Top News:
Variety:
Disney names Josh D'Amaro, head of its theme parks and consumer products division, as CEO, replacing Bob Iger, effective March 18; D'Amaro joined Disney in 1998 — Dana Walden named president and chief creative officer of the company — The Walt Disney Co., after a more than two-year saga …
Discussion:
NBC News, New York Post, The Guardian, Advanced Television, Puck, TV Tech, Plain Dealer, MediaPost, Observer, Business Insider, Axios, CNBC, The Hollywood Reporter, TheDesk.net, Brett Klisch on LinkedIn, The Wrap, Deseret News, Reuters, Marcus Rosie on LinkedIn, Engadget, People, The Standard, Los Angeles Times, Gizmodo, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance, @loudmouthjulia, Cord Cutters News, Seth Brady on LinkedIn, Front Office Sports, The Information, @michael_eisner, @loudmouthjulia, @brianstelter, One America News Network, Washington Post, Benzinga, @aquinas82nd, Barron's Online, TVBEurope, Quartz, Suggest, @scottgustin, @scottgustin, WAGA-TV, Associated Press, Entrepreneur, Adweek, @sherman4949, @pkafka, Screen Rant, Media Play News, Fox Business, The Verge, Polygon.com, Bloomberg, CBS News and Sports Business Journal, more at Techmeme »
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Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Disney names Dana Walden, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, as its president and chief creative officer, a newly created role, effective March 18 — Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D'Amaro has been elevated to CEO of the Walt Disney Co., capping a closely watched multi-year process of identifying Bob Iger's successor.
Discussion:
The Wrap, CNN, Variety, New York Times, CNBC, Bloomberg, Fortune, Breitbart, StreamTV Insider, Fast Company, Comic Book, IndieWire, UPI, The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Disney News, GV Wire, Axios, New York Post, ZeroHedge News, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, Screen, Yahoo Finance, Pulse 2.0, BMI, Barrett Media, WPXI-TV and Orlando Sentinel
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Disney says new CEO Josh D'Amaro's initial annual package is set at ~$38.4M, with a $2.5M base, and President Dana Walden's is set at ~$24M, with a $3.75M base
Disney says new CEO Josh D'Amaro's initial annual package is set at ~$38.4M, with a $2.5M base, and President Dana Walden's is set at ~$24M, with a $3.75M base
Discussion:
Deadline, Business Insider, Fortune, Inc.com, New York Post, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, The Indian Express, CNBC, Just Jared, Yahoo Finance and Washington Examiner
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
CBS pulls a 60 Minutes segment with contributor Peter Attia that was set to re-air after the Super Bowl, as Attia's name appears ~1,700 times in Epstein docs — Attia, named a contributor to the network last week, is named in the latest release of documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Discussion:
@peterattiamd, The Wrap, Variety, The San Francisco Standard, Mediaite, Deadline, @tuckergoodrich, @alexberenson, @nitishpahwa.com, USA Today, @dave_longevity and Inc.com
Adrià Calatayud / Wall Street Journal:
Publicis reports 2025 net profit of €1.65B, down from €1.66B in 2024, and total revenue up 8.5% YoY to €17.4B, but PUB falls 8%+ driven by AI fears — Shares in European afternoon trading were on track for their biggest one-day percentage drop since April 2020
Discussion:
MediaPost, BMI, campaignlive.com, PR Week UK and MediaBrief
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Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
New York Public Radio names Christy Tanner as its CEO; Tanner is a former AP reporter and spent eight years at CBS, expanding its streaming platform — Ms. Tanner was previously an executive at CBS News and serves on the board of Audacy, a major U.S. broadcaster and podcast producer.
Discussion:
Radio & Television …, Variety, TheDesk.net, S. Mitra Kalita on LinkedIn, Gothamist and Current
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
DMGT reports revenue down 1% YoY to £1.1B, adjusted operating profit up 11% to £97M, and digital ad revenue down 15% to £148.3M due to Google's AI Overviews — Digital advertising revenue at the publisher of the Daily Mail fell by 15% last year.
Discussion:
Yahoo Finance and A Media Operator
Hannah Abraham / Forbes:
Reliance's Jio Studios acquires a 50.1% equity stake in Sikhya Entertainment for ~$16.7M, uniting India's largest studio with the Oscar-winning production house — Sikhya Entertainment co-founders Guneet Monga Kapoor and Achin Jain with Jio Studios President Jyoti Deshpande
Financial Times:
LexisNexis-owner Relx, Thomson Reuters, and other media and financial stocks fell 10%+ after Anthropic launched Claude Cowork tools that automate legal work — New Anthropic legal tool sends shares in companies including S&P Global and Intuit sliding — US tech stocks fell sharply …
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Nielsen plans to give panelists wearable devices that capture audio to better count viewers in bars, hotels, and offices, starting with the Super Bowl — TV networks and sports leagues rely heavily on Nielsen to to tell them how many people at home watch football games, tennis matches and auto races.
Discussion:
TheDesk.net, Awful Announcing, TVNewsCheck, Front Office Sports, The Wrap, TV Tech, MediaPost, Sports Business Journal and AdExchanger
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Court docs: the US DOJ failed to tell a judge about a 1980 law protecting journalists when it sought to seize WaPo reporter Hannah Natanson's devices last month — The Justice Department did not address a 1980 law that generally bars warrants for reporting material when it sought to seize …
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
LADbible-owner LBG Media reports adjusted revenue up 10% YoY to £92M in the year to September 30, pre-tax profit down 3% to £14M, and £49.7M in direct revenue — LBG Media reported total adjusted revenue up 10% in the year to 30 September.
Discussion:
@pressgazette.co.uk, The Standard and BusinessCloud
Matthew Keys / TheDesk.net:
The FCC approved the transfer of five broadcast TV licenses to Sinclair, in Oregon, California, Maine, Virginia, and Tennessee; DirecTV opposed the move — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved the transfer of five broadcast television licenses to Sinclair involving local TV stations …
Discussion:
Radio & Television … and Inside Radio
