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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

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, A Media Operator, Reporters Without Borders, @willoremus.com, @armanddoma, @mkhammer, @bariweiss, New York Times, @mcuban, Fortune, The Daily Wire, @wexler, Blaze Media, Instapundit, @marcacaputo, @liz_wheeler, @firstadopter, TVNewsCheck, @asymmetricinfo, New York Post, @brianstelter, @nytimespr, @mjnblack, @doge, @apbioonly, CBS News, 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 »
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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 — POLITICO has been the subject of debate on X this week. Some of it has been misinformed, and some of it has been flat-out false.
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, Tilting At Windmills, New York Times, Reuters, The Atlantic, Townhall, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, @bresreports, @politico, @ewerickson, The Daily Wire, @brianstelter, @stevenoverly, @jimgeraghty, @natsfert, @adamwren, @zachary, @zachschermele, @joanwalsh, Associated Press, 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
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:
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, Townhall, @brianstelter, 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

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.

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, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times, Decider, Variety, AllHipHop, Vibe, @twinklebutt.bsky.social, @7sleepersmusic@mastodon …, @fauxbeatpoet, Rolling Stone, WBLS, The Wrap, @hunterwalk.com, The Streamable, Consequence, UPROXX, Oh No They Didn't!, Deadline, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, World of Reel and KRDO

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

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:
Billboard, TVNewsCheck, Rolling Stone and Just Jared

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

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 and Bloomberg

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.

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 …

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.