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8:35 PM ET, March 2, 2026

Mediagazer

 Top News: 
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
David Ellison says Paramount plans to combine Paramount+ and HBO Max into one streamer with 200M+ subscribers, but will let HBO “operate with independence”  —  Paramount Skydance plans to combine Paramount+ and HBO Max into one streaming service, upon the completion …
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Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
Paramount says there are “no plans to divest or spin off a package of cable assets at this time”, after merging with WBD, creating a vast cable and TV portfolio  —  CEO David Ellison added that HBO would continue to  —  have “the resources and independence to do what it does best”
Harshita Mary Varghese / Reuters:
David Ellison says Paramount's deal for WBD will leave the combined company with ~$79B in net debt; Paramount's offer includes $47B in equity and $54B in debt  —  Paramount Skydance (PSKY.O) CEO David Ellison said on Monday its deal for Warner Bros will leave the combined company …
Peter Kafka / Business Insider:
Paramount says the Ellisons and RedBird pledged $47B in the WBD deal but won't say if Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar are funding $24B announced in December
New York Times:
Sources: WBD staff are bracing for widespread layoffs as David Ellison wants $6B in “synergies”; the internal mood is grim as staff preferred Netflix's proposal
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Q&A with Ted Sarandos on the scenario planning Netflix did before Paramount's final WBD bid, how Paramount's deal closing could lead to cuts of $16B+, and more  —  When Netflix Inc. dropped out of the bidding for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. on Feb. 26, the news came as a surprise to many in Hollywood.
RELATED:
Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal:
Netflix actually won by walking away from the WBD bid, collecting a $2.8B termination fee and driving up the price and debt load of the Paramount-WBD merger
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Trump says that he will attend this year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, marking the first time he will do so as president  —  Donald Trump said that he will attend this year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner, marking the first time he will do so as president.
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
SCOTUS declines to hear a dispute over copyrights for AI-generated material, in a case where a computer scientist was denied a copyright for AI-generated art  —  The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to take up the issue of whether art generated by artificial intelligence …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
X announces a “Paid Partnership” label that creators can apply to their posts to indicate they're ads; until now, creators relied on hashtags to label posts  —  Social network X on Monday announced the introduction of a new “Paid Partnership” label that creators can apply to their posts to indicate they're advertisements.
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Lachlan Murdoch says Fox News expects CNN under the Ellisons to be a “strong competitor”, but adds that “running news is hard”  —  “We have been winning, and we win amongst strong competition,” Murdoch said at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.
Mia Galuppo / The Hollywood Reporter:
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Artists Equity signs a first-look streaming production and distribution deal with Netflix; it also has a theatrical deal with Sony  —  The Ben Affleck- and Matt Damon-led company recently released the crime thriller ‘The Rip’ on the platform.
Discussion: Variety, The Wrap, Deadline, RADAR and Just Jared
Max Tani / Semafor:
How CBS News' right-leaning, pro-Israel editorial leadership is covering the Iran crisis; Bari Weiss' outspoken approach led to her reposting false information  —  The News  —  Bari Weiss has long held a strong point of view on US policy toward Iran.  Now she's testing to what extent …
 
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 More News: 
Jake Kanter / Deadline:
Tourettes Action, a leading Tourette's charity, criticizes an SNL sketch that used Tourette's syndrome to satirize the controversies of celebs like Mel Gibson
Jordyn Holman / New York Times:
Q&A with Kickstarter CEO Everette Taylor on modernizing the platform, attracting new creators, managing a fully remote, four-day-per-week workplace, and more
 Earlier Picks: 
Nieman Lab:
Q&A with Houston Chronicle executives and local creator Shawn Singh on partnering with creators, who the outlet sees as “freelancers for the digital age”
Discussion: PR Daily
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Inside the Podcast Business Summit and interviews with Kara Swisher, Adam Friedland, and others about how video podcasts won over audio, paywalls, ads, and more
Discussion: Podglomerate and Forbes
Henry Dyer / The Guardian:
UK minister Josh Simons resigns over allegations that a think tank he led has probed some journalists and falsely linked them to a “pro-Kremlin” network
 

 
From Techmeme:

Reuters:
SpaceX agrees to acquire Cursor in a merger valuing the AI coding startup at $60B, set to close in Q3 2026, or pay a $4B to $10B termination fee

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google launches Android 17 and Wear OS 7, first on Pixel devices, with support for the latest AI models, a bubble bar UI, and live updates on Wear OS

Ed Zitron / Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At:
Docs: audited financial figures show OpenAI spent $34B in 2025, up 172% YoY, including $19B on research and development and nearly $6B on sales and marketing
 
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