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Clayton Davis / Variety:
Ryan Coogler's Sinners breaks the Academy Awards' nomination record with 16 nominations, surpassing the previous record of 14, held by three films — Ryan Coogler has officially rewritten Oscar history. — Coogler's “Sinners” shattered the Academy Awards' all-time nomination record Thursday …
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Deadline:
A breakdown of 2026 Oscars nominations by movie and studio: WBD leads with 30 nominations, tying its own record, Neon gets 18, Netflix earns 16, Apple gets 6 — Sinners is up for Best Picture, Actor Michael B. Jordan, Supporting Actress Wunmi Mosaku, Supporting Actor Delroy Lindo …
On Substack:
Substack launches its Substack TV app for Apple TV and Google TV in beta for free and paid subscribers, with access matched to their current subscription levels — Today we're launching the Substack TV app for Apple TV and Google TV. Substack is the home for the best longform …
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Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Filing: Paramount extends the deadline for WBD shareholders to vote on its $30-per-share offer to February 20 — Paramount has extended the deadline for Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders to throw their support behind the company's hostile takeover bid. — The initial deadline of Wednesday has now been pushed to February 20.
Liz Hoffman / Semafor:
Sources: the US and China approve a deal to sell TikTok's US business to a group of mostly US investors led by Oracle and Silverlake, set to close this week — The US and China have signed off on a deal to sell TikTok's US business to a consortium of mostly US investors led by Oracle and Silver Lake …
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TechCrunch, iPhone in Canada, Anadolu Ajansı …, Investing.com, Benzinga, Hypebot and Crypto Briefing, more at Techmeme »
Bloomberg:
Sources: Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and WBD Chief Strategy Officer Bruce Campbell plan to testify in February at a US Senate committee hearing on the WBD sale — Netflix Inc. co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos is planning to testify in February at a US Senate committee hearing looking …
Discussion:
Reuters and Telecompaper
Hannah Rabinowitz / CNN:
Source: a federal judge rejected the US DOJ's initial attempt to charge Don Lemon for appearing alongside protesters that interrupted a Minnesota church service — A federal magistrate judge rejected the Justice Department's initial attempt to bring charges against journalist Don Lemon …
Mia Sato / The Verge:
Cate Blanchett, Cyndi Lauper, and 800+ creatives launch “Stealing Isn't Innovation” to protest unauthorized AI training, backed by RIAA, SAG-AFTRA, and others — Cate Blanchett, Cyndi Lauper, George Saunders, and other creatives say that AI companies are …
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Variety, Rolling Stone, Mashable, PetaPixel, Billboard, Deadline, Fast Company, The Hollywood Reporter, Music Ally and Music Business Worldwide, more at Techmeme »
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify expands its AI-powered Prompted Playlists beta to Premium subscribers in the US and Canada, following initial testing in New Zealand — Spotify is rolling out Prompted Playlists, a new AI playlist creation tool, to Premium subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.
Discussion:
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Dominic Ponsford / Press Gazette:
The UK's Future acquires social-first publisher Sheerluxe and Blush Talent MGMT for an initial £39.9M, rising by an additional £40M based on performance — Magazine giant Future is attempting to grow its share of creator-led digital marketing spend by acquiring social-first publisher Sheerluxe.
Discussion:
Future, A Media Operator and BusinessCloud
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Adobe rolls out Firefly Foundry, which creates AI-generated “commercially safe” images, video, and more grounded in a brand or franchise's creative universe — Adobe is rolling out a new AI offering aiming to create common ground among major talent agencies, top filmmakers …
Discussion:
Investor's Business Daily, The Verge and The Information
Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
Q&A with YouTuber J.J. McCullough, who started his channel in 2015 and has 1M subscribers, on research, earning enough for a middle-class lifestyle, and more — “I respect mainstream media a great deal. I think they're doing better work than a lot of new media people do.
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