Top News:

An Adalytics report shows how ad systems run by Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others inadvertently placed ads on a website that hosts CSAM — Some of the biggest tech companies in the world served ads on a website featuring images of child abuse, helping to fund its operations.
Discussion:
Digiday, adalytics.io, @thedesk.net and Adweek
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Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal write to Amazon, Google, and others demanding fixes after a report said the companies facilitated ads on pages with CSAM — On Friday, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) sent co-written letters to Amazon, Google, Integral Ad Science …
Discussion:
Adweek, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn … and DoubleVerify

Memo: the Pentagon adds CNN, WaPo, The Hill, and The War Zone to its eviction list, replaced by Washington Examiner, The Free Press, Daily Caller, and Newsmax — The US Defense Department announced Friday night that it would double the number of news organizations that would be removed …
Discussion:
Reuters, @stevenadamswv, @brian_henderson, @michaelssmithii and @ktoropin

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

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:
PC Gamer, Jeremy M. on LinkedIn, @jmrivera.bsky.social, GamesRadar, @neemoahtoad, Neowin, PlayStation LifeStyle, Jason Schreier on LinkedIn, @tanner_slavin, @batman_beware, Metro.co.uk, @harleysuniverse, Comic Book, Wccftech, @branzellan.bsky.social, @bryantfrancis.me, @knoebel.bsky.social and Insider Gaming, more at Techmeme »

Filing: five New York pension funds have sued Paramount Global, seeking a preliminary block on Paramount's Skydance merger and alleging breach of fiduciary duty — A Delaware court ruled that Paramount must produce records that could lay the groundwork for more lawsuits from investors challenging …

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:
Austin American-Statesman, Cord Cutters News, Rolling Stone, TVNewsCheck, Billboard and Just Jared

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

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:
Publishing Perspectives, @andrewdeck.bsky.social, The Cyber Express and Bloomberg

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

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

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:
@deadline, TVNewsCheck and TV Tech
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:
New York Times, Tilting At Windmills, Reuters, The Atlantic, Poynter, Townhall, Fox News, HuffPost, Wall Street Journal, @bresreports, @politico, @ewerickson, Crooks and Liars, The Daily Wire, @brianstelter, @stevenoverly, @jimgeraghty, @natsfert, @adamwren, @zachary, @zachschermele, @joanwalsh, Time, @brianstelter, Twitchy, @w7voa.journa.host.ap.brid.gy, Beth Diaz on LinkedIn, CNN, HotAir, Daily Kos, @timbays.bsky.social, @suellentrop.bsky.social, The Post Millennial, The Hill, MeidasTouch News, Fox News and Axios
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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
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
Discussion:
Columbia Journalism Review, The Hill, @willoremus.com, @armanddoma, @TomWellborn@universeodon.com, @mkhammer, @bariweiss, @tomwellborn3.bsky.social, New York Times, Reporters Without Borders, @jael.bsky.social, @mcuban, A Media Operator, The Daily Wire, @wexler, Blaze Media, Instapundit, TVNewsCheck, Fortune, @marcacaputo, @liz_wheeler, @firstadopter, @asymmetricinfo, @brianstelter, @nytimespr, @mjnblack, @doge, New York Post, CBS News, @apbioonly, RedState, @kagrox.bsky.social, @barbarasobel.bsky.social, @hallijayne.bsky.social, @lawrencehurley.bsky.social, Mediaite, DNyuz, The Post Millennial, @nkLottery@shakedown.social, The Dispatch and The Gateway Pundit