Top News:
Martyn Ziegler / The Times:
Sources: Netflix is expected to bid for the US broadcast rights to Formula 1 starting from the 2026 season; ESPN currently holds the rights under a $90M deal — Streaming platform looking to capitalise on success of Drive to Survive series in America with their first attempt to secure season-long mainstream sports rights
Axios:
Email: the White House orders the GSA to terminate “every single media contract” expensed by the agency and all contracts for Politico, BBC, E&E, and Bloomberg — - The discovery, made through a U.S. government spending database that has long been publicly available …
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, The Hill, @jael.bsky.social, @tomwellborn3.bsky.social, @TomWellborn@universeodon.com, A Media Operator, Reporters Without Borders, @willoremus.com, @armanddoma, @mkhammer, @bariweiss, New York Times, @mcuban, Fortune, The Daily Wire, @wexler, Blaze Media, Instapundit, TVNewsCheck, @marcacaputo, @liz_wheeler, @firstadopter, @asymmetricinfo, @brianstelter, @nytimespr, New York Post, CBS News, @mjnblack, @doge, @apbioonly, The Dispatch, RedState, @kagrox.bsky.social, @barbarasobel.bsky.social, @hallijayne.bsky.social, @lawrencehurley.bsky.social, Mediaite, The Post Millennial, @nkLottery@shakedown.social and The Gateway Pundit, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Politico:
Politico's EIC and CEO say the company has never received any government funding, and agencies that subscribe to Politico Pro do so through standard processes
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, New York Times, Tilting At Windmills, The Atlantic, Townhall, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Fox News, @bresreports, @politico, @ewerickson, Time, The Daily Wire, @brianstelter, @stevenoverly, @jimgeraghty, @natsfert, @adamwren, @zachary, @zachschermele, @joanwalsh, PolitiFact, Twitchy, @w7voa.journa.host.ap.brid.gy, Beth Diaz on LinkedIn, CNN, HotAir, @timbays.bsky.social, @suellentrop.bsky.social, The Post Millennial, The Hill, MeidasTouch News, Fox News and Axios
Isabella Kwai / New York Times:
Trump amplifies a conspiracy theory that “billions” in USAID and other agencies' funds were stolen to pay Politico and others for positive coverage of Democrats
Discussion:
The Ankler, Washington Examiner, Poynter, New Republic, @isabelsantos.bsky.social, HuffPost, @elonmusk, @jason, @rikkiratliff, @mtaibbi, @rubinreport, @armanddoma, @ryangrim, @nancyscola, @elonmusk, @mehdirhasan, @krassenstein, @billackman, @lhfang, @cabot_phillips, @billybinion, @jeremymbarr, @ike_saul, @peterschiff, @armanddoma, @brianstelter, Townhall, Raw Story, @realDonaldTrump …, RedState, CNN, Breitbart, DNyuz, Daily Kos, @sanleekelly.bsky.social, Hollywood Life, The Wrap, The Guardian, @cheetah.bsky.social, @parkermolloy.com, OpenTheBooks, The Independent, @stuartathompson.bsky.social, @stuartathompson.bsky.social, Althouse, @willsommer.bsky.social and Newser
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
WBD took $300M in gaming writedowns in 2024; current and former staff blame a lack of a strong, cohesive vision during former games chief David Haddad's tenure — Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery took $300 million in losses on gaming. The near future is rife with additional challenges.
Discussion:
Jeremy M. on LinkedIn, @jmrivera.bsky.social, GamesRadar, @neemoahtoad, Neowin, PlayStation LifeStyle, Jason Schreier on LinkedIn, @tanner_slavin, @batman_beware, Metro.co.uk, @harleysuniverse, @bryantfrancis.me, Comic Book, Wccftech, @knoebel.bsky.social, @branzellan.bsky.social and Insider Gaming, more at Techmeme »
Ben Beaumont-Thomas / The Guardian:
Netflix will not release a nine-hour documentary about Prince after the company and the artist's estate came to a “mutual agreement” — Nine-hour film will not be seen, after ‘mutual agreement’ between estate and Netflix, with estate announcing plans for its own film
Discussion:
@prince, TVNewsCheck, People, The Verge, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times, Variety, Decider, @twinklebutt.bsky.social, AllHipHop, @7sleepersmusic@mastodon …, @fauxbeatpoet, WBLS, The Wrap, @hunterwalk.com, The Streamable, Consequence, UPROXX, Vibe, Rolling Stone, Oh No They Didn't!, Deadline, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, KRDO and World of Reel
Editor and Publisher:
The CPB awards a $1M grant to Harvest Public Media, a journalism collaboration led by Kansas City's KCUR to cover agricultural and rural issues — Journalism collaboration led by KCUR covers agricultural and rural issues — The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) …
Discussion:
@mediaevan.bsky.social, @mediaevan, RADIO ONLINE, Radio Ink, Inside Radio and Current
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Memo: ahead of its Skydance merger, Paramount Global pauses some major events in 2025, including MTV EMAs, to “reimagine and optimize” the events slate — “We look to reimagine and optimize our events slate going forward,” reads a staff memo obtained by THR.
