head of the TV department, has been named sole Editor-in-Chief.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News, The Ankler, The Wrap, @deadline and @maxwelltani, more at Techmeme »
Naman Ramachandran / Variety:
Asian streaming giant Viu launches Viu Shorts, a new vertical video section for microdramas on its app, featuring episodes that are one to three minutes long — Asian streaming giant Viu has expanded its content offerings with the debut of Viu Shorts, a new vertical video section featuring bite-sized dramas …
Carolina Abbott Galvão / Columbia Journalism Review:
Q&A with John Cusack, a longtime press freedom advocate, on how FOIA-based reporting shouldn't be behind paywalls and how walls hurt those most affected by news — The movie star says that by selling their public-records-based reporting, news outlets are compromising one of journalism's essential civic roles.
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Fox is launching Fox Creator Studios to work with social content creators on multiple platforms and has made development deals with several food personalities — Digital-first division starts with a focus on food through deals with Gordon Ramsay and social media stars Rosanna Pansino …
