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:
Forbes, The Guardian, Reuters, Screen Rant, Business Insider, Advanced Television, Wall Street Journal, Quartz, The Information, Benzinga, Washington Post, Yahoo Finance, CNBC, Barron's Online, Associated Press, Fortune, Los Angeles Times, WPXI-TV, Suggest, The Verge, Fox Business, Cord Cutters News, TVBEurope, Media Play News, @brianstelter, Bloomberg, CBS News, New York Post, Sports Business Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, 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, Associated Press, New York Post, Axios, Yahoo Finance, The Hollywood Reporter, CNBC, ZeroHedge News, Barrett Media and Bloomberg
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 has set the pay packages for its newly appointed top executives: CEO Josh D'Amaro and president and chief creative officer Dana Walden.
Discussion:
Adweek, The Wrap, CNN, Financial Times, Business Insider, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, The Indian Express, Pulse 2.0, Screen, Yahoo Finance and Puck
Isaac Rouse / Polygon.com:
Crunchyroll is raising its US prices by $2 per month; the cheapest tier gets its first price increase since 2019 and now offers offline downloads on one device — If you didn't secure a Crunchyroll subscription when it was on sale during Black Friday, we have some bad news, anime fans: The price has officially gone up.
Discussion:
Ars Technica, Kotaku, The Wrap, IGN, Engadget, Screen Rant, Comic Book, Crunchyroll News, PCMag, CNET, The Verge, Telecompaper and r/anime, more at Techmeme »
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
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.
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 …
Discussion:
@charliesavage.bsky.social, @ericjgeller.com and The Reporters Committee …
Kerry Flynn / Axios:
The IAB proposes draft legislation to protect publishers from AI companies using their content to train models and generate summaries without compensation — Interactive Advertising Bureau CEO David Cohen announced proposed draft legislation and plans to push for action to protect publishers …
Discussion:
MediaPost, IAB and TVNewsCheck
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney says ESPN is valued at ~$30B and the NFL's 10% equity stake in ESPN valued at ~$3B; Disney has the right to buy back NFL's stake in 2034, per a filing — Disney has the right to buy back the NFL's stake beginning in July 2034, with the league holding an option to acquire more of ESPN.
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Brooks Barnes / New York Times:
Disney reports Q1 operating profit down 9% YoY to $4.6B, weighed down by high movie production costs and a 15-day YouTube TV carriage dispute that cost $110M
Discussion:
Android Authority, Yahoo Finance, Front Office Sports, The Streamable, The Wrap, Business Insider and Cord Cutters News
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Disney reports Q1 revenue up 5% YoY to $26B, driven by Zootopia 2 and a record $10B revenue from Experiences; streaming operating income rose 72% YoY to $450M
Discussion:
The Hollywood Reporter, Advanced Television, Deadline, Broadband TV News, Awful Announcing, Syracuse Post-Standard, TV Insider, The TV Answer Man!, TheDesk.net, The Streamable, Benzinga, Variety, Streaming Better, Orlando Sentinel, Sports Business Journal, Associated Press, Cord Cutters News, Media Play News, Business Wire, The Wrap, Wall Street Journal, Variety and Los Angeles Times
Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun says the company is among the few in the sector to crack the use of generative AI, and pledges another €1B for AI and data operations — Chief executive says French ad group is among sector's few companies to have figured out how to scale the technology
Discussion:
Anne Stagg on LinkedIn, The Drum, The Times and Adweek
The Wrap:
Source: CBS News may cut ties with new contributor Peter Attia, a wellness expert, after emails show Epstein links; Bari Weiss sees this as giving in to the mob — In newly released emails, the wellness guru made crude jokes in chummy correspondence with the late convicted sex offender
Discussion:
@peterattiamd, New York Times, New York Post, TV Insider, USA Today, @jonathanjarry.bsky.social, @kimmasters.bsky.social, RADAR, @drewmagary.bsky.social, @cgasparino, CBS News, @aaronl1968.bsky.social, @sharonwaxman, @samstein, @hshaban, Deadline, @mlcalderone, @dave_longevity, @jeremymbarr, The Atlantic, HuffPost, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Mediaite, MedPage Today, Variety, @thedailybeast, Reuters, @baumann.bsky.social, @rivertam.bsky.social, @sarahweinman.com, @dinfontay.com, @ariehkovler, @shannonrwatts, @heerjeet, @anakasparian, @marlownyc, @drcamrx, @dave_longevity, @drcamrx, @dave_longevity, @rockrol54750183, @doctortro, @shannonrwatts, @karlbode.com, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, Defector and Just Jared
Trishla Ostwal / Adweek:
Amazon Ads announces the open beta of its Model Context Protocol server, which lets advertisers connect AI agents to Amazon Ads through a single integration — At IAB ALM, the retail giant pitched MCP as infrastructure for AI agents to run advertising workflows more efficiently
Discussion:
AdExchanger, MediaPost, SiliconANGLE, Cyber Daily, Digiday and PYMNTS.com, more at Techmeme »
Peter White / Deadline:
Versant-owned E! acquires the US broadcasting rights for the 2026 BAFTA Film Awards, taking over from previous rights holder BritBox — It will air the ceremony, which is hosted by Traitors host Alan Cumming, on Sunday, February 22 at 8pm. It will not air the event live given that it is set …
Discussion:
Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Screen, The Wrap and Awards Radar
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