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, Billboard, Rolling Stone and Just Jared
Katie Campione / Deadline:
Samba TV: in H2 2024, 43% of total SVOD subscribers had an ad-supported plan; 56% of new subscribers chose an ad tier, including 78% of new Peacock subscribers — In the second half of 2024, 43% of total SVOD subscribers had an ad-supported plan. The share is increasing …
Discussion:
TVNewsCheck, @deadline and TV Tech
Andrew Deck / Nieman Lab:
Tests show DeepSeek's chatbot often hallucinates URLs in citations and admits that sharing news articles' content could violate copyright and paywall policies — The DeepSeek hype cycle is in full force, but can the chatbot attribute sources more accurately than its competitors?
Discussion:
The Cyber Express, Publishing Perspectives, @andrewdeck.bsky.social and Bloomberg
Anthony D'Alessandro / Deadline:
Sources: Amazon MGM Studios plans to launch an international theatrical distribution arm; its foreign output deal with Warner Bros. stops at the end of 2025 — The studio's current foreign theatrical output deal with Warner Bros. ends at the end of this year.
Discussion:
The Wrap
Hearst:
Hearst is rolling out AURA, its first-party ad targeting tool, to the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain, after a US launch eight months ago — The announcement was made by Hearst Magazines President Debi Chirichella and Global Chief Revenue Officer Lisa Ryan Howard.
Financial Times:
Leaders in Russia, Hungary, and more applaud USAID's funding freeze affecting independent news outlets; the 2025 US foreign aid budget included $268M for media — Independent outlets in former Soviet Union are poised to be hurt by temporary shut down at key US agency
Discussion:
New York Times, HotAir, EADaily, @ianfraser.bsky.social, Breitbart, @tobyvogel.bsky.social, @amuse and Fox News
Lara O'Reilly / Business Insider:
X partners with adtech company Magnite to boost programmatic ad sales; Magnite joins Google and PubMatic as official third-party sellers of X's ad inventory — - Elon Musk's X is working with the adtech company Magnite to boost programmatic ad sales. — Magnite is a large supply-side platform …
Jessica Testa / New York Times:
A look at Emily Sundberg's business and culture newsletter, Feed Me, with ~60K subscribers including Matt Levine, Joe Weisenthal, and VC Kirsten Green — It took about three minutes for Emily Sundberg to secure an invitation to her first inauguration party in Washington this January.
David Folkenflik / NPR:
A look at Trump's assault on CBS, and more broadly, how he and allies seek to pressure the media to punish it and to inhibit its ability to check the president — The television news magazine 60 Minutes — the most storied and profitable show in the history of CBS News …
RELATED:
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Trump calls on CBS to “terminate” 60 Minutes, and says “CBS should lose its license”, amid his $10B lawsuit against CBS over the Kamala Harris interview
Discussion:
Mediaite, Status, New York Post, @IveyJanette@mastodon.social, Las Vegas Review-Journal, CNN, @aidnmclaughlin, @mherskovitz, Megyn Kelly, Reason, Washington Examiner, @realDonaldTrump …, Barrett Media, @mergerson.bsky.social, The Daily Beast, Blaze Media, Daily Mail, @robowentv.bsky.social, The Wrap, New Republic, @willharrisinva.bsky.social, Fox News, Townhall, Axios, The Daily Wire and freebeacon.com
Bureau Reporter - Vietnam, HCMC — 
Curation Editor (Contract), NY — 
Business Editor, CA — 
Executive Ed. - Tech & Electronics, AZ — 
Economy & Industry Reporter, TX — 
ESPN FC Associate Editor, CA/CT — 
Political Enterprise Editor, DC — 
Housing & Real Estate Reporter, ME — 
Associate Reporter - Yahoo Finance — 
Senior Editor, Remote — 
Deputy Politics Editor, CA — 
US Foreign Affairs Correspondent, DC — 
Tranding News Reporter, NY — 
Freelance Contributor, FL — 
Senior Reporter, CA — 
Managing Editor - State, CT — 
Sr. VP & Chief Content Officer, OR — 
Digital Content Producer, NV — 
Data Graphics Reporter, CA — 
Town Reporter, CT — 
Weekend Audience Editor, VA — 
Managing Editor, FL — 
Senior Reporter, NM — 
Senior Editor - Ideas, Remote US — 
Business Reporter, WA — 
Freelance Reporter, NC — 
Enterprise Journalist, WA — 
Crime & Courts Reporter, OR — 
TV & Pop Culture Critic, MA — 
Cockburn Editor, DC — 
Service Journalism Reporter, PA — 
Senior Editor - NBA, Remote US — 
Senior IP Reporter, Remote TX — 
Computational Journalist, NY — 
