Top News:
Alyssa Ray / The Wrap:
The NYT defends Nicholas Kristof's op-ed “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians”, calling it “deeply reported”, after Israeli government criticism — “Details were extensively fact-checked, with accounts further cross-referenced with news reporting …
Discussion:
New York Times, Reuters, @israelmfa, Fox News, @nickkristof, New York Post, Washington Examiner, @nytimespr, @israelmfa, @israelmfa, @salhachimi, @ryangrim, @infinite_jaz, @waltersobchaksr, @elikowaz, @davidharsanyi, @maxblumenthal, @noahpollak, @paulskallas, @susanabulhawa, @bonchieredstate, @redsteeze, @scottjenningsky, @ratlpolicy, @leibowitzadak, @zaidjilani, @chuckrossdc, @sturgeons_law, @noahpollak, @redsteeze, @aaronjmate, @amasad, @havivrettiggur, The Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Newsbusters, Mediaite, U.S. Home, The Times of Israel and twitchy.com
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Netflix says its ad tier now has 250M monthly active viewers, up from 94M in 2025, and is expanding to 15 new countries, as it tests an ad personalization tool — The streaming service's ad-supported tier now reaches 250 million viewers each month. … For the second year in a row …
Discussion:
The Streamable, 9to5Mac, Advanced Television, Thurrott, PCMag, Tom's Guide, Tech Times, BMI, DutchNews.nl, Broadband TV News, Digital Trends, Irish Independent, Screen, Gizmodo, Mediaweek, afaqs!, Cord Cutters News, GMA News Online, Variety, Telecompaper, Media Play News, The Wrap, Deadline and Hindustan Times, more at Techmeme »
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Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix says it is adding three NFL games, in addition to Christmas Day rights, plus the NFL Honors awards as it extends its NFL deal through the 2029 season
Discussion:
MediaPost, Variety, Blockonomi, Yahoo Finance, Sports Illustrated, Miami Herald, Deadspin, TVLine, Sports Media Watch, TV Tech, Sports Business Journal, Forbes, Associated Press, Front Office Sports, CNET, The Athletic, Barrett Media, Awful Announcing, The Big Lead, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Deadline, Cord Cutters News, WMTV15 News, Bloomberg, WBAY-TV, Raleigh News & Observer and NBCSports.com
Joel Hills / ITV News:
Sources: a Sky-ITV merger deal could be reached within weeks; ITV would split in two, with Sky acquiring its TV channels and ITVX streaming service — Sky and ITV are closing in on a deal that would pave the way for the TV and telecoms operator to take over the UK's most-watched free …
Discussion:
Reuters, @itvjoel, @paulosbourne and The Independent
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Max Goldbart / Deadline:
ITV says it remains in “active discussions” with Sky over a sale of its M&E business, and reports Q1 revenue flat YoY to £877M and Studios up 4% YoY to £400M — ITV is still in “active discussions” with Sky over a sale of its network to the pay-TV giant.
Discussion:
Advanced Television, Broadband TV News, The Hollywood Reporter, The Independent, Reuters and TVBEurope
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Spotify says it will adopt Apple's HTTP Live Streaming tech for video podcasts later in 2026, helping creators distribute podcasts on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — Spotify is making two video podcast announcements today, including one related to Apple's big video podcast enhancement.
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Tess Patton / The Wrap:
YouTube announces a full slate of new and returning shows, including four new series from Alex Cooper's company and a global travel series from Trevor Noah — “Recess Therapy” creator Julian Shapiro-Barnum will put his own twist on the late night talk show with “Outside Tonight”
Discussion:
CampaignUs, YouTube Official Blog, The Hollywood Reporter, Page Six, Deadline, Tubefilter, Variety, Adweek, Storyboard18 and Wall Street Journal
Bloomberg:
Byron Allen says he plans to add new shows and user-generated and licensed content to the BuzzFeed app: “This world really appreciates streaming and free” — Byron Allen wants to turn BuzzFeed Inc., the struggling online media outlet, into a free-TV super app that will combine news …
Discussion:
Puck, Tubefilter, AfroTech, ExchangeWire.com, POCIT, Fast Company and U.S. Home
Lucia Moses / Business Insider:
TrueShort, which makes vertical AI-generated movies broken into one- to three-minute episodes, raised a $12M seed led by Keith Rabois at Khosla Ventures — - A new AI movie app has raised $12 million from a who's who of Silicon Valley and Hollywood. — TrueShort is backed by Khosla Ventures …
Aaron Couch / The Hollywood Reporter:
Artists Equity says it has paid out a performance bonus to the cast and crew of The Rip based on viewership figures, an unusual back-end payment from Netflix — Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Artists Equity negotiated a deal with the streamer for such a bonus, something that is not typical for Netflix.
Max Tani / Semafor:
Fortune's Hong Kong-based chairman joined EIC Alyson Shontell's editorial interview with President Trump this week, an unusual move that fueled staff concerns — The Scoop — Fortune's Hong Kong-based chairman joined an editorial interview with President Donald Trump this week …
Isabella Simonetti / Wall Street Journal:
Versant reports Q1 revenue down ~1% to $1.69B, net income down 22% to $286M, pay-TV distributor revenue down 7.3% to 1.01B, and platforms revenue up 9% to $192M — Company beats Wall Street expectations in its second earnings report since Comcast spinoff — Versant Media Group reported lower revenue …
Rob Waugh / Press Gazette:
Four prolific crypto journalists who wrote for 30+ outlets ignored a reporter's ID verification requests; all had sparse LinkedIn profiles and likely AI photos — Four prolific financial journalists who cover the world of cryptocurrency have ignored repeated requests by Press Gazette to verify their identities.
Discussion:
Futurism
Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Over 100 former ABC News journalists sign an open letter supporting the network and Disney, as ABC pushes back against the FCC's investigation of The View — The letter was organized by former ABC News correspondent Lisa Stark and former ABC News executive and senior producer Ian Cameron …
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